- Joined
- Feb 7, 2000
- Messages
- 6,676
Thanks to the nature of my job (I work online), I've had the good fortune to take three different trips with the wife and kids this summer. I worked during two of them, and the third was more of a proper, do-nothing-but-have-fun vacation. On each of these trips, I've carried a single knife the entire time. It just so happens that on these trips I carried my Victorinox Soldier but other times when I hit the road I'll take along my Old Timer middleman jack, or Case Trapper, etc.
Anyway, after this last trip, it struck me how relaxing and satisfying it is to take a knife that's been used and used and not babied, and bring it back up to tip-top shape.
All three of our trips this summer involved nature; a lot of hiking in the woods, which of course (for a knife knut like me) meant a lot of whittling, making hiking sticks, etc. So the SAK came home with a serviceable edge, but certainly less than shaving sharp. Also, we like to picnic a lot and, having three little kids, I always come home from trips like these with crud in the joints from slicing up apples, sandwiches, cheese, ice cream bars and so on and so forth. Time in the mountains is generally spent having fun, and the knife maintenance gets put on hold till we're home.
You guys with families know how getting home from a vacation is anything but relaxing - it's more akin to a military operation as tired kids are stripped and thrown into the bathtub, suitcases are unloaded and filthy clothes stacked high (and prayers offered up to the god of washing machines). Only after a day or two does Dad finally find a little time to gather up the sharpening stone stowed safely in the back of the kitchen drawer, an old tooth brush, Rem Oil, and a rag, then reach down into his pocket and pull out his knife.
Here, always wanting to alleviate my wife's well-founded suspicions about my sanity, I avoid talking to the knife out loud. I fight back the urge to whisper "There there, don't worry. Just another 10 minutes or so and you'll be clean and sharp again." I have to just be confident that a good knife is like a good dog - if you treat it right, it'll come to respect and trust you to care for it.
At last, with the kids outside playing or off to bed, I finally get busy scrubbing the knife with warm, soapy water, honing the blade and checking with my thumb (and honing some more), then finally wiping down and applying a small drop of Rem Oil to those thirsty joints.
Knife goes back into the pocket, and I search out a cup of coffee and maybe the newspaper.
Finally, I'm back home and vacation is over.
Anyway, after this last trip, it struck me how relaxing and satisfying it is to take a knife that's been used and used and not babied, and bring it back up to tip-top shape.
All three of our trips this summer involved nature; a lot of hiking in the woods, which of course (for a knife knut like me) meant a lot of whittling, making hiking sticks, etc. So the SAK came home with a serviceable edge, but certainly less than shaving sharp. Also, we like to picnic a lot and, having three little kids, I always come home from trips like these with crud in the joints from slicing up apples, sandwiches, cheese, ice cream bars and so on and so forth. Time in the mountains is generally spent having fun, and the knife maintenance gets put on hold till we're home.
You guys with families know how getting home from a vacation is anything but relaxing - it's more akin to a military operation as tired kids are stripped and thrown into the bathtub, suitcases are unloaded and filthy clothes stacked high (and prayers offered up to the god of washing machines). Only after a day or two does Dad finally find a little time to gather up the sharpening stone stowed safely in the back of the kitchen drawer, an old tooth brush, Rem Oil, and a rag, then reach down into his pocket and pull out his knife.
Here, always wanting to alleviate my wife's well-founded suspicions about my sanity, I avoid talking to the knife out loud. I fight back the urge to whisper "There there, don't worry. Just another 10 minutes or so and you'll be clean and sharp again." I have to just be confident that a good knife is like a good dog - if you treat it right, it'll come to respect and trust you to care for it.
At last, with the kids outside playing or off to bed, I finally get busy scrubbing the knife with warm, soapy water, honing the blade and checking with my thumb (and honing some more), then finally wiping down and applying a small drop of Rem Oil to those thirsty joints.
Knife goes back into the pocket, and I search out a cup of coffee and maybe the newspaper.
Finally, I'm back home and vacation is over.
