I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere: Tim Greer

Showing posts with label Tim Greer. Show all posts

What Was In Sherlock Holmes's Everyday Carry? Part 3

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<b>"my general utility" [CREE] </b></h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmwQtdtJG7Nk3ABcapLcLi48Fx4PYU0mVwnTN_MoHtU74-IHuDEgNDXPONuKU8e2oK9xUH4sXcRkgZ1ztpNsTV_I71lSCrSuGxE1HLs3vNA5mGxA7i_OP12IZ8dhlSCb4otQhVkFceU-_T/s1600/batman-the-movie-shark-repellant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="640" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmwQtdtJG7Nk3ABcapLcLi48Fx4PYU0mVwnTN_MoHtU74-IHuDEgNDXPONuKU8e2oK9xUH4sXcRkgZ1ztpNsTV_I71lSCrSuGxE1HLs3vNA5mGxA7i_OP12IZ8dhlSCb4otQhVkFceU-_T/s640/batman-the-movie-shark-repellant.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>"Safety first, old chum."</i></td></tr>
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Along with the aforementioned components of Sherlock
Holmes’s everyday carry (we covered <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2017/08/what-was-in-sherlock-holmess-everyday.html#.WkyBWd-nHb0">Part 1</a> and <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2017/08/what-was-in-sherlock-holmess-everyday_25.html#.WkyBVt-nHb0">Part 2</a> here previously) are a pair of tools that seem, at first glance, conspicuously appropriate for the needs of the moment, rather like the shark
repellent on Batman’s utility belt.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Holmes often employs a
large magnifying glass at crime scenes, and its presence seems plausible, since he could have foreseen the need for such an item, as in <i>A Study in Scarlet</i> or "The Boscombe Valley Mystery."<br />
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Yet in "The Resident Patient" Holmes has
a sudden and unanticipated need for a convex glass, and promptly whips out what Watson calls “his pocket-lens.” An even more Caped-Crusader-like example is the appearance in "The Musgrave Ritual" of a “pocket-compass,” just the thing for a
treasure hunt, though not an item one would expect to find in a Londoner’s
everyday carry.<br />
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While it is true that Holmes is a confirmed
waistcoat-wearer, and that the waistcoast strengthens one’s EDC game
enormously (by a factor of two to four additional pockets), the
pocket lens and pocket compass might strain credulity, were it not
for the availability in Holmes’s day of gadgets like the one pictured below. Such
a tool would have made a nifty fob for a gentleman’s
watch-chain.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Victorian pocket lens with nesting compass, circa 1885.</i></td></tr>
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For the contemporary Sherlockian who yearns for a
Canonically inspired everyday carry, we turn our attention to today's knives,
multitools, and pocket notebooks. Without doubt, there are many worthy
candidates that would fit the bill – so many that I shall stick to only a few
currently available items that I have owned and used, and have found to be
excellent.<br />
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<b>The Pocket-Book/Notebook</b></div>
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<a href="https://www.bigskinny.net/">Big Skinny</a> makes a bifold wallet called the Leather Hipster,
a billfold which, despite its distressing name, is a practical wonder. It fits business cards, credit cards, ID’s, passports, Rite in the Rain notebooks, square-cut A2 envelopes, and
U.S. and international currency, yet remains wonderfully thin and flat. Add a
flexible golf pencil or a Fisher space pen, and you’re ready for action.</div>
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<h3>
<b>Knives and Multi-tools</b></h3>
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The EDC cutting tool must be lightweight, flat, and properly
contoured, lest it soon be left at home. The options here presented offer varying levels of utility and demand varying levels of accommodation, but all
fall within the boundaries of “useful enough to be worth it” and “handy enough to
be sensible.” (This is the military “firepower vs. mobility”
equation: more firepower equals less mobility, and vice versa.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Single Option: Victorinox Outrider</b></div>
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Hands down my favorite Swiss Army Knife, the Outrider is not
perfect, but it offers the best balance of capability versus bulk,
while ticking all the boxes for a Sherlockian pocketknife. In its tool set are a large locking blade, a saw, scissors, a
deep-reach Phillips screwdriver, a can opener/Phillips screwdriver, a bottle
opener/flathead screwdriver/wire stripper, a corkscrew, a drill/lacing tool, a
toothpick, tweezers, a mini-flathead screwdriver, and a lanyard ring. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s missing only a small
blade and one-hand opening capability for the large blade.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Length: 111mm</div>
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Weight: 132g<o:p></o:p></div>
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Canonicity: ****<o:p></o:p><br />
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<b>Dual Option: Spyderco Endura IV and Leatherman Juice
CS4</b><br />
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Offering a small blade and one-hand opening capability, along
with a noteworthy bonus, this pairing is worth considering. The
Spyderco Endura IV boasts a versatile blade, a powerful lock, Zytel scales, and a pocket clip (removed in this example). The “Spydey-hole”
enables one-hand deployment, and the knife is astonishingly flat and light.
