You Guys...

richstag

richstag

Joined
Feb 22, 2007
Messages
9,008
....Really make me think about my family. All the great stories I have been reading in the last few months since I have been more active here in the traditional section. It really makes me think more about values, family and how things used to be.

Every time I logged onto this forum I couldn't help but think of the old case knife my grandfather gave me when I was a little kid. When my grandmother passed he gave me two knives. One that he called a machete :)

Here is a pic of that one
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I have no idea anything about the knife, he just gave it to me and told me it works. I have used it a lot and its a very sentimental piece.

Anyhow, the one he gave me that I could tell he really had a hard time parting with was a little case knife. It was kind of tight opening and closing and had what I now know to be an incredible patina. Well being a little boy and having been handed down my grandfather's prized pocket knife I did what any unknowing kid would do and I polished it up. Well the patina is gone but I still remember what it looked like when he first handed it to me.

I took a few pics of it today before I cleaned it up with mineral oil
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I soaked it in mineral oil for a little while and then cleaned inside with pipe cleaners and unfortunately had to polish one side of the bolster to remove a rust spot. I don't care, I would rather stop the rust then let it keep going.

Here are a few cleaned up pics

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It has two blades and they are both very worn down from stone sharpening. Here is the main blade

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When I was a kid I used to use this one so its not sharp anymore. BUT, I was astonished to open the small blade and POP hairs off my arm!!! How is this even possible?? I was kind of amazed and at the same time had to smile and think of my grandfather being able to put an edge like that. Its not pretty but you sure can't say he didn't use this knife :)

Here is the small blade

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My grandfather is very old and has Alzheimer's. I am the only person he feels comfortable around anymore and I am not sure exactly why. Maybe because I never try to test his memory but instead I just spend time with him.

Now that I was able to find this and clean it up a little to prevent further rust, I am going to visit him with it and see what he thinks :)

Just a little experience I thought I would share with you all. I don't even know anything about the knife aside from he gave it to me. My grandfather was an extremely skilled carpenter and when I found this knife it just triggered all kinds of thoughts that I want to ask him about.

Thanks all,

Kevin
 
Thanks for sharing that, Kevin.

I wish I would have snatched up one of my Grandpas knives but I didn't and he never gave me one.

My hat's off to you for holding onto them all this time. That little serpentine Case knife is a real treasure. Such a beautiful knife.

Your Grandfather will be proud when you show it to him. And so will you.
 
I've got an old fixed blade that my grandfather took off some guy when he was with NYPD. I keep meaning to get it out and bring it back to life but for some reason I always put it off...think I'll do it this weekend. Like you said it's thanks to people like you who share their stories that make this such a great forum. Thanks for sharing, and I hope your grandfather gets a little twinkle in his eye when he sees that old Case.

Nathan
 
Be sure and let us know if the knife makes an impression and thanks for the story!
 
That is a special keepsake. I really enjoyed the pics and story. You did a good job cleaning it up too.
I hope your grandfather has many stories to share with you when he sees it again.
 
kevin, That's a wonderful example of the most typical pocket knife of the era I grew up in. The serpentine jack was THE knife of the day back then. It looks like your grandfather got a lot of great use from that knife. Being a carpenter, that knife probably smoothed out the feathers from a zillion saw cuts, scribed a line in wood to be cut, and maybe even did a little final fitting in the finish work here and there. But it looks like it has plenty of life left in it.

Thanks for sharing it's history with us. :thumbdn:

Carl.
 
Beautiful knife, better story. Thank you for taking time out of your life to spend with your grandfather in his waning years. That is more important than you may realize yet.
 
5 years ago when I went back to Hungary to visit family I hadn't seen since 1976, my cousin gave me a knife my Grandfather always had on him and used to make lunch for us with the last time I saw him when I was 16 35 years ago.

It means a lot to me as I'm sure yours does to you, enjoy it and your grandfather, thanks for the great story and memory.
 
Thanks for sharing your story and the pics.
My Grandfather was struck with Altzheimer as well and lived the last few years with us, because he couldn't take care of himself that well anymore.
My grandmother had passed away in 1979 and my gramps in 1990.
The only knife that still lies around in my moms attic is his almost used up Herder Sodbuster. Together with some Herders from my Dad who passed away in 2003.
 
Hey Kevin...thats a pretty touching story..you are going to do just what I would do...visit him with it....I am looking forward greatly to see how the visit went...I hope that he is happy within himself....I really do.
Duncan
 
Thanks again guys for the continued kind words. Alzheimer's is a terrible thing. I have been thinking more about this. You all seem to realize this knife means a lot to me but I want to explain how.

My other grandfather who has passed was actually my best friend. His family came to the USA from germany and set up a textile mill in PA. My grandfather worked as an engineer designing a lot of the factories machinery, but that was not his life story. He was also an officer in the Army and would spend countless hours telling me of his tours in Japan and the Philippines.

I would go hiking with him and bird watching all the time. He was an avid bird photographer. He is why I got into photography at such a young age. Anyhow, one lesson he taught me was through a story. It seems the old timers always tell a good story to teach a lesson and not just tell you how something is. I like that. One story about how he washed out of officers candidates school the first go round' to find out later it was because he held his family as more important then the Army. It was that way and always continued to be until the day he passed.

Anyhow, after he passed he wanted me to have two of his knives:
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He always carried the Puma but never used it. I had never even seen the Henckel until after he passed. These knives while they mean so much to me and I keep them in a separate climate controlled safe, do not mean as much as my other grandfather's Case knife.

My grandfather went on to be an engineer of weapons and aircraft used in the war. This was his real pride if you ask me. That being said, the most sentimental piece of him that I have is this:

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He gave this to me when I was under ten years old and really wanted me to have it. It was just one of the projects he worked on. The fact that he gave it to me while he was living and when I was a young child means a lot to me. He obviously thought a lot of me and trusted me even then. The last words between he and I before he passed were "you are my friend".

Now, back to my other grandfather who is still living. When my grandmother passed he sold his house in Baltimore and moved to Florida. Every year I would take my vacation time to go and visit him. He told me things he never told his own son or daughter. He is truly a wonderful gentleman of a man to this day. Well, I know a lot less about him then my other grandfather due to the distance. But I still had and have a wonderful relationship with him. He owned his own Ma and Pa hardware story, set up and ran the computers for Pepsi in Baltimore and was an incredible builder/carpenter. He never really talked about it much.

When I would visit him he told me after his wife passed there really wasn't much point in living. He said he is just waiting to see her again one day. Well, I have gotten him to drive his car on Daytona beach, and do so many fun things that he never expected to do, and I showed him (I hope) that he still has plenty of reasons to be here.

He never was a collector or a man of many toys. The two knives he gave me were his only knives period. So when he gave me that case knife and never replaced it, I felt extremely honored. I don't know how to put it into words how much it means to me but it is like he gave up and handed me down the one thing that he had used for so much of his life. I really hope he enjoys seeing it again.

Kevin
 
When my gtandfather passed in 1999, I found an old Boker mini stockman thatr he used to use among some of his personal effects, it now sits above his portrait of when he served in the Italian Army in WW2 and will always reside there, patina and all..

Cheers,
Serge
 
Dern good life stories of your grandfather! Your a good grand son to him! My grandfather went home in 2007 and he to carried several Case and Shrade knives one of which is a Case Serpentine Jack like your grandfather's but the one passed to me was in rougher shape, and in old red bone. He had broke the tip off of this serpentine jack and it was made into a wharnecliffe. I recently passed this to my nephew when he graduated high school.
 
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