Well, it finally happened...

SadSappySucker

SadSappySucker

Joined
Jul 20, 2014
Messages
2,700
I've been carrying a traditional pocket knife for about two years now and read countless stories about that dreaded moment when you reach into your pocket and realize your knife is not there.
Well, it finally happened to me. I recently took a county job as a groundskeeper and spend a good deal of my time bouncing around on a riding lawn mower. I knew it wouldn't be wise to carry my beloved barlow, so I carried my micarta 71(that Dantone graciously gave me some time back) instead. Plus, a sodbuster just seemed like the the most appropriate knife to carry to a landscaping job. Yesterday I was half way into mowing a field when I did one of my regular "pocket pats" to make sure everything was still in its proper place. I immediately noticed the knife was gone. I knew I had it when I got on the mower, but I knew it was pointless to search the park for it. It would have had to have been a miracle for my blind eyes to find a bolsterless od green knife in a couple acres of freshly mowed grass.
My only hope now is that it's eventual new owner appreciates it as much as I did.
It looks like it will be belt knives from here on out at work.

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I hope you find it someplace weird. My very first pocket knife, a Vic Classic, got lost when I was about 9 or 10. It turned up 4 years later in the back of my Aunt's jeep.
 
Sorry for your lost knife!!
Maybe replace it with a yellow one with a lanyard?
 
I lost my first slippy about a year after getting it. It was just a tiny little Buck knife, but I got it on vacation in Arizona and I loved that thing.
 
Check your mower deck and around the area where you park it. Had this happen several times during my grounds keeping days, they usually fall out pretty close to starting point (if you are lucky!). A little prayer helps while looking.
 
I lost my first "good" knife probably after a year of owning it. It was a kershaw shallot and I loved the thing but the clip wasn't suited well for the weight and it fell out a few times. Luckily, being stainless steel scales it make a heck of a racket when it hit the ground. Unfortunately, it didn't make it home from work one day and I don't know at what point it came out of my pocket. I worked out a bit more back then so I thought I would get lucky and find it in a locker, having slipped out of the pocket there, but no luck. Took me a few years to get a nice knife again and stuck to cheap knives for a while after that, a cheap SAK and a byrd crossbill (not including fixed blades which I didn't EDC).
 
I know the feeling I lost a ancient ebony TC and found or heard it in the dryer a few days later. A little dinged but fine.

Months later I lost my TC peachseed jigged clip from the last run. It's been a few months and still no knife but maybe it will show up one day.

Something about TCs and me apparently don't jive. I finally had my TC clip But not anymore!
 
Thanks guys. It's a bummer for sure, but I knew it was bound to happen at some point. I've also lost a ($10) zippo, so at this point I plan on emptying my pockets before mowing from here on out.

jackknife said:
Did you have a bandana wadded up and shoved down on top of it, as per Traditional Knife handbook, Chapter 3, page 59, paragraph 2?
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I actually did have a bandanna wedging everything down. I got that idea from your posts. I guess I should have wrapped it up though. That probably would have prevented it from happening.

Bartleby said:
Check your mower deck and around the area where you park it. Had this happen several times during my grounds keeping days, they usually fall out pretty close to starting point (if you are lucky!). A little prayer helps while looking.
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I did look around the seat real well, but if it was there it probably bounced off when I loaded it on the trailer and took it back to the shop.


I definitely thought about the bright covers or lanyard, but I'm thinking the only fail safe idea right now is a belt knife.
I have been giving some thought to one of those mud bugs or whatever smith and sons calls their 21 lockback.
A custom shop 110 is also sounding better...
 
SadSappySucker said:
I definitely thought about the bright covers or lanyard, but I'm thinking the only fail safe idea right now is a belt knife.
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I used to use a short lanyard looped over a belt or belt loop, with the knife in my pocket. The belt pouch (and we are talking Dukes of Hazzard days, back then everyone carried in a pouch) just always got it the way....
 
Bartleby said:
I used to use a short lanyard looped over a belt or belt loop, with the knife in my pocket. The belt pouch (and we are talking Dukes of Hazzard days, back then everyone carried in a pouch) just always got it the way....
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I believe Dave (@Horsewright) makes something similar to what you're talking about, but it's an actual leather slip with a lanyard that loops around the belt. I can't recall his name for it right now, though.
 
I sure hope you find it! My only advice would be to mow again before the grass gets too high (if you're able), and just keep an eye out for it so you find it before the mower does.
 
Wurrwulf said:
I believe Dave (@Horsewright) makes something similar to what you're talking about, but it's an actual leather slip with a lanyard that loops around the belt. I can't recall his name for it right now, though.
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It's called a Buckaroo pouch. I think his website just calls it a folding knife pouch. I have two of his, and I highly recommend them. It's become part of my EDC. It's a lot more convenient when you're really working with a knife, as opposed to a regular pocket slip.
 
I used to lose my knife about every 3 years. I carried SAK's all the time so losing one meant trying out something new. I got one with that small pliers and absolutely didn't like it. Wouldn't you know, I never lost it. Had to give it away so I could get something I liked. Haven't lost a knife since though I'm sure I just jinxed myself.
 
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