Who's your Daddy GAW WINNERS picked on post 54

[glennbad]

So, I have been in a bit of funk lately. I was pretty sick with pneumonia for a few months. Then last month, my dad came down pretty sick himself. He ended up in the hospital, and the prognosis wasn't good. His donor kidney was failing, and his wishes were not to go back on dialysis, so it was only a matter of time. We all made our peace with him in our own way. On President's Day, he passed away in a hospice, with all of us right there, except my brother, who had to be back in Florida. My dad had been having a tough go for the past 6 months or so. He'd get sick, end up in the hospital for a week, and then go home. It was like that several times, with this last time he didn't bounce back. I'm pretty sad that he's gone, but relieved that he's not in pain anymore. My poor mom has been his constant companion for 56 years of marriage, and was his primary caregiver in recent years, making sure he'd take his meds and look after him. While I'm sure she is heartbroken, she must also be at ease as well.

I got my love of cutlery from my father and grandfather. My grandparents would send me a knife at Christmas, usually a Queen. My father always enjoyed pocketknives, and usually carried one. In recent years, I had supplied my dad with knives from my collection. Kind of a reversal from the usual scenario, I would take out a knife roll and have him pick out anything he wanted. He was fond of my Schrade knife roll, and had picked out a couple that he liked. One was this 760. It had later gassed out, so I had modded it to this. I carried it during his services, and I have it now.





His favorite knife that I made him was this Imperial barlow. It was smaller than standard barlows. I had made it from parts of 2 different knives. It was not the best work I ever did, but he loved it, and how sharp it would get. I made sure it was in his pocket before he was interred.




Anyway, my dad was retired USAF, with most of his years spent in EOD. He spent time in Korea and Viet Nam. He was always proud of his service to his country, and probably the reason I served in the USAF also. He and mom were parents to 4 children, with me being the youngest. They were both active in scouting. My dad was also a Master Mason. He was also an avid woodworker, making intricate scrollsaw plaques, puzzles, and other items. He taught me how to use tools, and install car radios, how to fish, and all kinds of other stuff that dads do. He was kind of a private person, and with me being the youngest, I never knew a lot about his earlier years.

Here's an early pic of him




And here's a pic of us about 6 years ago when we celebrated their 50th anniversary.





As I said, he was a lover of cutlery. Here is a Buck 110 of his, as old as I am, LOL




Here is a Queen B&T from his possibles bag, he used to shoot muzzleloader




Here's his EOD kit that he used to carry. He originally had the tool sheath strapped to the front of the PSK sheath. When he gave it to me, I made a new stone pouch for it. The PSK is a Camillus 1967




And finally, this Camillus, that he received when he retired.





Okay now to the GAW in the next post...

 

[glennbad]

So for the GAW, it's pretty easy. Just share something about your dad. It could be a funny story, or a remembrance of when you were little and did something fun together. Maybe his favorite knife. Pictures are welcome, in fact encouraged.

Here are the 4 GAW knives. (4 separate drawings)


This Queen 4-blade. Can't remember where I picked it up, maybe as payment for some work. I don't think it has been used.




This brand new PSK. It is an Ontario, dated 1994. Pretty much just like the one my dad carried.




This one is kinda special. It is a Bruckmann. I had gifted it to my dad years ago, and he did carry it quite a bit.




This last one is one of my favorite Schrade patterns. The 863, in delrin. I believe it is unused, with the exception of a blemish on the back of the main blade.




When you make your post, please state which knife, or knives you are interested in should your name be picked.

You must be legally able to own the knife you win, and it must be legal to ship it wherever you live.


One last thing, but it's not mandatory. Please call or contact your dad and tell him you love him. You never know when it will be the last time you are able to do so.

Thanks for reading.
Glenn

 

[rishma]

Glenn,

Not an entry for the GAW but thanks for sharing a little about your dad. Condolences. I lost my dad 3 years ago. He's the smartest person I've ever known and I miss him and his counsel very much. I am trying to be as good a father as he was.

I'm glad you are feeling better.

Best of luck to all, and as Glenn said, call your dad.

 

[freekboi]

Not an entry. I too just wanted to say thanks for sharing a bit about your dad, and I'm so sorry for your loss. I lost my dad 12 years ago, and there's not a day goes by I don't miss him. It sounds like your dad and my dad would've hit it off Glenn. My dad was a Master Mason too, used to shoot muzzleloaders, loved to tinker around, loved fishing and hunting, and never went anywhere without a pocketknife.

Best of luck to all entries, and I'm gonna third what Glenn and Rishma said, call your dad, even if it's just to say hello.

