Do you like/use Letter Openers?

[sotto2]

This is my German Hubertus "pen" knife. It is razor sharp (Arkansas stoned) and opens envelopes with a snicker-snack.

 

http://i43.tinypic.com/1zexrmt.jpg

[philm]

About six years ago, I was going through an antique store in Iowa and coming up empty until I found this opener for $2. It reminded me of the pen at home that matched the handle. I think I have parted with the pen in the past years, but still use the opener.

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y50/munsonhsr/desk%20items/DSC_0035-2.jpg

 

Phil

[wykeite]

Depends upon the sender, if it's a loved one then something sharp like a SAK if it's the government or other begging organisation they get the thumb .

[voop]

Curious about this. I enjoy using a letter opener. It adds a touch of class to opening up both letters and otherwise mundane envelopes (including the bills!). I have a small one with a broad blade. Instead of a handle it has a replica of an ancient coin of Alexander the Great wearing a Lion skin on his head. The blade is too blunt for my liking though.

 

Can't attach pics for some reason but please post a description and pic of yours.

 

I just can't stand envelopes that have been TORN into, leaving a messy, ragged edge! Such violence! The ugliest envelope doesn't deserve it. I MUST have a letter opener for the sake of neatness.

 

I kinda agree with you here....although the thing that irks me is when people open an envelope, looks at the content, then stick the paper back in the envelope rather than filing it and tossing the envelope. Especially when the content is a bill (pay the damn thing right away, it ain't going away or becoming of a lower amount) or a bank statement (so say, is filing it right away faster or slower than sticking back it into the envelope, move it around from pile to pile, THEN filing it?) Such inefficiency just gets to me.

 

Neatness to me is to use thumb to open envelope, then toss envelope in the bin while applying FADS (File, Act, Delegate, Shred) immediately to the content -- then move on to happier things

 

As such, no, I ain't got a dedicated letter opener. My envelopes end in the bin about 3s after having been opened, and until my thumb stops working for this purpose, a letter-opener would be just vanity for me

[razr]

Nope, I have a Sebenza

[Ghost Writer]

I always prefer to use an opener due to my OCD and dislike for ragged edges of a torn envelope. I do make exceptions if I think there is a check inside.

[AlaskanWriter]

I use my pocket knife. its always with me, especially if I have been to get the post. Its a Case Peanut pattern slipjoint(non locking, 2-7/8" closed)

 

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/slippies/russ-n-peanut/IMGP1514.jpg

 

(collecting, trading, and writing about traditional pocket knives are a hobby of mine, so it could be any one from my collection, but usually the one above as it is my trusted companion and EDC)

 

I used to use one of these, but fell out of practice of using it instead of a pocket knife and gave it away...

My Mom, my Pastor and several other close friends also have one; the 'tiger claw letter opener' I made these as gifts when I was a semi-professional knife maker a couple years back. 1095 high carbon steel, cut, ground, and heat treated by me with various wood handles mounted.

 

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e163/Ice-Tigre/knives-finished/hpim0373.jpg

 

 

G.

[cplschnapps]

Here's the easiest and neatest (and cheapest meaning FREE) type of letter opener. I've acquired a couple of these give-away do-jiggies and they work every time on any kind of envelope, never torn or ripped.

 

[RMN]

Before I got hooked on Fountainpens I already collected the parafernalia.

 

I have several inkwells and desksets, Also a small number of blotters

 

And I also started acquiring letteropeners. They are mostly modern ones, nothing vintage.

 

Sometimes a particular shape interests me, and if it is not very expensive I buy it.

I spoke of acquiring. You could not call this collecting, as there is no actual searching for them.

 

Here is the family. There are a number of them around the house in strategic places. Every now and then I rotate some.

 

D.ick

 

 

 

[voop]

Before I got hooked on Fountainpens I already collected the parafernalia.

 

I have several inkwells and desksets, Also a small number of blotters

 

And I also started acquiring letteropeners. They are mostly modern ones, nothing vintage.

 

Sometimes a particular shape interests me, and if it is not very expensive I buy it.

I spoke of acquiring. You could not call this collecting, as there is no actual searching for them.

 

Here is the family. There are a number of them around the house in strategic places. Every now and then I rotate some.

 

D.ick

 

 

 

 

Uhm, do you have a side-gig working for an evil overlord in the "truth, or else..." department?

[RMN]

 

 

Uhm, do you have a side-gig working for an evil overlord in the "truth, or else..." department?

 

 

?? :hmm1: ??

[voop]

 

 

Uhm, do you have a side-gig working for an evil overlord in the "truth, or else..." department?

 

 

?? :hmm1: ??

 

Come on, don't tell me that you didn't jump with "Eeeek, tools for torture" when first seeing RMNs collection of letter openers?

[Judybug]

Curious about this. I enjoy using a letter opener. It adds a touch of class to opening up both letters and otherwise mundane envelopes (including the bills!). I have a small one with a broad blade. Instead of a handle it has a replica of an ancient coin of Alexander the Great wearing a Lion skin on his head. The blade is too blunt for my liking though.

 

Can't attach pics for some reason but please post a description and pic of yours.

 

I just can't stand envelopes that have been TORN into, leaving a messy, ragged edge! Such violence! The ugliest envelope doesn't deserve it. I MUST have a letter opener for the sake of neatness.

 

I kinda agree with you here....although the thing that irks me is when people open an envelope, looks at the content, then stick the paper back in the envelope rather than filing it and tossing the envelope. Especially when the content is a bill (pay the damn thing right away, it ain't going away or becoming of a lower amount) or a bank statement (so say, is filing it right away faster or slower than sticking back it into the envelope, move it around from pile to pile, THEN filing it?) Such inefficiency just gets to me.

 

Neatness to me is to use thumb to open envelope, then toss envelope in the bin while applying FADS (File, Act, Delegate, Shred) immediately to the content -- then move on to happier things

 

As such, no, I ain't got a dedicated letter opener. My envelopes end in the bin about 3s after having been opened, and until my thumb stops working for this purpose, a letter-opener would be just vanity for me

 

I'm in complete agreement about dealing with paperwork promptly. But I know people (dare I say living in the house with me?) who would submit to physical torture rather than make a decision about a piece of paper. As you point out above, these people tend to stuff the paper back in the envelope. They know that if they let it lay around long enough, somebody else will be forced to make the decision. Soooooooo - I think the very least these people can do is use a letter opener so that the decision makers among us won't have to deal with messy, ragged envelopes - even if the envelope is destined for the trash can.

 

Then there are the pen pal letters that sometimes arrive in artistic envelopes which simply cannot be tossed in the trash can. A letter opener is a must for them.

 

Judybug

[Ausrutscher der Feder]

I have two antique openers from the late 1800s and never use them. The finger is just so much easier when I actually get a piece of mail that needs to be opened.

[Apotheosis]

Doesn't really matter what I use - as long as I get it opened !

http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab19/yuckkie/Junk/00-1.jpg

[Bo Bo Olson]

Mine are not quite as fancy as that.

First I'll show a ink well set that's horseshoes close enough match with an desk stand with opener slot, before getting to my opener.

 

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0089.jpg

 

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0090.jpg

 

I picked up the "now" pen stand*, in the '80's at a thrift shop. It is nice but not world shaking, with brass work.

* Once full of post it pads.

What ever letter openers I had, mostly alabaster or alabaster style I sold at the flea market. I had a letter opener in a set. It fits into a slot.

 

The brick brown mechanical pen is a "no name at all," is well made and from the '30's a German copy of Parker. The telephone number is only 4 numbers long.

The other mechanical pencil is a designer piece from Farber-Castell @ 1950. A Tekagraph 9603. Yes that's how it's supposed to look...nothing missing.

Edited May 20, 2010 by Bo Bo Olson

[dizzypen]

http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/slice_6.jpg

 

or

 

http://www.image-schweiz.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/img/stories/3-wirtschaft/2007-03-12_15-17-22_DasWerkzeug.preview.jpg

[DetlevCM]

I suppose I use my Swiss Army knife as one...

(Alternatively I have the "Swiss Business Tool")

 

But cutting the envelope open is definitely preferable to ripping it open

[Shaughn]

This is my favorite, a small silver one. I bought it about 35 years ago in a small antiques store and it has been ready on my desk ever since.

 

I own and sometimes use several other, from miniature sabres to horn wayang figures, but this is The One.

[Tweel]

That's a nice opener, Shaughn. I think it would look good with a lot of FPs, too.

 

BTW, I see a lot of people use their pocket knives. I used to, but quit because it's bad for the edge.

 

-- Brian