- Joined
- Feb 3, 2011
- Messages
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My grandfather was the kind of man who didn't hide his envy well. He was in love one minute and making a sell the next. He traded and sold rifles like a used car dealer swaps rides. There was something I appreciated about that, but at the same time, nothing seemed to be around long enough to gain a lot of appreciation. He was a gun nut, but he was also a knife nut. He had a small hardware display case packed with knives, it gained my attention quite a bit over the years and we would look at them maybe a couple times a month.
My grandfather had a special place in his heart for single bladed folders. It didn't matter what brand just as long as it was a decent steel and it was light. He took a shining to a certain Case Sodbuster Jr. I had and often asked me about it, I could see the envy grow. Now, my grandfather would go out of his way in order to make me smile, he supplied me with my first shotgun, my first high power rifle, my first set of good binos and more knives then I could count, needless to say I was the favorite.
Every October on my grandfather's birthday my mom would supply my brothers and I with a five spot and have us palm him the cash as we wished him a happy birthday. Of course Ma's palm was bigger and when it was all said and done my grandfather had a little gun money. This practice went on from the time I was little until the day he left.
Work was busy at the farm, but winding down and soon the snow would fly and I would be unemployed for a spell. Seasonal work has that affect, but it gave me the freedom to chase bunnies, squirrel and finally deer. Anyhow, I carried that Sodbuster all summer and had it wore in pretty good. I remember taking it home after it's last day of work with me and cleaning it really well, oiling the joint and putting a fresh edge on, it was popping hairs!
My grandfather was in "his" chair in the living room and intermittently studying the field outside of the glass door to the deck. When I walked in he smiled, it was his Birthday. As he reached for my hand I placed the little Sodbuster Jr. Into his palm, it was wrapped in a twenty. He smiled when he saw the cash and he smiled again when he saw the knife. It was a match made in heaven and he dropped the knife he was carrying into a side drawer and slipped the little 'buster into his pocket. He went on to use that knife for a few years before his passing. Apples, ring bologna, cord, twine, nectarines, anything and everything he needed cut that knife did it.
It's hard not to think of him as the leaves are starting to turn, his birthday and our favorite season are right around the corner. In honor of him I did something I haven't done in years, I bought myself a Case knife.
Sodbuster Jr. In Chestnut bone and CV steel. It's slimmer then that old delrin Sodbuster Jr that Pappy had, he would have loved this one. Honestly the jig is great, the dye is deep. It's a nice knife and I'm glad to have picked it up! In the end, it's no Great Eastern, but it's a good pocket knife at a decent price and that's all my grandfather needed in his time. He would have thought I was crazy for the prices I see fit to pay, but then again he owned more rifles then anyone I've ever met....
My grandfather had a special place in his heart for single bladed folders. It didn't matter what brand just as long as it was a decent steel and it was light. He took a shining to a certain Case Sodbuster Jr. I had and often asked me about it, I could see the envy grow. Now, my grandfather would go out of his way in order to make me smile, he supplied me with my first shotgun, my first high power rifle, my first set of good binos and more knives then I could count, needless to say I was the favorite.
Every October on my grandfather's birthday my mom would supply my brothers and I with a five spot and have us palm him the cash as we wished him a happy birthday. Of course Ma's palm was bigger and when it was all said and done my grandfather had a little gun money. This practice went on from the time I was little until the day he left.
Work was busy at the farm, but winding down and soon the snow would fly and I would be unemployed for a spell. Seasonal work has that affect, but it gave me the freedom to chase bunnies, squirrel and finally deer. Anyhow, I carried that Sodbuster all summer and had it wore in pretty good. I remember taking it home after it's last day of work with me and cleaning it really well, oiling the joint and putting a fresh edge on, it was popping hairs!
My grandfather was in "his" chair in the living room and intermittently studying the field outside of the glass door to the deck. When I walked in he smiled, it was his Birthday. As he reached for my hand I placed the little Sodbuster Jr. Into his palm, it was wrapped in a twenty. He smiled when he saw the cash and he smiled again when he saw the knife. It was a match made in heaven and he dropped the knife he was carrying into a side drawer and slipped the little 'buster into his pocket. He went on to use that knife for a few years before his passing. Apples, ring bologna, cord, twine, nectarines, anything and everything he needed cut that knife did it.
It's hard not to think of him as the leaves are starting to turn, his birthday and our favorite season are right around the corner. In honor of him I did something I haven't done in years, I bought myself a Case knife.
Sodbuster Jr. In Chestnut bone and CV steel. It's slimmer then that old delrin Sodbuster Jr that Pappy had, he would have loved this one. Honestly the jig is great, the dye is deep. It's a nice knife and I'm glad to have picked it up! In the end, it's no Great Eastern, but it's a good pocket knife at a decent price and that's all my grandfather needed in his time. He would have thought I was crazy for the prices I see fit to pay, but then again he owned more rifles then anyone I've ever met....
:thumbup:
