I've went off at length on how I've sent to smaller and smaller knives over the years. Maybe I've finally crossed over to old fartdom. You know, the old guys you see with the little pen knife. It seems like the older I got, the smaller the knife I carried. Maybe it too me a lifetime to come to the point where my dad was most of his life. Or maybe he was just alot smarter than me. No maybe about it.
But I guess it all kind of crystalized in my mind one day at the Smithsonian Museum down in Washington D.C.
It was the Iceman.
Years ago they uncovered a frozen guy from 5500 years ago up in the Alps on the Austrian-Italian border. They've studied him for some years now, and his personal equitment he had with him. Down at the Smithsonian they have an exibit with exact replicas of his gear and clothing. I was drawn to his knife and hatchet. There was his knife, a small white flint thing with a nice flaked blade about 2 inches long, with a handle out of ash held on with wrapped sinew. It was about the size of a peanut with a bit longer handle. This was his only knife. For heavier duty cutting, he had a copper ax the size of a Boy scout Plumb hatchet.
That was it.
A small 2 inch knife and a hatchet.
About 5500 years ago, Europe was a very sparsely populated cold place, with elk and buffalo roaming around. Some of the Icemans clothing was of elk and deer skins. He had a thick fur hat and leggings. It seemed like the flint knife he had was typical, as on the same floor of the museum were other exibits from the same period of Europe and the near east of what is present day Iran and Iraq. There were cases of flint tools like knives, arrow heads, scrapers, and such. Most of the flint knives from the period of 8,000 to 3,000 years ago seemed small by modern standards. About 2 inches seemed the norm.
I think of my dad, and the other men of his era who carried the typical mid 20th century pen knives, and how they got by. They certainly lived a more "civilized" life than the Iceman, who had to dress and skin large mammals like elk with his 2 inch knife.
It makes me wonder, how much do we really need?
In 1997 Karen and I went on a tour of the U.S. We loaded up the camping gear in the Toyota and off we went on a counter clockwise trip to all the major parks for the month of May. We spent almost the whole month on the road. In Mesa Verde I again saw a small flint knife in the museum of the cliff dwellings. Again it seemed about the same size as a small pocket knife when open. Later, at another time and place, when I saw how a small flake off a chunk of obsidian went through a deers hide to cut the meat, I was very impressed.
A friend showed me the basics of knapping, and when I went to cut something with a flake of obsidian, it was eye opening. Kind of like leaving the house with a good sharp peanut, or baby butter bean, or even Vic classic, and realize it will do most of what you need. I realized that the hand of the person and the skills used are way more important that the tool. Like the saying; software over hardware. If Otzi the Iceman could skin an elk and live in cold pre-history Europe with a 2 inch blade, it makes me wonder why I carried all those larger knives in my younger day. I think of my dad, or my Uncle Paul, making repairs by cutting a gasket out of the bottom of a Kleenex box with a little pen knife, or dad gutting and skinning a big catfish with his peanut, that was fried up latter for dinner, or even Mr. Van with his 2 1/2 inch bladed scout knife, showing us camp crafts and woodsmanship. Looking back on it all know, I realized I never used much more than a 2 inch blade untill I became infected with knife collectivitus. Then things went haywire for some years. Untill my old friend and co-worker, Andy Warden showed me how he field dressed a nice big buck on opening day, with his trusty little Buck cadet.
Now I'm at a point again where I'm carrying almost the same kind of knife I carried as a scout, all those years ago.
How much do we need?
But I guess it all kind of crystalized in my mind one day at the Smithsonian Museum down in Washington D.C.
It was the Iceman.
Years ago they uncovered a frozen guy from 5500 years ago up in the Alps on the Austrian-Italian border. They've studied him for some years now, and his personal equitment he had with him. Down at the Smithsonian they have an exibit with exact replicas of his gear and clothing. I was drawn to his knife and hatchet. There was his knife, a small white flint thing with a nice flaked blade about 2 inches long, with a handle out of ash held on with wrapped sinew. It was about the size of a peanut with a bit longer handle. This was his only knife. For heavier duty cutting, he had a copper ax the size of a Boy scout Plumb hatchet.
That was it.
A small 2 inch knife and a hatchet.
About 5500 years ago, Europe was a very sparsely populated cold place, with elk and buffalo roaming around. Some of the Icemans clothing was of elk and deer skins. He had a thick fur hat and leggings. It seemed like the flint knife he had was typical, as on the same floor of the museum were other exibits from the same period of Europe and the near east of what is present day Iran and Iraq. There were cases of flint tools like knives, arrow heads, scrapers, and such. Most of the flint knives from the period of 8,000 to 3,000 years ago seemed small by modern standards. About 2 inches seemed the norm.
I think of my dad, and the other men of his era who carried the typical mid 20th century pen knives, and how they got by. They certainly lived a more "civilized" life than the Iceman, who had to dress and skin large mammals like elk with his 2 inch knife.
It makes me wonder, how much do we really need?
In 1997 Karen and I went on a tour of the U.S. We loaded up the camping gear in the Toyota and off we went on a counter clockwise trip to all the major parks for the month of May. We spent almost the whole month on the road. In Mesa Verde I again saw a small flint knife in the museum of the cliff dwellings. Again it seemed about the same size as a small pocket knife when open. Later, at another time and place, when I saw how a small flake off a chunk of obsidian went through a deers hide to cut the meat, I was very impressed.
A friend showed me the basics of knapping, and when I went to cut something with a flake of obsidian, it was eye opening. Kind of like leaving the house with a good sharp peanut, or baby butter bean, or even Vic classic, and realize it will do most of what you need. I realized that the hand of the person and the skills used are way more important that the tool. Like the saying; software over hardware. If Otzi the Iceman could skin an elk and live in cold pre-history Europe with a 2 inch blade, it makes me wonder why I carried all those larger knives in my younger day. I think of my dad, or my Uncle Paul, making repairs by cutting a gasket out of the bottom of a Kleenex box with a little pen knife, or dad gutting and skinning a big catfish with his peanut, that was fried up latter for dinner, or even Mr. Van with his 2 1/2 inch bladed scout knife, showing us camp crafts and woodsmanship. Looking back on it all know, I realized I never used much more than a 2 inch blade untill I became infected with knife collectivitus. Then things went haywire for some years. Untill my old friend and co-worker, Andy Warden showed me how he field dressed a nice big buck on opening day, with his trusty little Buck cadet.
Now I'm at a point again where I'm carrying almost the same kind of knife I carried as a scout, all those years ago.
How much do we need?
But I'd rather carry my Canoe or one of my Mini Canoes.
because for me this will go out the window when i get my hands on a real elephant toe
