My Latest Project, a Mid-1800s portable office

[Tsalagidave]

Thanks Blair,

There is a way but it is more a labor of love than it is practical by any means.

*Put a pencil in a small fire to burn away the wood.
*Flatten out 4-sides of the graphite using a few passes using a fine sanding bit on a Dremel tool at low speed. (takes about 60 seconds tops)
*Take a 45-degree lateral cut running the sides of a 5-6 inch (5/8 dowel) easily done using a coping saw and wood vise.
*Use a right-angle wood crafting chisel to even out the cavity & trim the center point of the 45-degree cut to form a squared cavity.
*Fit the graphite into place and attach it all using a light coating of clear Elmer's craft glue.


It takes about 20-min on the first attempt & the rest comes a little faster. (Ergo, the reason why these are not profitable to reproduce for Sutler's Row and why I'm not thrilled about making them in bulk.)

-Dave

[Forty Rod]

Forty Rod, that is an ink scraper. It also serves as a pen knife for cutting quills. These are commonly mistaken for surgical instruments when in reality, they were intended to scrape away mistakes. It works superbly well by shaving away the top layer of a sheet of paper thus removing the ink marking. They were very common right up into the early 20th century.

-Dave

Thanks, Dave.  I spent a day searching and can't find one like yours... but that's only one day and the Prescott Valley area is full of antique shops.

[Major 2]

here you go 4T  
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Jonathan-Crooks-Ink-Scraper-Erasing-Knife-Hart-Gun-Bone-Handle-/111603723521?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19fc19ad01

a tad pricey maybe ... but there are others on Ebay

like

 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Bone-Handle-Ink-Eraser-Scraper-Bell-System-/171676551165?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27f8b847fd

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[Forty Rod]

The second one is a lot closer to what I'm looking for, but neither one is quite like Ma's.    Thanks.