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Additional
information about penknives
A penknife or pen knife
is a small folding pocket knife, originally used for cutting a quill to
make a pen nib. It may have single or multiple blades and additional
tools incorporated into the design.Over the last hundred years there
has been a proliferation of multi-function knives with multifarious and
often ingenious gadgets including awls, reamers, scissors, nail files,
corkscrews, tweezers, toothpicks and so on.
The tradition continues
with the incorporation of modern devices such as ballpoint pens, LED
torches and USB flash drives. The most famous example of a
multi-function knife is the Swiss Army knife, some versions of which
number dozens of functions and are really more of a folding multi-tool,
incorporating a blade or two, than a penknife with extras.
A
larger folding knife, especially one where the blade locks into place,
is often called a claspknife.Anecdotes about penknives often refer to
the idea that the knife includes attachments whose purpose is
mysterious and improbable, for example something for "removing stones
from a horse's hoof", probably referring to the spike or awl commonly
found in multi-blade knives.
A
proper hoof pick (a very necessary tool
for removing stones which could cause lameness) is, however, a blunt,
strong hook which would hardly fit conveniently into a small pocket
knife.
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