When closed, its rounded contours make it a comfortable fit for any pocket, but
should you desire a smaller option, the Endura’s little brother, the Delica,
awaits your summons.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Length: 127mm</div>
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Weight: 96g<o:p></o:p></div>
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Canonicity: ***<o:p></o:p></div>
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Speaking of rounded contours, the <b>Leatherman Juice CS4
multi-tool</b> is football shaped when shut, but boasts many features of the
Victorinox Outrider (bottle and can opener, corkscrew, drill, saw, scissors, assorted
screwdrivers) along with two features of its own: a small sheep-foot blade and a
pair of pliers with an on-board wire cutter. (Multi-tools fall into two categories: plier-led and knife-led, hence the compromise of the CS4 lies in
accepting a blade that would be insufficient on its own, in return for gaining the bonus of an
excellent pair of small pliers.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Length: 83mm</div>
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Weight: 159g<o:p></o:p></div>
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Canonicity: ***<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Formal Wear Option: Victorinox Compact</b></div>
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The 91mm-sized Swiss Army Knives are available in a dizzying array of
models, and each fan is likely to have a
favorite iteration that has done him or her great service over the years.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">A veteran of many an archaeological dig, this refurbished 91mm Victorinox Ranger </span><span style="text-align: center;">Camping </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">model would surely have won the approval of Sherlock Holmes. </span><span style="text-align: center;">From the collection of </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;"><b>Dana Cameron, BSI</b> ("The Giant Rat of Sumatra").</span></div>
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But of all the medium-sized Swiss Army knives, the Compact is the one I
have carried most often. To gain its increased mobility, we trade away the
firepower of the saw, the locking blade, and the drill, but we retain a tool
set that is a marvel of Swiss engineering. </div>
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Once you examine the size and weight, you may agree that there is no reason for not carrying this little
knife wherever it may be allowed. The components of the Compact are a medium blade, scissors, corkscrew, mini-screwdriver, toothpick, tweezer, and
the remarkable combo tool (available on very few Victorinox knives, it opens
cans and bottles, strips wire, and drives both flathead and Phillips screws).
