Uplifting in Times of Covid

[kootenay joe]

We suddenly all find ourselves living in a strange time unlike anything even the old ones have ever seen. Covid has many of us confined to our own property, out of work, restrictions on travel, new rules in the grocery store, and so on. And some people are very ill and some have died. No one knows who is next.
So, how does one help uplift the spirits of a 'knifer-type' person ? Easy, show him a neat knife. So how about posting one of your 'neat' knives here.
"Neat" just means you always get a good feeling when you look at it or pick it up. Could be new or old, custom or production, expensive or inexpensive, just as long as you really like it, because chances are most of us here will like it to.
I'll start off with a one-off knife that Joel Chamblin made a few years ago. He calls it "Star Wars". Lovely knife that always brings me a smile.
kj

[Sharpnshinyknives]

So many to choose from. I can’t promise I will only post 1 of these, but this is the first one that came to mind. I could copy the Moki, Mcusta, Al Mar and other Seki made thread here and it would give me eye candy for hours.
This is a limited production Mcusta knife called Jazz. San Mai blade w/ a VG-10 core. SO VERY NICE.

[dlr110]

I see why it's called Star Wars, very, very nice knife!

I don't know if anyone can understand this, because I don't know if I can explain it.
Anytime I see or hold these two knives or other like them I'm immediately taken back
about 55 years to my childhood when all boys carried pocket knives like these. We
carried them everywhere we went and there was no problem with that, as a matter of
fact for country boys it was almost expected. The material value of these knives is only
a few dollars, but what they represent to me is priceless.

kj thanks for starting this thread, very nice.
.

[kootenay joe]

David, are these 2 ones that you have kept since boyhood ?
I grew up in Montreal and in the 1950's most boys had a pocket knife. We played "stretch" on the dirt playground at lunch time. It was the Imperial knives that we had.
Thanks. This is how i hoped it might work: you show a 'neat' knife and i enjoy a 'neat' memory of my own.
Mark it is o.k., encouraged even, to show more than one knife. Must of been hard to select this 'sharp' Mcusta from the other top notch Japanese cutlery pieces that can be found in your home. Lettuce sea another one in a few daze please.
kj

[KleenCut61]

Richard B Henn =OAL 13 inches <>Blade Double Hollow Ground 7 Inches . Weight 11.40 oz Full tang saw Tooth ( Early Fighter)Balance and weight of this one Just screams Back Off !! K.C.

[Mumbleypeg]

This is a very difficult decision, akin to asking which of your children you love most. I’m going to go with this simple old 9-dot Case 3318 stockman. It was new when my wife gave it to me when we got married. After carrying it for about 20 years I lost it one day. Couldn’t find it even though I knew approximately where I last used it. Several months later our youngest son found it in the pasture. I was so glad to get it back, I cleaned it up as best I could and retired it, lest I should lose it again.

Ken

[Duffer]

Schrade CC curve tang stamped English Jack.

[dlr110]

David, are these 2 ones that you have kept since boyhood ?
I grew up in Montreal and in the 1950's most boys had a pocket knife. We played "stretch" on the dirt playground at lunch time. It was the Imperial knives that we had.
Thanks. This is how i hoped it might work: you show a 'neat' knife and i enjoy a 'neat' memory of my own.
Mark it is o.k., encouraged even, to show more than one knife. Must of been hard to select this 'sharp' Mcusta from the other top notch Japanese cutlery pieces that can be found in your home. Lettuce sea another one in a few daze please.
kj

No I don't have any knives from my childhood, but my brother has a couple of stockman's that our Dad carried with him. Dad was a Judge, but he was also a jack of all trades and a pocket knife was just as important to him as a hammer or his gavel. I think they are Sears or Craftsman of which I do have a couple I'll share.

[ObsidianEdge]

Crazy cool knife Roland! I have knives from my dad, both grandparents and my great grandad. They are all worn down.

