I think all of us have a certain pattern we identify with, or for some reason we love more than any other pocket knife pattern. One who shall not be named has a mild to moderate obsession with harness jack's, while another has a very extencive collection of scouts. But what really goes in our pockets day in-day out?
I think it changes as we get older. In a nostalgic mood of late, I was thinking of the old timers I knew growing up. Men who spent a lifetime wresting a living from the outdoors, either on the water or the land. Harvesting the waters or tilling the land. Watermen, farmer, and even a store keeper.
Matt Rankin was one of the most competent ourdoorsmen I ever knew. Not to mention one of the deadliest shots I ever saw. His main hunting knife was the ubiqitous Little Finn sheath knife, in his case made by Ka-bar. But it was his "huntin knife" and he did not use it for general utility. In his pocket was a common two blade jack of the serpintine pattern about 3 3/8 to 3 1/2. The serpintine jack and the barlow were some of the most popular pocket knives I recall seeing among the watermen.
I did not see Matt Rankin for many years when I was away in the army. I'd visit the old homestead on the Choptank when on leave now and then, but our paths didn't cross. Not till I was in my 30's with a young family of my own did I see him again. By then he was an old man with snow white hair, and we sat and talked for a couple hours on a bench under a shade tree, in the little cemetary where Lizzy had been laid to rest a few years before. While we talked, Matt picked up a little fallen branch and fiddled with it, then slowly without thought took out a small pocket knife from his faded jeans. As we talked, Matt would slowly peel the bark off the stick, like a person doodling while in a phone conversation. He went on to shave off thin paper thin slivers of wood, so thin they were translucent. Very sharp.
Since we were talking about all sorts of things, I asked him about his small pen knife. He said since he was too old to go running from game wardens anymore, it was all he needed.
"Ya jist cain't get away with nuthin these day's" he told me in a confidential tone, " the last time old Bill fired a shot in the marsh, they had so many game wardens after him, it took him a whole day and part of the night to loose 'em!"
In his later years Matt Rankin carried a small Schrade minute man pen knife.
I think about my dad living his life with just a little Case peanut, but when I really think about it, he always managed to have some other tools spaced around. Maybe those old timers were "the right tool for the right job" kind of guys. Dad used his peanut, but I noticed when we went fishing he had this really old worn down butcher or boning knife in a leather sheath he had made for it. It was his "dirty deed" knife. The blade was shaped kind of like a boning knife, so maybe it was, but it was so old the wood handle was worn to kind of an oval shape, like a bar of soap gets when its about half done. The blade was so dark, it was black, but with a bright ribbon of shiney steel along the edge. Dad got alot of milage out of that old knife. He kept it in the emergency kit in the trunk, along with his homemade bush wacker. At least thats what he called it.
Just after WW2 there was alot of Army/Navy stores with real genuine surplus suff in them. Dad had bought this English machete and took it to this guy he knew with a machine shop. Using a high speed abrasive saw with a constant flow of coolant on the blade, dad had his friend cut off the blade at 10 inches. Then he shaped it to a sheepsfoot shape of blade. Back home dad modified a surplus canvas machete sheath for it and put a cord wrap over the handle using cotton jute twine and epoxy. It made for a nice little bush wacker. Capable of doing hatchet chores, but more versitile.
Maybe thats how the old guys got away with carrying a small pen knife, they had something else "around".
I know as I have got to the point where there is more snow on the roof than I care to admit, my edc has gotten smaller. Maybe part lazyness, part age, I just don't like to lug around alot of weight in my pockets these days. Thats a little funny in light of I used to carry Randall 14 as my "off the pavement" knife. Now it's a light weight Swedish Mora knife on the belt and a sak in the pocket. My Wenger SI actually seems a bit oversize to me these days, and I'm having new apretation for the Victorinox cadet or cadet 2 as an edc pocket knife. And while 15 to 20 years ago I loved the sodbuster, I now apretiate the small compact size of the peanut instead. At my age and this point in my retirement I don't need a work knife. If it slices a piece of chedder off the main hunk in the fridg to go with the crackers, thats enough work for me.
