Traditional companion items.

J

jackknife

Joined
Oct 2, 2004
Messages
17,502
I beg forgiveness from our super mods in case this violates the spirit of the place, but as an aside to your traditonal knives, do you ever team them up with other traditonal things?

Like when you get up in the morning, and it's raining cats and dogs, and you drop that swayback warnie in your pocket, would you grab an old rumpled trench coat made of good long strand cotton and with a waxed finish?

Or on a cold day with a nice trapper in your pocket, and heading out, do you grab a nice thick knit fishermans sweater made out of real wool , the original miricle fabric?

Or as you open the mail at the office, with that pocket worn red bone peanut, do you take out the pocket watch to check the time? Maybe flick open the cover with the embossed hunting scene with a practiced motion?

For a bunch of people who appreatiate the traditional, like gentlemens knives from the heyday of Sheffield, or knives with jigged bone handles that your granddaddy would have loved, does this love extend to other objects in you edc life?

I only ask this because I had a strange experiance today. A young man asked me the time, and I looked at my old fashioned dial Timex, and told him it was almost ten of. He looked at me with zero comprehension in his eyes. I told him ten till one. He took a moment to understand what I was saying. Definatly a child of the digital age. A while back, I had taken out my stag handle stockman to open a package, and a young sales clerk asked what that was. I told him it was stag horn. He looked at me with a strange look and said; "Like from an animal?!"

He was amazed at something being real material vs some brew of chemicals. Like our synthetic clothing. This site is the only place I know of where the old materials and workmenshio is apreatiated, so I got to wondering if it extends beyond our knives?
 
I like to use traditional gear along with my traditional knives, whether it be my recurve bow, a wood-burning camp stove or a flint and steel. It just feels right :)
 
jackknife said:
For a bunch of people who appreatiate the traditional ... does this love extend to other objects in you edc life?
Click to expand...

It's not an EDC item per se, but when I play music, I play through an old-fashioned point-to-point handwired all-tube amplifier, with finger-jointed pine cabinet and tweed covering. It's only a few years old, but is made with all the skill and care and attention to detail that companies like Fender and Masco and Gibson used to put into their amps back in the day.

I also greatly prefer old school canvas sneakers (these are what I've been wearing lately) to contemporary high-tech running shoes.
 
Sorry fellas but this thread is going a bit far afield for the traditional forum. (Much as I like turntables, old tube amps and Chuck Taylor model Cons.)
 
A 1966 Buck 301 Stockman to set the scene. 300Bucks

old.jpg
 
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Craig, no reason not to continue the discussion. For some folks it'll be a way of learning their way around other parts of these forums. (It may in fact be a better fit for the "Community" forum than General.)

(I think I have that very fish scale packed away in an old tackle box. :thumbup:)
 
Give me a crisp, clear fall day in the field, my OU Browning, old red checked wool jacket and cap, leather boots, traditional sheath knife and pocket knife and I'm in heaven.

Toss in an old briar pipe (which my doctor talked me into giving up) and that'd really be the nuts!
 
As I build traditional slips I use a few tools that My dad gave me from his tool and die days working for Allis Chalmers in the 50's. I get a certain kick out of using a 50 or 60 year old Starrett micrometer or and even older Lufkin steel rule. All this is housed in his Kennedy tool box. All this as I go past my 69 Dodge superbee and Case garden tractor built in the early 70's. Its a bit like my gunsmithing career , I remember the Colt woodsman's, 3 screw Smith and Wesson's instead of the Glocks, AR15's etc.

Ken
 
I like to use my grandfather's old hand tools. He was a master machinist at the Brooklyn Navy Yard years ago. They still get the job done when called upon.

(Can't say that I prefer old goldline rope to kernmantel for mountain climbing though I sure used it enough during the early 70's. But most of the rest of my old kit was pretty old school. Even had a wood handled Stubai ice ax back then. ;))
 
I have the box for the fish knife also, the compass is a Smith and Wesson.......300Bucks
 
Not much of what I carry around is what you would call traditional: A yellow CV peanut, and I've learned that it's generally a good idea to carry a bandana in my back pocket (usually used as a napkin, or in yesterday's case, to cover my nose and mouth from the smoke of a kitchen fire that occurred while visiting St. Clare's Hospital in Dover, NJ. Deep frier caught fire). Most of the rest, cell phone, multitool, iPod...not very traditional.

I do have a pocketwatch, however. I picked it up about 5 or 6 years ago because I couldn't stand wearing a watch on my wrist. Stopped carrying it because it became redundant, although I have been known not to charge my cell phone for long periods of time.
 
I also have been known to carry a harmonica from time to time. It has a plastic case, though, and a plastic comb, and stainless steel(!) coverplates.

