Sometimes, out of a misguided attempt to see what is going on in other forums, I run across posts that make little sense to me. No, that's not quite right; they make no sense to me at all. I guess having lived my life long enough now to span a couple of era's, I am missing something. I have to admit I have no idea what a hard use knife is.
When I was growing up, I lived with men who really worked with thier hands for a living. Rough work, a great deal of it outside in all weather. There was my grandad and his cronies of working watermen. Out on wooden boats in any kind of weather. There was the likes of the liers circle with proffesional trappers, poachers, carpenters, and farmers. In the army we were engineers. That meant jack of all trades construction people. Carpenters, masons, electricians, heavy equiptment operators like dozer drivers and mechanics, and even demo people. Of course all of then carried and used a knife. A stockman, or maybe a middleman jack, or even a few barlows. After the early 70's, the Buck 110 was a common sight on belts of working men.
I have fond memories of growing up, and having a mentor give me tips on safe knife handling. Mr. Van, our scoutmaster was a fanatic on good and safe knife pracitice. He stresed on us that a knife is a cutting tool, not a prybar, screwdriver, or other tool. being an ex-marine with a long and decorated service history, I guess Mr. Van would have needed a 'hard use' knife, whatever that may be. But all I ever saw him with was his Remington scout knife that he sort of babied. I never saw Mr. Van use it real hard. He also had a two blade serpintine jack that he used often.
I think it was about this time in my budding knife knut days I noticed something. Dad never used his peanut for anything else but cutting something. Uncle Paul never used his little two blade jacks for anything but cutting. Mr. Van of course took great pains not to use his Reminton for anything that wasn't a cutting chore. Somehow, these men had went through a depression, a world war, and raising familys, without using thier knives for anything but a cutting tool. But..., I noticed that they all carried tools.
I think it was my father that I noticed first. He always seemed to be fixing little things around the house with his keychain. His Sears 4-way keychain screwdriver was not just a screwdriver, but he used it as a mini-prybar. I never saw him pry with a knife. He told me early on to look at the guys with the knife blade snapped off because they were using it for something not intended. Dad hated abuse of a tool. I noticed a lot of the men of that era carrying thse little nail clippers on thier keychains. It seems like in the 1950's the small nail clipper was the crimper, light wire cutter, pry tool and general abuse tool. It could be replaced at the next drug store for .50 cents, so was a disposable item. Dad or Mr. Van did not consider thier pocket knife a disposable item. But like a lot of men of thier era, they carried a P-38, or a 4-way keychain screwdriver, or maybe a cheap small nail clipper, or a combination of the afor mentioned on thier keyring.
I remember one time I was opening something, and I was using my very first pocket knife to pry the lid off something. It was a old Imperial barlow graddad had given me on trial. Dad, like a lot of dad's, had the great talent to appear when least expected. Dad walked in on me, and asked "What the heck are you doing". I showed him the lid I was prying up, and he gave me a kind of back of the head slap to get my attention.
"It's a knife, bonehead. A cutting tool. Never pry with a cutting tool, go get something else!" he told me. And then he took off the Sears keychain screwdriver from his keyring and told me to hang onto it, he'll get another. I think it was at this point in my young life, he made me aware of the "right tool for the job" idea. I started really watching him and Uncle Paul, and later on Mr. Van. They all used thier knives carefully as a cutting tool. I never saw any of them with a broken knife blade. But I don't ever recall seeing a 'hard use' knife.
To this day, I'll see an old knife, like maybe an old stockman that has 30 years of use on it, or an old two blade jack that belonged to somebodys grandfather, and they have worn down but unbroken blades, and I think that it must have belonged to a man who cared about it and took care of it.
Maybe they had a father who gave them a light head smack, and told them "It's a knife bonehead!"
When I was growing up, I lived with men who really worked with thier hands for a living. Rough work, a great deal of it outside in all weather. There was my grandad and his cronies of working watermen. Out on wooden boats in any kind of weather. There was the likes of the liers circle with proffesional trappers, poachers, carpenters, and farmers. In the army we were engineers. That meant jack of all trades construction people. Carpenters, masons, electricians, heavy equiptment operators like dozer drivers and mechanics, and even demo people. Of course all of then carried and used a knife. A stockman, or maybe a middleman jack, or even a few barlows. After the early 70's, the Buck 110 was a common sight on belts of working men.
I have fond memories of growing up, and having a mentor give me tips on safe knife handling. Mr. Van, our scoutmaster was a fanatic on good and safe knife pracitice. He stresed on us that a knife is a cutting tool, not a prybar, screwdriver, or other tool. being an ex-marine with a long and decorated service history, I guess Mr. Van would have needed a 'hard use' knife, whatever that may be. But all I ever saw him with was his Remington scout knife that he sort of babied. I never saw Mr. Van use it real hard. He also had a two blade serpintine jack that he used often.
I think it was about this time in my budding knife knut days I noticed something. Dad never used his peanut for anything else but cutting something. Uncle Paul never used his little two blade jacks for anything but cutting. Mr. Van of course took great pains not to use his Reminton for anything that wasn't a cutting chore. Somehow, these men had went through a depression, a world war, and raising familys, without using thier knives for anything but a cutting tool. But..., I noticed that they all carried tools.
I think it was my father that I noticed first. He always seemed to be fixing little things around the house with his keychain. His Sears 4-way keychain screwdriver was not just a screwdriver, but he used it as a mini-prybar. I never saw him pry with a knife. He told me early on to look at the guys with the knife blade snapped off because they were using it for something not intended. Dad hated abuse of a tool. I noticed a lot of the men of that era carrying thse little nail clippers on thier keychains. It seems like in the 1950's the small nail clipper was the crimper, light wire cutter, pry tool and general abuse tool. It could be replaced at the next drug store for .50 cents, so was a disposable item. Dad or Mr. Van did not consider thier pocket knife a disposable item. But like a lot of men of thier era, they carried a P-38, or a 4-way keychain screwdriver, or maybe a cheap small nail clipper, or a combination of the afor mentioned on thier keyring.
I remember one time I was opening something, and I was using my very first pocket knife to pry the lid off something. It was a old Imperial barlow graddad had given me on trial. Dad, like a lot of dad's, had the great talent to appear when least expected. Dad walked in on me, and asked "What the heck are you doing". I showed him the lid I was prying up, and he gave me a kind of back of the head slap to get my attention.
"It's a knife, bonehead. A cutting tool. Never pry with a cutting tool, go get something else!" he told me. And then he took off the Sears keychain screwdriver from his keyring and told me to hang onto it, he'll get another. I think it was at this point in my young life, he made me aware of the "right tool for the job" idea. I started really watching him and Uncle Paul, and later on Mr. Van. They all used thier knives carefully as a cutting tool. I never saw any of them with a broken knife blade. But I don't ever recall seeing a 'hard use' knife.
To this day, I'll see an old knife, like maybe an old stockman that has 30 years of use on it, or an old two blade jack that belonged to somebodys grandfather, and they have worn down but unbroken blades, and I think that it must have belonged to a man who cared about it and took care of it.
Maybe they had a father who gave them a light head smack, and told them "It's a knife bonehead!"
