A thread by our forummate Coyote711 made me think, (always a dangerous proposition). Over a lifetime, I seen to have covered a lot of ground as to accumulating a large range of knives. But one thing I did note was, that as I got older, I progressed to smaller knives.
Looking back, most of my knives hav always been in the 3 1/2 to 3 7/8th size. My old scout knife was a 3 1/2, and my old Buck stockman was 3 7/8ths. For a very long time they were the standards.
Now I actually use knives that are quite small by comparison. I became a fan of the Case peanut, and also the tiny Victorinox classic. I think there were a couple of very deffinate moments where I became aware of the smaller knives, and that I began to question just how much knife did I need in my life. Those moments were usually created by a particular person.
Getting laid off from a job of almost 20 years was a turning point.
In 1997, they tossed us out the door when they sent all fabrication jobs to Mexico. My reaction to this was to take a trip around the country with my better half, Karen. Some time for just the two of us to go camping and exploring. We tossed the camping gear in the back of the Toyota and off we went on a month long counter clockwise trip around the country. West to the Badlands, Custer National park, Yellowstone, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Canyonlands, Arches, and Mesa Verde. It was at Mesa Verde I had a lightbulb over the head moment.
I had always had an interest in anthropology and the primitive history, and Mesa Verde was good for that. Walking among the ancient cliff dwellings and examining thier life was riviting. But the ranger's demonstration of how effective flint and obsidian knives were got my attention.
A ranger at the museum had brought in the rear haunch of a road killed deer, and was giving a demo of how effective the old tools were. I watched as he took a single flake of obsidian and skinned the hide from the haunch of deer. It cut right through the hide and meat. It wasn't more than the size of a blade of a very small penknife like a peanut or Eisenhower. It was a great demo of just how much blade was not needed. As I watched that park ranger, I thought about my dad with his little peanut he'd carried his whole life from the moment his mother gave him the small gift package there on the train platform as he was leaving for college. I thought about my old friend Andy Wardon and how easy he dressed out a deer with his little Buck cadet.
By this time I had already been brought over to the Vic classic by Karen. She'd brought one home after her company had bought some with their logo on them to give out to clients. I was very skeptical of the tiny thing, but I watched for months as Karen used the living daylights out of that tiny little thing. Impressed, I put a classic on my keyring, and for a few months following I made it a point to use the little classic for any knife job before going for a 'real' knife in my pocket. It was a surprising experiment. For 99% of what I did with a pocket knife, the inch and a half blade did just fine. Weak points were food duty and use on wood on camping trips.
Watching the ranger skin and cut meat with that stone flake, an idea clicked in my head. I understood better all thse old guys with pen knives, that always seemed to get along just fine without the knife of the month the knife magazines put on the cover. Most of those old guys never knew knife magazines even existed. They never knew how ill equipted they were.
In 1997 I had just semi-retired my Buck 301 stockman, and was using my old friend Andy's Buck 303 cadet. I had not experianced any problems going to the smaller knife, and if anything, I found the cadet a nicer package at 3 1/4 inches than my old 301 stockman at 3 7/8ths inches. Smaller blades, but I had not noticed any lack of cutting. It was about this time I had sent my dad's old peanut back to Case for new main blade and pile side scale repair. I started carrying the peanut and grew to like having my pockets weigh less. I started to imitate my dad by semi-retiring my full size sak's and putting a Sears 4-way keychain screwdriver and a P-38 on my keyring. There I was, going about my daily business with a classic on a keyring, a peanut or cadet in my pocket, and doing just fine. After a while, if I picked up my old stockman or Wenger SI, they felt huge in my hand.
I think the late 1990's was the real start of my downsizing. Between the peanut my father left behind, Karen and the great classic experiment, and park ranger out at Mesa Verde Nation Park, I started to downsize my day to day cutlery. I was at first surprised at how well I got by with 2 inches of blade if not a little less in the case of the classic. But then I adapted, and just went on about my life enjoying the chance to 'accumulate' in a whole other direction. Once in a while a larger knife would slip in to a pocket. I'd let a number 8 Opinel come along for a day, or my old Wenger SI would get drafted for a day if I were doing a home project. But in general, I downsized. Small became the norm for the day.
It was then I discovered a benifit of small knives; people thought they were cute. I even had a lady call one of my knives pretty. Living in these politically correct times, I had become a little wary of pulling open a knife in public. But with a nice peanut or similar knife, I found some people, especially younger late 20's early 30's yuppy types, making comments on how they remember a favorite old grandad or uncle having a pocket knife like that. Nobody ever made a negative comment on one of my small Case pocket knives.
Not too long ago Karen and I were downtown at the Smithsonian museum in D.C. and they had a perfect replica of Otzi the iceman's gear with a manaqin dressed up in his stuff. There was a copper hatchet and a flint knife. The knife was a small one, maybe a tad less than 2 inches, with a tiny bit of the tip broken off. They think he was in a heck of a fight hours before he died from an arrow in the back. Blood that is not his has been found on his clothing, and blood on the knife. The tip may have been broken at that time. He was wearing a bearskin cloak, hide boots, and fur hat. I can only presume that he skinned those hides with his flint knife of a modest size.