[OLDE CUTLER]

I hope no one thinks this is too weird, but the one knife I have that probably raises the emotion you describe is my first knife EVER, this Auburn rubber knife. It was my first knife when I was 5 or 6, before mom and dad would let me have a REAL knife.

[Doc B]

I hope no one thinks this is too weird, but the one knife I have that probably raises the emotion you describe is my first knife EVER, this Auburn rubber knife. It was my first knife when I was 5 or 6, before mom and dad would let me have a REAL knife.

IMG_3573.JPG

Actually, OC...I think it's pretty neat, that you've had it that long...and knives are such a significant part in your life now.

[Steve Warden]

I hope no one thinks this is too weird, but the one knife I have that probably raises the emotion you describe is my first knife EVER, this Auburn rubber knife. It was my first knife when I was 5 or 6, before mom and dad would let me have a REAL knife.

IMG_3573.JPG

Actually, OC...I think it's pretty neat, that you've had it that long...and knives are such a significant part in your life now.

I agree! Very cool!!

[kootenay joe]

This is great. I am really enjoying the knives and the stories that they bring. I do feel 'uplifted'.
I have not heard of R.B. Henn but Wow, what a knife, stunning grinds. And a very early SCC English Jack, Wow in any condition and at least a double wow for this one.
I could comment on every knife because i do enjoy every one, even 'rubber', but i don't want to be 'central' to this thread. It is about you and your knives that always give you a special feeling.
Ken, you said hard to pick just one knife, but you can post an 'uplifter' every day if you want to. I think Covid restrictions will be with us in both Canada and USA for at least until May (2020 !), so we will have to post more than one knife.
Here is another nice custom that i do carry sometimes, a 3 5/8" Todd Davison with mammoth ivory. Todd gets his blades very sharp which is often not the case with custom knives.
kj

[Sharpnshinyknives]

That Todd Davidson is gorgeous kj.
Here is a group shot, I seem to really like knives in groups, it gives me an endorphin release looking at these. These are a collection of Rigid knives made by Canal Street. I honestly can’t pick one to be my favorite from this group, I like them all. This is a complete set of these knives. Rigid dropped this project in the middle of production. SMKW picked up all of each pattern and offered them on their “Knives Live” tv show many years ago. These sold out in minutes. Looking at this amber bone stag you can see why.

[ObsidianEdge]

I sold this English Jack to Charlie Campagna a while back, and then bought it back from him last year. Aside of it being a nice pattern from one of my favorite companies, I like it because I was able to trace the history of the name on the etch. I did trade a few emails with a person who worked for what was left of the JM Tull foundation. http://www.tullfoundation.org/

[treefarmer]

An interesting thread! In choosing a particular knife, I'll have to agree with what Ken said, "Which child do you love most?" Before me on my desk are 24 knives that I can see, if I moved some papers there would probably be more. I like 'em all to some degree but these are not the ones that I really enjoy. To find the "uplifting" knives I had to open my mechanist type storage box, raise the lid to the 1st section to reveal my used Case knives worthy of a more supervised storage than a grocery sack or a cigar box. Looking through the pile there are many I don't know but I knew which ones I needed to share today. I picked these 4:

The knife closest to me is one of the Case knives my dad wore out. This one is a 62048, we shared a couple of knives. When I left for Parris Island in the summer of '64, the Recruiter, Cpl. Jimmy Rippy said don't take your pocket knife when you leave. I didn't and I soon found out what he meant. It wasn't till after my Dad's passing, Mother presented me with his pocket knives. There were 2 Cases, this one and a 61048 which I shared on the forum before. The single blade was the 1st knife I remember buying so it has a new blade installed, this one is just the way Pop tossed it in his drawer probably right after he broke the spay blade somehow.
The slick black 22055 had a loose clip blade when I found it sticking in a watermelon rind at a roadside picnic table on a summer trip to Denver from Orlando, probably 1960. Needles to say somewhere along the way as a kid,I lost the blade because the pivot pin was broken. Member "Elvis" put a Queen Warncliffe looking blade in it and that gave me my 1st Frankenknife.
The 3rd knife I shared on the forum near the end of 2018. I had admired this knife for several years and one evening my best friend Wendell brought it to me saying, "I want you to have this one." About two weeks later he died. RIP Wendell.
The 4th knife in my hand is a big coke bottle, swell center, folding hunter, aka as a C61050SAB. My sweet wife gave me this one on our 1st Christmas in 1966.
These knives are uplifting to me for different reasons and like KJ mentioned maybe we can share a few more as we get through this trying time together.
Treefarmer

