All About Pocket Knives

Steve Warden wrote:Enjoyed some time in Ft Worth visiting my daughter. Made a trip out to the stockyards.
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The stockyard have kept a lot of their original flavor. If it just smelled more of manure it would be perfect. And are not those beautiful longhorns walking down the street amazing. Horns so long they can hardly hold their heads up. Absolutely beautiful. Glad you got to experience them.

I think the Longhorns are beautiful and amazing.

I like unique tools.
Here's someones idea of a locking plier. Very smoothly finished stainless steel. They are 10 inches long and 1/2 inch thick.
They're heavy, they're smooth, they're like a Cadillac.

Red hot Poker plants. They will change a couple of more times and all over in about two weeks.

Back in the day more of my time was spent on a bicycle than on AAPK (lol). I'm not about to forego AAPK, but I'm trying to make myself get back on the bikes albeit with more comfortable seats and handle bars. I imagine there might have some welders lurking about on AAPK. These pictures are of titanium weld beads from a road bike frame and a mountain bike frame. Note the titanium alloys have a small amount of Vanadium as in Chrome Vanadium used in knife blades.

FRJ the pliers look like a modern sculpture the way you photographed the item. Wonderful pictures.

Quick Steel wrote:FRJ the pliers look like a modern sculpture the way you photographed the item. Wonderful pictures.

do they lock? looks like a non-marring, crush proof specialty pliers. The old question, why is it a pair of pliers and pants?

mrwatch wrote:The old question, why is it a pair of pliers and pants?

Because back in history there was one "pantaloon" for each leg. You put one on each leg (a pair) and tied them at the waist. There are several similar items in the English language, which consist of two identical parts joined together, hence becoming one item but referred to as plural and as a a pair. Eyeglasses, scissors, tweezers and chaps are examples. A pair of underwear is another, but not plural - I'm guessing they originated as underpants.

Ken

The term "pair of" is interesting, especially when it comes, as you mentioned, describing one item. Well I can say I was wearing a pair of jeans and a pair of glasses when we stopped and toured the Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins at Homosassa, Florida.
This mill operated from 1851 to 1861 according to the historical data at the site.
Treefarmer

I never see cane syrup any more and sure do miss it. Pour some of that over a buttered biscuit, right out of the oven, man that was larapin good.
I think my blood sugar just went up from thinkin about it!

Ray

Pliers are one of those inventions that no one thinks about - but are really quite remarkable. They are an extension of the human hand - and they provide greater leverage and power to accomplish work. Nothing really shows the human ability to solve problems like the invention of simple hand tools, including the knife, axe, hammer, tongs and pliers. Fascinating...

Not my favorite syrup, but Ala-Ga ribbon cane syrup is still being made. It’s an Alabama/Georgia product.

I prefer sorghum syrup.

Charlie Noyes

mrwatch wrote:

Quick Steel wrote:FRJ the pliers look like a modern sculpture the way you photographed the item. Wonderful pictures.

do they lock? looks like a non-marring, crush proof specialty pliers. The old question, why is it a pair of pliers and pants?

Thank you very much, Quick Steel, nice of you to say so. I photographed them in black and white.

Yes, mrwatch, they do lock.

RobesonsRme.com wrote:Not my favorite syrup, but Ala-Ga ribbon cane syrup is still being made. It’s an Alabama/Georgia product.

I prefer sorghum syrup.

Charlie Noyes

Boy my mouth is watering,I like sorghum molasses on hot buttered biscuits, southern iron skillet baked cornbread or pancakes, yum,yum good. The Mennonites up around neighbor colonel Wade in Scottsville Ky.make it the old fashioned way, it's some more fine.

I've got a jar of sorghum molasses. They were crushing cane and boiling it down at a tractor and old engine show in Indiana. Never did make cookies with it. another=the term monkey wrench? It was invented by Mr. Mon Key. Along with crescent wrenches, both known as knuckle busters. and leaves rounded off bolt heads and nuts. seems like Vise Grips does that too.

RalphAlsip wrote:Back in the day more of my time was spent on a bicycle than on AAPK (lol). I'm not about to forego AAPK, but I'm trying to make myself get back on the bikes albeit with more comfortable seats and handle bars. I imagine there might have some welders lurking about on AAPK. These pictures are of titanium weld beads from a road bike frame and a mountain bike frame. Note the titanium alloys have a small amount of Vanadium as in Chrome Vanadium used in knife blades.

Not a welder Jerry but I am a welding inspector, among other things, and that TIG weld on the bike is beautiful work.

Treefarmer, great pictures of the old mill machinery. Boiler and pressure vessel inspector is what I do to fund pocket knives and make a living. That flat head with the company name on it is interesting. This is early days in boiler building and flat heads are to be avoided if you can. The elliptical hole is a manway for access to the boiler drum the head would have been attached to for maintenance. Attached by riveting, probably.

RA, I spent a lot of time on bikes, always road bikes. Just to second what Steve said, those welds are beautiful. In later years I went to a more upright seating position which made a big improvement in comfort and added some years to my biking.

Enjoying my coffee this morning on the back deck, I saw this fellow with a nice catch. Amazing how they can consume it whole.

Lan that is a very good sequence of photos.

As QS said, great group of photo's. We fish for fun and they do to live. It is amazing the size of fish they can swallow and the to still be able to fly! Amazing. Thanks for the photo's

A good day for the bird, not so good for the fish...

A recently hatched Kingbird. The momma sat on a fence about two hundred feet away. Then spotting some insect she would fly off, catch it, and bring it to the youngun. Unfortunately, I did not get a good photo of the feeding. The photos enlarge with a left click.

I came across some other old tools that I hope you would enjoy looking at.

From the top:

Kilborn & Bishop - New Haven, Ct. - Started 1896

Robert Wrench

Bemis & Call - Springfield, Mass. - Started in 1830s

Locking plier previously shown.

Joe I love those old tool pictures you showed. I have three old wooden tool chests I now use for knives, but have old tools scattered around my office that I'll have to get to pose for a picture or two some day. Mot of mine are Marshall Wells stuff I've collected while looking for Zenith knives. Thanks for showing some of your old tools, especially the locking pliers. ____Dave

FRJ wrote:I came across some other old tools that I hope you would enjoy looking at.

From the top:

Kilborn & Bishop - New Haven, Ct. - Started 1896

Robert Wrench

Bemis & Call - Springfield, Mass. - Started in 1830s

Locking plier previously shown.

FRJ I always enjoy the genius shown in some of those old tools. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you, Dave.
I'm really drawn to the old tools and other every day necessities from days gone by.
As working men we know we could never accomplish anything without good tools and this country had no shortage of fine tools.
Good American made tools

Well said, doglegg.
Another thing we were not short of in this country, genius.