If a 2 inch blade was good enough for Otzi, it's good enough for me.
Looking back, most of my knives hav always been in the 3 1/2 to 3 7/8th size. My old scout knife was a 3 1/2, and my old Buck stockman was 3 7/8ths. For a very long time they were the standards.
Now I actually use knives that are quite small by comparison. I became a fan of the Case peanut, and also the tiny Victorinox classic. I think there were a couple of very deffinate moments where I became aware of the smaller knives, and that I began to question just how much knife did I need in my life. Those moments were usually created by a particular person.
Getting laid off from a job of almost 20 years was a turning point.
In 1997, they tossed us out the door when they sent all fabrication jobs to Mexico. My reaction to this was to take a trip around the country with my better half, Karen. Some time for just the two of us to go camping and exploring. We tossed the camping gear in the back of the Toyota and off we went on a month long counter clockwise trip around the country. West to the Badlands, Custer National park, Yellowstone, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Canyonlands, Arches, and Mesa Verde. It was at Mesa Verde I had a lightbulb over the head moment.
I had always had an interest in anthropology and the primitive history, and Mesa Verde was good for that. Walking among the ancient cliff dwellings and examining thier life was riviting. But the ranger's demonstration of how effective flint and obsidian knives were got my attention.
A ranger at the museum had brought in the rear haunch of a road killed deer, and was giving a demo of how effective the old tools were. I watched as he took a single flake of obsidian and skinned the hide from the haunch of deer. It cut right through the hide and meat. It wasn't more than the size of a blade of a very small penknife like a peanut or Eisenhower. It was a great demo of just how much blade was not needed. As I watched that park ranger, I thought about my dad with his little peanut he'd carried his whole life from the moment his mother gave him the small gift package there on the train platform as he was leaving for college. I thought about my old friend Andy Wardon and how easy he dressed out a deer with his little Buck cadet.
By this time I had already been brought over to the Vic classic by Karen. She'd brought one home after her company had bought some with their logo on them to give out to clients. I was very skeptical of the tiny thing, but I watched for months as Karen used the living daylights out of that tiny little thing. Impressed, I put a classic on my keyring, and for a few months following I made it a point to use the little classic for any knife job before going for a 'real' knife in my pocket. It was a surprising experiment. For 99% of what I did with a pocket knife, the inch and a half blade did just fine. Weak points were food duty and use on wood on camping trips.
Watching the ranger skin and cut meat with that stone flake, an idea clicked in my head. I understood better all thse old guys with pen knives, that always seemed to get along just fine without the knife of the month the knife magazines put on the cover. Most of those old guys never knew knife magazines even existed. They never knew how ill equipted they were.
In 1997 I had just semi-retired my Buck 301 stockman, and was using my old friend Andy's Buck 303 cadet. I had not experianced any problems going to the smaller knife, and if anything, I found the cadet a nicer package at 3 1/4 inches than my old 301 stockman at 3 7/8ths inches. Smaller blades, but I had not noticed any lack of cutting. It was about this time I had sent my dad's old peanut back to Case for new main blade and pile side scale repair. I started carrying the peanut and grew to like having my pockets weigh less. I started to imitate my dad by semi-retiring my full size sak's and putting a Sears 4-way keychain screwdriver and a P-38 on my keyring. There I was, going about my daily business with a classic on a keyring, a peanut or cadet in my pocket, and doing just fine. After a while, if I picked up my old stockman or Wenger SI, they felt huge in my hand.
I think the late 1990's was the real start of my downsizing. Between the peanut my father left behind, Karen and the great classic experiment, and park ranger out at Mesa Verde Nation Park, I started to downsize my day to day cutlery. I was at first surprised at how well I got by with 2 inches of blade if not a little less in the case of the classic. But then I adapted, and just went on about my life enjoying the chance to 'accumulate' in a whole other direction. Once in a while a larger knife would slip in to a pocket. I'd let a number 8 Opinel come along for a day, or my old Wenger SI would get drafted for a day if I were doing a home project. But in general, I downsized. Small became the norm for the day.
It was then I discovered a benifit of small knives; people thought they were cute. I even had a lady call one of my knives pretty. Living in these politically correct times, I had become a little wary of pulling open a knife in public. But with a nice peanut or similar knife, I found some people, especially younger late 20's early 30's yuppy types, making comments on how they remember a favorite old grandad or uncle having a pocket knife like that. Nobody ever made a negative comment on one of my small Case pocket knives.
Not too long ago Karen and I were downtown at the Smithsonian museum in D.C. and they had a perfect replica of Otzi the iceman's gear with a manaqin dressed up in his stuff. There was a copper hatchet and a flint knife. The knife was a small one, maybe a tad less than 2 inches, with a tiny bit of the tip broken off. They think he was in a heck of a fight hours before he died from an arrow in the back. Blood that is not his has been found on his clothing, and blood on the knife. The tip may have been broken at that time. He was wearing a bearskin cloak, hide boots, and fur hat. I can only presume that he skinned those hides with his flint knife of a modest size.
If a 2 inch blade was good enough for Otzi, it's good enough for me.
