Thread: Rodgers , "blood letting " tool ..

opened up my ebay page and this just happened to pop up on a BIN !! and buy it now I did !! kinda a cool thing if you really go back and look into the history of blood letting and where , when , and why it was done .. I read an article that some believe that George Washington's death may have been related to being bled to the point of severe weakness ...

one of the things that I can appreciate even more is that some one had initials carved into the tool and not a home job like we see so often in our razors , but looks like it was professionally done leading me to believe that this was a cherished tool in the owners bag

Would make a dandy snurdle!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Would make a dandy snurdle!

specially the non-business end as it is flat like a shoe horn ..

I dunno! The business end still looks pretty darn sharp! If that thing could only talk!

Thank you for the photo! Nice!
It may be a "fleam" for bloodletting. You do not give the size. I would surmise, though, that it is a tool for erasing ink, by scraping, from vellum paper. those cutting surfaces/ point were about 7/16th wide x 1/2 inch + long. We had them in similar shapes when I started drafting in the 50's. If so, it would have been a skilled draftsman/ architect's favorite tool.
Nice find for sure!
~Richard

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I dunno! The business end still looks pretty darn sharp! If that thing could only talk!

was thinking about that earlier !! like how much blood has this thing spilled ..lol..

I saw some of the letting jars and thought about getting a few as there cheaper in price , but the down side was that most were in Europe and the shipping was more then the jars , but now I have more to keep my eye out for at the antique malls ..

Originally Posted by Geezer

Thank you for the photo! Nice!
It may be a "fleam" for bloodletting. You do not give the size. I would surmise, though, that it is a tool for erasing ink, by scraping, from vellum paper. those cutting surfaces/ point were about 7/16th wide x 1/2 inch + long. We had them in similar shapes when I started drafting in the 50's. If so, it would have been a skilled draftsman/ architect's favorite tool.
Nice find for sure!
~Richard

I have found 2 of them in online searches that describe J.Rodgers knife scalpel /blood letting tool with a double edged tip , one shows an image of the exact blade type but has a cylinder shaped handle and the other with no description of the handle .. I had thought , about it being what you described after one of the other threads on a similar knife/blade .. defiantly more research is at hand on my part ..

blade is 9/16 W in center and from tip to brass collar is 1 14/16 and edge length from tip to end of cutting edge is 11/16

this is one .. this one in the image is pretty much exact as far as shape and box .. still interesting to find its real purpose though
https://www.google.com/search?q=imag...2F%3B570%3B427

I bet Richard has it. With the fancy monogram and all. Now I recollect seeing them in fancy old drafting sets. Still would spill some blood, I bet!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I bet Richard has it. With the fancy monogram and all. Now I recollect seeing them in fancy old drafting sets. Still would spill some blood, I bet!

ya I think so too .. but I keep finding mixed results ..lol.. and it makes my mind wonder even more and more to find the answer ..lol.. most of the metical sites don't share to much as far as images go but and give vague descriptions at best .. unless you are talking about the veterinary ones .. those are all over the place ..lol

you would think a blood letter or fleam tool would be much smaller in size but then you see the animal ones and you wonder how the critter didn't die ..

The other Richard agrees with the first Richard. It is an ink scraper for use on drafting vellum to make corrections. Used before the advent of thinner drafting paper that was no where close to the old vellums. And also the advent of electric erasers made them collectable items. I think I have one or two floating around somewhere in my flotsam and jetsam of old employment dertritus.