Sentimental traditional knives, do you carry them or not?

C

csisland

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Any knives that maybe you inherited or were passed down, do you carry them or leave them at home because you don't want to lose them?
 
I carry them on special occasions only. I carried my Grandpa's Schrade on my wedding day, and again to the hospital the day our daughter was born.

I also worked for quite a while to find a duplicate of it so I could carry the same knife, with the same memories, without the fear of losing or damaging the real deal.

Heirloom knives are the best. :)

-Dan
 
I have my fathers pocketknife and it is safely stored with my knife collection with other knives I have no intention of using but keep for sentimental reasons.
 
It's a sticking point with me, unfortunately. I had jumped-up-mall-cop types confiscate my pocketknife a couple times as a younger man, so now my collection has a special subset of cheap 'riskable' knives I carry in unfamiliar situations, to complement my nicer "edc" knives. Similarly, the sentimental knives mostly stay wrapped up at home, only getting broken out on occasions that fit them. When my uncle was in town, I carried the Buck 303 he gave me when I was a kid. On his birthday and the anniversary of his passing, I carried the 501 my dad gave me when I went off to college. A few others like that.

It's ridiculous, I know -- they were given to me to be used, and none of them are what you'd call 'safe queen' material. They're just tools, right? Well, yes.
...and no.

--Mark
(TL;DR: It's all in your head. But then, so is everything, isn't it?)
 
My father's old timer I carried in a pocket sheath for a week after his passing, but now I think I just want to keep it on the table and use it for simple things in and around the house.
 
I used to, but after I thought about it for a bit, I stopped. I had my dad's and granddad's knife, but now I let my grandson have them for his family artifact display. I try to borrow them back now and then, but he's bigger than me now, so they stay safe in their display cases, maybe for the better. I'd hate to lose dad's knife on a fishing trip or something boneheaded I may be capable of.
 
I don't. I have a Case Trapper from when my father passed in 1989, and I have used it around the house a few times but I've never carried it.
 
The only thing heirloom or remotely sentimental I gave to my son years ago. A pocket worn, Robert Klass Kissing Cranes Congress that was the old man's and after years of trying to talk him out of he gave to me when I was getting ready to leave for Army basic. Naturally, I didn't take it with me then. Warm golden bone handles. The old man's still around, but in his early 80s.

There have been times I wish I'd held on to that knife longer myself and carried it. I kept in "special things to me" box until I passed it on. The problems with nomadic, spread out, and not long in one place families is that the heirlooms get thinner as you get tired of hauling stuff around. Mom's the packrat and they have to pay storage fees each month for the small pile of things left since they live in an RV full time and stay in one place finally.
 
My heirlooms get used here at the house, but don't leave the property. Fact is, I have better knives to do the same things they do, and I prefer to use them out and about. I just like to handle the heirlooms and use them lightly here at home to keep the memories alive.
 
I have a number of knives that I inherited from my grandfathers. They stay on display alongside old family photos and other relics from my family's past. I also have a handful of Old Timers that I inherited when my uncle passed last summer. He was an Old Timer man and multiples of his favorite patterns. I do on occasion, as I am today, carry one of his 8OTs. But it is always the same one and it wasn't one that he carried a lot so it's not quite as sentimental as some of the rougher ones. I love to carry it and always think of him when I do. The others I can't bear the thought of losing or damaging, so they stay at home. That might change in the future, but for now we have a good arrangement ;)
 
I inherited two knives which are very special to me. A Scout knife and a British WWII clasp knife, both close to 70 yrs old. The scout knife I gave to his grandson, the clasp knife I kept. They were users, and I continue on with the tradition. I would be upset if I lost the clasp knife (I doubt I could break it or wear it out) and would rather be using it than setting it aside. I have great memories regardless.



 
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My grandfather, 89 and still sharp as a tack, have me his go-to hinting knife that he used for the better part of 40 years: a Buck 110. It still has solid lock up, and still weighs as much as a small car, so I dot carry it. I have it put up with the rest of my collection, but won't carry it because it is too heavy
 
I posted this one a while back. These are the only two items I have that belonged to my Dad. The knife makes it into my pocket very rarely, and the watch, never. If he were alive he would be 94 years old. Been gone for 31 years.
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I lost a fathers day gift knife from my infant son and wife. It was a case Texas toothpick more sentimental than expensive. Since then I do not carry my fathers, grandfathers, grandmothers or my first knife.
 
I have a 2 dot 110 from my grandfather, but a belt sheath that size would draw stares and maybe LEO attention in San Francisco. It's definitely over the length limit, lol... I've also got a Case serpentine jack from my birth year that I occasionally carry.
 
I have several, carry them sporadically and carefully around my home and yard - use them too, but they don't go on my hunting or scouting trips in the woods. OH
 
I am not sure if this qualifies, this was made as a kitchen knife for my grandmother by my father roundabout 1920, it was used by my aunt after gran passed and when aunt passed i snaffled it ,i do not use it but i would not part with it...
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