Grandpa's Pocketknife

R

Ron53

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Jul 30, 2007
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Now that I'm a Grandpa, I am remembering the little slip-joint pocketknife my Grandpa Clark used to carry. It was a small pen knife, with a clip and a pen blade. As with many other of our grandfathers, this was the only pocketknife I ever saw him carry or use, and my Grandpa was a hunter, fisherman, and outdoorsman. With it, he used to whittle cane whistles and slingshots for me.

When I was home from my last rotation from my job here in Northern Iraq, I went to an open house at the boutique where my daughter works as a designer...they sell antiques, gifts and such. My 20 month old grandson, Hayden, had a balloon tied to his wrist and was playing with it unti it popped when it swung against some spiky plants. So Grandpa Clark (me) pulls out his small slip-joint folder and proceeds to cut the ribbon holding the balloon and free him of it. He thought that was REALLY cool! So now, every time he sees his Grandpa using his pocketknife, he walks up to me, holds out his wrist as if the balloon still needs cutting away, and has me "cut" the "ribbon" with my closed knife. And then he has to carry it around for a few moments before returning it to me. He feels like a "big boy" when Grandpa lets him carry his pocketknife around!

As you can see, My little buddy is already developing an appreciation of fine old cutlery, like our Grandpas used to carry!

Ron
 
That's what it's all about isn't it. Lovely story Ron.

I bet that little guy will have a few of grandpa's old knives to treasure as he grows up too.:thumbup:
 
Yes, that is a very great deal what its all about.

Someday about a half dozen years or so from now, there will come a day when its time to start to think about a knife for the young one. Dollars to doughnuts he's going to want a pocket knife just like grandads. Do you have one or two knives that are a trademark of yours? He's not going to be interested in the one's you accumulate, just the one he sees you with all the time.

Make it a good one.:D

And congrats on being a grandad, its such a fun and rewarding job, you'd do it for free!
 
Thanks, guys! Yes, I do have a few that he sees me with all the time. One is an old green bone Case XX penknife, with clip and pen blades. Another is an old Keen Kutter small stockman, with yellow celluloid handles, that I got from my Dad a few years ago. There are others as well, including my Vintage Knives "Moose."

Ron
 
Its funny how children have an almost erie memory of objects connected to people. When I gave away most of my pocket knives in the last downsizing Karen and I had, it was interesting to see what the different generations of children went after. My nephew, who is a grown man now, went for my large yellow Eye-Brand sodbuster that I carried back when I took him fishing and woods walking when he was 8-12 or 13 years old. It was the knife he associated with me more than any other even though I had'nt carried it in a long time. My grandson on the other hand went like a striking hawk for my small yellow sodbuster because it was what I used in recent years in my outings with him. Similar knives, but they knew the difference, and it made difference to them. They went unerringly for the knife that I carried when they had their memories of our adventures when they were very young.

Not being the sharpest knife in the drawer, I have'nt figured it out, but a grandad/grandson relationship is way more special than the father/ son one. I know it was with me, and grandad, and now it is with me and my grandson. Cherish it well!
 
Great thread. I'm not a granddad yet, but I was fortunate enough to get my grandfather's entire collection when he passed. My favorite EDC of his old collecion is a schrade stockman. Funny thing about my grandfather is that he didn't have a signature pattern or brand, his signature was that every knife he owned had a chipped blade! His knives were working tools to be used and I love that about them. In fact I'm going to switch my EDC out and carry it right now!!

Here she is: notice the main and sheepsfoot blades.

pawstock.jpg
 
realstagman,

Yes, you carry THAT one! I can see why you associate that with good memories of your grandfather. The little Keen Kutter I spoke of earlier has a strange "bend" in it's frame, if viewed from the rear...but it is a great little knife, and I know my grandson will get years of use and enjoyiment from it when he's old enough to get it from me.

jackknife,

You are absolutely correct about the "specialness" of the Grandpa/Grandson relationship. Having my little buddy Hayden around has taught me how to love all over again! I won't even get into the part about telling you all how Grandpa has taught him to "moo" at our cows and call the horses!

Ron
 
realstagman said:
Great thread. I'm not a granddad yet, but I was fortunate enough to get my grandfather's entire collection when he passed. My favorite EDC of his old collecion is a schrade stockman. Funny thing about my grandfather is that he didn't have a signature pattern or brand, his signature was that every knife he owned had a chipped blade! His knives were working tools to be used and I love that about them. In fact I'm going to switch my EDC out and carry it right now!!

Here she is: notice the main and sheepsfoot blades.

pawstock.jpg
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Nice 895 Realstag. What a sweet one to carry in the pocket.
 
Ron,

Dead on and well said. I remember my grandpa in the late 50's and very early 60's carrying the same kind of knife (a couple of which I inherited as a youngster and lost).

Keep the tradition going.
 
