- Joined
- Jun 2, 2013
- Messages
- 306
Ever since I joined this forum I have been dumbstruck by the level of generosity and kindness shown by the members here. It's been weird and wonderful and I thoroughly enjoy logging in every day and finding new tales and lots of great photos of some wonderful knives.
So I try and give back a little, and today I have a story of my own.
Working in the middle of my state's capital of Perth, I do get to see a lot of people as they wander through. By no means is it a bustling metropolis, but there are a few thousand or so customers through the centre I work in a day. Being that this town is so far out of the way a lot of the people I see are simply passing through or here on vacation.
One such person caught my eye the other day, though it wasn't the person that originally gained my attention.
Seated at one of our food court's many tables was an older gentleman, probably late fifties to early sixties, eating a meal from one of the better vendors in the centre. What caught my eye was that he was cutting up his rib-eye steak with a Case large stockman in amber bone. Fortunately the plates are plastic and so he didn't need to worry about damaging his edge. It was obvious by the way the blade slid through the steak that it was sharp, and the CV blades had a nice even grey patina on them.
I walked over and commented on it, 'that's a fine looking Case you've got there; don't see many of them about.' He looked up at me in surprise, probably unused to being approached by a young man with an experience of traditional pocketknives, or any knives for that matter. Education on the simpler things like tools these days has been thoroughly stamped out of Australian culture, at least in the city. He smiled.
'Had this one for a few years, never did wrong by me.' He said, wiping the blade off on a napkin and handing it to me. The blade was sharp as a razor, and I could tell, pulling the other two out that they too had been recently honed, the grey patina ending in a bright sliver of shiny steel. I sat across from him, being that it was my lunch break I felt I had the time.
He introduced himself as Henry, visiting from Melbourne and soon to return. He'd come to Perth to go to a friend's funeral. He asked me about my knowledge of knives and I told him about this forum, and produced my Camillus 72 whittler and yeller delrin Case peanut. He fondled the whittler for a while and inspected the blades to make sure they were sharp and nodded his approval. He smiled at the little peanut and shook his head.
'My arthritic fingers can't handle such a small knife anymore.' I nodded, familiar through my family and jackknife's tales the curse of arthritis. I told him about jackknife's tales and he seemed very interested, though he never uses the internet, being a self-confessed technophobe. I promised I would print some out and mail them to him when I got a chance.
We discussed knives for my entire lunchbreak. He was a SAK man at heart; though he could no longer use the little classic. He was surprised to learn that I have never owned a Victorinox of any kind. When I was a kid I was given a few SAKs, mostly crappy Chinese ripoffs that broke under constant abuse. I couldn't stand the corkscrew or the scissors, I never used them. As we spoke I admitted that a SAK would be good for work, a little more office and Australian knife carry law friendly, as you don't need an excuse other than "utility" for a SAK.
My lunch break ended and I had to go back to doing my rounds, I bid Henry farewell after getting his mailing address and promising again to send him some tales from this forum.
Later on that day, when I was preparing to go home, he walked up to me and tapped me on the shoulder with a broad grin. I smiled and shook his hand and told him I was headed home.
'Oh, glad I caught you, I have something for you' he said, producing a box from his jacket. I took it and opened it to find a brand new Victorinox Tinker, two blades, bottle and can openers with screwdriver heads, an awl and another phillips head screwdriver. No annoying corkscrew or useless scizzors, it was perfect. I was blown away, he refused to let me pay him or trade for it.
'Just use it, and enjoy it. Give it to your child when he grows up, mine didn't live to be old enough for me to hand anything down to him.' I could see this meant a lot to him, and the sadness in his one struck me a solid blow. I accepted this special gift with a smile, and though not a touchy-feely guy I gave the old man a hug, 'cause sometimes you just need to express things without words.
So long story (very long sorry) short, Henry went home, and I did as promised and sent him some print offs of Jackknife's tales, I hope he sends me one back letting me know how he is. Without this forum and what it has taught me I would never have met Henry and would never have had that experience.
