I guess I'll dedicate this post to our very own mnblade, who is now on vacation with is little Victorinox classic as his edc pocket knife.
It's always a problem, going on vacation flying someplace, and leaving your most loved and treasured edc knives home. Kind of an inadaquite feeling of being unprepard for the problems in life that require a sharp edge. And 9-11 didn't help any, travel wise.
I remember the first time post 9-11 I flew someplace. Karen's cousins have long had a tradition of keeping in touch with family no matter how far flung. Cousin Scott is out on California, Cousin Barbara is in Richmond Virginia, some others in Tennesee, and Georga. This one year, 2003, they decided to have the cousins reunion in Key West Florida. Now I liked this idea as I'd never been to Key West, but I like tropical places, especially if they have nice bar's.
The morning came to fly out, and I resigned myself to maybe buying a cheap throw away when I got there. or going knifeless for a number of days. I made sure I had no knives on me, and I was out voted by the rest of the family who didn't want to deal with checked bagage, so we all had just carry on. Got to the airport and delt with security. Karen walks through the gate with zero problem, followed by sister Diane and then sister Romelli. All go right through, then it's my turn.
I get the third degree. Nothing beeps, but they want to search me and one guard askes me to step behind the screen and lower my pants. Karen says it's because the grey beard make me look like Osama Ben ladin. I finally get through security and we're off to the cousins reunion. Checking in at the guest house I feel a little naked without a knife, but resolve to carry on. An hour later we're having some sub sandwiches out by the guest house pool, and I'm trying to open one of those plastic mustard packs. Minutes before I'd put on some sun block, and was having a rough time. Tried using my teeth but fingers were still slipping off.
"Here, try this." Karen tells me holding out what looks like her little red Victorinoc classic.
"Where the heck did that come from?" I ask.
Karen tells me it was in her makeup case that was in her bag. Karen has a nice little zipper bag that is her makeup stuff and it's a small crowded nylon thing jamed with tubes of lipsticks, eye shadow stuff, tweezers and things I have no idea what they are. The little losange shaped classic had been lost among the jumble of stuff in her bag. My better half had waltzed through security with a little sak in her purse while I got the third degree.
For the next week while in Key West, I carried the classic as my lone edc, never making it to the K-mart they had up the road to buy a cheap knife. While on vacation, I used the Vic classic for all the cutting I had to do. It's surprising that when you pay attention to it, how much you need a snarp tool when on vacation. It seems like everything in creation these days is wrapped in plastic, and not the brittle easy to rip stuff either. Factor in senior citizen fingers and you have a real need for a small sharp knife.
While walking and riding around Key West on the rental motor scooter, I thought about all those old guys with Eisenhour penknives, peanuts, mini toothpicks, mini trappers, and even keychain pen knives like those Trim sheet metal handle jobs they used to sell in the 60's. I think that Key West trip was the start of my realization that I didn't really need that big sodbuster, or heavy duty stockman. They were wants, rather than needs. That vacation was when I gained a lot of respect for the little sak classic, and small knives in general. We're knife knuts, and so we like to carry knife patterns we may not really need in our life, just like a car nut will commute to work in a 5 litre Mustang or some other hot car, while the non car nut will be very happy with his Honda civic.
Now our forumite mnblade is off on his trip with a little Vic classic as his edc knife. It's surprising that with a inch and a half of sharp thin blade, what you can do. Opens just about any package you don't need a crowbar for, and can be purchased at any Target or Walmart for 8.95. Hard to beat that with a stick.
Maybe Ike was onto something when he became a devote of the pen knife that Case ended up naming after him. Just a simple little pen knife with two small sharp blades. Growiing up dirt poor in Abiline Kansass, Ike knew the value of a penny by the time he was 12 years old and hunting game for the family dinner table. And then you have our pressident from the lone star state, Lyndon Johnson. L.B.J. was an avid hunter, and I remember the picture I saw of him in a book, with a very nice custom rifle that Roy Weatherby made for him, for his Texas hill country hunting. LBJ was a big fan of the small saks, the classic in particular. He bought tons of them to give away to White House guests. There was a 6 foot 3 inch Texas hunter, a fan of the 2 1/4 inch classic.
Maybe mnblade will report in when he gets back from his vacation, and tell us how he did with a inch and a half of blade.