Blues, I have every intention of doing just that! I am trying to spend as much time as I can with my Grandson when I'm home in Texas. Due to the demands of my rather "esoteric" military and civilian career, I was unable to spend much time with my children...a mistake I will NOT repeat with my grandchidren! There comes a time in your life when the "needs of the many" no longer outweigh the "needs of the few."

Ron
 
Ron53 said:
Blues, I have every intention of doing just that! I am trying to spend as much time as I can with my Grandson when I'm home in Texas. Due to the demands of my rather "esoteric" military and civilian career, I was unable to spend much time with my children...a mistake I will NOT repeat with my grandchidren! There comes a time in your life when the "needs of the many" no longer outweigh the "needs of the few."

Ron
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Thats the God's honest truth. Both my sister and me had a bit of a problem in our childhood as dad was never around alot. It did make it a bit harder for all of us in the end. It's okay till the child is 3-4 years old, he can get by with mommy just great. But at about 4-5, especially the little boys, are trying to lock on a male role model to learn from. They'er are like little torpedos searching to aquire a target, and if daddy is not around, they will target lock on a male that is around. My dad was not around so I locked onto my grandad, and it created a problem that took years to "adjust" the radar back where it should be.

I really do believe thats the problem with the modern kids, too many latchkey kids alone with no role model or nfluence exept for the video games and whoever they fall in with in lack of parental guidence.

These are dangerous times, keep close track on your grandson Ron.:thumbup:
 
Gee Ron, my Grandpa Clark carried a little two-blade pen knife and made reed whistles for his grand kids. In fact he grew reeds in his back yard in Hollywood just so that he could make the whistles for the grand kids and the great grand kids. Sorry to say, by the time he reached 90 his eyesight dimmed to the point that he lost his regular knife (I think it was a Case). My dad gave him a 98 cent knife from the drugstore to tide him over. I inherited that one. It just wasn't the same.

My stepmother (who my dad married when he was in his 70's) just passed a couple knives down to me. I think they were actually from her first husband since I just don't see my dad with a boot knife. They have sentimental value because our families were always close. Here's to mementos of the loved ones who are gone. In my family the primary mementos are the songs we shared.

PS. This is my 4,999th post. I wonder where I'll stick # 5,000?
 
Great memories, Jeff! My Grandpa Clark passed away in the Spring of 1970, when I was 17. I still carry tons of great memories of times shared with him!

Jackknife, truer words were never spoken! It has only been in recent years that my son and daughter and I have grown close again...and they are both in their mid-20's. When I read your stories about your Dad, my heart goes out to you...and maybe especially to him. I understand your father. He was one of those willing to stand between us and those who would see us fall. One sacrifices a lot when that path is chosen.

I am doing my best to ensure that my Grandson is not "lost" when it comes to having a role model and the gentle and loving Godly guidance he so needs. This will bring about a change in my career status in the relatively near future.

In the meantime, he and I will continue to play "Grandpa's Pocketknife Game."

Ron
 
Funny,not a grandpa BUT an Uncle...my Nephew & Niece have seen me carry a certain Bali since they were little ,now they are grown.At a show I was tracked down & offered $1,100 for it.Both were with me & said Uncle Jim...don't sell...it's part of the family....I didn't sell!
Jim Clifton
 
My grandpa died Nov. 28, 2001 of congestive heart failure. He was only 50 when I was born, me being the oldest child of his oldest child. Since I was the first of his grandchildren, we each had a special place in the other's heart.

Grandpa seemed to know everything about everything. Even as an adult with a graduate degree and fairly broad background myself, I recognized something of a Renaissance Man in grandpa. From leadership and knowing how people worked, to construction and history and the natural world, grandpa knew it all and could teach for as long as a person would listen.

When he died my grandma gave me a silver dollar that my great-grandfather had given my grandfather when he was eight years old. It was a lady liberty coin. Grandpa couldn't explain exactly why, but he never spent that coin. It kind of stayed in his pocket as a child, and continued there throughout his entire adult life. Each morning he would put it in his pocket, and each evening when he undressed he would place it carefully on his dresser. Every day of his life. In the end, it was so worn that you could barely make out the profile of the lady on the face, and even that required some imagination. I think it became a good luck charm for grandpa, and a reminder of his own father.

That dollar was the only thing of grandpa's I had wanted. I wasn't worth much in monetary value, but I prized it because it was a connection to him and to another man I just missed out on ever meeting. It was worth more to me than anything else of mine or my grandpa's possessions.

My only brother, 3 years younger, didn't know I had received it. He asked grandma about it, then asked me if I minded giving it up. My heart was broken because the coin was a small memento that I could carry daily and be reminded of grandpa for the rest of my life. But I love my brother, and didn't let on how important it was to me. In fact, I told him that I would be pleased if he would carry it and that I was happy that grandpa meant so much to him that he chose to seek a highly personal but monetarily worthless memento of grandpa. After having the coin a mere day to two, I let it go.

