- Joined
- Jan 12, 2013
- Messages
- 3,194
Here is my human-interest story for this Sunday:
I took my 15 year old dog for what turned out to be her final camping trip. I married into a family that were “dachshund people”. This is not a scene I ever pictured myself as part of, but boy was I wrong. Knowing what I know now, I’ll never cast shade on a wiener dog or their owner. Over the years my relationship with my dog became one of mutual respect. I never treated her like a lapdog, and found this small animal to be an amazingly rugged and resilient beast despite her small size. Anything I climbed over, she climbed under, etc and we spent many days wandering the wilds together.
So on to my story. On my final camping trip with my dog I lost the only knife I have ever lost. My beloved Pacific. In hindsight, I know my mind was elsewhere, and maybe my dog wasn’t quite being herself either, so I wasn’t in the clearest state of mind.
Here is the last I picture I took of this knife.
When I got home from my trip, it took a day to realize I didn’t have my Pacific (believe me I tore my truck and my house apart looking for it). Looking back I was pretty sure I knew where I left the knife (not in the stump pictured, but close by). We were building out a new campsite and I had been using the knife and placed it down when I got distracted by my dog needing something. Then the wind kicked up and we had some running around and making sure the market tent we had set up as our kitchen didn’t blow off the side of the mountain.
Long story short, I made up my mind to drive back to the campsite (about 5 hours one way) the following weekend to retrieve the knife (this is a secret remote spot nobody else is likely to come across) but had to delay as my dogs health suddenly took a turn for the worse. Sad news is my dog died that week, and we did all the things that needed doing around that. She had a great and long life, but it was very sad to say goodbye nonetheless.
So, finally, after a couple weeks I set my mind to return to the camp spot and retrieve my knife, when I get a call from a friend telling me the valley where our secret spot is was presently engulfed in a massive forest fire. It burned the entire hillside where I left my knife. Scorched earth. Whether a wildland firefighter found my Pacific, or if it burned in the fire and was buried in ash I will never know. I have returned to the spot since the fire, but it is now unrecognizable. No melted Pacific to be found.
This all took place last summer. I resolved to replace the knife, but found it to be sold out everywhere!!!! Finally last week, after nearly a year of waiting, I got an email notification from one of the dozen vendors I had sent a “notify when available” and jumped on the chance to buy my second Pacific.
All I can say is wow! CRK quality is at an all time high. Hard to admit, but this example is way nicer than the previous one I had. I was worried it might be lesser. However, the grind, the blade finish, and the handles are perfect. Crazy accurate grinding. Paper-cutting sharp to within 1mm of the tip, and perfectly even on both side of the blade from choil to tip.
Also……the one modification I did to my original Pacific, to grind down the sharp hotspot on the Micarta, at the end of the handle by the lanyard hole, is now rounded off from the factory. So I don’t know if CRK saw my post complaining about that issue, but it’s now resolved at the factory.
The machining of the whole knife is crisp and accurate.
Anyways…….i am still sad about losing my dog. She was wonderful. But all is right in my knife world. I lost a great CRK, but now have an even better version of the same knife. I think this speaks volumes about how much I love the Pacific that I would buy a second (at a much higher price than I paid for the first!).
Happy Sunday all. If you got dogs in your life, give ‘em some love on my behalf.
New blade is magnacut. We’ll see how this goes!
The sharp edge on the Micarta is now rounded from factory:
This is a picture from an old post I made of my first Pacific showing where I had to round off the sharp corner (shown after I rounded it off).
I took my 15 year old dog for what turned out to be her final camping trip. I married into a family that were “dachshund people”. This is not a scene I ever pictured myself as part of, but boy was I wrong. Knowing what I know now, I’ll never cast shade on a wiener dog or their owner. Over the years my relationship with my dog became one of mutual respect. I never treated her like a lapdog, and found this small animal to be an amazingly rugged and resilient beast despite her small size. Anything I climbed over, she climbed under, etc and we spent many days wandering the wilds together.
So on to my story. On my final camping trip with my dog I lost the only knife I have ever lost. My beloved Pacific. In hindsight, I know my mind was elsewhere, and maybe my dog wasn’t quite being herself either, so I wasn’t in the clearest state of mind.
Here is the last I picture I took of this knife.
When I got home from my trip, it took a day to realize I didn’t have my Pacific (believe me I tore my truck and my house apart looking for it). Looking back I was pretty sure I knew where I left the knife (not in the stump pictured, but close by). We were building out a new campsite and I had been using the knife and placed it down when I got distracted by my dog needing something. Then the wind kicked up and we had some running around and making sure the market tent we had set up as our kitchen didn’t blow off the side of the mountain.
Long story short, I made up my mind to drive back to the campsite (about 5 hours one way) the following weekend to retrieve the knife (this is a secret remote spot nobody else is likely to come across) but had to delay as my dogs health suddenly took a turn for the worse. Sad news is my dog died that week, and we did all the things that needed doing around that. She had a great and long life, but it was very sad to say goodbye nonetheless.
So, finally, after a couple weeks I set my mind to return to the camp spot and retrieve my knife, when I get a call from a friend telling me the valley where our secret spot is was presently engulfed in a massive forest fire. It burned the entire hillside where I left my knife. Scorched earth. Whether a wildland firefighter found my Pacific, or if it burned in the fire and was buried in ash I will never know. I have returned to the spot since the fire, but it is now unrecognizable. No melted Pacific to be found.
This all took place last summer. I resolved to replace the knife, but found it to be sold out everywhere!!!! Finally last week, after nearly a year of waiting, I got an email notification from one of the dozen vendors I had sent a “notify when available” and jumped on the chance to buy my second Pacific.
All I can say is wow! CRK quality is at an all time high. Hard to admit, but this example is way nicer than the previous one I had. I was worried it might be lesser. However, the grind, the blade finish, and the handles are perfect. Crazy accurate grinding. Paper-cutting sharp to within 1mm of the tip, and perfectly even on both side of the blade from choil to tip.
Also……the one modification I did to my original Pacific, to grind down the sharp hotspot on the Micarta, at the end of the handle by the lanyard hole, is now rounded off from the factory. So I don’t know if CRK saw my post complaining about that issue, but it’s now resolved at the factory.
The machining of the whole knife is crisp and accurate.
Anyways…….i am still sad about losing my dog. She was wonderful. But all is right in my knife world. I lost a great CRK, but now have an even better version of the same knife. I think this speaks volumes about how much I love the Pacific that I would buy a second (at a much higher price than I paid for the first!).
Happy Sunday all. If you got dogs in your life, give ‘em some love on my behalf.
New blade is magnacut. We’ll see how this goes!
The sharp edge on the Micarta is now rounded from factory:
This is a picture from an old post I made of my first Pacific showing where I had to round off the sharp corner (shown after I rounded it off).
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