I think it changes as we get older. In a nostalgic mood of late, I was thinking of the old timers I knew growing up. Men who spent a lifetime wresting a living from the outdoors, either on the water or the land. Harvesting the waters or tilling the land. Watermen, farmer, and even a store keeper.
Matt Rankin was one of the most competent ourdoorsmen I ever knew. Not to mention one of the deadliest shots I ever saw. His main hunting knife was the ubiqitous Little Finn sheath knife, in his case made by Ka-bar. But it was his "huntin knife" and he did not use it for general utility. In his pocket was a common two blade jack of the serpintine pattern about 3 3/8 to 3 1/2. The serpintine jack and the barlow were some of the most popular pocket knives I recall seeing among the watermen.
I did not see Matt Rankin for many years when I was away in the army. I'd visit the old homestead on the Choptank when on leave now and then, but our paths didn't cross. Not till I was in my 30's with a young family of my own did I see him again. By then he was an old man with snow white hair, and we sat and talked for a couple hours on a bench under a shade tree, in the little cemetary where Lizzy had been laid to rest a few years before. While we talked, Matt picked up a little fallen branch and fiddled with it, then slowly without thought took out a small pocket knife from his faded jeans. As we talked, Matt would slowly peel the bark off the stick, like a person doodling while in a phone conversation. He went on to shave off thin paper thin slivers of wood, so thin they were translucent. Very sharp.
Since we were talking about all sorts of things, I asked him about his small pen knife. He said since he was too old to go running from game wardens anymore, it was all he needed.
"Ya jist cain't get away with nuthin these day's" he told me in a confidential tone, " the last time old Bill fired a shot in the marsh, they had so many game wardens after him, it took him a whole day and part of the night to loose 'em!"
In his later years Matt Rankin carried a small Schrade minute man pen knife.
I think about my dad living his life with just a little Case peanut, but when I really think about it, he always managed to have some other tools spaced around. Maybe those old timers were "the right tool for the right job" kind of guys. Dad used his peanut, but I noticed when we went fishing he had this really old worn down butcher or boning knife in a leather sheath he had made for it. It was his "dirty deed" knife. The blade was shaped kind of like a boning knife, so maybe it was, but it was so old the wood handle was worn to kind of an oval shape, like a bar of soap gets when its about half done. The blade was so dark, it was black, but with a bright ribbon of shiney steel along the edge. Dad got alot of milage out of that old knife. He kept it in the emergency kit in the trunk, along with his homemade bush wacker. At least thats what he called it.
Just after WW2 there was alot of Army/Navy stores with real genuine surplus suff in them. Dad had bought this English machete and took it to this guy he knew with a machine shop. Using a high speed abrasive saw with a constant flow of coolant on the blade, dad had his friend cut off the blade at 10 inches. Then he shaped it to a sheepsfoot shape of blade. Back home dad modified a surplus canvas machete sheath for it and put a cord wrap over the handle using cotton jute twine and epoxy. It made for a nice little bush wacker. Capable of doing hatchet chores, but more versitile.
Maybe thats how the old guys got away with carrying a small pen knife, they had something else "around".
I know as I have got to the point where there is more snow on the roof than I care to admit, my edc has gotten smaller. Maybe part lazyness, part age, I just don't like to lug around alot of weight in my pockets these days. Thats a little funny in light of I used to carry Randall 14 as my "off the pavement" knife. Now it's a light weight Swedish Mora knife on the belt and a sak in the pocket. My Wenger SI actually seems a bit oversize to me these days, and I'm having new apretation for the Victorinox cadet or cadet 2 as an edc pocket knife. And while 15 to 20 years ago I loved the sodbuster, I now apretiate the small compact size of the peanut instead. At my age and this point in my retirement I don't need a work knife. If it slices a piece of chedder off the main hunk in the fridg to go with the crackers, thats enough work for me.
It is just a handy tool, and I like the offerings on it: they work for me. Anything bigger would catch glimpses at the office, etc. I would like a bit fancier scale though.