Seeing the picture above reminds me of my fondness for paper shotshells, Harrington Richardson single shots, and my Ithaca 37, which was manufactured in the 1950's.

I also have an old Brunton Pocket Transit. It's labeled with the Denver factory, which dates it before 1972.

I carry a bandanna sometimes.
 
When I go snowshoeing with my traditional snowshoes, I'll wear a wool coat and probably carry a stag handel Marbles knife. The Goretex and micarta come out when I use high tech snowshoes.
 
Moved from knife discussion to Gadgets and gear.
 
jackknife said:
Like when you get up in the morning, and it's raining cats and dogs, and you drop that swayback warnie in your pocket, would you grab an old rumpled trench coat made of good long strand cotton and with a waxed finish?
Click to expand...
I've got a Austrailian Duster and hat in oilskin, does that count? :D

Or on a cold day with a nice trapper in your pocket, and heading out, do you grab a nice thick knit fishermans sweater made out of real wool , the original miricle fabric?
Click to expand...
I love wool, although good wool sweaters are getting so pricy these days compared to synthetic fleece, its getting hard to justify. I'd really love to get an L.L. Bean wool Cruiser jacket, but can't quite get over the price (especially since I live in the South, now). :(

Or as you open the mail at the office, with that pocket worn red bone peanut, do you take out the pocket watch to check the time?
Click to expand...
I've always been facinated by mechanical watches in general and pocket watches in particular. I've got a couple of my own (including a gold one that belonged to my grandfather), but I have so much other stuff in my pockets these days I seldom carry it. :o

I find myself drawn to traditional outdoor gear lately, too. Canvas tents, wool blankets, cast iron cookwear, etc. Aside from the weight and bulk issues (which only matter if your are backpacking) it all still works just fine and it gives me a certain nostalgic feel I enjoy.
 
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I carry my work files in a nice Duluth Pack briefcase - all cotton duck, brass, and leather.

On my bicycles, I have been going more and more retro. My current bike, a newish Bianchi Volpe, although not very traditional, is decked out with bar-end shifters, rattrap pedals, and a handlebar bag contract built by Duluth Pack for Rivendell Bicycles. I have a 1983 Panasonic Sport 1000 that is my current project bike.

I picked up pipe smoking recently. That's all that needs to be said about that.

I am not a big GPS fan. I stick with compass and maps.

When I used to have to deal with calculating irregular-shaped areas at work such as wetlands and drainage plains, I always grabbed for a planimeter. Plenty of the other engineers in my office had no clue what it was. I still use the Minerva (analog) map measurer that someone gave me as a gift.

I just started getting into fountain pens. I hate ballpoints and rollerballs and gels are a little better. But some of those vintage pens, man, they make you want to write and doodle. Even the cheap ones.
 
jackknife said:
I beg forgiveness from our super mods in case this violates the spirit of the place, but as an aside to your traditonal knives, do you ever team them up with other traditonal things?

Like when you get up in the morning, and it's raining cats and dogs, and you drop that swayback warnie in your pocket, would you grab an old rumpled trench coat made of good long strand cotton and with a waxed finish?

Or on a cold day with a nice trapper in your pocket, and heading out, do you grab a nice thick knit fishermans sweater made out of real wool , the original miricle fabric?

Or as you open the mail at the office, with that pocket worn red bone peanut, do you take out the pocket watch to check the time? Maybe flick open the cover with the embossed hunting scene with a practiced motion?

For a bunch of people who appreatiate the traditional, like gentlemens knives from the heyday of Sheffield, or knives with jigged bone handles that your granddaddy would have loved, does this love extend to other objects in you edc life?

I only ask this because I had a strange experiance today. A young man asked me the time, and I looked at my old fashioned dial Timex, and told him it was almost ten of. He looked at me with zero comprehension in his eyes. I told him ten till one. He took a moment to understand what I was saying. Definatly a child of the digital age. A while back, I had taken out my stag handle stockman to open a package, and a young sales clerk asked what that was. I told him it was stag horn. He looked at me with a strange look and said; "Like from an animal?!"

He was amazed at something being real material vs some brew of chemicals. Like our synthetic clothing. This site is the only place I know of where the old materials and workmenshio is apreatiated, so I got to wondering if it extends beyond our knives?
Click to expand...

Key hickory stripe shirt, pegged Filson double tin pants (with suspenders I hate belts), Stanfield blacks (woolen lonjohns), Viberg corks, & battered fedora my usual setup.
I told a 1SG here it was quarter of 2, he didn't know what I meant either.
I told my roomate about why I like straight carbon steel, he thought a bit & said a. my blades aren't straight, b. why make a blade out of pencil lead.:eek:
 
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