- Joined
- Feb 7, 2000
- Messages
- 6,676
This weekend I drove down to the summer camp where my wife and two kids are staying for a bit (I can only go on weekends because of work 
). I toted along my yellow CV Case Sodbuster Jr. Over the past 6-8 weeks, I've been carrying this knife almost exclusively and it's developed a pretty fair patina from use.
On Saturday afternoon we did some hunting as a family -- wild mushroom hunting that is. Even though it's a bit early in the year for the prized fungi, we did quite well.
I settled into my preferred role: Kicking back on a nice soft patch of needles in the woods, using the knife to clean the mushrooms as my kids run them over to me. All you do is trim off the dirt and muck at the bottoms - basically you whittle the stem to a point, cutting off all the dirt encrusted parts. It's dirty business but if you've ever tasted real wild mushrooms (either fresh or dried and added to a recipe later), you know they're out of this world. At any rate, the Soddie Jr., having spent a good bit of time on the Sharpmaker, sliced those mushroom stems like the proverbial hot knife through butter. After each hot spot, before we moved on to hunt more, I'd give the blade my patented rigorous cleaning regime: Smear a little saliva on it, wipe it on the jeans.
Can't argue with results: No rust yet.
That evening, after dinner, my wife sent me out for a little hike to burn off the calories. I hiked in the woods for a good bit, then sat on a log to do some whittling. I was making great work of a stick when the Soddie, hungry for blood, I guess, decided to nip my thumb. First thought: "Ouch." Second thought: "Wow! That's a really sharp knife!" Third thought, upon realizing I'd dropped the knife on some rocks: "I hope I didn't just ding up that blade too much." Well, it turns out I HAD put a nice little ding in the edge. Luckily, when I got home, I was able to work it out in no time at all on the Sharpmaker. Good as new (yeah, the blood wiped right off).
One other anecdote: Sunday afternoon, sporting a Cinderella Band-Aid borrowed from my four-year-old daughter, I was cleaning another mushroom out in the woods. My daughter walks over and says, "Daddy, that's a really sharp knife, isn't it? And it's yellow, isn't it?"
I told her yes one both counts.
"Well, it's really nice. I like it because it's yellow. Yellow is for little girls, you know!"
She said it with the affected innocence and simultaneous twinkle in her eye that let me know she's trying to plant a seed that maybe it ought to be her knife.
I noted that and filed it away for a later date when she's a bit older ...... then told her all about how Case makes knives that are yellow so, if you drop it, you can find it easily. She thought that was pretty cool.
). I toted along my yellow CV Case Sodbuster Jr. Over the past 6-8 weeks, I've been carrying this knife almost exclusively and it's developed a pretty fair patina from use.On Saturday afternoon we did some hunting as a family -- wild mushroom hunting that is. Even though it's a bit early in the year for the prized fungi, we did quite well.
I settled into my preferred role: Kicking back on a nice soft patch of needles in the woods, using the knife to clean the mushrooms as my kids run them over to me. All you do is trim off the dirt and muck at the bottoms - basically you whittle the stem to a point, cutting off all the dirt encrusted parts. It's dirty business but if you've ever tasted real wild mushrooms (either fresh or dried and added to a recipe later), you know they're out of this world. At any rate, the Soddie Jr., having spent a good bit of time on the Sharpmaker, sliced those mushroom stems like the proverbial hot knife through butter. After each hot spot, before we moved on to hunt more, I'd give the blade my patented rigorous cleaning regime: Smear a little saliva on it, wipe it on the jeans.
Can't argue with results: No rust yet.That evening, after dinner, my wife sent me out for a little hike to burn off the calories. I hiked in the woods for a good bit, then sat on a log to do some whittling. I was making great work of a stick when the Soddie, hungry for blood, I guess, decided to nip my thumb. First thought: "Ouch." Second thought: "Wow! That's a really sharp knife!" Third thought, upon realizing I'd dropped the knife on some rocks: "I hope I didn't just ding up that blade too much." Well, it turns out I HAD put a nice little ding in the edge. Luckily, when I got home, I was able to work it out in no time at all on the Sharpmaker. Good as new (yeah, the blood wiped right off).
One other anecdote: Sunday afternoon, sporting a Cinderella Band-Aid borrowed from my four-year-old daughter, I was cleaning another mushroom out in the woods. My daughter walks over and says, "Daddy, that's a really sharp knife, isn't it? And it's yellow, isn't it?"
I told her yes one both counts.
"Well, it's really nice. I like it because it's yellow. Yellow is for little girls, you know!"
She said it with the affected innocence and simultaneous twinkle in her eye that let me know she's trying to plant a seed that maybe it ought to be her knife.
I noted that and filed it away for a later date when she's a bit older ...... then told her all about how Case makes knives that are yellow so, if you drop it, you can find it easily. She thought that was pretty cool.
