So your grandfather lost his knife. What now?

mnblade

mnblade

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Feb 7, 2000
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This thread on what our grandfathers carried got me to thinking ...

... which is never pretty :eek:

At any rate, here's the deal:

Your grandfather tells you he just lost his knife.* Naturally, being a knife nut, you decide you're going to take it upon yourself to buy him a new one as a way to repay at least some of all he's given you and done for you over the years.

You want to buy him something he'll actually carry and use, so if he's a carbon-steel purist, I suggest carbon steel; if he carried a little penknife, I suggest not getting him a king-sized stockman; if he was a farmer and carried a big folder, perhaps a peanut wouldn't be a great idea. Also, if you're going to spend more than $100, you have to tell Grampa how much the knife cost (I know if I bought my grandad a $300 custom he would have fallen out of his chair laughing at me, then never carried it - maybe yours is different).

Lastly - since this is my thread and my rules - you have to buy him a newly-built knife. No scouring that online auction site for an oldie.

So, what are you getting Pops? And tell us why.

For me, I'd get him one of those new Tidioute serpentine jacks. It's about the same size he carried, has two blades, gorgeous natural handles, and carbon steel.

-- Mark



* In accordance with this just being a hypothetical discussion, let's over-look the whole "but my grandfather is dead" issue where applicable.
 
I'd get him a Schrade small stockman in carbon steel or a case medium stockman in cv. Small three blades easy to sharpen and most importantly a sheepsfoot blade for tobacco. Oh yeah nothing ridiculously expensive either, he would fall out of his chair laughing at a pricey custom too.:eek::D
 
I'd get him this Case 32087CV which strongly reminds me of the knives he carried on a daily basis 50 years ago:

orig.jpg


(image courtesy of my buddy fewpop)
 
I'd find him an old but good Italian-made single blade jack, which is what he always carried. And I'd tell him it was cheap, even if I paid $200 for it. Here is one case where it is O.K. to lie to Nonno!
 
My grandfather was a user/abuser of knives. He felt like they were little more than hand tools, and looked at them for their utility value. It was a "good knife" if he could use it for work at his own dry goods distribution warehouse, to hunt, fish, camp, and anything else he could use a knife for during his day. He sharpened his knives on anything that could render a working edge, and used them all the time.

In pre-stainless days, he would sometimes forget his knife was in his pocket when he went wade fishing at the coast (he and his boat and grandma lived about 7-8 miles from the actual water). You can imagine what the knife was like after a day of fishing while standing in salt water, then drinking beer and storing the boat, then tending to the reels (the only thing he really took care of!) and then dumping out your pockets to see your rusty knife. I can still hear the profanity!!

I have the only pocketknife to have made the trip until his death in the early '60s, a Kutmaster Barlow. It is a mere 3" long, but with heavier blades than one would normally see on a smaller pocket knife. It is worn smooooth everywhere. The blades are in surprising condition for a knife that is by my Dad's calculations about 90 - 100 years old. My Dad carried this knife for a while, but them decided he wanted something more sexy so it was oiled and put away for decades.

I just recently got my folks into assisted living, so I now have this knife. For me, it may be about my most prized knife. This little knife is a gem to me.

With that in mind, there is no doubt what I would get. I have one myself. It would have to be the Dan Burke barlow from Queen. I think this knife would have stood the rigors of my grandfather. It is very sturdy, has great steel (D2), and I love the old fashioned blade spear design of the main blade, and great utility of the wharncliffe blade as a second.

In short, it looks like it could stand up to my grandfather's standards.

Robert
 
I happen to have my Grandfathers knife with me. I carry it in, what I guess you'd call a "medicine bag".

A Case 6208.

I bought him a Schrade 8OT back in the 80's. He never carried it and stuck with his 6208 with the tip broke off. Knowing what I know now and given the chance to go back and do it again, I'd have got him another 6208.
 
mnblade said:
You want to buy him something he'll actually carry and use, so if he's a carbon-steel purist, I suggest carbon steel; if he carried a little penknife, I suggest not getting him a king-sized stockman; if he was a farmer and carried a big folder, perhaps a peanut wouldn't be a great idea. Also, if you're going to spend more than $100, you have to tell Grampa how much the knife cost (I know if I bought my grandad a $300 custom he would have fallen out of his chair laughing at me, then never carried it - maybe yours is different).

Lastly - since this is my thread and my rules - you have to buy him a newly-built knife. No scouring that online auction site for an oldie.

-- Mark

Great post!:thumbup:

So many times, people buy a gift for somebody that is what THEY like, not ever taking into account what the person that they are buying for really likes and uses. Gee, grandpa lost his pen knife, I know, I'll buy him a Spyderco Endura! :eek:

If my granddad was still around and he lost his knife, I guess I'll try to find a German built stockman with some really nice stag. Since he carried a Hen and Rooster stag stockman for the last 30 years of his life, I'll stick with that format. Same thing if my dad had lost his peanut, there's no thinking about what I'd do, other than buy him a brand new peanut as close in handle material and CV as close as I could get.

Carl.
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A Case CV Mini Trapper -- Yellow Delrin Handles -- would be a good choice

casecvminitrapperyellow.jpg
 
My Grandpa favored the Stockman pattern.So that's what I would buy him.Something from Case,GEC,or Queen,in carbon steel.Though,in truth,he carried a Boker.So,I might have to go that route first. Jim
 
I'd probably buy my grandfather a new Buck 301. That's what he always used, and he always spoke highly of them. I would have loved to give him a nice stag Case, but I don't know if he would have used it. He had no taste for "fancy" things. A man with millions of dollars in the bank, he wore cheap Casio watches (the kind you get at the drug store), always drove inexpensive cars, and preferred to fix old things rather than buy new ones. He would often laugh at my dad for the time he indulged in a "fancy" Seiko watch, only to have it smashed by the tractor's starter handle.
 
moonwilson said:
A man with millions of dollars in the bank, he wore cheap Casio watches (the kind you get at the drug store), always drove inexpensive cars, and preferred to fix old things rather than buy new ones.
Click to expand...