 

[Ironbut]

Not an entry, but my condolences on your Dad, Glen. Mine passed away in 1985 from cancer. Your Dad's Camillus survival knife looks like the one I was issued in 1967 in the Marines, (except my sheath is still missing the stone pouch ).

 

[Whetstone39]

Condolences on your father's passing, and my deepest sympathies for your loss.

My dad passed away in late 2015, and we had a slightly different knife journey. My dad always had a pocket knife, but he couldn't have cared less about them. He thought of them as simple, cheap, disposable tools and used them like it. He'd poke, prod, scrape, pry, and do all manner of things to his pocket knives that made me cringe, then complain when they broke. He would use (abuse?) one untill it got dull as a brick or he broke the tip (the latter occurred more often), then pick up the cheapest he could find at the local hardware store.

At some point my brother and I began giving him better knives, and he treated them just as unceremoniously. We'd be helping him with a home project, and he'd complain about his dull blade. I'd offer to sharpen it, he'd say "not worth the trouble". Then I'd give him whatever I was carrying, and just ask that he let me sharpen it when it got dull. He'd get a wry smile and say "That IS sharp", raising an eyebrow. Some time later he'd say he lost it or forgot where he put it, and have that same smile.

After my dad passed we were cleaning out his home office, and I opened one of the drawers in his desk. It was full of the knives we had given him over the years, all dull as a stump. I laughed as I thought of him laughing at me from above, knowing I couldn't rest until I brought all those poor mistreated blades back to life . I took a quick picture of the first to be freed from his drawer at the time, this is maybe a third of what was in there:



My prayers are with you and your family.

 

[Campbellclanman]

Oh Man......
Glenn mate, a very touching Give-away, I am glad you had a special relationship with your Dad - I am sure he was extremely proud, and I know for a fact that if I had a son or daughter that did some work on a knife then gave it to me- Oh ...that would just be an amazing knife for me to carry with pure pride.
I can cant really tell many stories of my Father- But I envy you with your marvelous relationship that you had and congratulate you my friend.

Not an entry- but a thank you on so many levels.

 

[arizonaranchman]

Sorry to hear of the loss of your dad Glenn. What a wonderful tribute and very touching to read. Prayers sent for you and your family in this difficult time.

 

[btb01]

Glenn, I'm sorry to hear about your dad. It's a tough thing to go through, but it's good that you and he were close, and that you had as much time with him as you did.

Although I've been somewhat lucky in GAWs recently, I'd like to enter yours as I really appreciate the theme. My dad was quite a guy, and I love getting the chance to reminisce about him. As for the knives in the GAW, although I'd be happy to win any of them, I particularly like the Schrade and the Bruckmann.

As a kid, I spent a lot of time in the outdoors with my dad. He was a leader in a group called Royal Ambassadors, which was basically a Southern Baptist version of Boy Scouts. We did plenty of camping and fishing, and Dad was the one to introduce me to pocket knives, although he was more interested in multitools, SAKs, Leathermans, etc. than the more traditional slipjoints we usually talk about here. He was always more of a high-tech, over-prepared kind of guy when it came to the outdoors. Minimalism certainly wasn't his thing. Although I got into backpacking some as I got older, I think I still take after him when it comes to camping, as I much prefer doing so out of the back of a truck, or on the shore of a lake with a boat full of supplies.

I can't find any photos from camping with my dad (or at least, none that he's in), but here's a picture of him holding my younger brother and I for a photo op with a bear on a chain. (This is one of my favorite photos I have with my dad; I have the polaroid in a little frame hanging on the wall over the workbench/table I use for knife sharpening, gun cleaning, etc.)

For most of my life, my dad owned an RV dealership. As a kid, that was fun for a lot of reasons. On weekends and in the summer, it meant that my brother and I had a parking lot full of "forts" to play in and around. As I got older, I got my first work experience helping out around the lot, and as soon as I was old enough to drive on my own, dad let me help deliver motorhomes to customers. Dad's job also meant that we never flew anywhere for vacation -- we always drove. I'm sure some people have experienced family road trips that made their family seem like the Griswolds in National Lampoon's Vacation, but that never seemed to be our experience. I always loved the road trips that we took. (Maybe the extra space between family members that you get in an RV made it easier.)

Here's a photo from a vacation that we took about 10 years ago. We took a cruise out of New Orleans over New Year's; of course, we drove to New Orleans from Northwest Arkansas. My wife (then girlfriend) is in the foreground, and Dad's in the background. I think this was the New Year's Eve party on the ship; there may have been some drinking going on.

