My Latest Project, a Mid-1800s portable office

[Tsalagidave]

Although I absolutely love the primitive aspects of our hobby, I have been on a mission to demonstrate the elements of refinement people of our specific time & place had but are not often credited for having. Do you need a big cumbersome office to accompany you along the trap line or hunting buffalo hides? Probably not. However, every wagon train, every freight operation, every military campaign, every exploration of unknown land required a clerical component of their logistical system.

Past events have shown that people are fascinated by the ephemera and it has been an effective platform to recruit new members. As much as I enjoy the primitive encampment the the muzzle-loading craft, the reminders of how our frontier forefathers brought civilization with them should not be forgotten.

The portable office I use is actually almost 200 years old. Its central box is missing but it actually provides enough space for all my stuff. The documents are all ca. 1857-61 here.

The supports in the lid hold blank forms, stationery and letters that still need to be answered.

I'll post a few more in a moment.

-Dave

[Tsalagidave]

The top panel holds office glue, portable inkwell, pens, ruler pen knife, and red tape while the sliding panels reveal stamps, matches, nibs and other small items.

[Tsalagidave]

Side panels include large inkwell, ink wafers, additional lighting, wax, crucible and burner. Side latch reveals express stamps, scissors and a match safe.

[Tsalagidave]

Down in the hold is my memorandum ledger, spare forms, checkbooks, ink blotter and taped bundles of letters as well as an  1844 writer's guide for proper correspondence.

[Grenadier]

Your posts never cease to leave me with an incense feeling of jealously!

Ausgezeichnicht!

[Blair]

Jas. Townson and Son offers some very good 18th Century cooking methods.
I have just been viewing some of these and believe they would do well in this forum, as well as perhaps in the "Chuck wagon Question" forum.
Unfortunately, I don't have the ability, or know how to transfer these subjects to this forum.
Perhaps a net search will help in this regard?
My best,
Blair

[pony express]

Blair, it's easy to post the link. If you're using a good old Windows computer, you just open the page you want to link to, Right click on the address, at upper left of your screen, then select "copy" from the menu that appears, then go to where you want to post the link, left click again and select "Paste". Note that it will "paste" the link wherever the cursor happens to be when you click, even if it's in the middle of a sentence. If you're using a smartphone, I pad or other apple, I have no idea how to work those.

[Blair]

pe,

All that is great stuff to know. And in fact is exactly how it use to work until the place I want to post the info no longer offers a "paste" mode!
And that is what is happening here... no place to "paste" what I once could.
Where it went, why it went away, how to get it back??? I have no clue.
But thank you.
My best,
Blair

[pony express]

Well, when it comes to "where it went and how to get it back"......those questions are much above my meager IT skills.

And now, back to our original subject!

[Forty Rod]

Side panels include large inkwell, ink wafers, additional lighting, wax, crucible and burner. Side latch reveals express stamps, scissors and a match safe.

Second picture: what is the knife used for and what is it called.  My mother had one with ivory celluloid handle for years.  I'd like to find one similar to it.  Kept it in an old tin An-Du-Sep-Tic chalk box with some other items.

[Forty Rod]

Side panels include large inkwell, ink wafers, additional lighting, wax, crucible and burner. Side latch reveals express stamps, scissors and a match safe.

Second picture: what is the knife used for and what is it called.  My mother had one with ivory celluloid handle for years.  I'd like to find one similar to it.  Kept it in an old tin An-Du-Sep-Tic chalk box with some other items.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

There is a very simple cut 'n paste routine;

Highlight the link from the search line.  Or, if just copying a passage, highlight the passage.

Ctrl "c"  (for copy)

Ctrl "v" (for voila - there it is!) once the cursor is in the destination field.

[Tsalagidave]

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

[Books OToole]

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

Short answer: It is an eraser.

No offense intended Dave.

Books

[Tsalagidave]

LOL! None taken Books.

-Dave

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Short answer: It is an eraser.

No offense intended Dave.  Books 

I have heard that the pencil was very popular in military circles during this period. The Custer message at the Greasy Grass was written with a pencil.

http://pencils.com/pencil-history/

[Blair]

I think to be a bit more accurate these were called "ink erasers".
They removed the ink from the surface of the paper through a rubbing or slight scrapping action of the paper (parchment) surface to help make corrections in the text of what was being or had been written.

Dave,
I believe your "ink eraser" is rather early, because the handle end does not have the tapered end allowing one to open envelopes designed to contain the letter within that separate outer container.
My best,
Blair

[Tsalagidave]

You use the blade edge to open envelopes and sharpen quills. The teardrop edge is ideal for gently shaving away mistakes. This one follows a traditional design that goes back to the early century but was itself made in Bridgeport Connecticut between 1867-1880. They were traditionally called either "ink scrapers" or "pen scrapers". The earliest examples I've found have a spade-shaped blade. They are razor-sharp so it should have  a kidskin wrapped leather sheath but that's long gone so I'll need to make one during my TV time. I've seen enough originals to fabricate a suitable replacement. They fit over the entire end similar to a plastic cap on a Bic roller-pen.

[Tsalagidave]

Pencils are next on my list but the originals had a square-shaped graphite so I'll need to fabricate my own batch. I have a period label for them when I am done. The modern plain pencils are close but I want to see if I can make it a little closer.

-Dave

[Blair]

As the large blocks of natural graphite were used up they shifted to using a clay mixture with the graphite to create pencils "lead" as we know it today. # 1 through # 4.
If, you must have square pencil lead... there are places you can order these from. I can't begin to say where these places might be. Do your own search quest!
Choose what you want, and go from there, it is all well within the period of 1840 to 1865 time frame.
My best,
Blair