A very old peanut.

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As Silent Hunter says, check out Backwoodsman. An article telling and showing just what can be done with a tiny little knife would be great and the thing for their type "folks."

They also like those break action shotguns over that way. ;)

Great story, JK. Very touching and very powerful. I appreciate you sharing it with us.

Your Dad and Mr. Van are examples similar to that old adage "Beware the man who shoots one gun." Only in this case it would be a knife. When the arm chair survivalist and warriors start touting that you just won't survive without a fancy, exotic steel, monster blade, stories like this should be told.

Best to you and yours,
Amos
 
jackknife, thanks for sharing such a wonderful account of your father. What an interesting life, and good example of service to his country.

augustus88, good form with the camera offer. I would live to see a pic of the knife sometime, or any of jackknife's father's other memorabilia.
 
Wow,
I am kind of new to this part of BFs. Mostly I'm over at the wilderness survival forum but recently I have become enamored with old school slip joints.
Anyway that was amazing! Then I realize it is true and not someone's short fiction!
This made my day big time! Two heros; one a man and one an old slippie!
Thanks Jackknife!
How can I find posts of your other stories that others are mentioning?
Can I tell the folks over at WSF about your story? It is an awesome story of E&E!
Bill
 
jackknife- once again, thank you. You are very generous to share stories of your family so freely with so many interested strangers.

billym -- click on his name, search through his posts. Get a drink first, and take your time.
 
That story puts a lot of things into perspective. The cold war was very personal for many Americans. Thanks for sharing. ft
 
BillyM:
The best way I have found is to go to the "search", and go to "advanced search". Type Jackknife's name in "search by user name" search bar, then use the pull down menu to "select Find threads started by user."

There are several Jackknifes so make sure you spell it correctly.

Get yourself a drink, there are a lot of good stories. I have compiled them all onto a word document(100+ pages). I can email it to you if you don't want to do all the searching.


Jackknife: I hope you take up the offer for the camera, we all would love to see pics of those old knives.
 
jackknife said:
That came about by a spur of the moment whim. A few years ago when Karen bought the computer and showed me how to get on line and browse the forums and I found this place, I went to register. When it got to the part to enter a user name I thought for a moment, and dad's old name from his days in one of the Washington spook shops came into my mind. I don't know why. So I used it. Aside from Mr. Van, dad was one of my lifes heros, so maybe it was just my way of remembering him. Maybe honoring him a bit to make up for the hard time I gave him when I was a kid, before Mr. Van straitened us out. Straitened me out to be more exact.
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As others said, you really should write a book.
Is it possible that 'Mr.Van' is not his complete family name ? A lot of Flemish or Dutch family names start with 'Van' and in American/English speaking countries they say 'Mr. Van' as a short version of the name.
 
agustus88- I am so very touched that a complete stranger would give something as valueble as a camera to me. Really, I appretiate the offer, but it would'nt feel right to me unless I paid you fair money for it. Thank you very much sir, for the kind offer, but like most other things in this life that dad tought me, was I have to get there on my own. I don't think a camera is too far off in the future once I get done with some of the home renovations that are under way at present.

Again, thank you agustus88, and all the rest of you who have been lavish with your compiments for my ramblings.
 
paragraaf said:
As others said, you really should write a book.
Is it possible that 'Mr.Van' is not his complete family name ? A lot of Flemish or Dutch family names start with 'Van' and in American/English speaking countries they say 'Mr. Van' as a short version of the name.
Click to expand...

No, I saw some of his sgnatures, and his name on some awards and it was Van. however alot of immigrants changed to a shortened name to fit into the American life. Mr. Van was from the farm community of Frederick County and there is alot of old German and Dutch names from back in the late 1700's era. I suppose at one time his name may have been longer, but for us scouts, he could tell us his name was God and we would have believed him.
 
billym said:
Wow,
I am kind of new to this part of BFs. Mostly I'm over at the wilderness survival forum but recently I have become enamored with old school slip joints.
Anyway that was amazing! Then I realize it is true and not someone's short fiction!
This made my day big time! Two heros; one a man and one an old slippie!
Thanks Jackknife!
How can I find posts of your other stories that others are mentioning?
Can I tell the folks over at WSF about your story? It is an awesome story of E&E!
Bill
Click to expand...


Hi billy, glad to meet ya.

I've been over there at the survival forum once in a while, but for me it's a little much sometimes. Too many people thinking too much of overpriced overhyped gear. I'm glad to hear your dicovering the slippys. Not too much you can't do with a sharp slippy and some thought.

Do a google search on Grandma Gatewood. She was mentioned over there recently. A prime example of how little it takes to get by. John Muir tramped all over the Sierra Nevada's equipted with not much more than Grandma Gatewood. His only cutlery was a barlow knife.
 
jackknife said:
Hi billy, glad to meet ya.

I've been over there at the survival forum once in a while, but for me it's a little much sometimes. Too many people thinking too much of overpriced overhyped gear. I'm glad to hear your dicovering the slippys. Not too much you can't do with a sharp slippy and some thought.

Do a google search on Grandma Gatewood. She was mentioned over there recently. A prime example of how little it takes to get by. John Muir tramped all over the Sierra Nevada's equipted with not much more than Grandma Gatewood. His only cutlery was a barlow knife.
Click to expand...