Sadly, my dad died in a motorcycle accident when I was 22. It'll be 10 years this fall, but I still think about him every day. The hardest thing is thinking about the stuff that I'll never get to share with him. My wife and I had our first kid, our daughter Eleanor, last summer. Dad would have made the best grandpa.

 

[Hickory n steel]

I'm in, thanks.if I won I'd love to have that Ontario psk on my belt, and my dad would love that Shcrade as Shcrade ( Old timer in particular ) was kind of a tradition started by my grandpa.
Sorry to hear about your father, when my grandpa passed away my dad didn't take it too well and if my mom hadn't brought me by one night to see him he wouldn't be alive today.

My dad joined the army in '78 and took basic at I believe FT benning GA but I'm not 100% s as he did a bunch of different things during his 12yrs with the Army and Army reserves combined. Anyway one story he always told me was about a smaller buck lockback he brought with him which was confiscated in basic and how he later found the CO using it as if he owned it, He took his knife back and eventually sold it to a friend for 20$ ( a knife that I'd love to own right now ) .eventually He was set to go overseas and drive a supply truck into combat zones, but couldn't because of a slight vision issue .

 

[AlwaysTomboy]

Not an entry. My condolences to you and your family on your loss, glennbad. I'm glad you have fond memories of him.



For my Dad's 80th birthday a couple of years ago, I put together an album full of photos of him and his family; old B&W photos of his mom as a little girl and him as a baby, child and teen; mom and dad's wedding photo; photos of our family vacations when I was a child, etc. My parents and I had gone to Ireland a few months prior for vacation so I included photos from that trip, too.

I'm not a good storyteller and would have trouble picking one good memory of many anyway, so I'll just share some of the photos that I included in that album (as clickable thumbnails so I don't clutter the thread too much).

1) Dad as a baby with his parents, 1935.
2) Dad as a teen. I was told this was his high school graduation photo, so 1951-ish, maybe?
3) Dad with my brother and me, 1977.
4) Dad and Mom at the Guinness Brewery in Ireland a few months before Dad's 80th birthday, 2014. Dad's doing the classic "taking a photo of me taking a photo of him" thing and Mom's holding a glass of beer that she's about to give to Dad to drink because she doesn't like beer but she wasn't about to turn down a free glass of it.



My parents are in the process of moving into a 55+ community up near where I live and I couldn't be happier. & It amuses me that neither one of them wanted to move into a retirement home because they, and I quote, "Don't want to be stuck eating meals with a bunch of old people."

I feel so lucky to have such a close relationship with my parents.

 

[Markesharp]

Glenn, I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your dad. My prayers are with you and your whole family right now.

I am definitely in.

You take care of yourself,

Mark

 

[abbydaddy]

I am very sorry for your loss Glenn. My thoughts are with you and yours.

I have a hard time finding a picture that captures my dad. When I think of my dad I think of the outdoors, and working with him. My dad is a land surveyor, but it was his interest in geology and archaeology that helped inspire my own choice of career. The first story that comes to my mind is not a very clear memory because it was from when I was six. My dad knew that I was already interested in old things, and we were in a village named Wales, Alaska, and there was a story about a rock with a footprint in it on the side of a nearby mountain. So I remember hiking up the mountain and finding the rock. Then we talked about how we thought the footprint got there. I remember my idea was that it was a fireproof man who stepped in lava. Over the years growing up he always made it a point to draw my attention to interesting stories and things when we would travel around rural Alaska, and nearer to home.

My dad is still doing well. I'll actually be seeing him tomorrow with my daughter. He bought a tiny farm a few years back, and he has a couple sheep. The ewe just lambed, so I am taking my daughter to see the tiny lambs.

The first traditional I was given (thanks to the generosity of Eyedog) was a barlow. I actually gave that barlow to my dad. He doesn't carry it all the time, but it is the knife he carries when he carries a knife.

I would be happy with any of the knives if I win. If I were to pick a top choice it would be the Bruckman.

I am going to try to come up with a picture for this. In the meantime, here is the barlow I gave my dad.

 

[Jack Black]

Sorry to hear you've been sick Glenn, and sincere condolences for the loss of your dad. That's a very moving and well-written tribute my friend, some good knife contact too :thumbup:

Not an entry please, but good luck to everyone who enters, and thanks for sharing your stories :thumbup:

 

[leghog]

I'm in for the Brukmann. Thanks!

Here's Dad as painted by Mom when they lived in Madrid in the mid-50s. He would have been 30-31 years old and Mom 28-29 years old when this was painted. Dad was career USN. Enlisted in 1942. Commission in 1945. Retired in 1967 the summer before my twin brother and I started first grade. That fall he had two kids in college, two in first grade, and two in between.

