Bigfattyt
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2007
- Messages
- 19,256
My dad called me up the other day and told me he had an old pocket knife of Grandpa's for me. I have expressed an interest in getting my hands on any old knives of my Grandfather. I inherited a .357 S&W from my Mother's father.
My Paternal Grandfather was a real salty old man. He worked for Boeing in it's hayday. He left his mechanic position at Boeing to go home to rescue his own father's farm. His father became ill, and my Grandpa took over the farm. He also ran an auto repair shop for many years (until he had a car fall on him while he was working underneath it). He was all alone when the vehicle fell on him, and he was pinned until the other employees came back from lunch. He refused to go to the hospital for 3 days, because he was a tough stubborn man. He finally went to the Hospital after he went septic. He lost most of his lower intestines (due to a botched surgery). The Dr's also missed the fact that car had cut off the blood supply in his hips, and he had to have hip replacement at a very young age (the crush ruptured the vessels supplying blood to the hip bones, and they rotted away).
He ran the farm for the rest of his life, until he retired. It was not a big farm.
Grandfather was a Jack of all trades. He could fix a TV, Car, Tractor, motorcycle, radio you name it. They raised their own animals for food (My father remembers playing with his animals, and then butchering them when it was time. He even had a pet bull that followed him around like a puppy, getting in the way, and trying to "wrassle" with my father).
I have fond memories of going to the farm as a child. Playing hide and seek in the vineyard (which made for great fun shooting small grapes at each other out of our blow guns). We could wander the property with our BB guns (and later with our rifles) and shoot.
My Grandfather would be out working in the large Garage on this tractor or that, and we would go out and get him for dinner. He would first wash his hands in gasoline to get the grease off, then wash thoroughly with soap and hot water in the wash room just inside the front door.
He was a boxer in his younger years, and was about the toughest man I ever knew. He could tighten a bolt down on the tractor with his hands, and then hand me a wrench, and I could not budge it! (my dad had told me this, and I did not believe it, so he told me to go try!!! I asked Grandpa about this, and he took a bolt, and placed it in the tractor, and tightened it with his hands. After I was unable to get it back off with the wrench, he reached over and twisted it loose with his hands).
Here is the knife. An old Barlow.
Here is the tang stamp.
Reverse tang stamp
Lots of pocket wear
It was filthy when I got it. So much built up gunk in the channels that the blades were resting on it!!!
The blades both had wiggle (I fixed that..........because this is a family knife it will be used.......and passed on to my own son).
I did touch up the edge (very lightly on 1000 grit, and it is hair popping sharp). The edge has a few small nicks (looks like grandpa might have cut or stripped very thin wire).
I am not going to make much of an effort to grind these out. I will just keep stropping it as i use it and eventually they will go away.
I do like that the tangs are flush with the bolster. Very pocket friendly!
The Pen blade. (both blades look like the tips have been rounded a bit from impact or use)
I just wanted to share these pictures and thoughts. My Grandpa has been gone for about 20 years. Just having this knife bring up great memories. (We just celebrated my Grandma's 97th birthday. She still lives on her own, and is 100% there mentally. She still loves fishing!).
My Grandma did not know how long Grandpa had this knife. She just said a really long time. (I believe I remember watching my Grandpa trim his nails with this very knife as a small child.............Which I tried to emulate and sliced my fingernail half way up the finger and bled all over!).
My Paternal Grandfather was a real salty old man. He worked for Boeing in it's hayday. He left his mechanic position at Boeing to go home to rescue his own father's farm. His father became ill, and my Grandpa took over the farm. He also ran an auto repair shop for many years (until he had a car fall on him while he was working underneath it). He was all alone when the vehicle fell on him, and he was pinned until the other employees came back from lunch. He refused to go to the hospital for 3 days, because he was a tough stubborn man. He finally went to the Hospital after he went septic. He lost most of his lower intestines (due to a botched surgery). The Dr's also missed the fact that car had cut off the blood supply in his hips, and he had to have hip replacement at a very young age (the crush ruptured the vessels supplying blood to the hip bones, and they rotted away).
He ran the farm for the rest of his life, until he retired. It was not a big farm.
Grandfather was a Jack of all trades. He could fix a TV, Car, Tractor, motorcycle, radio you name it. They raised their own animals for food (My father remembers playing with his animals, and then butchering them when it was time. He even had a pet bull that followed him around like a puppy, getting in the way, and trying to "wrassle" with my father).
I have fond memories of going to the farm as a child. Playing hide and seek in the vineyard (which made for great fun shooting small grapes at each other out of our blow guns). We could wander the property with our BB guns (and later with our rifles) and shoot.
My Grandfather would be out working in the large Garage on this tractor or that, and we would go out and get him for dinner. He would first wash his hands in gasoline to get the grease off, then wash thoroughly with soap and hot water in the wash room just inside the front door.
He was a boxer in his younger years, and was about the toughest man I ever knew. He could tighten a bolt down on the tractor with his hands, and then hand me a wrench, and I could not budge it! (my dad had told me this, and I did not believe it, so he told me to go try!!! I asked Grandpa about this, and he took a bolt, and placed it in the tractor, and tightened it with his hands. After I was unable to get it back off with the wrench, he reached over and twisted it loose with his hands).
Here is the knife. An old Barlow.
Here is the tang stamp.
Reverse tang stamp
Lots of pocket wear
It was filthy when I got it. So much built up gunk in the channels that the blades were resting on it!!!
The blades both had wiggle (I fixed that..........because this is a family knife it will be used.......and passed on to my own son).
I did touch up the edge (very lightly on 1000 grit, and it is hair popping sharp). The edge has a few small nicks (looks like grandpa might have cut or stripped very thin wire).
I am not going to make much of an effort to grind these out. I will just keep stropping it as i use it and eventually they will go away.
I do like that the tangs are flush with the bolster. Very pocket friendly!
The Pen blade. (both blades look like the tips have been rounded a bit from impact or use)
I just wanted to share these pictures and thoughts. My Grandpa has been gone for about 20 years. Just having this knife bring up great memories. (We just celebrated my Grandma's 97th birthday. She still lives on her own, and is 100% there mentally. She still loves fishing!).
My Grandma did not know how long Grandpa had this knife. She just said a really long time. (I believe I remember watching my Grandpa trim his nails with this very knife as a small child.............Which I tried to emulate and sliced my fingernail half way up the finger and bled all over!).
I don't have any knives from my grandfathers except for one with broken blades but I do have some of their woodworking tools. My mother's father gave me my first pocket knife when I was six.
