Background Harvesting skin grafts is an essential skin for plastic surgeons. There is a wide a range of instruments and techniques that can be used to harvest skin grafts. Instruments can broadly be divided into free hand knives and dermatomes. This is a graphic summary of the various free hand knives that have been developed for this purpose throughout history *each date / name is accompanied by a photograph or diagram of the innovation* Free hand knives Timeline: 600 BC Susruta, free hand harvest 1869 Reverdin the “pinch graft” scissors 1872 Ollier-Thiersch the straight razor 1907 Hofmann, guard with screw adjustment 1909 Blair, Catlin, Ferris-Smith, knives with long blades 1934 Humby, adjustable depth and rectangular frame 1936 Humby, modified graft cutting razor, without rectangular frame 1949 Bodenham, the replaceable blade 1955 Braithwaite, the oscillating roller 1956 Silver, razor-blade holder for small grafts 1960 Watson, the smooth roller and eccentric control rod 1968 Cobbet D section modification to Braithwaite Conclusion An understanding of how free hand knives have evolved throughout history is important for future innovations References Ameer, F., Singh, A. K., & Kumar, S. (2013). Evolution of instruments for harvest of the skin grafts. Indian journal of plastic surgery : official publication of the Association of Plastic Surgeons of India, 46(1), 28–35. https://doi.org/10.4103/0970-0358.113704