A Kid's Pocket!

waynorth

waynorth

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Nov 19, 2005
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Even when I was a young boy, I was a collector. Drove my Mom nuts, washing miscellaneous objects in the washing machine!!:eek::)
Stuff as insignificant as an interesting stick or rusty nail, or as precious as a found penny, or (gasp) a nickel!!:D
Sometimes a found "something" made you feel rich and special, and lucky!!
This thread is meant, hopefully, to give a little tribute to those days OH so long ago!!
(For me, I was 6 years old almost 70 years ago!!)
Knife content; an old (arched) Shapleigh's tang with the fading handle-stamp
"EVERY BOY" knife. Adult steel on this one:cool:, takes a keen edge!!
Please post a knife a young person would like, and maybe add some things you would have treasured, back in the day!!:rolleyes::DKid stuff Shap 1.jpg Kid stuff Shap 2.jpg
 
Great idea for a thread, Charlie. :cool::thumbsup:
Remembering my childhood is one of the reasons I'm so drawn to pocket knives.
When I was younger I was into the outdoors, fantasy, adventure, sci-fi, and of course pocket knives.
I guess after all tjis time, not too much has changed for me. I still like all that stuff and still carry a pocket knife.
I was drawn to the cheaper knives, perhaps like this Case Boys Knife, because it was all I could afford.

 
A few years ago, we were getting our Mothers estate straightened out, and the family was organising stuff at the house, getting ready for auction. Mom was a very neat person, so the job was fairly easy.

We found alot of neat stuff stashed away that we never thought we'd ever see again. One of the most interesting, to me at least, was a large old cigar box full of pocket knives that my son, who was 35 at the time, brought down from the attic. It contained all the knives that me & my one brother "lost" when we were young. When Mom found something laying around where it shouldn't be, it got "lost." The box had mostly Barlows & electrician knives, because that's what the local hardware & farm stores sold. Many of them had our initials crudely scratched onto the handles.

My brother & I looked them over a few minutes & decided "finders keepers" & just gave them to my boy. Now they're stashed away in his attic, I guess.
 
For me, I drooled over a SAK for what seemed like years at the BX before my grandpa got me one. Also got me a leather belt sheath to keep it in. It came raw so he dyed it black and that was probably the longest weekend of my life waiting for it to dry.

Still have the knife and the sheath. I remember spending a long time staring at the Case and Schrade display cases at the hardware stores but that SAK was my dream.

I've been a collector of something as long as I can remember.

First rocks and coins, then I moved to baseball cards, and onto Pez dispensers.

These days it's just pocket knives and trucks that I collect.

So far my the affliction has passed at least to my oldest, youngest two are both to early to know yet.

 
Great idea Charlie. Here’s a good group of what my pockets might have looked like. A wire jack, what else. A lucky Indian head penny, a rock (why not?), a magnifier, a film can to hold who knows what, a seashell and a pink spaldeen (Spalding). I subbed a super ball for the photo.C99E09ED-EEA4-404C-B8DB-5D51DBC91D77.jpeg
 
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Ah, to dream about being a boy again. Camping in a cheap pup tent, cooking a hobo meal wrapped in foil on coals, waking up and not needing coffee to get motivated to start your day. :D Good thread idea, Charlie. :thumbsup:
My oldest grandson has been going with my wife and I to primitive archery rendezvous since he was 6, he's 11 now. There are two of these events in Michigan that we attend each year and my grandson quickly made a camp buddy that he gets to romp through the woods with for 4-5 days at each of these outings. Unfortunately the one held in May was canceled this year due to the virus but the August event looks like it is still on.
Last year, after checking with the grandparents of the buddy, I got a couple camper style knives for the boys. I think they enjoyed toting them from
their belt loops on the leather lanyards I had attached. They got to do some whittling, cut some marshmallow sticks and eat camp meals with the
attached fork and spoon. :)
They did get a short lesson on knife safety and I can happily report that no stitches or even band-aids were needed.

Nate & Brody - 1.jpg camper knives - 1.jpeg
 
I've mentioned before that I didn't grow up with slipjoints. The first I ever owned was a Laguiole that I bought when I was 26. Nope, traditional to me meant balisongs, or butterfly knives. Those were the pocketknives from my childhood, the ones that the men had and only sometimes carried. A couple of times I got lucky and convinced someone to teach me a trick.