Two more noteworthy features nestle under the scales: a stainless steel straight
pin (tack messages to boards, obtain fresh blood for bloodstain tests, etc.) and a small ballpoint ink pen. <o:p></o:p><br />
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Length: 91mm</div>
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Weight: 64.5g<o:p></o:p></div>
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Canonicity: ***</div>
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<b>Keychain Option: The Leatherman Squirt PS4</b></div>
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“Rome wasn’t built in a day” – not with a Leatherman Squirt,
anyway. This minuscule tool features a pair of pliers with a wirecutter,
a Phillips screwdriver, a bottle opener/flathead screwdriver, a pair of
scissors, a file, and a small blade. </div>
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Do these pliers hold a candle to the
pliers in the Leatherman Juice? No. Does the bottle opener work? Sort of. But
the file, which can double as a hacksaw, is surprisingly good, and the blade,
while small enough to be called a scalpel, is excellent, considering the
diminutive size and feather weight of this tool. Pair it with a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Streamlight-73001-Miniature-Keychain-Flashlight/dp/B0011UIPIW">Streamlight Nano</a> for extra keychain utility.</div>
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Length: 51mm</div>
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Weight: 56.4g<o:p></o:p></div>
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Canonicity: **<o:p></o:p></div>
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<h3>
<b>“the look of my stick” [MISS]</b></h3>
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We turn at last to Canonical combatives, or self-defense. Holmes
and Watson tussle with evil-doers of various shapes and kinds, in
defensive encounters for which the doctor’s army background and the detective’s
expertise at sword, single-stick, and slugfest have prepared them. (The stories
are called “Adventures,” after all.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_QyIxD5hCGfA45eQy74VZ6GYmD14vZciCgmTZyLsfwP10Oy1kv4xyCeZV2zvhaVmUzb0WBZkAuwAHJWQ6qOHWkwLniN9awHFfhIe0JrnF1Eo31JxoFemrEhRcfo_0FYeA1Csm66umUcQl/s1600/ILLU+-+Elcock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="296" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_QyIxD5hCGfA45eQy74VZ6GYmD14vZciCgmTZyLsfwP10Oy1kv4xyCeZV2zvhaVmUzb0WBZkAuwAHJWQ6qOHWkwLniN9awHFfhIe0JrnF1Eo31JxoFemrEhRcfo_0FYeA1Csm66umUcQl/s400/ILLU+-+Elcock.jpg" width="394" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>"Just another day at the office, what?"</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The occupational realities of Holmes’s
work expose him to several murderous attacks, by knife, dart, air-gun, pistol,
stick, vehicle, falling stone, and so on, and he responds with an arsenal of
defensive tools – so many that it is difficult to single out one for his EDC. At various times, Holmes defends himself and others with empty hands, rocks, sticks, chloroform, and
one or more pocket-sized firearms. Thankfully, few of us will experience even
one felonious attack in our lifetimes, but the readiness is all, and the best
weapon to have in any fight is absence, as defined below.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>absence</b>: (<i>n.</i>) being gone; the quality of not
getting into a fight in the first place </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In pursuit of that quality, the old
Sherlockian virtue of <i>awareness</i> – observation and inference – is paramount. It
buys us time to react and escape, and it keeps us clear of danger.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But we also do well to have a
defensive plan and skill set, and we are wise to include in our EDC some tool from a catch-all category encompassing all of Holmes’s choices: force multipliers. A force multiplier is anything that enables us to act more decisively and more quickly, and from farther away.<br />
<br />
The proper one for your EDC is likely to vary with your skills, confidence, and situation, just as it did for Watson and Holmes. There is no one-size-fits-all option, but there are contemporary correlations: Holmes often had occasion to employ his sticks, whether the full-length walking stick or the shorter hunting crop, and durable modern sticks are made by <a href="https://unbreakableumbrella.com/">Unbreakable Umbrella</a>. The great detective incapacitated Von Bork with a chemical agent in "His Last Bow"; <a href="https://www.sabrered.com/">Sabre Red</a> produces an effective line of parallel products for our time, complete with practice cartridges. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here we conclude this investigation of the everyday carry of
Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one from which I hope you have derived both enjoyment and
instruction. If you have Sherlockian EDC adventures of your own to share,
please post below or contact us at comment AT ihearofsherlock DOT com. We look forward to hearing
from you!</div>
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What Was In Sherlock Holmes's Everyday Carry? Part 3

"my general utility" [CREE] "Safety first, old chum." Along with the aforementioned components of Sherlock Holme...

