pen knife
Contrary to the actual words, a pen knife is like a Swiss Army Knife but with only 2 blades -- a big one at one end and a little one at the other end, that fold into the handle. ...Boys & men would carry them in their pockets in case they had to sharpen a pencil or play a quick game of mumblety peg, scrape some chalk off a pastel stick, or other chore around the house. In other words, a "pocket knife" (Is that term still in use? I feel like Methuselah !) J. On Mon, 7 Jan 2008, Dave S wrote: It is sort of fun to read old articles. For example, to make the powder for the process, the articles say you can scrap pastel with "pen kr ife." I checked the article. It looks like it does say that, but I think it probably means "pen knife." The author probably wrote the article by hand, and perhaps the typsettor didn't understand the writing. But what is a "pen knife?" I am guessing it must be something like what we call X-Acto knife today if it is used for scrapping pastel to make powder. But that is just my interpretation. Reading old articles (or any article) always involves some interpretation.
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