What the old timers used

[silenthunterstudios]

It's amazing when you take a second and look at what the old timers used. Lots of guys got along alright with one or two pen knives.

Case in point. My grandfather was a soda salesman/deliveryman. His route ranged from Hanover, PA, to Baltimore, MD. He also was a salesman for Utz. Utz cans all over his house.

But, we're talking about knives. My grandmother gave my little brother and I several of my grandfathers knives (dziadzia, pronounced jahjah, or, jah-jee, Polish for grandfather). Anyway, all of these knives were promotional knives, and all Coca Cola/Pepsi-Cola promotional knives. All are carbon steel, and well used, a little too well used to see a makers mark. Not the best made knives, but a useful tool for the man on the road a lot.

My grandfather was a hard worker. These knives served him well. I have one of the folders, a single blade jackknife. Large clip point. Maybe close to 3".

My other late grandfather, a Marine and amateur Irish balladeer (pretty good singer, actually, from the old recordings), always carried a harmonica with him. My grandmother doesn't recall him carrying pocketknives, but he had to have had one. One of my current quests is to find out what he carried. Time is runnin' out fast though, for those who knew him are not long for this world .

I read an older article in Knife World, about the authors grandfather. An old farmer, he always carried a stockman, which he put up after the blades were well worn down. The only other knife he carried was a Sunday go to meetin' knife, a small watch chain knife he kept in his breast pocket of his three piece suit.

So, what did your grandfathers carry? They didn't have to be knife nuts like us, just interested in what got them through the years.

 

[mdsmith]

When my grandfather passed away, I got his old Henckles straight razor, and a tiny Winchester stockman. Like you said, not he greatest of knives, and almost too small for me, but it served him well, and god knows he's been through more that I'll ever know. He was originally from South Carolina, and at the age of 15 hitch hiked up to Maryland, living in a tent for a little over a year until he got enough money together to rent a room. I on the other hand, work in an office all day, and for some reason, feel the need to carry a Benchmade 942 and a Vic soldier (at least that's what it is today). You are right, it is amazing what the old timers could do with so little. I guess it just goes to show that it isn't the tool, it's the user that determines what can be done. It's the same thing with sharpening. My grandfather probably had some super cheap pocket stone and could keep a razor edge on that little knife, but now days, everyone has top of the line sharpening "systems" with multiple grits and fancy clamps to hold the knife at the right angle. Nice topic, I look forward to reading other replies.

 

[moonwilson]

My paternal grandfather always carried a Buck 301, with the tip of the spey blade ground off and made into a flathead screwdriver/ chisel. My dad says that my grandpa used to carry a Case trapper "back in the day", but I never saw him carrying such a beast. He lost it at some point. He went through several Buck 301s that I knew of. I think my dad has the last one he carried before he died.

My grandfather was an officer in the Army, a teacher, and a county administrator before retiring. He was the superintendent of Arlington County schools in Virginia for several years before retirement, which at the time was the largest in the country. He retired in the late 80's to his 700 acre farm in the Shenandoah Valley. He had plenty of crops and livestock to tend to, which he did all by himself. He was still breaking horses well into his seventies. He was a brilliant man, he earned his bachelors, masters degrees, and his doctorate all within three years.

I saw him use his Buck 301 for just about every job you can imagine, it was his most-often used tool, as far as I could tell. I'm hoping to get it from my Dad someday, though I expect it won't be until after he passes. My dad has a pretty decent knife collection of his own, so my son will get quite a haul of knives when I eventually kick off!

My maternal grandfather was a Marine who fought in Okinawa in WWII. After the war, he became a lawyer and worked for the Department of the Interior. He used to go up and "supervise" seal hunts up in Canada, the really horrible, brutal ones where hunters would club scores of baby seals to death. Apparently he was instrumental in bringing the barbaric practice to public attention, and in its subsequent restriction. I have a box of old color slides of some of these hunts somewhere. They're not pretty! My mom's dad died when I was fairly young, and he lived in the city, so I don't have many memories of him using a knife. I did inherit his KaBar from the war and a bunch of his things, including a well-used, 1920s Remington "patriot" knife, and a solid gold handled gentleman's knife.

 

[puukkoman]

My grandfather has a yellow-handled "fishing knife," probably a Colonial or Imperial, with pressed "clamshell" bolsters. We would consider it low-quality compared to most of the slipjoints we have and use, but it's served him well for 40 years or so. Carbon steel blade, carbon steel fish scaler, yellow handles. It cuts, and so he hasn't needed to replace it.

 

[rwc53]

My paternal grandfather carried and used constantly a little John Primble 2-blade pen knife (clip and pen blades). With that, he cleaned fish, squirrels and rabbits, as well as the occasional quail and woodcock. It cleaned his fingernails, carved whistles and flutes for me as a young guy in the '50's, and did a hundred other chores daily. I have an old, very similar, Case XX greenbone pen knife. Every once in a while, I force myself to just carry it, instead of one of the myriad other larger traditional knives I own...and I find it suffices for everything I want! Guess my Grandpa Clark understood things a little better than do I!

Ron

 

[thejamppa]

I've only seen one picture of my grandfather. It was quick shot him in uniform prior shipping to Karelian front. In his belt was puukko like almost every Finnish soldier. If its some my grandparents have used, its been puukko.

 

[Harayasu]

My grandfather had a Friedrich Herder sodbuster. He was a vet and hunter in the northern part of the Netherlands, near the coast. It was a very common knife in those days, my father is still carrying one.