[woodwalker]

These 2 Queen's always make me happy. The purple spiny oyster was purchased for me by my two daughters who went in together and bought for me. My wife bought for me the mammoth tooth a few months later. They mean alot to me because of who purchased them for me. They don't get used but I love to gaze at them under glass. Thanks for looking.

[bladecollectorr]

Great thread. I love seeing kj's "Star Wars" pearl knife. It's angular goodness. I hope people everywhere can try and find a way to keep their spirits up in these tumultuous times.

It is hard to pick just one knife when you have a pile of them. So here are a couple. When it comes to safe-queens this early J. Kidd custom Schrade LB-5 always makes me happy. The vine-work on the blade seems very "cheerful" or "whimsical" to me for some reason.

Lastly, for adults in Canada:

video games + fine cannabis + fine coffee = fully uplifted! All while confined to couch on Prime Minister's orders.

For the good of the nation I have aquired a half-dozen types of kush to mince and smoke. Tough job but I'm ready to knuckle-down. The 1950s Schrade Walden 877 I usually carry gets it done with MOP brilliance.

[JohnR]

This old Challenge Sheepfoot Jack is still the one that brings the biggest grin to my face, stay healthy everyone!

[ObsidianEdge]

John, I love that Challenge as well!

[kootenay joe]

These are fine knives showing up here. Mike's "J.M. Tull" Schrade Cut Co English Jack would be the top knife in any advanced SCC collection. Many of us only see such knives in pictures so thank you all for posting.
And what a fine trim job the S-W Lobster knife can do !
kj

[kootenay joe]

Here are the 2 knives that have been with me the longest.
In 1959 i was 12 and my Aunt came from Switzerland to visit us in Montreal. She came by ship and it likely was in the ship's gift shop that she bought me this ED Wusthof Toledo style lobster knife. I had never seen such a knife and handles really impressed me as 'beautiful'. I already liked knives but i credit this Gent's knife with starting me on the knife collecting path. I think my Aunt's idea was that Canadian boys were 'ruffians' and the manicure blade might encourage me to keep my fingernails clean.
The other knife i bought for myself about the same time. It was in the window of the local hardware store along with a few other fixed blades. The profile of this Premier H22 really spoke to me and the store owner told me it's name, a "Bowie" knife. Wow, it was i believe, $3.50, almost a dollar more than the other knives. Fortunately i bought on passion not price, and as with every knife that has 'spoken' to me, i do not tire of it. It still speaks to me.
kj

[JAMESC41001]

This one always makes me smile. First knife I made myself.

[Sharpnshinyknives]

This Moki Ares is the knife that took an interest in knife collecting and turned it into a passion. Until I got my first Moki, I had no idea how well a knife could be made. I had never seen a “run up” as tight as this one is on any knife I had bought. I never knew a that anyone could get that blade and backspring to fit so tightly together. It still makes me marvel.

[LongBlade]

Cool thread KJ ...

There are no doubt others I can and will show - just saw this one first perusing my knife pics...

This unmarked folding dirk is early 1800s according to the few collectors to whom I have shown it and most likely made in Sheffield (absolutely no tang stamp markings which either never existed on the blade or were totally worn down from use) - integrated liners and bolster (suggesting pre-1860 but it is thought much earlier) and an early lockback - nice vintage stag cut thin and no doubt pocket worn.. and it still snaps!! A very old survivor with alot of history ...