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Two big ideas at my church are mercy (not getting what you deserve) and grace (getting what you don't deserve). I've recently been the recipient of amazing grace from Dan and Dave!
Last Friday, I got a package from Dan, whose generosity is legendary in these parts, containing a higonokami that he claimed "had my name on it". The package also contained a kind, thoughtful, handwritten note whose contents I appreciated very much! The higonokami is a knife exactly like one Dan gifted to jackknife, who gave the knife a great review here:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1234849-The-forum-brotherhood-strikes-again!
with a follow-up thread here:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1236041-Higonokami-update
I'm really enjoying getting to know this simply designed knife and some of its history. My horizons have expanded to include the mystery of the Orient!
It's been working great as a slicer to prepare the various fruits and vegetables I dump into my oatmeal every morning. Here's a photo of the higonokami on a "related" book by one of my favorite authors:
Here's a photo of the tang stamp; anyone have a link to a tang stamp chart so I can figure out when this baby was born?
And here's a pic that shows the inside of the lid the knife came in. I'll have to find someone who reads Japanese. I assume the lid shows instructions, but that seems like a lot of characters to say, "Oil the Joint".
Yesterday, another package arrived, from Dave. Several weeks ago, he had posted a photo of some old knives he picked up at a flea market, and, after I congratulated him on his fantastic score, I mentioned that I was surprised at the amount of legwork I was putting into trying to find some old knives I could clean up and carry. Apparently Dave thought I must be kind of discouraged with my searching (which I guess is sort of true - am I so transparent?), and he offered to send me an old Schrade USA 34OT. He also offered me the great advice that I had to be patient, not try too hard, and just generally relax and enjoy the quest. Here's what he sent me; as usual, my photo doesn't do the knife justice - it's a very solid knife, and it's pocketworn enough that you can hardly feel the texture in the "sawcut" delrin. Very sweet!
As they say on TV, "But that's not all!" There was a second carefully wrapped bundle in the package, and I was thinking, "Well, this isn't part of the deal." It turned out to be a yellow 2-blade Imperial toothpick, one of the flea market finds I'd admired when Dave posted his original photo!
Now, here's the weird part, which you can believe, or not; I'm having trouble believing it myself. As I unwrapped that second knife and saw its color, shape, and size, I had a real sense of deja vu (and not because I'd once seen a photo of it). I've been trying for almost a year to conjure up an image of the knife my grandpa used to carry. I knew it wasn't like the scout knife I always carried as a kid, and it was bigger than the 2-blade jacks my brothers and my dad carried; my best guess, once I learned something about pocket knife patterns, was that maybe Grandpa carried a trapper. But when I saw that yellow toothpick, I had the strong and immediate impression that it was very similar to Grandpa's knife. Seems creepy and too much of a coincidence to me, but there you have it!
Anyway, with over 10 inches of snow here from 7am Monday to 7am this morning (and more snow all day today), I suspect the yard sale and flea market season is finished here until April or May. So Dave's gifts are just the kind of knives that can "tide me over" in my quest to rescue some old knives that just need a little TLC.
Thanks very much, guys! Amazing grace, indeed. I feel so fortunate to be the recipient of the undeserved generosity of these two fine gentlemen, and I wanted to acknowledge their graciousness.
- GT
Last Friday, I got a package from Dan, whose generosity is legendary in these parts, containing a higonokami that he claimed "had my name on it". The package also contained a kind, thoughtful, handwritten note whose contents I appreciated very much! The higonokami is a knife exactly like one Dan gifted to jackknife, who gave the knife a great review here:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1234849-The-forum-brotherhood-strikes-again!
with a follow-up thread here:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1236041-Higonokami-update
I'm really enjoying getting to know this simply designed knife and some of its history. My horizons have expanded to include the mystery of the Orient!
It's been working great as a slicer to prepare the various fruits and vegetables I dump into my oatmeal every morning. Here's a photo of the higonokami on a "related" book by one of my favorite authors:
Here's a photo of the tang stamp; anyone have a link to a tang stamp chart so I can figure out when this baby was born?
And here's a pic that shows the inside of the lid the knife came in. I'll have to find someone who reads Japanese. I assume the lid shows instructions, but that seems like a lot of characters to say, "Oil the Joint".
Yesterday, another package arrived, from Dave. Several weeks ago, he had posted a photo of some old knives he picked up at a flea market, and, after I congratulated him on his fantastic score, I mentioned that I was surprised at the amount of legwork I was putting into trying to find some old knives I could clean up and carry. Apparently Dave thought I must be kind of discouraged with my searching (which I guess is sort of true - am I so transparent?), and he offered to send me an old Schrade USA 34OT. He also offered me the great advice that I had to be patient, not try too hard, and just generally relax and enjoy the quest. Here's what he sent me; as usual, my photo doesn't do the knife justice - it's a very solid knife, and it's pocketworn enough that you can hardly feel the texture in the "sawcut" delrin. Very sweet!
As they say on TV, "But that's not all!" There was a second carefully wrapped bundle in the package, and I was thinking, "Well, this isn't part of the deal." It turned out to be a yellow 2-blade Imperial toothpick, one of the flea market finds I'd admired when Dave posted his original photo!
Now, here's the weird part, which you can believe, or not; I'm having trouble believing it myself. As I unwrapped that second knife and saw its color, shape, and size, I had a real sense of deja vu (and not because I'd once seen a photo of it). I've been trying for almost a year to conjure up an image of the knife my grandpa used to carry. I knew it wasn't like the scout knife I always carried as a kid, and it was bigger than the 2-blade jacks my brothers and my dad carried; my best guess, once I learned something about pocket knife patterns, was that maybe Grandpa carried a trapper. But when I saw that yellow toothpick, I had the strong and immediate impression that it was very similar to Grandpa's knife. Seems creepy and too much of a coincidence to me, but there you have it!
Anyway, with over 10 inches of snow here from 7am Monday to 7am this morning (and more snow all day today), I suspect the yard sale and flea market season is finished here until April or May. So Dave's gifts are just the kind of knives that can "tide me over" in my quest to rescue some old knives that just need a little TLC.
Thanks very much, guys! Amazing grace, indeed. I feel so fortunate to be the recipient of the undeserved generosity of these two fine gentlemen, and I wanted to acknowledge their graciousness.
- GT
