Okay, I admit I'm an old fart, and grew up in those happy uncomplicated years just after WW2. But also in those days, unlike now, every man who had a pair of pants on was expected to have a pocket knife of some sort in them.
I have memories of my early days with my grandad down on the Eastern shore of Maryland. My dad's family were working watermen on the east side of the Chesapeake, and made their living off crabs in the summer and oysters in the winter. Some of those old watermen were rough old cobs.
But one of my best memories, was how nobody blinked when a knife was brought out in public, and even sharpened. There was this little shack by the commercial docks were the watermen would gather and get a hot cup of joe, and talk about the day. It was an almost common sight to see an old salt finish his coffee, and then turn the cup over and touch up the blade of his pocket knife on the unglazed rim on the bottom of the mug. Nobody even blinked.
Sometimes the knife was stropped on the shank of a screwdriver like a Steel. Sometimes a boot top. But nobody went and obsessed over the edge like some of the younger generation knife knuts. Yet these were men who made a living out in the open, and needed a sharp knife a dozen times a day. Not some office workers who have to open a tough envelope.
There were no sharpening gizmos back then, nor miricle stones made out of exotic materials. Mostly a sharpening stone was grey aluminum carborundum type stone, from the hardware store at a moderate price. There was a big one on grandads boat that was mounted on the worktable aft where the crabs were sorted. It was my job as a kid to sharpen up the bait knives on the way out from the dock at dawn. The bait knives were all these grey to black patined old butcher knives in a tin bucket, that were used to slice up salted eel to go in the crab traps as bait. It was tough rubbery stuff to cut, but the old butcher knives touched up on the big old grey carborundum stone cut right through them.
Later, in the boy scouts our scout master, a strick old ex-marine named Mr. Van, was a stickler for us keeping our scout knives sharp. He'd actually pull surprise inpections of our knives, and whoa to the scout with a dirty/dull scout knife. Yet our "official" scout knife sharpening stone was a grey carborundum stone in a pocket size leather case. It got our scout knives sharp enough to shave with when we stropped on a boot top after stone work.
A few years ago I went back to using the old scout knife carborundum stone just for yuks. I carry a small Eze-lap model L in my wallet with most of the red plastic handle cut off. But I've found that I can get the pocket knife just as sharp on the old stone in just a few minutes. No fuss no muss.
I see these posts with people worrying over micro bevels and such, but does it make any difference, or are we obsessing too much?
There's no rocket science to a sharp knife, prison inmates sharpen up licence plate material and cut people. I remember when I was stationed overseas, and watching the women come out of the buildings an hour before dinner and sharpening up thier kitchen knives on the back steps. This one Italian lady was making lamb for dinner, and that step sharpened old carbon blade sliced right through the raw meat.
I wonder if being knife nuts, and having a much larger disposable income than our grandfathers had, do we follow fads and take our hobby too seriously?
I mean, come on, how much sharper than sharp are you going to get?
I have memories of my early days with my grandad down on the Eastern shore of Maryland. My dad's family were working watermen on the east side of the Chesapeake, and made their living off crabs in the summer and oysters in the winter. Some of those old watermen were rough old cobs.
But one of my best memories, was how nobody blinked when a knife was brought out in public, and even sharpened. There was this little shack by the commercial docks were the watermen would gather and get a hot cup of joe, and talk about the day. It was an almost common sight to see an old salt finish his coffee, and then turn the cup over and touch up the blade of his pocket knife on the unglazed rim on the bottom of the mug. Nobody even blinked.
Sometimes the knife was stropped on the shank of a screwdriver like a Steel. Sometimes a boot top. But nobody went and obsessed over the edge like some of the younger generation knife knuts. Yet these were men who made a living out in the open, and needed a sharp knife a dozen times a day. Not some office workers who have to open a tough envelope.
There were no sharpening gizmos back then, nor miricle stones made out of exotic materials. Mostly a sharpening stone was grey aluminum carborundum type stone, from the hardware store at a moderate price. There was a big one on grandads boat that was mounted on the worktable aft where the crabs were sorted. It was my job as a kid to sharpen up the bait knives on the way out from the dock at dawn. The bait knives were all these grey to black patined old butcher knives in a tin bucket, that were used to slice up salted eel to go in the crab traps as bait. It was tough rubbery stuff to cut, but the old butcher knives touched up on the big old grey carborundum stone cut right through them.
Later, in the boy scouts our scout master, a strick old ex-marine named Mr. Van, was a stickler for us keeping our scout knives sharp. He'd actually pull surprise inpections of our knives, and whoa to the scout with a dirty/dull scout knife. Yet our "official" scout knife sharpening stone was a grey carborundum stone in a pocket size leather case. It got our scout knives sharp enough to shave with when we stropped on a boot top after stone work.
A few years ago I went back to using the old scout knife carborundum stone just for yuks. I carry a small Eze-lap model L in my wallet with most of the red plastic handle cut off. But I've found that I can get the pocket knife just as sharp on the old stone in just a few minutes. No fuss no muss.
I see these posts with people worrying over micro bevels and such, but does it make any difference, or are we obsessing too much?
There's no rocket science to a sharp knife, prison inmates sharpen up licence plate material and cut people. I remember when I was stationed overseas, and watching the women come out of the buildings an hour before dinner and sharpening up thier kitchen knives on the back steps. This one Italian lady was making lamb for dinner, and that step sharpened old carbon blade sliced right through the raw meat.
I wonder if being knife nuts, and having a much larger disposable income than our grandfathers had, do we follow fads and take our hobby too seriously?
I mean, come on, how much sharper than sharp are you going to get?
I dont know where you got that from, kind of made me laugh though.