Yep, my yellerhandle CV Sodbuster Jr. goes with me everyday. Occassionally I may take another yellerhandle based on the days work. Selection is easy, one knife everyday.
I determined several years ago that if I didn't carry one knife all the time, the next generation would not have anything but "nice and new" old knives. We see a knife that has been well used that our grandfather carried and we think about all the stories it could tell. All the things it has done.
What will my grandkids say when i'm gone? Look at all these knives, looks like they maybe opened the mail 3 or 4 times in 40 years. I just couldn't stomach that. I desire my kids and future grandkids to get some of my used knifes with character. I want them to say, I remember him using this in the garden, or working on one of his old tractors. Maybe my daughter saying daddy had this out working on my mustang when I was young. He took me camping and that black blade was always working. I saw daddy using that yellerhandle field dressing deer. I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
I think that its important to have connections with our family as this culture gets more and more technologically advanced. It allows people to remember where they came from and that needs to be passed on to the future generations. My grandfather stormed the beaches of Normandy and went all the way into Germany, he came home and worked manually hard his whole life. My dad grew up farming and had me out working my butt off plowing fields, tilling gardens, mowing yards and splitting firewood as long as I can remember. I may have a degree in accounting, but I determined 10 years ago I was made to work outside were God allows me to enjoy my life.
My 15 year old daughter knows how to run barbwire, run a tractor, mow with zero-turn mowers, shoot a deer rifle with precision(watch out boys), and work her butt off. My 3 year old daughter will know the same things.
I know it sounds like I am putting to much stock in the knives, but its only a small piece of the puzzle. The antique tractors that my dad and I restored before he died, they see them running in my business and on our land. The guns they are taught to shoot with open sights only. The vegatables they help to grow in the garden. The knives of mine that they get to also use. The Bibles I study from regularly. The dinner we sit down as a family and enjoy every night. All these things are part of the big picture.
I know I carried the original question WAY farther than asked, but I thought that maybe there are others that have the same mindset as me. What makes them traditional is that they were "traditionally" the knives our fathers and grandfathers worked with. If we don't work those traditional knives, then our children and grandchildren will have no traditional memories when we are gone.
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