How did people sharpen pencils during the civil war? Did they have pencil sharpeners in their field desks. I just use my pocket knife, but they must have had something better.
How did they sharpen pencils?
How did people sharpen pencils during the civil war? Did they have pencil sharpeners in their field desks. I just use my pocket knife, but they must have had something better.
Pete
pencil sharpeners
I've researched pencils for an article I wrote in 1002. To sharpen them pocket knives and pen knives were used. Pen knives were originally to cut quills but worked well for pencils. After whittling a rough point with a knife, the point could be sharpened or pointed by rubbing it on a piece of sandpaper. This took extra time and would also weaken the point, so most of the time, the point was just left rough.Originally Posted by Sweet Potato
The first pencil sharpener was patented in France in 1847 and in the US, the first patent for a sharpener was issued in 1868. The US sharpener resembled the small handheld plastic sharpeners we have today. In 1889 a desktop sharpener was introduced but kind the pencil was attached to a collar and a disc of sandpaper rotated around the pencil to sharpen it. It was not until 1897 that the whittling sharpener, that we know today, was patented in the US.
A pocket knife works, but I have a piece of a broken file about three inches long and an inch wide which works a lot better.
Yours most respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. L. ("Rob") Griffiths.
Company "G", 157th N.Y. Vols.
Forum member since November 17th, 2004.
"I am not aware of ever having used a profane expletive in my life, but I would have the charity to excuse those who may have done so, if they were in charge of a train of Mexican pack mules at the time." - U. S. Grant
I've always used a pocket knife with satisfactory results.
Tyler Murphy
6th NCST
"The Shirkers Mess"
Thank you!
Pete
Knife
works great for me.....they had a lot of whittlers.....and sharpening a pencil is a lot like whittling....
RJ Samp
Horniste! Blas das Signal zum Angriffe!
"But in the end, it's the history, stupid. If you can't document it, forget about it. And no amount of 'tomfoolery' can explain away conduct that in the end makes history (and living historians) look stupid and wrong. "
Look Here...
Here's an image of a mid-19th century pencil sharpener. Can't say for certain if it dates to the Civil War, based on Virginia's information. The slot contains a blade, and you grasp the top part and turn it over the end of a pencil.
Bill McIntosh owns this one.
http://www.sullivanpress.com/images/.../sharpener.jpg
And that's a rubber eraser next to it.
Cordially,
Bob Sullivan
Sullivan Press
Visit our redesigned website: www.sullivanpress.com
Reproducing Books, Documents and Stationery since 1989
Are you talking about soldiers or civilians. A common pencil which could be obtained by the CW soldier was made of lead. They are commonly found in camps and anyplace else they stayed for any length of time. Here is a picture of two different designs. The straight one is more common.
Last edited by Jim Mayo; 01-10-2007 at 12:06 PM.
You could also try one of these:
http://jas-townsend.com/product_info...roducts_id=382
Commonly used by artists of the time such as David Hunter Strother, they are very hard and it takes a good deal of writing to wear them down.
I sharpen both ends, and then use a length of hemp cord to hang it from one of my coat buttons so that it is always available.
Yours most respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. L. ("Rob") Griffiths.
Company "G", 157th N.Y. Vols.
Forum member since November 17th, 2004.
"I am not aware of ever having used a profane expletive in my life, but I would have the charity to excuse those who may have done so, if they were in charge of a train of Mexican pack mules at the time." - U. S. Grant
I use my pocket knife on my pencels. It's easy to do I have done it when I needed to since I was eight years old.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks