Show Us Your Letter Openers

[ndw76]

Many of us here are prolific letter writers. If you are receiving a number of letters what are you using to open them?

 

Here is a letter opener that I have just finished making myself. This is a buffalow horn blade with a brass handle. I just finished polishing it up today and it works so much better than using my fingers, or the kitchen pairing knife.

 

What letter openers are you using? Why don't you show us.

 

Cheers,

 

Nathan

 

[Jimothy]

I use this little thing that came from a certain car factory around the corner from my home

Edited April 19, 2013 by Jimothy

[sexauerw]

Here are a couple of mine, but I cannot claim to have made them myself. This first set was my grandmother's, then my mother's. Now it is mine and it lives on my desk in my home office upstairs.

 

http://bulk-share.slickpic.com/album/share/TTMTTT5TYTUzUm/4133156.1/1600/p/Letter+Opener+and+Scissors+Set.jpg

 

 

 

This one is a scale model of a Civil War era cavalry saber. Union Army, I think, but I'm not at all sure. This one lives in the family room downstairs so that I can open the mail that I'm too impatient to wait until I can get it upstairs to the office.

 

http://bulk-share.slickpic.com/album/share/NYuxDNDjMzDMMD/4133155.1/1600/p/Cavalry+Saber+Letter+Opener%2C+Sheathed.jpg

 

 

http://bulk-share.slickpic.com/album/share/NYuxDNDjMzDMMD/4133154.1/1600/p/Cavalry+Saber+Letter+Opener%2C+Open.jpg

[lapis]

Sorry, I just couldn't resist...

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/8_letter_openers.jpg

 

BTW, those are all different paring knives, originally intended for use in the kitchen. Up front, my M1000.

 

Mike

 

[Paddler]

These two items are part of a desk set that has been in my family from time out of mind. There were corners for a desk pad but three of them are missing. The blade of the letter opener is brass that had been silver plated. My mother broke the point off of the knife, trying to open a jar with it. I filed a new point on it and sharpened the edges. The handle is made of some relatively soft white metal or other that tarnishes black. I have no idea of its composition.

 

The blotter has a brass rocker and the white base metal handle that is tarnished black.

 

[lapis]

Neat! One of the things I like most about silver... it tarnishes to provide us with a genuine pizzazz.

 

Mike

[Runnin_Ute]

I probably should get something. Right now I use my very small Swiss Army knife. Regular blade, scissors, toothpick, tweezers and file blade.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Well this was the first post that came up .... as old as it is.

Today I picked up a celluloid fake tortoise letter opener, so gathered all of mine up.

The first pen paraphernalia, I had was the brown wood and brass pen holder, with letter opener...so I never had the need to chase them.

The birtch handled one next to the wooden pen box is from 2021. The Celluloid one could be from the 1880's to 1930's. In the 1895 Montgomery Ward catalog there is celluloid faux tortoise hat pens and such.

 

 

Petschaft in German, wax stamps perhaps in English. Of the four only one is not been used....and I will get around to it....after all the shop is some two miles away. Oddly until I started counting, I thought I had more.

The peuter one on the far left was bought today with the celluloid letter opener in a left over lot. It is Jugenstile/Art Nouveau. I can get new bottoms of the stamps; so I can put my name on it....or more than likely just the one that was never engraved.

The darker one matches a inkwell set, with letter holder and roller. The lighter one in both opener and stamp....is nice and close but not a quite match for it's ink well set, with roller.

 

The pen cup in the back is Meissen, was originally a 1743-1775 mustard cup, but is missing the cap, so is now a pen cup. The cup and saucer is 'one piece'. We were after an dainty @ 1990-1900 inkwell, the cup is a bonus.

 

Sometimes stuff is bought because it is pretty. In I doubt if I'll ever use anything in this box. The wax stamp also has the original owner's initials.

[txomsy]

Those are very nice. I have a very simple one, but it is at work, I think. I'll try to upload a picture tomorrow

 

Oh! And I completely forgot about this other one that I cannot remember where I got, whether in Mexico or in Peru.

 

 

Added: I remembered I had already uploaded a picture of the other one I keep at work: it is wooden, also got it somewhere in South America, I think.

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

Very nice, and not run of the mill, like a few of mine.

I like using a letter opener. My wife don't have the patience for them.

[PAKMAN]

Mine is made from the Parker Vacumatic Golden Pearl material.

 

[dipper]

My shameful letter opener:

 

This was a gift from a family member returning to the UK from Africa in the 1970s.

Thankfully much animal trophy import into the UK is now illegal. If it were possible I would gladly return the tusk to the unfortunate Warthog, or whatever animal it rightfully belongs to.

 

The metal blade part was made in England, shipped to Africa, mounted in the tusk, and then carried back to England again. I think it is a sorry tale.

[Misfit]

I have a cheap one from Walmart.  The Texaco one I got recently on eBay in honor of my Dad. He put two Texaco items on the garage wall. One is Sky Chief, and the other is Fire Chief. 
 

The oval one makes a cut across the top of an envelope. It’s fine, but I prefer the other types like the Texaco one. 
 

[nigelg]

Here's my old and simple Stationery Office opener.

 

 

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

Packman, hell of a good use for a broken pen.

 

Dipper,

IMO you have noting to be ashamed of, that someone took very nice looking warthog ivory way back in the '60-70's. Pig is pig, and the native hunting guides got the best parts....tough parts at that, in that was a big, dangerous warthog.

It was still from the time of hunting the Big Five in Africa, so don't worry about it....nor apologize for for what wasn't a sin then.

No one knew Elephants could paint flowers...Thailand zoo, Elephant baby. Or in spite of Viagra, shaman magic in the orient works better.

I don't think it is worth throwing out, or otherwise destroying it. Appreciate it, with out feeling guilty.

 

 

Misfit, I really like that Texaco one.

Nigelg, simplicity works just fine.

 

 

 

[bsenn]

Similar to Dipper's, this one is made of some sort of horn/tusk/antler. The dots in both the horn and the brass are drilled holes into which colored plastic pegs were inserted. The silver lines on the back are strips of metal (aluminum?).  It came from a flea market. 

 

[Doug C]

Air France opener from the Concorde.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Both of them are very nice and 180 degrees out from each other.

There is more differences in letter openers than I expected.

[MissCellany]

I use the Damascus and antler blade in the attached pic as a letter opener. It works well! Used to use a tonto-tip 6" KA-Bar, but that's since been transferred to heavier household duty (like cutting up boxes). The KA-Bar in the pic lives either in my purse or in my boot, depending on the day

[Bo Bo Olson]

Ah Ha....A Ka-Bar to me is a cheaper WW2 version of a Marble Ideal knife. Marble lost the bid to make their own knife for the WW2 Government. I've had both the 5" AF Ka-Bar version first  and the 7" Marine version later. I like the shorter knife more. So it did take me having to use my eyes, in your Ka-Bar  looked nothing like I expected. Ka-Bar where??? But time moves on.

 

That Damascus and antler blade is very pretty.

 

At one time in the '60's I had a Boy Scout knife back when I didn't know what Marble was, but neither it or the Case 39 survived my teen years, and If I was in the States I'd have that leather washer again or a stag handled Case 39. (Have Finnish knives now.)

 

As a fool boy I had been disappointed neither of those two were a Bowie so neglected  having any pride in them. When one has younger brothers one never knows what happened to stuff you had 'at home'. It wasn't until later I realized how great both were.

That Ka-Bar fighting knife was a Bowie with out any weaknesses, the point couldn't be broken off as easy as a full swept clip blade.