My grandfather and his pocket knife...

Fred Sanford

Fred Sanford

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Tonight my wife and I and daughter visited my grandfather and grandmother. I'm thankful because they are in their mid 80's and still have their wits about them. Great old Christian folks.

My grandfather goes to open a package and has to use his blade a few times because it's a tad dull. It was an old Victorinox Spartan (I think) but it had economy scales on it (the less fancy kind). The blade looked beat up and it had about 1/4 of the blade sharpened away. It was a true, "EDC". It doesn't leave his pocket and he's the first to get out his knife when someone needs to open something. I offered him my Blue Alox Farmer to use while I took his to sharpen it. He said "nah....I like mine and I can sharpen it". Then he says "heck I have another new Victorinox sitting in the box in my room that hasn't even been out of the box yet. :eek:. I was like "why not use it?"...........he then says "nothin' wrong with my current knife".

Damn I want to be like that. I want to stop buying all kinds of knives and keep it simple. It's hard to do. Any thoughts on how to achieve something like this? Has anyone done this? It seems so easy, yet so hard. It's like I want to have a Spyderco Military on my side all the time, but every time I do I only use the first 1.5" of the tip of the blade and I think "this thing is a sword"

I know this is akin to some of the things that jackknife has brought up before but man, it's hard.

My grandpa is a smart and frugal man. He was a mechanical engineer for B&W (for those of you that know what that is). I want to be more like him.
 
impossible...too many knives to be had, i like to keep my options open in the morning when stuffing my pockets to go to work or play. I'm a machinist and if their is one thing we have, its a tool for every job, one knife can not do every task I want it to.
 
Perhaps if the knife has some sort of meaning to you, it will be harder to switch it out. I carry a Buck Solo. A couple of months ago I was out and about with my almost three year old daughter, and I was looking through the Bucks. I had the Buck Solo, and another imported Buck, I guess the wood handled verion of the Lancer. Both had that Bass Pro red wood, and were lookers. I couldn't decide which one I wanted, so I asked her. She picked the Solo. I asked her if she was sure, and she went to pick the smaller knife, but then came back to the Solo. I switched them around and asked her again, and again she picked the Solo, only a bit irritated at this point, as if to say "THIS ONE, dad, how many times do I have to tell you!!" LOL. And that's what I have been carrying from that day on. If I remember correctly, this was in November. Since then I have tried to carry other knives. I switch them out and put another knife in my pocket some mornings, but a few minutes later, the Solo comes right back in my pocket. It is too attached to my daughter. She picked it out, and was sooo sure, that it will always have sentimental value to me now. Perhaps you could do something along those lines? It helps.
Oh, and stop coming here. These friggin knife knuts with their friggin pictures of beautiful knives don't help any.
LOL. ;)
J/K.
 
Hi David -

People of your grandfathers era are different, having lived through the great depression.

Seriously - they never will think like "we" do.

Enjoy the time you have with him and your grandmother.

I am a baby-boomer. I have a SAK waiter that I never leave the house without, but I rotate in another clip-on which is chosen based on how I feel that day.

I love knives. I have a few that have so much sentimental value that I will likely never share them even here.

Enjoy.

best regards -

mqqn
 
Yeah Man!
I admire your Grandfather's frugal nature...reminds me of my father...he'd be 99 years old this March
BUT, your grandfather never spent hours drooling over knifenut photos in this forum.
This is the place that leadeth a man into temptation.
And I, for one, am weak in resistance.
Uh, he wouldn't like to sell that spare SAK he's got just lying around!?!

CP
 
A man only really needs one knife.

But it has to be the right one.

I'm still looking for the right one.

I'm pretty sure I'll never find it.
 
I envy your grandfather for he has found the knife. I got bunch of knives and honestly I cannot just choose one...
 
knarfeng said:
A man only really needs one knife.

But it has to be the right one.

I'm still looking for the right one.

I'm pretty sure I'll never find it.
Click to expand...

That's deep and a perfect candidate (with some modification) to be a Haiku poem. :)

A man needs one knife
But it has to be the one
One not to be found
 
My granddad was the same way. His constant companion was a TL-29 style Schrade from his days with PPL. He used that knife for everything.
The blade is worn to about 1/2 its original width but still razor sharp.
That knife now resides in my desk enjoying its retirement. Opening my bills doesn't sting quite as bad when I use that knife .
 
We'll never manage to do it for two reasons.

The first is that we never went through the great depression. Both of my parents did, and it made an impression on them that lasted the rest of thier time on this earth. They wouldn't replace anything as long as the old one was still functioning. It goes beyond frugal, it's a pattern of behavior from a very painfull time when some folks didn't really know when they would eat next because there had no money. I don't mean no money for new knife, or not enough money for whatever they wanted, but no money period. Zilch. Zip. Nothing. I can't imagine not having enough money in my pocket for a quart of milk for my child or even a loaf of bread. That's bad. When our grandfolks came out the other side of the depression, they were not about to waste money on something that was not needed.

