The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Jack Black
and I were at the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet - the old Tyzack Scythe Works. The bench is in the Tyzack packing room, where long coils of heavy rope were cut and layered in twists between scythes in their shipping crates.
Trout Hound
. I've noticed a similar thing in shooting. I help the Range Officers down at our local club train and supervise from time to time, when we have inducted groups trying out handgun shooting for the first time, and I've noticed that women tend to shoot better than men pretty consistently, straight off the bat. (This can change after the first couple of lessons, of course.)
Thanks for the comments on those Sheffield pics
A few remarks on the actual photo contexts (in no particular order):
I thought you'd all like that bench. That photo was taken when
I certainly enjoyed standing at the different stations at that bench, running my hands over those wear grooves, and imagining the stories it could tell.
A bit of background to Stan's slightly whimsical smile in this photo. I didn't take my phone out to take a photo until we had been chatting away for a while. I'm sure Stan wouldn't have minded but I was so enjoying the conversation with Jack and Stan, that I didn't want to interrupt the flow by snapping pics until later.
Stan had just been showing us the nearly completed sportsmans knife he had just made, which he said someone was coming from Malaysia to 'fetch'.
I handled it with the customary knife show manners: asking if I could open the blades, opening them one at a time, and giving them a 'soft' closing.
Stan had watched the way I closed the blades on the knife and asked me why I did that. I said I understood it to be polite when handling other peoples valuable knives. He smiled and affirmed that there was no need whatsoever to baby his knives in such a fashion, adding quietly that you'll not find any edge rapping or blade rub on his knives. I liked how Stan was basically confirming that his knives are fully capable and dependable Sheffield working tools under the fancy filework and trimmings.
I took that photo, and he looked at the knife and seemed a bit pensive as he reflected that most of his knives could look forward to never actually being used.
The house with the driveway running through it, is where the 'original' Barlow house (and presumably, working cutlery premises) on Campo Lane once stood.
The honeycomb/wasp egg looking photo, is of discarded crucibles stacked outside the door of the initial raw steel puddling rooms at Abbeydale.
The poem is by Andrew Motion, and the street art is of Harry Brearley, one of the inventors and refiners of the earliest stainless steel alloys.
Great post,
I've pondered why this is over the years, and I think it might be that females wanting to learn shooting are already approaching their lesson in a focussed way, as a student intent on learning the elements of a new skill, whereas I've noticed that many first-time young male shooters approach the exercise as an expert (watcher of action movies), so they have quite a bit of 'unlearning' to do to catch up in the first couple of lessons!
I'm also reminded of reading how the Red Army on the Eastern Front in WW2 apparently came to favour female sniper teams, producing famous soldiers like Lyudmilla Pavlichenko, who had a Woody Guthrie song penned in her honour, and became friends with Eleanor Roosevelt on a PR tour of the US, who gave her a custom, Winchester Model 70 rifle, chambered in 30-06.
View attachment 743724
Apparently she had short shrift for the trivial questions from the groups of reporters that attended her public appearances, as to whether the Red Army uniform cut made women soldiers look dowdy and whatnot.
When one reporter from a US women's magazine of the day asked her whether she wore makeup in the field, she considered briefly, then said: 'While there is no Army regulation I know of expressly forbidding it, what woman would have the time to consider powdering her nose, when she is in the midst of battle?'
Gold.
(She was a Major, had already been wounded four times in combat, and had broken over three hundred 'Fascist Sticks' as they called it, to her credit at that time.)
I'm not sure what the exact Russian words were, but recall reading how one Army report on the women sniper teams recorded the comment that they were 'more patient, more cunning, and more enduring of hardship' in the field.
Another famous riflewoman, Roza Shanina didn't make it through the war, dying in an artillery barrage in East Prussia.
Shanina wrote a harrowing account of being in a snipers hide with a few other women and being overrun by German infantry. She said how the women had decided they could never be captured, and defended themselves to the death with entrenching shovels.
View attachment 743723
Also to be reminded of Lyudmilla Pavlichenko, and to learn about Roza Shanina, who I'd not actually heard of before
Great to be further reminded of your visit to Sheffield Chin
Cambertree
your recent post on Russian riflewoman reminded me the dreaded NachtHexen, and made me want to wear my first watch I bought on Easter 65 in Budapest, still ticking accurately as on day 1!
