Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

katana · 6th November 2008, 08:59 AM

Hi
I did have another idea....but thought it would make the knife younger than everyone seems to think. However, I've learnt that my 'new' suggestion would still place this in the 19th C .

What if the 'end' of the knife is a 'can opener', the French produced canned food for the military .....but the 'can opener' was not 'invented until some 30 years later !!!! Often bayonets were used to open them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannery

and from another source....
".....by 1810 Englishman Peter Durance had taken the process a step further and sealed food in tin-plated, wrought iron containers. The soldiers who won the Battle of Waterloo five years later were nourished with the first tin cans.

But they were very thick and almost impossible to open without a hammer and chisel. Soldiers used knives, bayonets or even rocks, sometimes suffering serious injuries.

It wasn't until 1858 that the can opener was invented and having a plate of veg no longer meant risking chopping your leg off......"

Knife....military...19thC.....French ? British ?.....campaign knife.....can opener

Mystery solved

Regards David

.

6th November 2008, 08:59 AM	#38
katana Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Kent Posts: 2,653	Hi I did have another idea....but thought it would make the knife younger than everyone seems to think. However, I've learnt that my 'new' suggestion would still place this in the 19th C . What if the 'end' of the knife is a 'can opener', the French produced canned food for the military .....but the 'can opener' was not 'invented until some 30 years later !!!! Often bayonets were used to open them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannery and from another source.... ".....by 1810 Englishman Peter Durance had taken the process a step further and sealed food in tin-plated, wrought iron containers. The soldiers who won the Battle of Waterloo five years later were nourished with the first tin cans. But they were very thick and almost impossible to open without a hammer and chisel. Soldiers used knives, bayonets or even rocks, sometimes suffering serious injuries. It wasn't until 1858 that the can opener was invented and having a plate of veg no longer meant risking chopping your leg off......" Knife....military...19thC.....French ? British ?.....campaign knife.....can opener Mystery solved Regards David . Attached Images