Pinking shears are a common accessory of sewing, cutting a saw-toothed edge on fabric to prevent it from raveling. It has been used for decorative edges on ribbons, and for bow making.
I have to admit that I was never very good at using pinking shears, either because I didn't know how to use them or what I had was so dull they just wouldn't cut. I ruined projects when I tried to use them, because instead of cutting a clean edge, the shear just chewed up the edge of the fabric. I've had this experience with new shears, re-conditioned shears and old shears. I even have a pair that is too heavy to use and it is almost instant hand pain to even try.
Well, I found a vintage tool on e-bay recently called a Florian Pinker that makes the task of cutting a pinked edge on fabric enjoyable. The Florian Pinker resembles a pair of shears in that it has 2 handles and the action is scissor-like, but there the resemblance stops. This Pinker has a fluted wheel that does the cutting, and it has a large smooth chromed wheel that the fluted wheel works against to do the cutting. It cuts like a dream. No hand stress and just zips right thru fabric. This is a well-engineered tool, you can tell that alot of thought went into designing it.
I found this picture of it so that you could see what it looked like http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/florianpinker.php. (I haven't done business with this company so I'm not recommending them, this is strictly for the picture.)
Also a month ago I found, in an antique shop, an American Pinker. This one does the same function of pinking fabric edges, but it clamps to a table edge and turns with a hand crank. It is very heavy, made of cast-iron and steel. It has the same fluted wheel design, and has a little steel platform to hold up the fabric as it cuts. I think this must be fairly old, I haven't yet found information on it doing an internet search. But it still works as if it were new. I was thrilled to find it in the antique shop, and this makes another addition to my "going green" hand-crank tool collection.
Edey