Maybe all those old guys I saw carrying little penknives knew something I didn't.
It's always a problem, going on vacation flying someplace, and leaving your most loved and treasured edc knives home. Kind of an inadaquite feeling of being unprepard for the problems in life that require a sharp edge. And 9-11 didn't help any, travel wise.
I remember the first time post 9-11 I flew someplace. Karen's cousins have long had a tradition of keeping in touch with family no matter how far flung. Cousin Scott is out on California, Cousin Barbara is in Richmond Virginia, some others in Tennesee, and Georga. This one year, 2003, they decided to have the cousins reunion in Key West Florida. Now I liked this idea as I'd never been to Key West, but I like tropical places, especially if they have nice bar's.
The morning came to fly out, and I resigned myself to maybe buying a cheap throw away when I got there. or going knifeless for a number of days. I made sure I had no knives on me, and I was out voted by the rest of the family who didn't want to deal with checked bagage, so we all had just carry on. Got to the airport and delt with security. Karen walks through the gate with zero problem, followed by sister Diane and then sister Romelli. All go right through, then it's my turn.
I get the third degree. Nothing beeps, but they want to search me and one guard askes me to step behind the screen and lower my pants. Karen says it's because the grey beard make me look like Osama Ben ladin. I finally get through security and we're off to the cousins reunion. Checking in at the guest house I feel a little naked without a knife, but resolve to carry on. An hour later we're having some sub sandwiches out by the guest house pool, and I'm trying to open one of those plastic mustard packs. Minutes before I'd put on some sun block, and was having a rough time. Tried using my teeth but fingers were still slipping off.
"Here, try this." Karen tells me holding out what looks like her little red Victorinoc classic.
"Where the heck did that come from?" I ask.
Karen tells me it was in her makeup case that was in her bag. Karen has a nice little zipper bag that is her makeup stuff and it's a small crowded nylon thing jamed with tubes of lipsticks, eye shadow stuff, tweezers and things I have no idea what they are. The little losange shaped classic had been lost among the jumble of stuff in her bag. My better half had waltzed through security with a little sak in her purse while I got the third degree.
For the next week while in Key West, I carried the classic as my lone edc, never making it to the K-mart they had up the road to buy a cheap knife. While on vacation, I used the Vic classic for all the cutting I had to do. It's surprising that when you pay attention to it, how much you need a snarp tool when on vacation. It seems like everything in creation these days is wrapped in plastic, and not the brittle easy to rip stuff either. Factor in senior citizen fingers and you have a real need for a small sharp knife.
While walking and riding around Key West on the rental motor scooter, I thought about all those old guys with Eisenhour penknives, peanuts, mini toothpicks, mini trappers, and even keychain pen knives like those Trim sheet metal handle jobs they used to sell in the 60's. I think that Key West trip was the start of my realization that I didn't really need that big sodbuster, or heavy duty stockman. They were wants, rather than needs. That vacation was when I gained a lot of respect for the little sak classic, and small knives in general. We're knife knuts, and so we like to carry knife patterns we may not really need in our life, just like a car nut will commute to work in a 5 litre Mustang or some other hot car, while the non car nut will be very happy with his Honda civic.
Now our forumite mnblade is off on his trip with a little Vic classic as his edc knife. It's surprising that with a inch and a half of sharp thin blade, what you can do. Opens just about any package you don't need a crowbar for, and can be purchased at any Target or Walmart for 8.95. Hard to beat that with a stick.
Maybe Ike was onto something when he became a devote of the pen knife that Case ended up naming after him. Just a simple little pen knife with two small sharp blades. Growiing up dirt poor in Abiline Kansass, Ike knew the value of a penny by the time he was 12 years old and hunting game for the family dinner table. And then you have our pressident from the lone star state, Lyndon Johnson. L.B.J. was an avid hunter, and I remember the picture I saw of him in a book, with a very nice custom rifle that Roy Weatherby made for him, for his Texas hill country hunting. LBJ was a big fan of the small saks, the classic in particular. He bought tons of them to give away to White House guests. There was a 6 foot 3 inch Texas hunter, a fan of the 2 1/4 inch classic.
Maybe mnblade will report in when he gets back from his vacation, and tell us how he did with a inch and a half of blade.
Maybe all those old guys I saw carrying little penknives knew something I didn't.
Oh man, that made my morning.