Went Hunting Bucks

CoyotePhysics

CoyotePhysics

Joined
Jul 14, 2010
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I took my wife to antique mall yesterday. While she spent her time looking at various vases and other knick-knacks I hunted around to see if I could find some Bucks. I’ve learned a thing or two by hanging around here and thought that I could separate the wheat from the chaff. In the fifty or so vendor booths I only found a handful of knives, none of them Bucks. Oh well, the search goes on. I did make one interesting find (warning, this post is going to get a little off topic here).

Don’t ask me why, but I have affinity towards slide rules. Yeah, I’m only 30 so it might seem a little odd. I found an unusual Post slide rule. Most Posts were imported from Japan and have a bamboo body. This one is marked made in America, and is some type of wood. That combined with the fact that it was in good shape convinced me to spend nine dollars to get it. A bit of browsing the net told me a bit about what I had bought. Post slide rules were only manufactured in America during World War II. This also explained why there was an absolute minimum of metal used to make it.

WartimePost.jpg


Some people don’t like it when a case has a name stamped on it, but I think it adds character, and in this case made my find even more interesting. I googled the name plus “Salt Lake City” and found what I was looking for, the obituary for Richard Brinkenshaw. Putting it all together, I suspect that Dick received the slide rule while serving in the Navy during the Second World War. One can only imagine what the rule was used for, navigation, fire control, or a thousand other things related to the function of a warship. The spring on the cursor had been loosened on one side. This was likely an intentional modification to make the rule faster. Can you imagine a crowded bridge with a hundred things happening at once in it? A handful of white wisps on the horizon mean that the enemy ship just fired a volley towards you. In about ten seconds you’ll know if your ship has already been killed. Right now it doesn’t matter; you finish your calculation and shout your answer to the weapons officer. You have a few moments before your data gets updated and in the back of your mind a mental clock tells you that the enemy shells are going to strike steel or water just about… now.

Here is to Dick and all the other men who have served, and continue to serve to defend freedom. Let’s live worthy of their sacrifice. In my home town there is a veteran’s memorial that says, “All gave some, some gave all.” One family in my town gave four sons to the Second World War. When the father was asked what would happen if the war continued long enough that his fifth and final son turned 18 replied his son would go if he was needed. Grace save us from seeing such days again.

While I didn't find that two-dot Buck I thought might be forgotten on a shelf, I feel the search paid for itself.

CP
 
Just to show how old I am... I started college with a slide rule...and finished with Texas Instruments first scientific calculator, a bargain when it hit the streets at $175 because I couldn't afford Hewlet Packards calculator the HP45 ...about $450 back then.
 
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Yes, we called them slipsticks in the old days.

Yes, it is wise to pick them up for a couple of dollars at yard sales. Many are highly collectible and you will be able to sell them for far more than you paid.

Lots of people have a sense of affection and nostalgia for these.

Some, like me, always hated the damned things, but that's another story.

And I'll still buy them when I can get them cheap.

:D
 
I used a slide rule way back then when I was in electronics school in the 60's (think vacuum tubes). Should have one or two around the house somewhere but don't remember how to use one.
 
My dad worked for Westinghouse as an technician in the 70s. I'm going to have to ask him to find his old slide rule.
 
edbeau said:
I used a slide rule way back then when I was in electronics school in the 60's (think vacuum tubes). Should have one or two around the house somewhere but don't remember how to use one.
Click to expand...

Now I'm starting to think that I was born in the wrong decade... I snapped a picture of a couple of things I have sitting around.
ruleandtubes.jpg


The longer tube is a chineese made EL84, I used to think that Russia produced some pretty crappy tubes (and some good ones too), but the China one went completely belly-up in about two months of intermittant use, and the finish on the pins is by far the worst that I have ever seen.
 
Off topic is OK. I have six or seven slide rules. One is my grandfather's from about 1906 when he was a mechanical engineering student at the University of Glasgow. I remember the winter of 1971-1972 when HP came out with their calculator and slide rules became obsolete. I waited a year for TI to lower the price. Even today, they can't be beat for certain things: especially ratios. There is something satisfying about the mechanical aspects, instead of just punching numbers on the keyboard. I also have a certain nostalgia for the Marchant mechanical calculator; but not much.-- Bert
 
I enjoyed the story and all the info. It has made me reflect on the pleasures of collecting Buck Knives, the stories heard, the good folks you meet(and those not so good:grumpy:), friendships formed, and satisfaction when you find the the knife you want or need, and knowing the search has been time well spent, usually in the company of a family member
 
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