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- Feb 7, 2000
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This is from the Jan. 2002 issue of <a href="http://www.tacticalknives.com/tkJan02.htm">Tactical Knives</a>:
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<b>On The Point - By Steven Dick, Editor In Chief
CUTTING TESTS ARE THE ULTIMATE PROOF</b>
Acouple of months ago i happened to relocate a good friend (I promised I wouldn't say "old" friend!) from my high school days. The path of life takes many unexpected twists and turns. In this case, I found she was now the pastor of a large Methodist church in New York City. Quite a change from the families we both grew up on in central Illinois. While we were each bringing the other up to date on our lives, I discovered she was in training for missionary trip to Mozambique this summer. The plan was to build housing and a church for those left homeless by the recent floods in that country.
This started me thinking about what I could do to coach someone that hasn't spent a lot of time living in an undeveloped third world country. My first suggestion was a good pair of sturdy boots. The African bush is no place for a westerner to go barefoot! Naturally, my next thought was "what type of cutting tools would be most useful in this situation?" Some sort of multi-tool knife seemed to be in order. ...
Sometime in the past, I had also read that Buck made a practice of sending their seconds to missionaries around the world to use for trading stock. I contacted C.J. Buck, current head of the family owned company, and asked if they still had this program. Happily, the answer was yes and they would be only too glad to donate a box of knives to the venture.
Discussing the program with C.J., I found many of the knives in question were badly abused folders returned by customers. Buck staff members take knives with broken points and the like, regrind them to some useful shape and then box them up to wait on the next request. The program served two purposes, the first being Buck would not have to deal with damaged product floating around the American market. The second is that in remote areas, first class cutting tools were both highly valued for everyday life and, often, totally unavailable at any price. Someone living on a few dollars a month was unlikely to buy one of these knives even if it was stocked at the local trading post.
Any knife with a useful cutting life left in it made for a desirable trading item. Food, building materials, and labor could all be obtained for something that had little value back in its country of origin. C.J. said he had heard of entire churches being built off trading Buck seconds.
... I'm counting on these knives providing a more detailed story down the road for Tactical Knives. I would like to thank both companies for their willingness to help out on this humanitarian project. Americans catch a lot of flack around tl world, but I think we are still one of the most generous countries on the globe.
===============================
<b>On The Point - By Steven Dick, Editor In Chief
CUTTING TESTS ARE THE ULTIMATE PROOF</b>
Acouple of months ago i happened to relocate a good friend (I promised I wouldn't say "old" friend!) from my high school days. The path of life takes many unexpected twists and turns. In this case, I found she was now the pastor of a large Methodist church in New York City. Quite a change from the families we both grew up on in central Illinois. While we were each bringing the other up to date on our lives, I discovered she was in training for missionary trip to Mozambique this summer. The plan was to build housing and a church for those left homeless by the recent floods in that country.
This started me thinking about what I could do to coach someone that hasn't spent a lot of time living in an undeveloped third world country. My first suggestion was a good pair of sturdy boots. The African bush is no place for a westerner to go barefoot! Naturally, my next thought was "what type of cutting tools would be most useful in this situation?" Some sort of multi-tool knife seemed to be in order. ...
Sometime in the past, I had also read that Buck made a practice of sending their seconds to missionaries around the world to use for trading stock. I contacted C.J. Buck, current head of the family owned company, and asked if they still had this program. Happily, the answer was yes and they would be only too glad to donate a box of knives to the venture.
Discussing the program with C.J., I found many of the knives in question were badly abused folders returned by customers. Buck staff members take knives with broken points and the like, regrind them to some useful shape and then box them up to wait on the next request. The program served two purposes, the first being Buck would not have to deal with damaged product floating around the American market. The second is that in remote areas, first class cutting tools were both highly valued for everyday life and, often, totally unavailable at any price. Someone living on a few dollars a month was unlikely to buy one of these knives even if it was stocked at the local trading post.
Any knife with a useful cutting life left in it made for a desirable trading item. Food, building materials, and labor could all be obtained for something that had little value back in its country of origin. C.J. said he had heard of entire churches being built off trading Buck seconds.
... I'm counting on these knives providing a more detailed story down the road for Tactical Knives. I would like to thank both companies for their willingness to help out on this humanitarian project. Americans catch a lot of flack around tl world, but I think we are still one of the most generous countries on the globe.