Randy, I was sad/angry to read about your being the victim of a theft from your vehicle; way less than ideal situation!
I admire the way you've already replaced some of the stolen items, though!! If you do go for a Pioneer X, let us know how you like it; that's certainly a knife that calls out to me as I experience the feverish delusions of a severe case of Alox Pox! 
Does your insurance cover most of your loss, or are you responsible for a sizable deductible?
Randy, I was sad/angry to read about your being the victim of a theft from your vehicle; way less than ideal situation!
- GT
Chin, as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, but a picture with words, well, as the long time American radio man Paul Harvey was fond of saying, 'And now you know the rest of the story.' (Always finished with a 'Good day' too.) Thanks!Thanks for the comments on those Sheffield pics
A few remarks on the actual photo contexts (in no particular order):
I thought you'd all like that bench. That photo was taken when
I certainly enjoyed standing at the different stations at that bench, running my hands over those wear grooves, and imagining the stories it could tell.
A bit of background to Stan's slightly whimsical smile in this photo. I didn't take my phone out to take a photo until we had been chatting away for a while. I'm sure Stan wouldn't have minded but I was so enjoying the conversation with Jack and Stan, that I didn't want to interrupt the flow by snapping pics until later.
Stan had just been showing us the nearly completed sportsmans knife he had just made, which he said someone was coming from Malaysia to 'fetch'.
I handled it with the customary knife show manners: asking if I could open the blades, opening them one at a time, and giving them a 'soft' closing.
Stan had watched the way I closed the blades on the knife and asked me why I did that. I said I understood it to be polite when handling other peoples valuable knives. He smiled and affirmed that there was no need whatsoever to baby his knives in such a fashion, adding quietly that you'll not find any edge rapping or blade rub on his knives. I liked how Stan was basically confirming that his knives are fully capable and dependable Sheffield working tools under the fancy filework and trimmings.
I took that photo, and he looked at the knife and seemed a bit pensive as he reflected that most of his knives could look forward to never actually being used.
The house with the driveway running through it, is where the 'original' Barlow house (and presumably, working cutlery premises) on Campo Lane once stood.
The honeycomb/wasp egg looking photo, is of discarded crucibles stacked outside the door of the initial raw steel puddling rooms at Abbeydale.
The poem is by Andrew Motion, and the street art is of Harry Brearley, one of the inventors and refiners of the earliest stainless steel alloys.
Great post,
I've pondered why this is over the years, and I think it might be that females wanting to learn shooting are already approaching their lesson in a focussed way, as a student intent on learning the elements of a new skill, whereas I've noticed that many first-time young male shooters approach the exercise as an expert (watcher of action movies), so they have quite a bit of 'unlearning' to do to catch up in the first couple of lessons!
I'm also reminded of reading how the Red Army on the Eastern Front in WW2 apparently came to favour female sniper teams, producing famous soldiers like Lyudmilla Pavlichenko, who had a Woody Guthrie song penned in her honour, and became friends with Eleanor Roosevelt on a PR tour of the US, who gave her a custom, scoped Winchester Model 70 rifle, chambered in 30-06.
View attachment 743724
Apparently she had short shrift for the trivial questions from the groups of reporters that attended her public appearances, as to whether the Red Army uniform cut made women soldiers look dowdy and whatnot.
When one reporter from a US women's magazine of the day asked her whether she wore makeup in the field, she considered briefly, then said: 'While there is no Army regulation I know of expressly forbidding it, what woman would have the time to consider powdering her nose, when she is in the midst of battle?!'
Gold.
(She was a Major, had already been wounded four times in combat, and had broken over three hundred 'Fascist Sticks' as they called it, to her credit at that time.)
I'm not sure what the exact Russian words were, but recall reading how one Army report on the women sniper teams recorded the comment that they were 'more patient, more cunning, and more enduring of hardship' in the field.
Another famous riflewoman, Roza Shanina didn't make it through the war, dying in an artillery barrage in East Prussia.
Shanina wrote a harrowing account in her combat diary, of being in a snipers hide with a few other women, and being overrun by German infantry. She said how the women had decided they could never be captured, and defended themselves to the death with entrenching shovels in some cases, successfully resisting the German counterattack.
The Canadian press had dubbed her 'The Terror of East Prussia'.
