A Sentimental Favorite - My Case XX

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Centuriator

Centuriator

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I've been going through my blades and the one that I can't get rid of (nor would I want to) is the Case XX USA 1965-69 Stacked Leather 316-5" blade that I was given in 1972 by my dad on my tenth birthday.

I carried this thing on my belt obsessively as a kid and used it for everything from cleaning fish, cutting up crab pot bait, digging out worms, whittling with my bad, making arrows for homemade bows, making spears for trying to gig fish (no luck), to cutting kindling for little fires, to roaming around the bayou on which I grew up in Pensacola, Florida (Bayou Grande, if anyone knows of it. We lived about 500 yards up the road from it in Navy Point).

It went with me anytime I set out in the summer (yes, we were allowed as *children* to carry 'deadly weapons' like this, horrifying I know). It went with me when we left our house to take shelter in our church during hurricanes.

I spent many pleasurable days during the summer, roaming around the bayou and when we bought a small fiberglass boat with a 2.5 horse outboard, it went with me across the bayou where I snuck up on to NAS Pensacola to watch the Navy planes take off over my head, and watch the Blue Angels practice. Until I was spotted and Shore Patrol came zooming across the Tarmac to apprehend the trespasser. (I was never caught, as I roared out into the open bayou at a blinding speed of at least 6 miles per hour).

I sharpened the living daylights out of it, obsessively, and oiled the leather obsessively, but now, nearly fifty years later, it has traveled with me at every point in my life.

It brings back rich memories and I love it.


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I just went online and found a listing for it, in mint condition. Here's how it looked when I got it. :)

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Warned for inappropriate language.
Yo Mama said:
Just wondering your method of sharpening this, same as the m390 knockout?
Click to expand...

Note to Yo Mama Yo Mama ... I cordially invite to go copulate with yourself, with your mother, your sister and the horse you rode in on. Respectfully, of course.

Love, hugs, kisses, peace and love.
 
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Here I think you lost this...
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Good background.

Now, it's a filet knife! Did you sharpen it on a grinder?
 
Hey Centuriator Centuriator , don't let the smart a$$s$ get under your skin. I liked your post!

You need to remember that here many of the knife "users" are much more interested in what a knife looks like, the steel of the blade, and a big/expensive brand name than anything else.

Some are so proud of themselves when they use their knives and get them dirty they post pictures of their dirty knife here to show how hard the knife worked. Others can't stand the dirt or a scratch, so they send their knives in to "the spa" for refinishing. These guys don't understand that back in the 70s we didn't have access to fine sharpening equipment over the counter. I often had to use my grandfather's India Stone or his gray Norton Stone and use lightest touch possible as they were about 80gr. I didn't know about reading newspapers from a polished edge or "tree topping" a single human hair. I camped, hunted, fished, adventured, and did chores with an old Western brand sheath knife and my Boy Scout knife. Those were all I had. They served well, and like you I piled the sheath of the bird and trout with the same oil I used on my baseball glove.

I graduated on to much better sharpening gear later on, but I still remember how aggressive Grandad's stones were. A couple of good swipe would renew an edge, and you could fix an edge roll with just a few more. When I was 8-9 I didn't even care about tiny Nick's as my Dad and Grandfather convinced me that if they were done by accident, they added character.

In construction, I use my knives everyday for work. Some still take to the outdoors with me, and some favorites get used pretty hard. But I have so many knives now none of the newer knives I had will ever see the use of my older knives. I won't wear out any of the knives no matter how much I use the or sharpen them, ever.

The old Western was lost in a move. Still have the Boy Scout knife. I have about three knives that fall into the category of your beautiful old CASE, and I would let my top line Spyderco, ZTs or Cold Steels go before anything would happen to those three I get it!

Just reading your post put a smile on my face. At 64, my adventuring days are pretty much over, although I still do a little. You reminded me of hiking to the fishing spot at the creek, catching perch and snoozing in the afternoon, hiking and camping, all the things I used to do thstcrequired me to bring "my knife". With only two, it was never a question of which one; either the BSA pocket knife with a bail for a string to my belt loop, or the sheath knife. Lots of "character" on those knives in 55 years!

Robert
 
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