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If Old Knives could talk.....

I love an old knife. A Knife that I like to carry,
has to feel like it fits, in the scheme of things, its been somewhere, it has a
story to tell. My imagination at times runs wild. Yet as I carry the knife, one
that fits my hand, my pocket, my needs, I am also making history, if that knife
could talk, it would talk of others and also of me. A knife to me is like a
diamond to a woman, I treasure it. I care for it, keep it oiled, keep it clean.
So when it talks again, it will talk of fond memories, like I have of it.

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FeaturedPermalink Reply by Craig Henry on June 28, 2013 at 1:49

Very nicely said!

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Permalink Reply by Chuck Parham on June 28, 2013 at 4:19

The older the knife, the more stories it has. If one has imagination, one could write books of stories with just a picture of one knife. Every scratch, every nick tells a story. Stories of adventure, mystery, action, romance, intrigue, and even some comedy to round out the picture. You could write about the Old West. The untold battles in the endless history of war. The lazy days of summer or the harsh realities of an Arctic winter. The endless number of vocations or vacations. The excitment of a family addition or the somber of loss.

The next time you pick up an old knife, let your imagination create a story around the knife or its history through several owners. Fact or fiction, write it down and share it with us. Let's see how many Twains and Shakespeares we have hiding out there. Or maybe just a short quip from a budding Confucious or Kronkite.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on June 28, 2013 at 10:27

That is indeed very well said. I have often done the same thing, looked at a knife and thought...where have you been, what have you been doing. When I see a knife with well worn blade I always think

That is one well loved knife

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In MemoriamPermalink Reply by Robert Burris on June 28, 2013 at 10:38

I like to call them "Vintage", instead of old. Might have something to do with my own age...Ha..Ha...I love vintage knives too. I wish there was a way to price them. Coins has their Red book, it list the coins dates and conditions. This is what we need for "Vintage Knives".

Miss Sue [Old Widower], has written a lot of about the history of Vintage knife companies. It's in the Knife group Blade Smith Babes. Check it out: http://www.iknifecollector.com/group/knifechicks2 You'll enjoy it, good reading.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on June 28, 2013 at 17:21

I sometimes wonder on this knife what the owner thought or what he did or just why he has that nick in it......

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Permalink Reply by Chuck Parham on June 29, 2013 at 5:13

Agreed Steve. What story lies behind that single gouge in the handle. Accidental or intentional? Or was it a way to identify it as belonging to the owner. I've worked with guys who hade all of their hand tools "notched" by a file or grinder to help curb workplace theft. Interesting enough though. Come on little knife. Give us a clue.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on June 29, 2013 at 15:29

This is beginning to sound like we may need a story telling contest

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FeaturedPermalink Reply by Charles Sample on June 29, 2013 at 18:11

If we have one I am thinking I would need to try to write a story about my grandmother and her knife she got at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. I would have to fill in most all of the details. But I think I could tell it pretty much like it was back then. I lived with her for the first 17 years of my life in the house that started out as my greatgrandfather's. It was passed down to my grandfather, then to my father. Even though there was a paved state highway through the farm by the time I came along, all the gravel and dirt roads that she would have used back then were still there and used. For the first few years of my life, things on the farm remained pretty much as they had been for 70 years. We had no electricity and used wood stoves and a fireplace for heat and cooking.

This is a picture of my grandmother and the knife.

http://www.iknifecollector.com/photo/germania-cutl-works-shoe-knife...

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Permalink Reply by Chuck Parham on June 30, 2013 at 6:00

Oh Boy, Charles!! I can just smell a great story coming about your grandmother and the 1904 World's Fair. I can hear the bustling midway and smell popcorn and cotton candy in the air. Let me pull up a log and wait for your great retelling of a piece of Americana.

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Permalink Reply by Ken Spielvogel on June 30, 2013 at 15:25

An 8 year old boys brother who was 10 years older than he, gave a very special gift once. The brother came home from the Navy in 1956 on leave and brought his younger brother a 4 blade Imperial knife. The boy was so excited he cut himself with it that very day. His Mother took it away for awhile, and in about a year gave it back. The boy carried it proudly and loved that knife. One day in the 5th grade the teacher had the students do handstands, while the boy was attempting his turn, you guessed it, the knife fell out of his pocket. The teacher took it away. The boys Mother went to the school and got it back. The boy again carried it proudly thru many years. Today, that very knife is in the boys collection and one of his prized knives. Not because of the value of it, but because of the great story it tells and in memory of the one who gave it. That 8 year old boy was me. -Ken "The Talking Knives"

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Permalink Reply by Michael D. on June 30, 2013 at 20:44

If knives could talk the stories they could tell. Right? Luckily us kids got the story behind the Western Cutlery “navy” knife pictured here. As kids we saw it in our father’s memento box but never gave it much thought nor bothered to ask about it. It was only as adults that we started to question him incessantly about everything and when it came to this knife it pretty much told the story of his life in the Navy during WW II.

He acquired the knife shooting craps with a bunch of drinking sailors just before he was assigned to a heavy cruiser. The knife's been to Alaska to Honolulu to Palau, the Gilberts, the Marshalls, eventually winding up in his toolbox at the Alameda Naval Air Station in San Fran before coming home to Connecticut. It’s been through two typhoons, waterspouts, a volcanic eruption, an earthquake that threw him out of bed, two campaigns, a couple of battles (Tarawa for example) and served as his dinner cutlery separating maggots from rice when they were on an extended raid into Japanese waters. The knife, in effect, told the tale of his service during the war. Because it has “so many memories” – so to speak – it will never leave the family.

The knife pictured has been in the family for seventy years. We all called it the “navy” knife but I understand that’s the correct designation for it. I think it was a Mark II model by Western. I do know that Camillus/Western reissued a MK II sometime in the 1990s. It was mentioned to us that the pommel and guard on the pictured knife were slightly modified for him by a machinist but I can’t tell – it looks similar to but not exactly like the reissued knife but I can’t correctly remember how the reissued knife looked. Pretty interesting story huh? I'm glad we asked about the knife.