Today we live in a society that throws stuff away at the drop of a hat, and the mantra is to go shopping. I don't think the modern generation has what it takes to go through a really bg depression like our grandfolks did. It would be freak out time and jump off buildings. Today if a toaster or something breaks, toss it and buy a new one at Walmart. But I remember as a kid, even with his secure job in the U.S. government, dad fixing and tinkering with things. Mom had this G.E. toaster oven, and the latch holding the door shut broke. Now toaster ovens were not expencive even then, but dad sat there at the litchen table and tinkered and fixed it. Used a paper clip to make a new latch and it worked for another couple years till the while toaster oven gave up the ghost. That's the way those old guys were. And dad too had brand new knives sitting in his sock drawer that people had given him over the years, but he never used because his old Case was still servicable.

The other reason is our affliction.

I don't know what causes it, but we all here suffer from it. Knifitis collectitis. The irrationable compulsion to accumulate more knives than we need for a lifetime. I don't know of any cure for it, like an addiction. You just have to live day to day, planning your next knife purchase, stealing from the cookie jar now and then. It's possable to slow it down some. I've only done it with the help of my better half, Karen holding me at night when I wake with the nightmare that I'll never be able to buy a new knife again. She pats my head and tells me it's only a bad dream, go back to sleep.

Or when we go to Dick's to get some nice warm wool socks for our winter woods walks, and as we go past the hunting section I stop dead in my tracks transfixed by the sight of the shiney glittering blades in the knife case. Like a moth drawn to the flame of self destruction, I start to wander over, but Karen will take my hand and whisper to me; "Do you really really need another knife, dear?" Then she leads me gently to saftey in the footwear section. I'm thankful for my very own guardian angel.

Now David, look at me, give me your attention. Repeat after me; "We are knife knuts. We are the afflicted. We can't help it. I will be content with what knives I can have while keeping good shoes on my kids feet, and food in the fridge."

There, thats it. Thats the very best we can hope for as knife knuts. :D

We will never be able to do what our grandfathers did, because they were better men than we.
 
mqqn said:
Hi David -

People of your grandfathers era are different, having lived through the great depression.

Seriously - they never will think like "we" do.
Click to expand...

I think this is very true. My parents were born in the early and mid 20's and were always the same way.

My father had a Case mini and full sized Trapper for as long as I can remember. Once I told him that his small trapper was about worn out and I thought he needed another. He quickly told me that knife would last longer than he would, and he was right.

Me and my brother bought him those two for Christmas in the late 70's.
I never seen my father buy a single thing in his life(other than food). He wore his green work pants and shirt(county mechanic) at all times, and wouldn't even buy clothes.
My mother ordered them from JC Penny's, and did all the shopping for us. He wouldn't even go in a store, except for a little dirt floored market near our house. I did see him buy food there when I was young, and loved to see the talking Minor bird when we went there.
 
^Well said jackKnife:thumbup::thumbup:

My parents went through that as well, and both had to quit school before thw 5th grade to work on there farm.

One thing I'll always remember is him telling me how much trouble they would get in if they came home missing a .22 cartridge if there was no game to account for that bullet. I can't even imagine that kind of life.
 
Bought my SAK 30 years ago for $5.00 in the box at a boot sale, never go any where with out it, also have a back up in the drawer just in case.

Richard
 
Ken44 said:
^Well said jackKnife:thumbup::thumbup:

My parents went through that as well, and both had to quit school before thw 5th grade to work on there farm.

One thing I'll always remember is him telling me how much trouble they would get in if they came home missing a .22 cartridge if there was no game to account for that bullet. I can't even imagine that kind of life.
Click to expand...

Carl & Ken - :thumbup: to you both! My parents were of the same generation, and I've often thought that if I could be half the man my father was ............ well, you know what I mean.
 
I do only use a very select few knives, but I do buy on a regular basis. This desire to aquire is just to much to control.
I'm so predictable my family doesn't even try to "fix" me anymore. Guarenteed to have yellerhandle in pocket. Jeans, boots, t-shirt (colder-flannel shirt), ball cap, green Stanley thermos of coffee. I have pics of me from the 70's and 80's looking just like I do now. BUT, I still can't stop buying knives. I decided about 5 years ago not to count anymore. Last count was 300 +/- and I buy 15+ each year. I would hate to have to answer if my wife asks, so I just make sure I don't know anymore.

My grandfather came out of that same era, and he didn't throw anything away. He didn't spend any money if he didn't have too. WITH THE EXCEPTION of knives. Lucky for me. He and my dad both were knife buyers. They had the addiction. Too bad when my grandfather died we had to split the knives 4 ways. My collection would be much bigger. haha.
 
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