The Kind of Men who carry Pocketknives

[Old Hunter]

http://appalachianmagazine.com/2018/10/ ... IJlkxDZp0c

I think most of us are these kind of men - don't you? OH

[Doc B]

Amen, to that, OH!

[woodwalker]

http://appalachianmagazine.com/2018/10/ ... IJlkxDZp0c

I think most of us are these kind of men - don't you? OH

Enjoyed the article OH. I grew up the same way. Admiring my grandpa's and my father's pocket knives when they pulled them out to cut an apple or open a box or just sit around and hold. I do that now and my wife will say "that's something my grandpa used to do". I just smile. Simpler times and good hard working people. My grandpa would pour his coffee in his saucers and drink it out of his saucers. He said it helped it cool. Anyways thanks for sharing.

[cody6268]

I had a similar childhood, raised in and still living in SWVA as well. Although we rarely raised more than 20 head (we have just 60 something acres). My grandfather's health has been deteriorating, so we sold the cattle (not to mention, we were always losing money on them, and have for 10 plus years) and I just take care of sheep now, though we're considering getting a few head of cattle again. Most of the men I grew up around either carried a Case (or Old Timer) Stockman or a Klein Hawkbill (the latter being the most common knife in the coal mines). Granddad, both a coal miner and a cattle farmer carried both. Today, I carry about the same, though various single-blade patterns are increasingly being carried.

And it's interesting to note; between 3"-4" (closed for folders, blade length for fixed) is what I too consider perfect. Only when the job requires a lot of cutting is when I move up to something like a 110 (though the 110LT has been EDC'd a lot) or a Folding Hunter. For actual hunting, I'd likely bring a Mora.

[jerryd6818]

I like to think that's the kind of feller I am. All the men born into my family and most that have married into the family have been handy to have around.

Edit: And yes, I've carried a pocketknife since I was 5 years old.

[OLDE CUTLER]

Yes, that article pretty much covers it.

[Nev52]

Good article. My Dad was the same way. We had a small farm and my Father always had a small stockman or barlow on him. We lived in a rural area most kids carried knives to school so we could try to whittle at recess. Try to do that nowadays. Time has changed.

[jerryd6818]

Current batch of desk knives.

My constant companion.

[Mumbleypeg]

Enjoyed reading that. Interesting perspective on how times have changed so much in the last 40-50 years. I come from a large family (my mother had seven sisters and a brother, my dad had three brothers and a sister) so I had a lot of uncles. They all carried pocket knives. Most were middle class working men, farmers, mechanics, carpenters. A couple were engineers and one was a career Army officer. Regardless their occupation they all carried pocket knives, as do most of their male offspring (my cousins - my generation). However today's generation is vastly different.

Every year at Christmas our family has a free-for-all gift exchange and swap where all over 15 years old bring a gift $50 or less in value. Semi-organized chaos! This year my contribution was a new Case 6318 medium stockman. It was a hit, and wound up being claimed and exchanged hands several times. One of my nephews ended up the owner, and as several were admiring it, the twenty-something year old husband of a great-niece examined it and then asked "What would you do with something like that? What's the purpose?". He was serious!

Ken

[treefarmer]

Thanks for posting that article, Bruce. I suppose most of us at AAPK can relate to what was written, even the "city slickers" among us. I proudly retain a couple of my dad's old knives that always bring back great memories when I handle or carry them. I'm proud to say my son and son-in-law both carry a knife. The tradition is not being passed on very effectively due the laws that our society has enacted to protect us from ourselves.
On a lighter note, you would think the article would have been accompanied by a picture of a more traditional folder.
Treefarmer

[Dinadan]

Thanks, OH. I liked that article. I can think of one thing that might keep some men from developing the habit of carrying a knife. When I was a kid, if a boy was found with a knife at school, the teacher would take the knife away and keep it until school was out for the day and give it back. Today if a boy is caught with a knife at school it is a huge deal with parent conferences and suspension. Of course, I have worked in some industrial plants that were as bad a a school. One place in particular was very definite that no knives or cutting tools other than plastic table knives were allowed on the premises. Never mind that the place was stuffed with toxic and explosive chemicals: a pocket knife could cut you!

[Lansky1]

My dad was a bricklayer & outdoorsman ... always carried a knife. Knives were nothing special - pretty much whatever he may have found on the job site or aquired somewhere along the way. So I always carried pocketknives once I was old enough. Funny once I got older & got into nicer knives - I gave him a bunch of Cases over the years but he never would carry them as he was afraid of losing them - all he would carry was his old beaters.