There was really no other effects that were highly personal of grandpa's. I took a shirt that smelled like grandpa and had it sealed in plastic so it would stay that way. A few months later, I got an unannounced package from my brother. I opened it and inside found grandpa's "letter opener", as he called it. It was his Schrade 80T medium stockman. Nothing fancy or expensive. Delrin scales and probably 1095 carbon steel. Grandpa must have carried that the last 20 years of his life. The blades have a cool patina and it's a great connection to him.

I carefully cleaned and lubed the pivots to get in in working condition again, left the patina the way it was, and I keep the blade edges sharp, with a mirror edge. Grandpa could not tolerate a dull knife. Even his butter knives had a wicked edge. People cut their fingers on them all the time, no kidding, even family members! (They were some kind of thin, flexible, higher-carbon steel blades with cast crinkled aluminum handles--he had nice taste). I remember grandpa using that knife every day I ever saw him, from opening mail and packages, to cleaning trout and general maintenance around his house and gardens. It was a completely unexpected gift, one that I treasure. I think I like it even better now than the coin, because I can use it. It is a useful part of me that was useful to him. I carry it every Sunday as a Sunday-go-to-Meetin' knife--and of course a lot of envelopes get opened with it as well. Grandpa would like that.
 
My grandfather is my hero. He's been dead now 10 yrs and it still seems like yesterday. He went ashore on D-Day and fought all the way thru to Germany. He came home and raised his family quietly in Mississippi. He worked hard his entire life. He spoke softly and handled himself with dignity. He was a diehard gun and knife buyer. I inherited many of them.

My prized gun is his 30-30 Marlin lever action he carried deer hunting for 30 yrs. He never killed a deer in all those years. I have a feeling he never intended to actually kill a deer. It was his way of keeping connected to all his buddies that didn't come home from WWII. I have his paperwork from WWII and the hedgerows and the Ardennes (battle of the bulge) were very nasty battles with much of it in the woods. I have a feeling that is the real reason he went "hunting" but never killed anything.

My grandfather taught me to sharpen knives and even gave me my first bite of tobakkie. I sobbed like a baby when he died and he still stirrs my emotions to this very day.

Oh, I took his old 30-30 hunting last year and let it get its first kill. I think he would be proud to know I still carry his gun to the woods.
 
65hoss said:
My prized gun is his 30-30 Marlin lever action he carried deer hunting for 30 yrs. He never killed a deer in all those years. I have a feeling he never intended to actually kill a deer. It was his way of keeping connected to all his buddies that didn't come home from WWII. I have his paperwork from WWII and the hedgerows and the Ardennes (battle of the bulge) were very nasty battles with much of it in the woods. I have a feeling that is the real reason he went "hunting" but never killed anything.
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I think that must be a common phenomenon. Mom told me that when dad came home from the war (WW2) he gave his shotgun to grandad and never hunted again. He just target shot with the Colt Woodsman. I never understood him until it was my turn to come home, and then I understood how he felt. From 1968 on I was an avid target shooter and fisherman.
 
65hoss said:
It was his way of keeping connected to all his buddies that didn't come home from WWII. I have his paperwork from WWII and the hedgerows and the Ardennes (battle of the bulge) were very nasty battles with much of it in the woods. I have a feeling that is the real reason he went "hunting" but never killed anything.
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65hoss,
Your Grandfather was part of some of the bravest, toughest and greatest men our great nation ever produced. Be proud as I know you are. We are still grateful.
Thanks for your story.
Bill
 
I recieved a CASE toothpick with "father" engraved on the blade for father's day a couple of years ago from my two boys. I swore to not leave home without it. However it was prone to slip out of my pocket and I thought I had lost a couple of times only to be found under my drivers seat. This being a concern I now EDC a little SAK and the toothpick occasionally. Anyway my dad has always carried and used a pocket knife. I found the same toothpick with the same bonestag scales with "grandfather" engraved on the blade and gave it to him for christmas last year. This christmas both of my boys will recieve the same knife with "son" on the blade. It reminds me to stop and think about them each time I use that knife. I thought it would be neat for us all to have the same knife. Which reminds me I need to call my Dad.
 
My Dad was the 2nd Scout in Company H of the 511th Parachute Infantry regiment of the 11th Airborne Division, and fought in the Liberation of the Philippines until he was severly wounded on December 11th, 1941. He made it home after the war, and I inherited my love of knives and guns from him and my Grandpa Clark.

As with a number of you, I never understood a lot of what Dad felt inside about combat and the war...that is, until I experienced it for myself. Now at 54, with 5 conflicts behind me, and involved in another now, I fully understand what my Dad...and all of his pals...were feeling and thinking. God bless all of "The Greatest Generation."

Ron
 
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