Might have something to do with why he had millions in the bank. ;) Sounds like someone I'd like to hang out with. :thumbup:

-- Mark
 
My grandfather on my dad's side was a farmer all his life who died before I was born. But since my 3 uncles who all farmed and the oldest one who still farms his dad's place in Big Sandy, Mt all seemed to carry a medium stockman of one sort or another-as did my dad, I believe my grandfather probably carried the same and I think a Case 3318 yello medium stock would fill his needs.
The grandpa on my mom's side did many different service industry jobs from farm hand, tire shop worker, garage worker etc, I would think something like a two blade jack or maybe something like a Buck 309 or an Old Timer 3OT would fill his needs. He seemed to be a minimalist who died when I was 6 in 1972 & I never saw him pull a knife, don't know if he had one, but seems a guy born in 1917 who did manual labor all his life would depend on something low cost but good quality.
My maternal grandma re-married a business man who wore a tie and rubbers over his wing tips with a straw fedora to do garden work. He did carry a Remington 3-5/8" 2 blade carmel colored bone scaled serpentine jack from 1920 that I actually inherited-it is in super clean condition still and I never carry it. He showed it to me one time when I was about 13 as he stored it in a closet container and took it out for picnics or anytime he might need to cut something. I also got a very old peach seed scaled "Diamond Edge" Shapleigh Hardware split back whittler from him indirectly that is still in my possession. I think if he lost his jack-knife, I would gift him a German kissing Crane stag 3-3/8" carbon steel whittler as it has about the same size and handling characteristics of the 2 others he had.
 
My grandfather was valedictorian at his high school, so do not confuse my statement that he was a simple man, with any mental deficiencies. He had three big loves. His family, traveling his "shortcuts" all over MD and PA, and good food. I would get him a small Case sodbuster. He grew up a city boy in Reading PA, and always loved to visit my father on his farm, and get fresh eggs, fresh apples and pears, and spring water (he lived in Baltimore, got fresh spring water from my aunt's tap, and my father's tap). I have picked up his bad habits, especially the "travelling my shortcuts" habit. I had several opportunities to ride with him to visit family in the coal hills, and I didn't take him up on it. I was 18-19, and doing my own thing :(. He's been gone almost ten years, and I would have liked to take a ride with him, and give him that sodbuster as a gift on the road.
 
Grandpa Hank never carried a big slipjoint. Small muskrats and such. I think he would've been tickled pink with a Case Swayback Jack.
 
When I was a boy,I found my Grandfathers pocket knife,he had lost it. It was in the chicken coop,near the feed barrels. It was embedded in chicken crap,on the floor.I found it when I was cleaning the coop (all right...he had me shoveling $hit). Buck Lancer. Tiny little thing,that was his favorite.He loved the tiny coping blade it had.
-Vince
 
When I was probably around 10 or 12 years old, I got my gramps a new Schrade 34OT for Christmas. He was a logger, had his own trucks, was an avid hunter and fisherman. Now mind you this was about 35 years ago :D

When he passed away a little over 5 years ago at the age of 93, my grandmother gave me his knives. She gave me a small box with them in it.
Inside were two well loved Schrade Waldens and a box. Inside the box was that 34OT still in the plastic.

When I asked my grama why he didn't use it, she said, because it was very special to him and he didn't want to take a chance on losing it, and have it end up looking like his other knives.

Out of respect, I took the knife out, wiped down the blades and put it back in the plastic wrapper and back in the box it went. I have carried and used the others a few times though.

I wish he was still here so I could decide what knife to buy him now :(
 
mnblade said:
Might have something to do with why he had millions in the bank. ;) Sounds like someone I'd like to hang out with. :thumbup:

-- Mark
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I'm sure that had something to do with it. ;) He was a great guy to hang out with. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of nature and all of its creatures, and could give you the plain English and scientific names of any plant you could pluck a leaf from and present to him. I used to try to stump him, it never worked. He loved to play games with his grandchildren, we would play cards together for hours and hours, listening to him tell stories the whole time. He taught me almost everything I know about the outdoors, from how to shoot a bow, to start fires, to walk soundlessly in the woods like a Native American (a skill which I have unfortunately not retained) to dressing game and tanning hides. He was really wonderful. Sadly, he passed just as I was old enough to begin to understand how wonderful he was.
 
My grandfather was also a user/abuser of pocketknives. he used a grinding wheel to sharpen them, except his filet knives, which were well worn from sharpening steels. i would get him a muskrat with thin blades or a mini trapper, both Queen made, because he was a fisherman at heart, and the blades would be great for filleting.
 
As they were both in their graves before I was born, can only infer from items left behind or anecdotes.

It would have been something slim, single spring that could be in the waistcoat pocket. One smoked a pipe, so something to prod around in that, the other, cigars-some trimming or cutting there. Probably Tortoiseshell or Ivory/smooth bone so that's going to be difficult on a contemporary production knife:eek:

CASE Pen-knife, pity they don't offer more scale choice. Böker Pen in jigged bone, maybe a Queen Cutlery 02 pattern Jack ,it's smallish but not single spring. Aha! CASE/Bose Norfolk in Chestnut Bone or Ebony, that should do:D
 
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