So forward to today ... I work in an office full of men & no one, repeat NO ONE carries even a pen knife. I think it’s becoming very much an urban vs rural thing - very much depending on how / where you grew up

[AR Norby]

I grew up on Army posts but my dad always had a pocket knife and gave me my first in 1962 at age 8 when ha left for Viet Nam. I've carried one every day since. But the world has changed from a day when have a pocket knife was normal, almost required, to now when at a family Christmas party last week I was the only adult male, out of 7, that was carrying what turned out to be a much needed knife that night.

[XX Case XX]

I think most of us are these kind of men - don't you? OH

That's a good looking Yellow Case you have there OH. I like that one.

_____________
Mike

[terryl308]

I'm 76 years old and can't remember not carrying one, not sure when it started. But the only time I was "knifeless" when I went to a CU/CSU college football game at Mile HI Stadium in Denver this last fall. The ticket lady took it from me, never even thought about it. I said she could at least say "thank you" but she didn't see any humor in my statement! It was a Chinese Kissing Crane anyway, but I still felt naked the rest of the trip. My hunting buddy has a couple of boys in their 30's and they are always asking him if he has a knife, cause they never carry one! Different generation I guess! Makes him upset to say the least. I may put in my will to have one in my pocket when they bury me. Terry BTW enjoyed reading your article OH!

[cody6268]

Of the people that carry knives, I'd say there's even less that actually care for them. My older friends (all in their 40s-60s) all keep their carbon steel knives sharp as a razor, and clean and oiled. Friend of mine, in his mid-20s had a beat up Winchester I tried to sharpen. So beat up, the edge was blunt. The Council axe sharpening stone I use for semi-abused edges (my personal dullest) wouldn't touch it. Should have brought the coarse lawn mower stone to start with that I use for complete messes!

[Lansky1]

I have a feeling that alot of people realize that carrying a knife does require some degree of sharpening skills. They realize they don't have sharpening stones, don't want to learn to sharpen or think it's too difficult, thus the easy way out is to not carry a knife at all

I asked my brother (has a few knives, but doesn't carry a knife regularly) the other day how he sharpens ... response was "on his wife's electric kitchen knife sharpener" (the kind thats intended to sharpen 8" butcher knives, not 2-1/2" bladed pocket knives) - zip zip - one pass on each side & he's done

[zoogirl]

I don’t know how much my dad actually carried his knife. I think I more or less permanent borrowed it by the time I was ten or eleven. It was certainly well worn and must have been decades old by then.
He was certainly the kind of man you’re talking about. Born on the Prairies over a hundred years ago, he grew up on farms and was driving by age fourteen. They came out here in the late 20’s and he married his first wife and raised a daughter through the Depression and WW2. Believe me, things got fixed or built, not tossed or bought. Even by the time he married mom and I came along, he was still fixing and building. He put in the new kitchen counter, built to accommodate my tall mother. He finished in the two upstairs bedrooms. He could plan it all out himself and do very good work. I still have the doll high chair that must be fifty years old.
I try to be like him. The man was ahead of his time. Funny thing - he’d been happy that I was a girl because he thought at nearly fifty, he wouldn’t keep up with a boy. Ha! He got a total tomboy.
I was taught to use a hammer and saw. My only Brownie badge, besides the more or less mandatory housekeeper, was woodworking. We went fishing as often as we could. He never said I couldn’t do or learn something because I was a girl.
Now here I am. I work a rough job in a factory where I still use a hammer. I rivet chairs, useing airguns for that and driving screws, I load heavy items onto skids, I can run most of the machines over in the metalshop. I support myself and I fix stuff.
And I carry a knife.

[TripleF]

Great share Bruce!!!

Thanks!

First time I've seen your EDC's Jerry! Knice!!

[eveled]

The only Eagle Scout from my graduating class gave me a box of knives and sharpening stones he’d accumulated over the years. He’s a tradesman. I asked him why? He said he didn’t need them. All he uses are knives that use utility blades.

[Doc B]

Here's another, very well written article, that I don't see (or remember) being posted...

https://thenaturalsouth.blogspot.com/20 ... 37EZ_XJrE0

[fergusontd]

Dad bought me my 1st. knife (a Barlow) when I was 6. I've been carring one ever since. Feel naked without one, use it most every day. ftd