Hi Jackknife,
Yes the survival forum definitely has a different feel than over here in the Trad forum. I enjoy learning and discussing skills a lot more than gear these days.
I am now obsessed with slipjoint knives and your story was perfect.
Yes, I am a big fan of Mr Muir. I live close to his homestead here in Northern Ca. He used to roam the Sierra with a peak coat and some hard-tack that's about it. I wonder what pocket knife he carried?
I have heard of Grannie Gatewood by way of the book Backpacking Light by Ray Jardine. He uses her as a prime example that you don't need "special gear" to hike trails like the AT and PCT.
I look forward to search out your other stories.
Bill
 
First, Jackknife, thanks for sharing your life in such a generous and wellwritten sort of way. I also sometimes sheck in here just to see if you wrote a new post. I also enjoy your other posts as you represent a nice approach to life and knifes.
Secound, traveling light. In Sweden whe have the stories about stålfarfar "steelgrandpa" He traveled a lot by bicykle. He travelled with a blanket and a moosehorn as gear. Sleeping in barns and so. Probably he had a mora knife, as men in those days most often had those knifes. He never mentioned a knife though. But on the other hand he didnt mention his trousers or shoes either. Probably the knife was to natural to even mention. As for the moosehorn.... Why travel with a thing like that he never mentioned either.

Bosse
 
stingray4540 said:
BillyM:
The best way I have found is to go to the "search", and go to "advanced search". Type Jackknife's name in "search by user name" search bar, then use the pull down menu to "select Find threads started by user."

There are several Jackknifes so make sure you spell it correctly.

Get yourself a drink, there are a lot of good stories. I have compiled them all onto a word document(100+ pages). I can email it to you if you don't want to do all the searching.


Jackknife: I hope you take up the offer for the camera, we all would love to see pics of those old knives.
Click to expand...

Stingray,
Thanks for the tips! I have been enjoying the huge body of work!
Bill
 
jackknife said:
agustus88- I am so very touched that a complete stranger would give something as valueble as a camera to me. Really, I appretiate the offer, but it would'nt feel right to me unless I paid you fair money for it. Thank you very much sir, for the kind offer, but like most other things in this life that dad tought me, was I have to get there on my own. I don't think a camera is too far off in the future once I get done with some of the home renovations that are under way at present.

Again, thank you agustus88, and all the rest of you who have been lavish with your compiments for my ramblings.
Click to expand...

jackknife,

I hope you'll reconsider my offer. Unfortunately digital cameras don't retain much if any fair value. A five year old digital camera in perfect working order is pretty much worth nothing on ebay. I never use the camera so I hoped that you put it to good use. If it sits around unused for much longer my wife may just throw it away. :eek: Please consider the camera payment for your wonderful stories.

It will give me much pleasure to know that such a fine person is extending the useful life of my old camera, but I understand if you still won't accept my offer.

Have a great day!

Augustus88
 
Thank you for sharing such an intriguing tale. This is the first time I've visited the Traditional Forum but it won't be the last. Looks like I need to find some time and a good glass of whiskey and catch up on your prior posts. I look forward to learning more about your dad.
 
Augustus88 is right Jackknife. It's like recycling, instead of it going in the trash, someone else gets to use it for a little while longer. When you decide to/can afford to get a different/better camera, then go for it, but until then, at least you'll have something.
 
stingray4540 said:
Augustus88 is right Jackknife. It's like recycling, instead of it going in the trash, someone else gets to use it for a little while longer. When you decide to/can afford to get a different/better camera, then go for it, but until then, at least you'll have something.
Click to expand...


In the harsh light of day logic, you're right, but I still have a reluctance to accept something without paying for it. Thats one reason. Another may be that I'm having a hard time getting over my techno-phobia. I've gotten used to using this computer for typing up a little something now and then, but hav'nt a clue as to the other capabilities. I'll have to get Karen to show me how to do basic word prossesing because I think I'm going to start writing again. I used to have this nice little Remington portable typewriter that I used to do my articles on, and make a zerox to send to Houston Price at Knife World. Houston would then send me a check and that was that. Once in a while I would need a new ribbon. Now there's this computer sitting here that this old fart is a little intimidated by. A whole bunch of buttons with icons I have no idea what they do.:confused: I hope I don't hit the auto destruct or something by mistake! Like wise the digital camera thing that has to be hooked into the computer thing. When I took my cross country motorcycle ride I used a plain little 35mm camera that used an old fashoned thing called film. Worked just fine.

I guess I have to overcome my techno-phobia eventually, and be dragged reluctantly into the 21st century no matter if I like it or not. Maybe one day I'll even go to the Verizon office and overcome my fear of looking like an idiot and ask the young guy there what half these features are on my phone. I've had the phone 4 years and I still don't know what a text message is. I see I have the capability, and I see the kids doing it, so maybe an old dog can learn.

I'm just now learning there is something called an I-pod that makes the old walkman obsolite. Yet more technology for me to confront, I still have all my music on cassette. I'll have to start sneaking up on this stuff to get a handle on it. Sometimes I wish it was 1957 again and cars still had a strait 6 with a three on the tree, and if you had an adjustable wrench and a screw driver you could fix darn near anything on it.

So I guess alot of my reluctance is intimidation of new technology. Irrational, but there it is:o. With maybe a dose of an old persons reluctance to change, like my Uncle Paul refusing to believe the mechanic could'nt ressurect his old Studabaker Champ one more time.

I'll get there, eventually. But as I'm edging up to the brink and looking over, don't get too close behind me, it makes me nervous.
 
Jackknife heck when you go in to find out what your phone can do you just may find out it takes pictures too. :)
I'm with ya on learning all this new tech stuff. Sad thing is by the time you learn how to do some tech thing it has all changed again. It is getting imposible to keep up.
 
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