+ Read more »

by Tim Greer

What Was in Sherlock Holmes's Everyday Carry? Part 2

<h4 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b>"transfixed by a jack-knife" [MUSG]</b></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbLfY9R3bG-UgjhdVMS1U0sehpXhxZ9jAm2sgmwrISQ8yoZ9pzZcV4RiY4kk5VOd76Gbxes9Zop3dyMFto2kd6kpud-hjKdu-a_79S9GQWt9dj9bYFLfAb9OKOPxe0sZBQXyrEhafL37wI/s1600/ThornhillGrahamVR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="447" data-original-width="640" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbLfY9R3bG-UgjhdVMS1U0sehpXhxZ9jAm2sgmwrISQ8yoZ9pzZcV4RiY4kk5VOd76Gbxes9Zop3dyMFto2kd6kpud-hjKdu-a_79S9GQWt9dj9bYFLfAb9OKOPxe0sZBQXyrEhafL37wI/s640/ThornhillGrahamVR.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i>In <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2017/08/what-was-in-sherlock-holmess-everyday.html" target="_blank">the first installment of this feature</a>, we began our investigation into the everyday carry habits of Mr. Sherlock Holmes.Having verified his use of the pocket notebook and pencil, the portable light source, and the compact fire kit, we continue with our examination of the great detective’s pocket knife. </i><br />
<br />
With his knife, Holmes performs tasks as delicate as collecting samples of exotic poisons and as robust as assailing iron-barred shutters. If the same knife is used for both tasks, we may surmise that it has more than one blade. Such a knife would align with the thinking of leading outdoor writers of Holmes’s day like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Kephart" target="_blank">Horace Kephart</a>, who favored large jack-knives with two to three blades of varying sizes and shapes, the smallest of which, according to his <i><a href="http://scoutmastercg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/campingwoodcraft.pdf" target="_blank">Camping and Woodcraft</a></i> (1916), should be kept sharp and clean “for such surgery as you may have to perform.” (Needs must when the Devil drives.) For my part, I could be content with a four-inch spear- or clip-point main blade accompanied by a two-inch sheep-foot or Wharncliffe secondary blade.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfn3jV4D2OZYqcX0HW_tBgiIq5HLzr_qYHFI3Y8PEB9xyCOsuoGKBZZ4qzjKiTRWjnTNocjqJlWkSrjKdUnbbLxPOIW2rfwrb3EIJ1J6pFnFChXVs9hCTQKUbMhJX6DSh6VY-MXzonqL1e/s1600/blade-shape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="138" data-original-width="302" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfn3jV4D2OZYqcX0HW_tBgiIq5HLzr_qYHFI3Y8PEB9xyCOsuoGKBZZ4qzjKiTRWjnTNocjqJlWkSrjKdUnbbLxPOIW2rfwrb3EIJ1J6pFnFChXVs9hCTQKUbMhJX6DSh6VY-MXzonqL1e/s400/blade-shape.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXemSSpRdUl5eCLO-a4Q0wOaBr6Fo1riVyc8y7GW98wI7_rLysjQDkr5GNVLAG2ZVYquCWLn40lQPZc3ZSZVsap1bCt35yXZHBEgi4oKjsyV3vugtG2w8SZ0nCmo8otx9zavjX_JjfaL2D/s1600/SHwharn1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="291" data-original-width="400" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXemSSpRdUl5eCLO-a4Q0wOaBr6Fo1riVyc8y7GW98wI7_rLysjQDkr5GNVLAG2ZVYquCWLn40lQPZc3ZSZVsap1bCt35yXZHBEgi4oKjsyV3vugtG2w8SZ0nCmo8otx9zavjX_JjfaL2D/s400/SHwharn1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jeremy Brett's Holmes uses the classic English </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Wharncliffe blade in Granada's "The Devil's Foot."</span></td></tr>
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We might infer a few more features of Holmes’s knife. Take, for example, this much-debated passage from “The Abbey Grange”:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“This bottle was opened by a pocket-screw, probably contained in a knife, and not more than an inch and a half long…. When you catch this fellow you will find that he has one of these multiplex knives in his possession.”</blockquote>
<br />
One of “these” multiplex knives, not one of “those” multiplex knives: does the phrasing indicate that Holmes has drawn an example of such a knife from his own pocket while speaking? Perhaps a visit to Dartmoor will prove instructive...<br />