He and Mom some how found a way to send all six kids and Mom to university for degrees. I was the only one who entered the military. Did just under 23 years in the Army. He and Mom often said they were surprised that it was me, of their six kids, who chose the military. It was his example that made me decide to serve.

Dad was my best man at my wedding. I recall how odd he thought it. I told him I was closer to him than any man I knew. Even my brothers. Even my twin brother. And explained that 20 years on I'd probably not know any of the other men I was then friends with. That panned out as truth. I've never been closer to any other man. I could talk to him about anything and often did. The good. The bad. And the ugly. What he had to say to me in those conversations was often very tough to hear, but was never a bad observation or bad advice and was usually from his own experience and mistakes. I LOVED THAT MAN! Still do.

Mom died 22 years ago just after 50 years of marriage to Dad. I was 34. Dad died 17 years ago when I was 39. At just shy of 56 now, I still miss them both terribly some days. It does get easier as time goes by, but I'm still Dad's son, and I'm still Mom's son so some days the loss still comes crashing in all these years later. If I could just sit at the dinner table with them again just once more ......

 

[abcdef]

I am sorry about your Dad. My family is going through a similar time with my father as I type. It is just a matter of time. He also has four children, me being the oldest.

My interest in knives totally comes from him. Although he is not an enthusiast like we are here, he was never without a traditional in his pocket. They were tools, and never babied. He did keep them sharp. Woodworking was his avocation, and he could use a coping blade.

Thanks for the opportunity. My choice would be the Bruckmann, but would be happy with any.

 

[Wardo46]

Not in--just wanted to say what a wonderful tribute to your dad. He sounds like a remarkable man. :thumbup:

 

[r redden]

Glenn I somehow missed that your father had passed and I am so sorry. I need to keep a little closer contact with my friends. I would love to participate in your GAW and would be interested in that Queen.

My dad passed when I was young and truthfully now that I'm in my 60's it's hard to remember him. My mom never remarried so there was never a step dad. One time I do remember was the summer before he died. We had family in the Tampa area of Florida and we went to see them and also spend a couple of weeks on vacation. We had very little money but you know how it was when you were a kid you had no idea you were poor. We drove straight through there was no money for motels and we would stop at side of the road picnic tables and eat out of the cooler. Dad had brought his Coleman stove so mom actually cooked meals in those picnic areas.

My aunt and uncle lived on a canal and had their boat docked there so we would take it out for fishing and skiing everyday. There was a small island just a few miles out we would go to for a picnic. Seemed my family was always eating. My uncle's boat didn't have a starter and you had to pull the cord on the motor to turn it over and get it started. We were getting ready to leave the Key and my dad was yanking the cord and as any good son would I was bent over him watching it well done when I got to close. He yanked the cord hit me in the mouth with his elbow and knocked me out of the boat and into the water. He felt really bad about it even though it was my fault and that's when he gave me this old fixed blade. He had it strapped to his side for use as a fishing knife. This is about all I remember of him but it was enough to know he was a great man.

 

[Henry Beige]

You have all my sympathy for your loss, Glenn, and thank you for this giveaway which set me to recalling my pop, too many stories to recount them all here. Pop was a newspaperman, and a bit of an eccentric. His beat was entertainment: movies, TV, restaurants and nightclubs.

He never carried a pocket knife that I recall, but because he was a food writer and a chef, he accumulated kitchen cutlery, mostly carbon steel. Because he hailed from Dover, Ohio, he was also a fan of Warther knives.

Some of my best times with him came on bicycles. In the days before everybody was riding to work, he would pedal downtown in his Hong Kong tweeds on an English 3-speed. My first bicycle was the Hercules he passed down to me when he bought his new Raleigh. With friends and family, he would pedal all over South Minneapolis, stopping every so often for a cold one in one of the neighborhood taverns that dotted the landscape. On one of my last rides with him, we followed the railroad tracks downtown from his house, dodged buses on the Nicollet Mall, then cooled off in the shade of a corner store, swigging quarts of Hamm's in brown paper bags.

I think of my pop most often when I hear a really good joke. Did you ever hear the one about the Iron Ranger who came down to the casino at Hinckley and won a drawing for a cruise with celebrity supermodel Elle McPherson? Pop woulda loved it.

I'm in, preferably for the Bruckman or the Schrade, but really, I'd be tickled with any of them.

 

[LastRodeo]

Sorry for your loss Glenn and also for your illness. It's a wonderful thing to have a common interest to share with a father, which will forever be a remembrance.

Not an entrance, but sincere appreciation of you and condolences to you and yours.