Odd things, personal tastes and interests...

Kismet

Kismet

Joined
Jan 30, 2002
Messages
7,269
I recently posted an African Dagger from ebay listing I'd found for Cantina folks to see and enjoy. As I looked at it, like most blades and tools I've seen and admired, I wished that somehow...in a heaven of My own making...I'd be able to time-travel back and be quietly in the background as the knife was made, sold, used, shared, coveted...etc. I'd see the lives that were lived around it, the values and relationships that folks had during the years it existed in the countries in which it existed. Maybe I could even sense the social changes that went on during its time on earth.

I'm not a collector...either by financial ability or inclination...but those knives (and stuff) I've accumulated are all sort of like that...the starting points of mental meanderings that let me get irish-wistful about being witness to or a part of the times in which the various things existed. Old Marbles knives, the HI khuks, pounded out on a piece of steel in a factory that I'll never see nor really be able to envision, let me briefly try to visit the men, times, places and roles that these knives have as part of their provenance.

The knives that Sarge makes, or the moose knife of Pen, or the hunting knife that Yvsa crafted so long ago, lovely things that they are...will one day provide the same sort of time-travel day-dreaming for future men and women...that these old hand-made things do for me today.

It's part of the flow of life, and humanity, I guess.

Life goes fast.
 
Life goes fast.
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You are so right. Need to make a knife for each of my boys. Part of Time, even if an example of how NOT to do things.

Just received an old khuk that I purchased from John Powell. Feels old, massive. Be nice to think that in 150 years someone holds something that I made, and appreciates, wonders.

Good thoughts that you bring to us, Kis.
 
In our disposable, mass produced culture, having things done by hand and built to last are cherished by some of us at least.
 
Originally posted by Bobwhite
In our disposable, mass produced culture, having things done by hand and built to last are cherished by some of us at least.
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Isn't that the truth!! That's what really got me on the khuks was seeing the labor and the faces of the men who work so hard to please us. I hope we all let them know that they are special and appreciated.

I'm not sure if all of our culture even knows what hand-made is.:rolleyes:
 
It can be refreshing to hold a tangible product. So much of what we do these days is done on a scale which is hard to grasp on a human terms. It works but it is impersonal; the work of committees, collaboration and hapstance.

Knives stand in sharp contrast as our most personal of items. Many stay by our side for a lifetime, and are then passed to our sons, daughters, and friends. Many have been faithfully at our side during some of our most tragic days as well as at our greatest triumps. Whether they were produced by hand, or stamped out at a massive factory, they all become our knives over the years. On its surface is engraved a reflection of our personality; for we each use, sharpen, maintain, and personalize our knives in our own way.

Many of them become the grizzled veterans of many lifetimes. Knives hundreds of years old, which have built countless shelters, and helped to feed so many camp fires. Sometimes we turn to them, as if to say, you have done this so many times can help to guide my hand today; and, if we listen closely enough, they often do.

n2s
 
The only knife I ever made was a popsicle stick sharpened on the sidewalk. They were sharper than some the khukuris that I have now. At least that's how I remember them.

If I had gold membership I'd try sell one or two of em' here. :D
 
I to find myself in whimsical fantasy when holding a classic blade. Mine though, is a little different. I find myself looking back on how the design came to be in the first place.

Holding a khuk, looking at it's lines and thinking of the countless working people who brought the khukuri the elegance we see in it today. I think about what the first khukuri was like, and how the terrain and the needs of the people dictated how the blade evolved.

I recently had a tomahawk made for me by Bill Buxton. It is crafted from an old rail road spike. That one has held my fascination for a long time. The merging of 2 radically different cultures, both hard working, and both survivors. The American Indian design, forged through generations of survivalists; and the steel from the American industrial machine.

Well, I could go on this tangent forever so I will spare you. Great post Kis, glad to know I'm not alone while sitting in a dimly lit room dreaming of yore. ;)

Verax
 
Have a gander at this knife I found at Bladeforums.

Flint knapped like an obsidian...made of stained glass.

attachment.php
 
This thread has taken a definite 'popsicle' turn. That knife even looks like one.
 
to be famous or well known, but if only one person sees my legacy (a story I've written, a picture I've drawn, a staff I've carved) and thinks "My God, how did he do that?" then I will consider myself a successful man. I have more respect for the kamis (even the new ones who don't get it just right every time) than I do for any politician I can remember in my short 32 years. I'm glad I'm not the only one alive who still appreciates old world craftmanship.

Frank
 
I'm glad to see that even some of the younger gents and I guess the ladies too enjoy truely hand made things and, enjoy the old things that have been used for years and years. Most of the tools I use to work wood, bone, and metals were handed to me by my Grandfather and G Grandfather. I have tried to take as good a care of them as I could. Most of the files that I use were theirs. They still work prety well. I don't think you can buy even a Nickolson file now as good as some of those old ones.

A departed friend of mine had a very extensive collection of old guns that I used to sit by the hour and wonder who had them where they had been and, what or who they had been shot at. Oh what stories some of them could tell. My imagination runs just a little wild sometimes when looking at the old guns and knives.

Maybe that is why I haven't been to the gun show in Austin. They just make my hands itch and have caught myself talking to some of the old pieces.:) :D
 
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