View attachment 743723
Thanks for the comments on those Sheffield pics
A few remarks on the actual photo contexts (in no particular order):
I thought you'd all like that bench. That photo was taken when
I certainly enjoyed standing at the different stations at that bench, running my hands over those wear grooves, and imagining the stories it could tell.
A bit of background to Stan's slightly whimsical smile in this photo. I didn't take my phone out to take a photo until we had been chatting away for a while. I'm sure Stan wouldn't have minded but I was so enjoying the conversation with Jack and Stan, that I didn't want to interrupt the flow by snapping pics until later.
Stan had just been showing us the nearly completed sportsmans knife he had just made, which he said someone was coming from Malaysia to 'fetch'.
I handled it with the customary knife show manners: asking if I could open the blades, opening them one at a time, and giving them a 'soft' closing.
Stan had watched the way I closed the blades on the knife and asked me why I did that. I said I understood it to be polite when handling other peoples valuable knives. He smiled and affirmed that there was no need whatsoever to baby his knives in such a fashion, adding quietly that you'll not find any edge rapping or blade rub on his knives. I liked how Stan was basically confirming that his knives are fully capable and dependable Sheffield working tools under the fancy filework and trimmings.
I took that photo, and he looked at the knife and seemed a bit pensive as he reflected that most of his knives could look forward to never actually being used.
The house with the driveway running through it, is where the 'original' Barlow house (and presumably, working cutlery premises) on Campo Lane once stood.
The honeycomb/wasp egg looking photo, is of discarded crucibles stacked outside the door of the initial raw steel puddling rooms at Abbeydale.
The poem is by Andrew Motion, and the street art is of Harry Brearley, one of the inventors and refiners of the earliest stainless steel alloys.
Great post,
I've pondered why this is over the years, and I think it might be that females wanting to learn shooting are already approaching their lesson in a focussed way, as a student intent on learning the elements of a new skill, whereas I've noticed that many first-time young male shooters approach the exercise as an expert (watcher of action movies), so they have quite a bit of 'unlearning' to do to catch up in the first couple of lessons!
I'm also reminded of reading how the Red Army on the Eastern Front in WW2 apparently came to favour female sniper teams, producing famous soldiers like Lyudmilla Pavlichenko, who had a Woody Guthrie song penned in her honour, and became friends with Eleanor Roosevelt on a PR tour of the US, who gave her a custom, scoped Winchester Model 70 rifle, chambered in 30-06.
View attachment 743724
Apparently she had short shrift for the trivial questions from the groups of reporters that attended her public appearances, as to whether the Red Army uniform cut made women soldiers look dowdy and whatnot.
When one reporter from a US women's magazine of the day asked her whether she wore makeup in the field, she considered briefly, then said: 'While there is no Army regulation I know of expressly forbidding it, what woman would have the time to consider powdering her nose, when she is in the midst of battle?!'
Gold.
(She was a Major, had already been wounded four times in combat, and had broken over three hundred 'Fascist Sticks' as they called it, to her credit at that time.)
I'm not sure what the exact Russian words were, but recall reading how one Army report on the women sniper teams recorded the comment that they were 'more patient, more cunning, and more enduring of hardship' in the field.
Another famous riflewoman, Roza Shanina didn't make it through the war, dying in an artillery barrage in East Prussia.
Shanina wrote a harrowing account in her combat diary, of being in a snipers hide with a few other women, and being overrun by German infantry. She said how the women had decided they could never be captured, and defended themselves to the death with entrenching shovels in some cases, successfully resisting the German counterattack.
The Canadian press had dubbed her 'The Terror of East Prussia'.
View attachment 743723
Thanks again Chin
- I remember reading in Antony Beevor's Stalingrad, how the sewing machine sound of those Nachthexen (NightWitches) approaching in their biplanes, then silence except for the sound of wind, as they cut their engines and glided in on their targets in the dark, was dreaded by the German soldiers. Astonishing too to consider that the surviving pilots of this all female unit, after the war had flown an average of 800 missions each!Wonderful and interesting post!!!
Sorry about the table picture mix up and I love the story about Stan and closing his knives with a gentle touch, I would have done the same.
I just grinned at Stan's reaction, good on him!
...
That's a beauty of a watch: I particularly like the style of the numbers on the face. Very clean and classic pairing. I'm sorry, I don't recognise that knife, could you tell me a bit more about it?