 

[akennedy73]

My paternal grandfather had a lot of pocketknives - but he carried a carbon steel slipjoint, I wish I remembered the brand. He was fond of Pumas and would occasionally get out some of his other pocketknives to show me. He was a gunsmith and made his own lockback pocketknife once which he was very proud of - aluminum bolsters and cherry wood scales, very smooth action.

My grandfather made me a knife nut - maybe it was the peg board hung with knives from various WWII theaters, maybe it was the time he took to show me how to build up a burr on one side of the edge and then take it off, followed by a leather strop. He loved a sharp blade and now so do I.

 

[tongueriver]

My paternal grandfather, born in 1876, was a professional hunter and trapper. He probably used and wore out more than 300 knives by the time he passed at age 94. I never was able to track down even one of them. I know he made some himself. Probably out of saws and files. My maternal grandfather was a cattle man and I have a vague memory of a yellow birdseye stockman knife at one point in the 1950's. Probably a Schrade 882.

[/IMG]

 

[SAKsRCool]

My maternal grandfather who lived in the house with us when I was a kid always had a ~ 3" lockback from Kmart. The "Sharp" brand with brass bolsters and wood scales. Not sure about my paternal grandfather, he lived in India and I was 5 when he passed.
adam

 

[jackknife]

I never knew my maternal grandfather. He was a house painter, and while my mom was still a young girl, a scaffold collapsed, and he died of a broken neck. My paternal grandfather was an immigrant from the West coast of Ireland, and for a very long time carried a sailors knife with a large sheepsfoot blade. I was a little kid when grandmom gave him a Hen and Rooster stag handle stockman, and he carried that knife until his passing.

My Uncle Charlie was a printer, and worked 'downtown' D.C. at the Government printing office on North Capital street, and carried the same old Camillus TL-29 that went from the beach at Normandy, to Germany with him. Uncle Charlie did a lot of work with the TL-29. I remember that he said getting off work at night, he'd drop it in his coat pocket with the screw driver blade open, for "just in case".

My Uncle Paul was a machinist at the Curtis-Wright engine plant in Patterson New Jersey. He always had a couple of small two blade jacks stashed around on him, and they seemed to do all the cutting he needed to do. Little jobs, maybe the size of a peanut, but the strait sleeveboard shape, with some sort of advertising on them. Usually a 2 inch spear point blade and small pen blade.

Most of the old times I new, all seem to have the small two blade jack. I think it was sort of the knife of the era, exept for some of the vets, who seemed to keep on carrying the TL-29's.

Carl.

 

[Blues]

Mostly I remember small pen knives in the pockets of my maternal grandfather, a machinist at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. I don't remember the mark but I wouldn't be surprised if they were Imperials. (Maybe I only think that because he was an immigrant from Sicily and the old Imperial was started by Italian immigrants.)

I'd give anything to have the handful of pocket knives he gave me in the years before his death in 1962. Gone but never forgotten.

My paternal grandfather (whom I met in my 20's) was a professional boxer and I don't recall anything in his pockets but a pair of fists.

 

[pipedreams308]

All the family I can remember all carried stockmen -either Case if it was an American knife or, more likely, various German brands. Some big, some small. All were carbon steel. I have memories of knives associated with all my older family members.

 

[Halfneck]

My Maternal Grandfather died when I was 6 & I have no idea what kind of pocketknife he carried. I'm sure he carried some sort of pocketknife as he was a WW1 vet & worked at a telegraph office. I do have his Dogtags though.

My Paternal Grandfather was in the CCC & a Fisherman. He is the one who gave me my first knife & taught me how to sharpen it & care for it. The pocketknife I remember the most was a stag-handled CV Case Whittler. The blades had a nice grey patina & cross hatch marks from sharpening. When he passed I got that Whittler & a Barlow I'd never seen him carry.

 

[mqqn]

Hi silenthunterstudios -

My Grandfather always had a black handled case jackknife with him.

I wish I knew where that one went.

My other Grandfather passed away when I was young, but he had a Barlow knife in his garage, I don't think he carried it with him.

Thanks for the stories - cool reading.

best regards -

mqqn

 

[lambertiana]

I never knew my maternal grandfather, he passed away when my mother was 14. My paternal grandfather was a knifeknut, and had a decent sized collection. He has been a Case fan since he was young. He once told me that his first knife was a Case ordered from the Sears Roebuck catalog when he was 8 or 9 (he was born in 1910); I wonder if there was even a decent hardware store selection in his town at the time (Thatcher, AZ). I looked through his box of knives on more than one occasion, and, based on which ones had a significant amount of sharpening on the blades, his favorites were a Case 6347 and this one, which I inherited when he passed away in 2004:

 

[Blues]

That's a great looking knife (and a wonderful keepsake) John.

 

[will62]

My dad always carried a medium stockman when he was on the farm. It seemed to serve his needs well enough, everything from cutting baling twine to skinning racoons. If he needed a bigger knife he had an Old Hickory butcher knife.

Both of my Grandfathers carried small jacks or a peanut.

Knew some tough old men who believed that for day to day use a stockman or Barlow was all that was needed. If those did not do the job then it was time for an axe or saw.

 

[jkarp_53]

Maternal grandfather was an apple farmer and the family biz was located Upstate New York very close to both Schrade and Camillus factories, and always carried pocket knives for pruning and other daily cutting chores.

Started receiving pocket knives on my 7th birthday...let's see, I'm 57 now so that means I've been carrying for 50 years... Now THAT's scary!

 

[jackknife]

I looked through his box of knives on more than one occasion, and, based on which ones had a significant amount of sharpening on the blades, his favorites were a Case 6347 and this one, which I inherited when he passed away in 2004:

What an exquisite little pocket jewel of a knife!!!:thumbup:

Of course, it's priceless.

Carl.