Grandma Gatewood was a SAKist!

22-rimfire said:
I feel sure the warning shot was a total surprise as folks on the AT frequently don't even have a large knife with them that might be suitable for self defense. Many folks on the AT are sheep ready to be fleeced.
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THAT, is something that I have never understood. Why would anyone make a deliberate decision to go off in a remote spot, away from most people, out of touch in the days with no cell phones, with absolutely zero means of protecting themselves or their loved ones??????

Its the woods. Wilderness. No cops on patrol. Nobody around. What factors take place in their brains that make them think they are at Disney World or a 6 flags amusement park????? What makes the hippy backpacker think that everyone they meet in that remote area with nobody else around is going to be a nice person?

I guess I've never been delusional.
 
I think I was about 15 or 16 when a kid I hung out with got a SAK from his dad who had gone to Europe that was about 1955 and that was the first one I can remember seeing! about the same time My Dad brought us each a Hoffritz branded knife very much like the Director model I carry - a metal scale executive! I still know where both of them are!
 
After reading and enjoying all the Grandma Gatewood posts here.. I pulled out my copy of her book and am reading it for the 2nd time.. And enjoying her adventures once more.. One TUFF woman..:thumbsup:
Thanks for that..:D
John
 
The first SAK I ever saw was back around 1973 or 74, age 10 or 11. I was at a friend’s house, and his dad had given him an SAK. I don’t know which model or brand it was, Victorinox or Wenger (although now I suspect Victorinox). All I can recall is that it was fairly thick with implements. It was the first time I’d even heard of a SAK.

My friend was showing off some of the tools, then pulled out the main knife blade and asked me to toss some pickle weed ice plant at him, and he would swing the knife and cut it in midair. After a few times, he tried again and somehow accidentally cut a small chunk of skin off of a finger on his left hand. After much bleeding and his mother cleaning and covering it, he later revealed the cut and started speaking in a high-pitched voice while moving the cut with the fingers of his other hand like a mouth, as if the cut was talking, lol.

Back OT, I’ll be ordering the book soon.

Jim
 
I have more than a little hunch that women are actually tougher than us menfolk when they have to be. They raise kids, doctor the kids and us when needed, have a higher pain tolerance, a bit quicker reflexes, and are most times under estimated by us. All those pioneer women who went west with their men in conestoga wagons, fighting Indians, weather, illness, and God knows what, had to be as tough as the menfolk. Too often they were standing right in back of the menfolk handing them a reloaded rifle when the mans gun went dry while under fire from hostile Comanches or outlaws.

My paternal grandmother was all of 5' 2 or 3 inches and spry little lady. Good natured and kindly. I tried to imagine her doing what granddad told me. Wounded men with gunshot wounds to various parts, laying on the floor being worked on because there was incoming .303 rounds from British Enfields coming in the windows while the couple women tended the wounded. They were using kitchen towels, bedsheets, whatever while in the middle of a gun battle with British soldiers. Then she gives birth to her last child in the back a truck while fleeing British troops. Yet to look at this little lady with the blue eyes that always seemed to sparkle wth good humor, blows the mind. She left her homeland, and wth her husband started a whole new life on the Eastern shore of Maryland.

I think they're tougher than we think.
 
I agree that women are much tougher than they are given credit for. But I also feel that, like everything, it’s all relative. For instance, people always say that women are more intuitive than men, but in both my immediate and extended family, that’s not really the case. The males in our family are generally more intuitive about things. And that’s not a put-down; I’m simply pointing out that there are exceptions to everything.

I got the book in yesterday, and am a ways in so far. Good read! You can tell when you’re partway into a book whether it’s going to be good or not. It keeps my attention.

Of course, now we can say, “She should’ve done this, she should’ve done that; she should’ve researched this and that before going on her hike.” But she didn’t. Now, maybe she was lucky, or blessed, or whatever one might believe; but although I haven’t finished the book yet, she did hike the entire Appalachian Trail 3 times. That means something. If she had had the resources available to her back then like we do now, and the foreknowledge to have used them, her story would not have been what it is. Some reviewer of her book on Amazon called her “eccentric at best and crazy at worst,” which is a terrible assessment, IMO. There are people who will always call those whose lives they cannot comprehend, or who think differently, and who dare to blaze new trails (no pun intended) “crazy.” But without those so-called “crazy” people, we wouldn’t have all the things that we have today. And we wouldn’t have their unique and fascinating stories to appreciate and learn from.

