Knife with Fleam Blades

B

BarryB333

Joined
Mar 23, 2020
Messages
8
What do I have? I found an old slip joint pocket knife in an old cabin. It has bone handles, a primary blade and two "fleam blades" (razor sharp half moon on the end of the blades). I was advised they were fleam blades (I had never heard of them) and that they were for blood-letting. The bolsters are tight and the primary blade snaps open. It's in remarkably good condition for what appears to be a very old knife. Can anyone help me regarding more information on this knife? I have photos of the knife but have not yet figured out how to post them on this site. The size of the knife is about the same size as the large folding Buck knives.


Barry Brown

hiouchibear@gmail.com
 
gazz98 said:
Welcome to Bladeforums

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/how-do-i-post-pictures-from-a.1394713/

I like Imgur to post pics.

Take several pics and zoom in on any writing or makers mark to help ID the knife.
Click to expand...
https://imgur.com/G7ay2TX https://i.imgur.com/YeC67Zn.jpg https://i.imgur.com/azw0Jgt.jpg https://i.imgur.com/YnbHiGD.jpg https://i.imgur.com/G7ay2TX.jpg
I joined imgur as you suggested and this is a link to some of the photos on imgur. Hope this works. Thanks for the info.
 
Likely intended for vets, I'd figure. Bloodletting used to be done with nervous or overly spirited horses to (supposedly) calm them down, and the practice remained widespread even when it began to fall out of practice with humans. Note the pocket knife with a fleam blade and hoof pick in this image. Be aware that #4 in the image is not a bloodletting tool.

s7YiOSijLUZHrxam-yNq3Q.jpg
 
Thank you for the information. I'm sure you're exactly right about the knife. Is there any way of determining approximate age? I know that fleam blades were used at the start of the Civil War on humans but stopped toward the end of the war. But I suspect it was done with animals for a longer period of time.
 
Based on the overall style of the build I'd hazard a guess of roughly 1880-1890.
 
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