<br />
<h4>
<b>The Man on the Tor, or, Camping with Sherlock Holmes</b></h4>
In the eleventh chapter of <i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i>, Dr. Watson tracks down the mysterious watcher who has been lurking among the stone huts of ancient man that stand upon the moor, and who turns out to be (<b><i>SPOILER ALERT</i></b>) Sherlock Holmes. Watson’s reconnoiter of Holmes’s campsite may lead us to one or two conclusions about Holmes’s pocketknife:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“The ashes of a fire were heaped in a rude grate. Beside it lay some cooking utensils and a bucket half-full of water. A litter of empty tins showed that the place had been occupied for some time, and I saw, as my eyes became accustomed to the checkered light, a pannikin and a half-full bottle of spirits standing in the corner. In the middle of the hut a flat stone served the purpose of a table, and upon this stood a small cloth bundle…. It contained a loaf of bread, a tinned tongue, and two tins of preserved peaches.”</blockquote>
<br />
Thus, I deduce three more features of Holmes’s knife: a saw, a can opener, and a corkscrew. At the risk of stating the obvious, fire needs fuel, and fuel must be processed; of the likely sources of fuel for the fire in Holmes’s rude grate – peat, coal, or wood – foraged deadwood is the most likely. A peat shovel would surely have caught Watson’s eye as he surveyed the contents of the hut, and coal would need to be packed in by Holmes’s assistant, young Cartwright. Yet we are told throughout the novel of the ready supply of wood at every turn; indeed, Watson notes a log-fire burning at Baskerville Hall itself.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ8VlzAwphigtQLc3qefMycVbPfj4ijHPg02GwAAYRpM2IbUafxn3L3Cv13YtUU1pRdSn4DTWtGA3FcWJDd0IdyBAyFsA5TlGtD8oDleAu2fSqqmt6mMUtwe1hML4nReAQdmK43k_5ly98/s1600/Rodgers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="640" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ8VlzAwphigtQLc3qefMycVbPfj4ijHPg02GwAAYRpM2IbUafxn3L3Cv13YtUU1pRdSn4DTWtGA3FcWJDd0IdyBAyFsA5TlGtD8oDleAu2fSqqmt6mMUtwe1hML4nReAQdmK43k_5ly98/s640/Rodgers.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Victorian camp knife with robust saw by Joseph Rodgers</td></tr>
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Furthermore, tins need opening, if one is to enjoy a delicious (?) meal of peaches and tongue, and that requires a tin opener. True, the opener might be among the “cooking utensils” mentioned, but it seems like a superfluous thing to bring along when it so handily fits into a knife, and the backpacker's maxim always applies: "Laugh about ounces; cry about pounds." It is likewise true that one may open a can of peaches (or a can of tongue, for that matter) with the blade of a knife, opener notwithstanding, but we know Holmes takes better care of his equipment than to do such a thing.<br />
<br />
Now to the controversial corkscrew: prior to the invention of the bottle cap in 1892 Baltimore, almost all bottles were corked, and spirits were shipped with driven corks, as were wines, so a corkscrew was required to open the bottle. (See period literature, such as <i>Life and Liberty in America</i> by Charles Mackay; or, consult <i>World Whiskey</i>, edited by Charles MacLean.) And what do we find in the stone hut upon the moor? Sherlock Holmes is camping in rough conditions far from home, but among the few comforts to be seen is a half-full bottle of spirits. If not conclusive, it is at least suggestive.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCPpcKtcHYp8lta37rRu4k1F344okMWekV4eNDLva0eSALHbbj-adcrNj6oWG0SEeP5Lnck3pzWkydE5hyphenhyphen_ImPWfz1SV3-Bq5nz6ocaan46Rc9Gs3oRvzRzfuzaa8nnwW4yH6TdGeapeux/s1600/1880sWusthofSolingen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="298" data-original-width="400" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCPpcKtcHYp8lta37rRu4k1F344okMWekV4eNDLva0eSALHbbj-adcrNj6oWG0SEeP5Lnck3pzWkydE5hyphenhyphen_ImPWfz1SV3-Bq5nz6ocaan46Rc9Gs3oRvzRzfuzaa8nnwW4yH6TdGeapeux/s640/1880sWusthofSolingen.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">1880's Wusthof pocket knife, made in Solingen. Note large </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">and small blades, pen blade with custom screwdriver tip, </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">saw, (damaged) scissors, tin opener, awl, and corkscrew.</span></div>
