Today
A quill knife was the original primary tool used for cutting and sharpening quills, known as 'dressing'.
Following the decline of the quill in the 1820s, following the introduction of the maintenance-free, mass produced steel dip nib by John Mitchell, knives were still manufactured but became known as desk knives, stationery knives or latterly as the name stuck 'pen' knives. There is a small but significant difference between a pen knife and a quill knife, in that the quill knife has a blade that is flat on one side and convex on the other, which facilitates the round cuts required to shape a quill.
A 'pen' knife by contrast has two flat sides. This distinction is not recognised by modern traders, dealers or collectors who define a quill knife as any small knife with a fixed or hinged blade, including such items as ornamental fruit knives.
Read more about this topic: Quill
Famous quotes containing the word today:
“I think with the Romans, that the general of today should be a soldier tomorrow if necessary.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“We had to take the world as it was given:
The nursemaid sitting passive in the park
Was rarely by a changeling prince accosted,
The mornings happened similar and stark
In rooms of selfhood where we woke and lay
Watching today unfold like yesterday.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“Whether we regard the Women’s Liberation movement as a serious threat, a passing convulsion, or a fashionable idiocy, it is a movement that mounts an attack on practically everything that women value today and introduces the language and sentiments of political confrontation into the area of personal relationships.”
—Arianna Stassinopoulos (b. 1950)