I don't consider myself a collector, and that goes back to my childhood. Once in a while I would find something special that I would then set aside. When I was a boy I remember coming upon a quarter with my birth year. I thought that was really cool and had it for a long time, only losing it during college when I was unable to come up with enough change to finish my laundry. :confused: I still haven't replaced the quarter, but this silver dollar from that same year is a worthy placeholder.

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Always wanted a Pickup Truck it seems, and have had many!!
And a half-dozen Books! I guess a lucky boy or girl would own a Case!!
Didn't know what a Case knife was until my late teens though!! I guess they weren't that popular in Buffalo, back in the 1950s!!:rolleyes::DTruck book 1.jpg Truck book 2.jpg
 
PJGskCr.jpg

The knife looks like my first one, but I think my knife was a little better constructed. I loved that knife. Was probably 9 or 10 when my father gave it to me.

I read a lot of comic books in the 1960's. I remember buying this issue in 1968 (the one pictured is a copy I bought much later, but I remember buying this specific one).

I have always loved coins too. Never collected them seriously, just got or kept ones I liked. I've had that 1908 British penny for over 50 years. The buffalo nickel is from 1930, the year my father was born. The other nickel is from WWII--it might be steel. Seems different than other nickels. The dime is from the 1940's, and the US penny is one of several wheatbacks I have.

And baseball cards! I don't still have the ones from my childhood, but I still buy cards. Not a serious collector, though. Just for fun. Kinda how I am with knives. No safe queens, no expensive investments, not looking to flip them. Just slowly accumulating ones I like, and using most of them at one time or other.
 
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As a kid I would of loved to have any of these knives, especially the Peanut.
I grew up reading Marvel, DC , and Harvey comics all through the 70’s.

I still love reading comics today even.
There was the coin shop at our local farmers market that my Pop-Pop would take me to every weekend and they had a 25 cent gumball machine that would give you a couple Indian head pennies, a decent buffalo nickel, or a worn Mercury dime.

At the age of 7 I had a semi decent coin collection.
Then we would go to the newsstand where you could get dime comics with the covers cut off.
They also had a 25 cent boxes where I got lots of old stuff from the 60’s.
Fun times.
 
If only I knew then what I know now...
My only other collection apart from knives is Ladybird Books...I probably have the largest collection in Australia....anyone daring to challenge that bold claim will be immediately tagged ubernerd.
Still have the first book I ever owned ...Dad gave it to me when I was 5...hot off the presses in 1969 and how could I not want the next ones? I have other copies but this well thumbed spineless one is my original...as anyone can see....
The belt sheath I had made around 1978 by the Saddlemaker in Sutherland NSW where I grew up ..The Angler replaced the knockoff SAK which was its original inhabitant
20200703-130215.jpg

20200703-130353.jpg

Ladybirds are experiencing a renaissance with these fatuous humour versions..
20200703-130653.jpg

Although the originals are better because they are authentically politically incorrect.
 
hornetguy said:
I think the nickel is silver. They made pennies from steel during the war, but I don't think any nickels were steel. There were silver nickels, though... I just don't remember the years they were made.
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Thanks! It's a 1943 P, which I think is silver. I might have a steel penny. Gotta dig them out!
 
jogging my age-damaged memory, I think the nickels with silver content had the mint mark above the building on the back... Monticello? Most nickels have the mint mark down at the bottom right side of the building, IIRC.

My coin collecting years ended, oh, about 53 years ago, or so.
 
hornetguy said:
jogging my age-damaged memory, I think the nickels with silver content had the mint mark above the building on the back... Monticello? Most nickels have the mint mark down at the bottom right side of the building, IIRC.

My coin collecting years ended, oh, about 53 years ago, or so.
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I believe the P is above the building. Maybe I'll post a pic tomorrow or Saturday.
 
Well, I never was a coin collector, so I never knew about nickels with silver content. Learn something new every day. Now I get excited when I get an old buffalo nickel in my change, or an Indian head penny.
 
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