Thanks for all the fellow forumites who made the thread on old pen knives so good. Many good comments and of course more wonderfull pics posted by smiling-knife. I love s-k's pics so much, they make my mental juices flow. They get me to wondering.
Do any of you ever think why do some things, knives or guns or old cars "speak" to you but others don't? I have a Victorinox tinker that I've had for twenty years, and carried every day in a little belt pouch with a small AAA flashlight. I've used the heck out of it, and the red scales are scuffed, scratched, and scared. The blades all move smoothly and still walk and talk, (okay, the screwdriver blade is a little lazy) but it has no attachment. I can loose it today and all I would think is "Oh, I've lost my sak, I'll have to pick up a new one someplace".
But I have an old wood handle Boker pen knife that I bought maybe around 1981 or 2ish, have carried alot but not as much as the sak, but I like it better and would be very upset if it got lost. I have an attachment for it. It has a personality. The carbon blades have greyed, the rosewood has a sheen from handling and a once in a while rubdown with some linseed oil. It's a little bigger than my peanut, with the main clip and pen blades on opposite ends and is a very nice light little package in the pocket. It speaks to me. It has a "feel".
When I look at those wonderfull pics that smiling-knife posts, those knives can speak even from a photo. In my minds eye, I can see workbenches lined up against tall windows reaching to the ceiling, and old hands of experinced cutlers working away. The air is filled with the tink, tink, tink, of cutler hammers setting pins, the low rumble of grinding wheels run by long leather belts from the ceiling, the carts trundled by pushed by shop boys moving stock around. There was a massive amount of handwork in those old Sheffield beautys.
I think Sheffield in it's heyday would have put Thiers, Solingin, and Seiki to shame. In all the knives I've seen in my life, not many have that undefinable something that seems to emanate from one of the Sheffield knives. I saw an old photo taken in the 1890's I think, of one of the old Shefield factories, I disremember which one, of the stag room. It was a huge storeroom, filled to the high ceiling with the best india stag that was available. And the stag the Sheffield knives I've seen is always great, never a mediocre piece. And a century later there is no cracks in the handles of s-k's wonderfull pen knives. Those English cutlers knew how to do things. Even the pearl knives have good handles a hundred years later.
But what makes something have that "feel"? Its a retoricle question because I don't have a clue myself. I go to yard sales or a flea market and sometimes see an old knife and pick it up. Most times it just feels like an old knife. Sometimes theres something there. Most post WW2 stuff does not have the "feel". When I was old enough, I went to buy a Colt Woodsman like dad's. After WW2 they made the grip frame larger and more square, the barrel a bit heavier. It was a good gun, but it did not have the trim wonderfull feel in the hand of the pre-war woodsman. The magic was gone. I wonder if the materials make a difference. Does stainless steel and jigged plastic have a total lack of something needed for the "feel"?
By this time some of you may be wondering if old jackknife has finally gone 'round the bend, and is ready for the rubber knife squad. Maybe. But I'll go a little farther out on a limb here and you can judge for yourselves. I wonder if all those old stag, bone, and pearl pen knives have the charater they do because they were once living material. Does some aura stay with the material? I have noticed a strange thing about women and stag. They love to feel it. okay, I know its strange, but look at how the rino has almost been wiped out to keep asian men in aphrodisiac powder. And in India, the poor Sambar stag has to run for his life becasue his horn material is supposed to have the same properties. At a church lunch I used my little bone stag peanut to cut something, and one of the church ladies remarked on what a pretty pocket knife it was, and inquired about what that handle material was. I handed her the knife and told her it was bone stag, and she asked "Like from an animal?" I said yes, and she gently stroked the bone with a finger that was almost a caress. Even Karen has that reaction with stag handles like on grandads old Hen and Rooster.
So I wonder if a knife has to have the natural materials to get that "feel" over time. Or does some of it come from the owner. I read someplace a long time ago that the Japanese belive that an object carries some of the spirit of owner with it after a time. That why a family sword was of such value if you were going into battle. It was'nt just a sharp piece of metal, it was a bit of old samuri Uncle Harry, or Hiroo as the case may be, going with you. I can go with that idea easier than any other I suppose. I know carrying my dad's knife, evertime I take it out to open mail, cut a piece of twine, I can see the scene of us sitting on a log in the woods and dad is using that peanut to slice some cheese or summer sausage to go on the dinner rolls mom baked for us to take. Or I see him carefully trimming a bit of raw chicken liver to go on his hook to get a nice catfish for dinner. Or the way he'd lean back in his chair after dinner and give it a light stropping from its days duty. And not just dad's knife, but grandads, Paul's Case stockman, they all seem to have a "feel" to them. Like part of them is still there in some way.
