The Knife Vault

Knives have always fascinated me.   My earliest memories are of hot Arizona days watching my grandfather, sitting in the shade of a Chinaberry tree, whittling and listening to a baseball game on the radio. He wasn’t trying to carve intricate artwork, “just making toothpicks out of logs.”   He always kept a whetstone close by to keep his pocket knife sharp as a razor.

 I’m from the generation when almost every young man and adult carried a pocket knife.

 You never knew when it might be needed to pick a splinter from your hand or cut the string and tape on that special package received from a distant Aunt/Uncle.  A boyhood friend might drop by and challenge you to a game of Mumblety-Peg. This oft times evolved into a game of chicken, if there were no adults around.

We carried them to school, we carried them to church, and it wasn’t unusual to see the men standing around after church services talking with their pocket knives out, cleaning their fingernails or making “toothpicks.”   It was interesting to see the variety of pocket knives being carried.   Often there would be discussions each had concerning their preference for a Buck Trapper, or a Case Stockman…  It seemed no two men carried the same knife.  There were tiny single blade pen knives, even tinier watch fob knives, and knives up to four inch (closed), four blade knives.

 These days you will not see many people carrying pocket knives.  I still carry a pocket knife (unless flying). My favorite is a mini trapper by Case.