Jim
 
Ya know what I love about Granny if I take the time to think about it?

She's the walking editorial about how the whole EDC gear obsessed junkie is ridiculous. She's a walking statement for minimalism and thumbing the nose at the entire EDC gear industry. Heres an old lady, a grandmother and great grandmother, who covered over 2,000 miles of mountain trail in canvas Kids sneakers, no modern high dollar gear, but a whole lot of positive attitude.

Granny is a lesson in what is not really needed. Yeah, she could have used better shoes, and some good rain gear, but she did it without. Kind of like Chuck Yeager spending two weeks in the Sierra Nevada mountains with a Victorinox executive and a light weight backpack with minimal gear.
 
Nearly finished with the book. It’s kept me glued to the pages, to the point I have to stop myself to get other things done! Plus, I don’t want to finish it too quickly. You only get to read a good book for the first time once. :)

Jim
 
I was entranced with Grandma's travels, too. I rarely read fiction, although anything Randy Wayne White writes can keep my interest and I have gotten so into his books there are a couple I did not put down except for coffee breaks.
Almost everything I read is in the Non-Fiction isle!

About three weeks after I graduated high school back in 1970 a fellow named David Kunst started a walk around the world from the neighboring town of Waseca, Minnesota. His brother John was going to walk around the world, too, but, was killed by bandits in Afghanistan and Dave was also shot. After Dave recovered back in the USA he went back to Afghanistan and started at the site of the attack on their camp and he did indeed complete the the Around The World Walk. I know there is a book about his adventure and I intend to work it into my reading list before winter gets here on the prairie. Dave must be in his early eighties now and living in California. I was there when he started the walk and listened to the speeches and I was there when he returned to finish the walk. Here is a link to his website>>> http://davekunst1.com/
 
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Hairy Clipper said:
I was entranced with Grandma's travels, too. I rarely read fiction, although anything Randy Wayne White writes can keep my interest and I have gotten so into his books there are a couple I did not put down except for coffee breaks.
Almost everything I read is in the Non-Fiction isle!

About three weeks after I graduated high school back in 1970 a fellow named David Kunst started a walk around the world from the neighboring town of Waseca, Minnesota. His brother John was going to walk around the world, too, but, was killed by bandits in Afghanistan and Dave was also shot. After Dave recovered back in the USA he went back to Afghanistan and started at the sight of the attack on their camp and he did indeed complete the the Around The World Walk. I know there is a book about his adventure and I intend to work it into my reading list before winter gets here on the prairie. Dave must be in his early eighties now and living in California. I was there when he started the walk and listened to the speeches and I was there when he returned to finish the walk. Here is a link to his website>>> http://davekunst1.com/
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That sounds like another awesome story! That is amazing that he actually went back to the site to continue. I wonder what type of knife he carried?

I also read nonfiction almost exclusively, although there are rare exceptions now and then.

Jim
 
I, too, have wondered about the knife. I have emailed Dave and asked via the email address from his website and also the same with his son that maintains his website in hopes of finding out. If I learn the answer I will post it here in this thread.
 
James Y said:
I just wish the book had mentioned what pocketknife she‘d bought to replace her lost SAK.

:D

Jim
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Depending on where she lost it, it may have been some generic small town hardware or discount store pocket knife. I know the A.T. pretty well, and every few days it will come out and cross a road by a small country town with a few stores. They do serve as a re-supply spots for the through hikers, so there a very outside possibility that she just may have come across a store with backpacking supplies. Maybe, just maybe, another SAK, but I'd bet on a generic Barlow or small jack by Imperial, Camillus, Schrade, or the like.

It was 1955, so I was surprised as heck that she even had a SAK to start with. I'm interested in the story right there. SAK's were very uncommon in 1955 small town America.

I'd be interested in the knife carried by a 'round the world hiker!
 
That’s what I thought; that her replacement pocketknife was probably a Barlow or other common jack knife pattern; a stockman pattern; or maybe something like a Camillus camp pattern (or scout-style) pocketknife. I doubt she would have found another SAK.

Jim
 
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