Maybe s-k's knives were carried by the owners for a lifetime, leaving some part of something behind to add to the "feel".
Do any of you ever think why do some things, knives or guns or old cars "speak" to you but others don't? I have a Victorinox tinker that I've had for twenty years, and carried every day in a little belt pouch with a small AAA flashlight. I've used the heck out of it, and the red scales are scuffed, scratched, and scared. The blades all move smoothly and still walk and talk, (okay, the screwdriver blade is a little lazy) but it has no attachment. I can loose it today and all I would think is "Oh, I've lost my sak, I'll have to pick up a new one someplace".
But I have an old wood handle Boker pen knife that I bought maybe around 1981 or 2ish, have carried alot but not as much as the sak, but I like it better and would be very upset if it got lost. I have an attachment for it. It has a personality. The carbon blades have greyed, the rosewood has a sheen from handling and a once in a while rubdown with some linseed oil. It's a little bigger than my peanut, with the main clip and pen blades on opposite ends and is a very nice light little package in the pocket. It speaks to me. It has a "feel".
When I look at those wonderfull pics that smiling-knife posts, those knives can speak even from a photo. In my minds eye, I can see workbenches lined up against tall windows reaching to the ceiling, and old hands of experinced cutlers working away. The air is filled with the tink, tink, tink, of cutler hammers setting pins, the low rumble of grinding wheels run by long leather belts from the ceiling, the carts trundled by pushed by shop boys moving stock around. There was a massive amount of handwork in those old Sheffield beautys.
I think Sheffield in it's heyday would have put Thiers, Solingin, and Seiki to shame. In all the knives I've seen in my life, not many have that undefinable something that seems to emanate from one of the Sheffield knives. I saw an old photo taken in the 1890's I think, of one of the old Shefield factories, I disremember which one, of the stag room. It was a huge storeroom, filled to the high ceiling with the best india stag that was available. And the stag the Sheffield knives I've seen is always great, never a mediocre piece. And a century later there is no cracks in the handles of s-k's wonderfull pen knives. Those English cutlers knew how to do things. Even the pearl knives have good handles a hundred years later.
But what makes something have that "feel"? Its a retoricle question because I don't have a clue myself. I go to yard sales or a flea market and sometimes see an old knife and pick it up. Most times it just feels like an old knife. Sometimes theres something there. Most post WW2 stuff does not have the "feel". When I was old enough, I went to buy a Colt Woodsman like dad's. After WW2 they made the grip frame larger and more square, the barrel a bit heavier. It was a good gun, but it did not have the trim wonderfull feel in the hand of the pre-war woodsman. The magic was gone. I wonder if the materials make a difference. Does stainless steel and jigged plastic have a total lack of something needed for the "feel"?
By this time some of you may be wondering if old jackknife has finally gone 'round the bend, and is ready for the rubber knife squad. Maybe. But I'll go a little farther out on a limb here and you can judge for yourselves. I wonder if all those old stag, bone, and pearl pen knives have the charater they do because they were once living material. Does some aura stay with the material? I have noticed a strange thing about women and stag. They love to feel it. okay, I know its strange, but look at how the rino has almost been wiped out to keep asian men in aphrodisiac powder. And in India, the poor Sambar stag has to run for his life becasue his horn material is supposed to have the same properties. At a church lunch I used my little bone stag peanut to cut something, and one of the church ladies remarked on what a pretty pocket knife it was, and inquired about what that handle material was. I handed her the knife and told her it was bone stag, and she asked "Like from an animal?" I said yes, and she gently stroked the bone with a finger that was almost a caress. Even Karen has that reaction with stag handles like on grandads old Hen and Rooster.
So I wonder if a knife has to have the natural materials to get that "feel" over time. Or does some of it come from the owner. I read someplace a long time ago that the Japanese belive that an object carries some of the spirit of owner with it after a time. That why a family sword was of such value if you were going into battle. It was'nt just a sharp piece of metal, it was a bit of old samuri Uncle Harry, or Hiroo as the case may be, going with you. I can go with that idea easier than any other I suppose. I know carrying my dad's knife, evertime I take it out to open mail, cut a piece of twine, I can see the scene of us sitting on a log in the woods and dad is using that peanut to slice some cheese or summer sausage to go on the dinner rolls mom baked for us to take. Or I see him carefully trimming a bit of raw chicken liver to go on his hook to get a nice catfish for dinner. Or the way he'd lean back in his chair after dinner and give it a light stropping from its days duty. And not just dad's knife, but grandads, Paul's Case stockman, they all seem to have a "feel" to them. Like part of them is still there in some way.
Maybe s-k's knives were carried by the owners for a lifetime, leaving some part of something behind to add to the "feel".