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Where and when would Sherlock Holmes acquire such a knife? His scamper through Switzerland in May of 1891 takes him near the heart of the emerging and soon-to-be global phenomenon of the Swiss Army Knife, but Karl Elsener’s firm delivered the first order of his soldier’s knives to the Swiss government in October of that year, and corkscrews began to appear on Victorinox SAK’s only in 1897. At any rate, even Sherlockian chronologists agree that the Baskerville business predates the Reichenbach ruckus, so we must look elsewhere for Holmes’s wonder-knife. We must look back home, perhaps no farther than one block south of the Wigmore Street Post Office and just around the corner from Watson’s tobacconist in Oxford Street, to the firm of <a href="http://www.antiquebox.org/thornhill/" target="_blank">Thornhill & Co.</a>, in New Bond Street, purveyors of the world-famous Sheffield cutlery since 1734.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyh0PeHxEIdvarhyH2yrZwhAAufliqYT4c7BwQyirUYYsUierGkJBLo4Fr9h8TwFDqYW6oaEC1ulqCfsYR2idm6NVpLXrTtA18EiDjxP5UF0LTJSl9lZ882YeJLWLcKvSGQQ06rZASNzyS/s1600/Thornhill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="640" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyh0PeHxEIdvarhyH2yrZwhAAufliqYT4c7BwQyirUYYsUierGkJBLo4Fr9h8TwFDqYW6oaEC1ulqCfsYR2idm6NVpLXrTtA18EiDjxP5UF0LTJSl9lZ882YeJLWLcKvSGQQ06rZASNzyS/s640/Thornhill.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thornhill's eminently Sherlockian trademark</td></tr>
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<br />
Along with Joseph Rodgers, George Wostenholm, and a few others, the Thornhill firm made up the front rank of the Sheffield knife industry, famous since the time of Chaucer; they had few rivals for quality in the world, outside the German town of Solingen, with its own famous names like <a href="https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/catalog/6417-gust-haker-solingen-germany-pearl-corkscrew-knife" target="_blank">Haker</a> and <a href="http://www.wuesthof.com/germany/index.jsp" target="_blank">Wusthof</a>. The Sheffield houses had been producing multiplex knives, often on a bespoke basis, for over a century by Holmes’s time; the existence of such knives is noted by Herman Melville in <i>Moby-Dick</i> in 1851 when he compares the <i>Pequod's</i> carpenter to one of those highly useful<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Sheffield contrivances, assuming the exterior - though a little swelled - of a common pocket knife; but containing, not only blades of various sizes, but also screw-drivers, cork-screws, tweezers, awls, pens, rulers, nail-filers, [and] countersinkers."</blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAzpxMAKnnBldm93aUxbZj28NaD3MMV-vhGxnP59CoeCqHjlH-pLFgKK45y7djdIz2KL2KQZ9aXFqol06-eZL-5cxwoGl_ZfkdDL2h0cDiuXiGolkkwSxKvlyZkTPHXC7P-2oyhRO0c7lF/s1600/WostenholmIXLcoachknife.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAzpxMAKnnBldm93aUxbZj28NaD3MMV-vhGxnP59CoeCqHjlH-pLFgKK45y7djdIz2KL2KQZ9aXFqol06-eZL-5cxwoGl_ZfkdDL2h0cDiuXiGolkkwSxKvlyZkTPHXC7P-2oyhRO0c7lF/s640/WostenholmIXLcoachknife.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sheffield knives could be had for virtually any need, like this Wostenholm coachman's knife, sporting the "IXL" trademark ("I excel") and a wraparound hoof pick.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
In our upcoming and <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2018/01/what-was-in-sherlock-holmess-everyday.html">final installment</a>, we shall examine the remaining items of Holmes's everyday carry and consider the contemporary Sherlockian's EDC options.</div>
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