A storm and a pioneer shelter.

[22-rimfire]

....Knife-related, I always seem to come along at the tail end of things. I started carrying pocketknives in junior high (now called middle school?), when many boys still carried a pocketknife at school. They were never treated as weapons. Heck, my male typing teacher even told me about Buck knives when I questioned him about his knife he was using to sharpen a pencil with. It was a Buck Cadet, and I bought one for myself because of that. It seems that not too many years after my school days, pocketknife carry started becoming less common, or seen as abnormal, among kids.

A good friend of mine is black and he always reacted to my carrying a knife. To him at that time, a knife was for self defense (actually more offense to be honest about it) and people in the hood carried them. He later got a maintenance job and discovered that he needed a knife because he didn't have me to borrow a knife from. He chose an inexpensive slip joint.

 

[James Y]

A good friend of mine is black and he always reacted to my carrying a knife. To him at that time, a knife was for self defense (actually more offense to be honest about it) and people in the hood carried them. He later got a maintenance job and discovered that he needed a knife because he didn't have me to borrow a knife from. He chose an inexpensive slip joint.

Yes, it would also depend on the culture/background/area someone grew up in. Back before locking blades became more common, slip joint pocketknives like Texas Toothpicks/fishing knives and Barlows were commonly used by toughs in knife fights as well as self-defense (the two are not necessarily the same). Usually because it was just the knife they always had on them.

But all the kids I knew in junior high who showed me their knives did so out of “This is my knife, let’s see yours.” Most of them were scout-type knives, 2-blade jackknives, or medium stockmans. A couple had SAKs, and one had a Buck 110 or a close knockoff he carried in his back pocket.

Jim

 

[jackknife]

Must say I really like your stories! I sometimes wish i was my parents age or older. Being a kid in the 1950's must have been a blast!

According to my dad they were. If i only had a time machine...

It was a very different era, thats for sure!

Things were simpler, and I don't just mean the lack of modern technology. Like Morales and a code of behavior and manners. Things were more black and white with very very narrow gray areas in some things. There was a sense of fair play, and there was no blanket rules like the zero tolerance Bull Hockey they have now. people were judged on what the they did as individuals. They even allowed pocket knives is school. Then of you abused the privilege you paid a price. They let you have a pocket knife, so if yo showed up with a 6 inch blade switchblade, you got sent t the principle office and judged on that one thing and how you were acting.

Cars had style. They looked like what the stylist wanted instead of a jellybean design for less wind resistance at high speeds that you rarely do in town. And if you had some basic tools, you could actually fix your car yourself. The local auto parts store had what you needed. A tune-up took about 20 minutes of your time. Six spark plugs, a set of points, and a can of gummout.

Guns were all over the place but nobody ever made a complaint about them. Most people had a gun in the glovebox or a bedside table at home. If your home was invaded, you shot the ever lovin dog poo put of the burglar and that was that. No law suit from the family because he was "a good boy who sang in the church choir when he was 10 years old", and it wasn't his fault he attacked you. He was from a economically deprived neighborhood and his daddy was a drunk.

Most of the stuff in the store was made in the U.S.A. and lasted well. You looked for the made in U.S.A. label because you knew you were getting a good product. American knife companies were going good, and the was Case, Camillus, Western, Kinfolks, Imperial, Schrade-Walden, and a dozen more.

Colleges hadn't gone elitist yet. A kid from a working class neighborhood could actually get a part time job and work his way through college. Good luck on that now.

Yeah, it was a different time!

 

[DocT]

You are right, it is a vastly different world, now, and we are poorer for it.

Thanks for the great story. I enjoyed it greatly.