Author Topic: Penny knives  (Read 2242 times)

Offline j. pease

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Penny knives
« on: October 25, 2023, 11:19:12 PM »
I recently made these with Art DeCamp at Conner Prairie. One horn handle and one curly maple


Offline jbigley

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #1 on: October 26, 2023, 03:22:44 AM »
Nice job! I like them. —-JB

Offline DougS

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #2 on: October 26, 2023, 10:56:59 AM »
Nicely done sir!

Thank you for sharing.

Regards,

Doug

Offline hornturner

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #3 on: October 27, 2023, 03:58:19 PM »
Here are some other photos from the Penny Knife Class last week at Conner Prairie.  Jim Pease did a fine job on the two shown in his post and here is a group photo of the other knives, the participants and one of Jim showing off his knives made at the class.






Offline hornturner

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #4 on: October 27, 2023, 04:01:52 PM »
I still had a bit of the Penny Knife "fever" when I got home so this week I made five more penny knives.  One for my son and some for my hunting buddies.


Offline j. pease

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #5 on: October 27, 2023, 04:05:22 PM »
It was a great class, glad you were able to make more knives

Offline mountainman

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #6 on: October 27, 2023, 07:37:59 PM »
I could use a little education, question is why were they called penny knives, and what is the history??

Offline jrb

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #7 on: October 28, 2023, 02:04:53 AM »
They seem to match Austrian taschenfeitel knives. Were these imported and used in the USA? I can't find blades anything like that in archaeological reports, etc.

Offline B.Barker

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #8 on: October 28, 2023, 04:14:56 PM »
They all look nice. Looks like everyone had a fun and productive class.

Offline hornturner

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #9 on: October 28, 2023, 04:55:06 PM »
The question was raised as to the background and history of the "Penny Knife".  Here is some quick background information.

These "Penny Knives" are just about the most basic form of folding knife devised with a total of only four pieces, the turned wood (or horn) handle with a blade slot cut into it. A fixed ring to stiffen and stabilize the blade and pivot point, a peened nail for the pivot and a thin blade.  Examples are shown in the book "Collector's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Revolution" by Neumann and Kravic.  See page 174, items #32 and #34.  They are dated to the 1760-1790 period in this book.

Presumably they sold for just one penny back in the day, whenever that was.  They are originally from Europe and are still made by the Swiss company Swiss Advance.  Their labeling indicates the design dates back to the 16th century or so.  One can find these factory manufactured Swiss Advance versions online today! 

Offline Tim Crosby

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #10 on: October 29, 2023, 12:24:19 AM »
 This is Good reading, scroll down about half way to see some penny knives and other folders from early Va. & N.C. but the whole thing, from stone to sword is interesting.

   Tim C.

 https://ehcnc.org/decorative-arts/historic-trades/blades-in-va-and-nc/
   
 
« Last Edit: October 29, 2023, 12:30:38 AM by Tim Crosby »

Offline TDM

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #11 on: October 30, 2023, 03:12:41 AM »
Those are neat. Very nice work.

Offline jrb

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #12 on: October 30, 2023, 04:29:26 PM »
They look REALLY well done!!!

Offline mountainman

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #13 on: October 30, 2023, 05:54:11 PM »
Thanks for the info and the history of it! Very interesting!!!

Offline Elnathan

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #14 on: October 30, 2023, 06:57:12 PM »
They seem to match Austrian taschenfeitel knives. Were these imported and used in the USA? I can't find blades anything like that in archaeological reports, etc.

Chris Immel, I think it was, brought that issue up here some years back, and I think his conclusion was that they were a reenactorism.  Since then I can't say that I've ever seen a dug example nor run across a period reference, but then I haven't really been looking for them...A quick run through what material I have available recently failed to turn up anything, even in the miscellaneous blades section of Fort Loudoun, which has an otherwise quite diverse group of blade shapes. At the very least it should be considered an open question that needs some research.

I note that different areas in Europe seem to have quite distinct regional styles in folding knives (compare English, French, and Spanish) and the English and French both had robust cutlery industries. It thus entirely possible that penny knives were quite popular in central Europe but no one ever imported them into North America, since neither the English nor the French used them and didn't need to look outside their own nation to supply their needs.
A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition -  Rudyard Kipling

Offline 44-henry

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #15 on: November 01, 2023, 06:10:42 AM »
I find it hard to believe they wouldn't have existed here in the 18th and 19th centuries, though probably not common. They were certainly produced in large numbers in Europe in many different configurations. Being very thin bits of steel and wood, rarely brass there survival rates would be low and probably would pretty much distingrate in the ground over time. Here are a few I made. The middle one in the simpler style is my idea of a more common type. Simple design with a blade made using some blister steel I had produced.






« Last Edit: November 01, 2023, 06:15:46 AM by 44-henry »

Offline j. pease

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #16 on: November 01, 2023, 04:03:23 PM »
Swiss Advance in Switzerland lists the knives as being manufactured in Trattenbach in upper Austria for almost 600 years, they still manufacture the knives. On their site they say the name is derived from what is reportedly cost in England and America in the 18th century. Also during the class, we had a couple antique examples.

Offline homerifle

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #17 on: November 01, 2023, 06:32:41 PM »
This is Good reading, scroll down about half way to see some penny knives and other folders from early Va. & N.C. but the whole thing, from stone to sword is interesting.

   Tim C.

 https://ehcnc.org/decorative-arts/historic-trades/blades-in-va-and-nc/
   
 
This is a very good article Tim. I recommend reading the complete article.

Offline Bonnie54

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Re: Penny knives
« Reply #18 on: November 13, 2023, 08:49:02 PM »
That's a good looking group of folks! The knives are well done! Great job
Brett Davis