And I never would have got this beauty, which will come with me to work as long as I'm working.
So thanks to everyone here and I hope there'll be many more tales to come.
Sam
So I try and give back a little, and today I have a story of my own.
Working in the middle of my state's capital of Perth, I do get to see a lot of people as they wander through. By no means is it a bustling metropolis, but there are a few thousand or so customers through the centre I work in a day. Being that this town is so far out of the way a lot of the people I see are simply passing through or here on vacation.
One such person caught my eye the other day, though it wasn't the person that originally gained my attention.
Seated at one of our food court's many tables was an older gentleman, probably late fifties to early sixties, eating a meal from one of the better vendors in the centre. What caught my eye was that he was cutting up his rib-eye steak with a Case large stockman in amber bone. Fortunately the plates are plastic and so he didn't need to worry about damaging his edge. It was obvious by the way the blade slid through the steak that it was sharp, and the CV blades had a nice even grey patina on them.
I walked over and commented on it, 'that's a fine looking Case you've got there; don't see many of them about.' He looked up at me in surprise, probably unused to being approached by a young man with an experience of traditional pocketknives, or any knives for that matter. Education on the simpler things like tools these days has been thoroughly stamped out of Australian culture, at least in the city. He smiled.
'Had this one for a few years, never did wrong by me.' He said, wiping the blade off on a napkin and handing it to me. The blade was sharp as a razor, and I could tell, pulling the other two out that they too had been recently honed, the grey patina ending in a bright sliver of shiny steel. I sat across from him, being that it was my lunch break I felt I had the time.
He introduced himself as Henry, visiting from Melbourne and soon to return. He'd come to Perth to go to a friend's funeral. He asked me about my knowledge of knives and I told him about this forum, and produced my Camillus 72 whittler and yeller delrin Case peanut. He fondled the whittler for a while and inspected the blades to make sure they were sharp and nodded his approval. He smiled at the little peanut and shook his head.
'My arthritic fingers can't handle such a small knife anymore.' I nodded, familiar through my family and jackknife's tales the curse of arthritis. I told him about jackknife's tales and he seemed very interested, though he never uses the internet, being a self-confessed technophobe. I promised I would print some out and mail them to him when I got a chance.
We discussed knives for my entire lunchbreak. He was a SAK man at heart; though he could no longer use the little classic. He was surprised to learn that I have never owned a Victorinox of any kind. When I was a kid I was given a few SAKs, mostly crappy Chinese ripoffs that broke under constant abuse. I couldn't stand the corkscrew or the scissors, I never used them. As we spoke I admitted that a SAK would be good for work, a little more office and Australian knife carry law friendly, as you don't need an excuse other than "utility" for a SAK.
My lunch break ended and I had to go back to doing my rounds, I bid Henry farewell after getting his mailing address and promising again to send him some tales from this forum.
Later on that day, when I was preparing to go home, he walked up to me and tapped me on the shoulder with a broad grin. I smiled and shook his hand and told him I was headed home.
'Oh, glad I caught you, I have something for you' he said, producing a box from his jacket. I took it and opened it to find a brand new Victorinox Tinker, two blades, bottle and can openers with screwdriver heads, an awl and another phillips head screwdriver. No annoying corkscrew or useless scizzors, it was perfect. I was blown away, he refused to let me pay him or trade for it.
'Just use it, and enjoy it. Give it to your child when he grows up, mine didn't live to be old enough for me to hand anything down to him.' I could see this meant a lot to him, and the sadness in his one struck me a solid blow. I accepted this special gift with a smile, and though not a touchy-feely guy I gave the old man a hug, 'cause sometimes you just need to express things without words.
So long story (very long sorry) short, Henry went home, and I did as promised and sent him some print offs of Jackknife's tales, I hope he sends me one back letting me know how he is. Without this forum and what it has taught me I would never have met Henry and would never have had that experience.
And I never would have got this beauty, which will come with me to work as long as I'm working.
So thanks to everyone here and I hope there'll be many more tales to come.
Sam
