I would think if he was doing all of that back then that he had other knives around that he used besides that stockman in his pocket like most others that I have known that did those things in his age group.
I don't doubt it one bit that he carried it all that time, but that being the only knife he used for everything... That I doubt taking into count what he was doing taking common since into count and some of those things would be very difficult to do with just that one knife and would take forever.
My Grandfather also carried pretty much the same kind of knife for most of his life also, but that wasn't the only knife he used.
I also carried some kind of stockman in my younger days, always had it on me and did a lot with them, but it wasn't the only knife I owned or used.
OK... you are part right, and well, the other part... maybe common sense would help.
First, I never said he used it for
everything. He was a big, old fashioned man that thought every meal should have meat, potatoes, fresh bread and coffee. When we ate Sunday dinner with my grandparents in the 50's, he always cut his meat with a fixed blade steak knife. The CASE stayed in his pocket; although among some here, they do take delight in cutting their food in a restaurant with their EDC so I can see how you might have got that wrong. He also buttered his roll with another fixed blade, a nice silver paddle looking affair that when with a butter dish of my Grandfather's.
When he fished, he had a broken three bladed Congress in his tackle box. He wasn't sure how he broke one of the blades, and he wasn't sure where he got it. It was ground away to nothing, but the very stubby remains of the blades cut heavy nylon line like a butter. He literally greased that knife with AMALIE. Also in the box was a dull Rapala in a crusty leather sheath. Never saw him use it.
When he hunted in North Texas, Colorado, New Mexico an Oklahoma, he took his CASE, and
from time to time took a large (I have it, the blade has a 1/4" spine and is about 10" long itself) German hunting knife my Dad gave him when coming home from the Korean War. He carried that knife every once in a while because my Dad gave it to him. It was too big, and he didn't need it to dismantle an animal. He knew where all the joints were on the animals to take them apart and just didn't need it.
Often times when they would hike to their camp it could be a few miles in, then after the kill, the did minimal processing and hiked the carcass (in pieces sometimes) to a way point to be picked up by the guy that had to hike all the way back to get the truck. For meat processing, he preferred saw. For camping, he didn't know he needed to baton, chop, make emergency shelters or make fires by scratching a spark stick. No one told him how vital those processes were to getting things right. He was there to hunt, adn actually, he didn't give a crap about any of his knives. He hung onto that CASE because it was reliable and got the job done for him every time. He cleaned it with steel wool and 3 in1, and after he was back home from hunting had my grandmother was it out with hot water and soap.
According to my Dad, after the meat was cleaned and hung, he lit a candle, cut up some tinder, and made a fire. Made coffee, drank a couple of fingers of whiskey, and went to bed so they could get up early for another round. Since the knife was used as a knife only, and the saw carried the tasks that saws usually do, I am sure the CASE did well.
My own father passed recently. And once again,
your keen intuitive sense was right. The big CASE
was not the only knife he owned! I received the box of knives that my Grandad passed to my Dad. It had a Keen Kutter Barlow (apparently from the '20s), a broken Keen Kutter medium stockman, a broken Schrade trapper, and some Italian made switchblade that doesn't open all the way. I never saw or heard of him using any of those knives except the Barlow. My Dad didn't, nor did his brother. We believe they were his junk knives.
You seem to be a huge advocate for fixed blades, but you must know that your opinion and preference for their use won't apply every individual. Heck... I'll bet you never even met my grandfather, but you guessed well (I didn't consider the butter and steak knives until we were being
so literal!) about him. I had forgotten about the unused Rapala and the broken Congress in his tackle box, too.
For me, I have the luxury of carrying what I want. I am in construction, and have been since '72. I have carried a folder of some sort since that time - 40 years - on the job. The fit in my tool bags, in my pocket, and I can keep them under wraps without any staring or questions. On site, no one would care, but I am off and on with clients as well, so less is better for me. Sure, I carried a small fixed at one time, most of us in the trades have, but it just isn't needed.
Look at the hundreds of millions of Leathermans used everywhere from tradesman work to (literally) combat carry as a preferred tool.... think of all the hundreds of millions of electrician's knives that are used for everything from just making a living to all around utility use.... all folders, no? Sadly, without the knowledge of some here, folks that use these utility knives will never know (like me) that they just don't get it. They could have a "failure" at anytime. And then what?
I carry a fixed without fail when I go hunting or on a long camp, and actually anytime I feel like it. But for daily use on the job I always carry a folder; everyone else I work with does, too. We use them all day long as a necessary tool. Never had one fail in use as a knife (catch the qualifier), and I have only seen gas station knives fail unexpectedly and catastrophically.
As always, YMMV.
Thanks for encouraging the walk down memory lane with my Grandad. He was something else.
Robert
