Apologies for the length of this post and the thick nostalgia.
My recollection of my first knife is a beat up, dull, rusty Barlow pattern that my Dad gave me when I was pretty young like 6 or 7 years old. It was pretty useless and wouldn't cut a thing except a dirt clod and I have no idea what happened to it. The first knife I bought with my own money was an Old-Timer 3 blade stockman pattern with sawn plastic handles. I remember paying $9.95 in about 1968 to 1970 when I was around 10 years old. This was a lot of money for me at the time. Once a week on Saturday we went into town to shop mostly for groceries. Our nearby small town of 1,100 people was also the county seat. There is a beautiful old courthouse with a town square and prior to the 80’s and 90’s it had a thriving set of stores: Ben Franklin dime store, P.N. Hirsh clothing, Rexall Drug, Western Auto, and several other non-franchise stores. The Western Auto store had the knife display case. I spent many a Saturday looking over the knife case trying to figure out whether to spend this large sum of money for a knife, a rod & reel, saving for new bike, etc. Anyway I finally pulled the trigger and bought the Old-Timer stockman. I can still see it in my mind, but I traded it away in the mid 1970's (more about that later). I knew from being around the older men in my life how mortally embarrassing it was to have a dull knife and I knew from these men that unless your blade would shave the hair on your arm then your blade was dull. So I tried out my new knife and it wouldn't shave the few hairs that I did have on my arms at the time – how disappointing that my $9.95 wouldn't get me the respect I wanted. So I got the whet stone out and got busy trying to learn how to sharpen my blades. I really didn't know what I was doing, but I wouldn't quit until I could shave my arm. One of my earliest lessons about the difference between what money provides you and what diligence, commitment, and pride in your work provides you (i.e., respect is earned not purchased).
Now back to why I don’t have the Old-Timer now… It is related to the real Ralph Alsip. There is more information about the real Ralph Alsip (if you interested) in my post about how I chose my AAPK User ID.
Basically Ralph was a neighbor and role model in my youth. Ralph had a half-brother named Lee who was also a neighbor and role model. Lee was a WWII vet who served in Italy. Lee’s son married my sister. Lee had a nice John Primble bone handle trapper that Ralph could not trade him out of. Lee offered me the Primble for my Old-Timer and I accepted. Looking back and knowing what I know now it is very apparent that Lee was doing a kid a favor. I was a dumb kid and didn't know anything about knife values, but what I did know was that if Lee Alsip asked me to do something I should do it.
After Ralph learned that I had Lee’s Primble knife he offered to trade me the Boker Cotton Gin collectible knife that is pictured below. I have had this knife for 37+ years and not always taken good care of it – I am amazed that I have not lost it through the many relocations that I have made. Ralph convinced me that this knife would really be worth something someday. I am not real sure when "someday" will arrive
, but I researched prices recently and it looks like I might be able to get $50 for it if I wanted to sell AND I happened to find the right buyer. Even though the knife is not worth much the memory is priceless.
) i managed to cut myself the same day. mom managed to take that knife out of my life forever.
