Knife identification help requested?

[JohnC]

I was given this knife. It was suggested that it may have been "used in a bakery to cut yeast cake as copper didnt damage the yeast".
I have no idea about it, but would like to.
The handle appears to be bone, scratches, but smooth through wear.
The 3 rivets copper.
The blade copper, no real edge, some scratches, but no evidence of sharpening.

Any ideas? It could just be a letter opener

 

[Templar]

Hi John,
had look at the knife, and showed my father (baker and chef by trade) he seems to think it is a confectioners knife, coz all the equipment used to handle sugar and sweets is made of brass and copper coz it wont stick to the copper like it dose to steel tools, also it holds the heat from the product being worked making it easier to "cut" and fold.

Hope this helps..

Karl

 

[Doc]

I've heard that flour dust can explode.

Maybe a copper blade used as less likely to cause a spark?

 

[JohnC]

Many thanks for the replies. The confectioners knife sounds interesting. I'll look around with that as a search..

 

[Naruska]

I've heard that flour dust can explode.

Nice party trick...

I think more or less any dust will "explode"...when I was in the Special Forces, we used to fling (!) handfuls of dried potato mash on a campfire...cheap giggles when you`re suffering from serious sleep deprivation Especially, when some poor bugger is trying to dry his socks by the fire...half asleep.

Marko

 

[Goose]

I've heard that flour dust can explode.

Maybe a copper blade used as less likely to cause a spark?

It can, but icing sugar works better, and smells nicer!

 

[woodwalker]

or custard powder! the flame is absolutely huge if you get it right. Apparently dust fires in old factories are quite common.

woodwalker

 

[Naruska]

We never had icing sugar in our rations...

It`s probably the size of the particle that is proportionate to the flammability...? These secondary speculations however do not pertain to the original enquiry, so therefore, I must make my excuses and exit the discussion

Marko

 

[fred gordon]

I'm just wondering if you threw all these things on the fire at once would something edible fall out of the sky?

 

[Spikey DaPikey]

I'm just wondering if you threw all these things on the fire at once would something edible fall out of the sky?

Maybe a startled bird

 

[JohnC]

My son asked "how did they invent flour and cooking?"
I said sometihng about carrying seeds and drying out stuff by the fire, but it may have been someone throwing it into the fire "to see what it burned like"

 

[demographic]

I've heard that flour dust can explode.

Stuff like Flour,Custard powder, icing sugar and almost any thing that can be burnt to leave just carbon can explode if it's suspended in the air as a dust.

My chemistry teacher at school told us that one of the bigest industrial explosions was in a custard powder factory, dunno if he was telling porkies though cos he was sometimes full of it.