[sm]

Hey! Everybody else tosses out numbers around here, and I was feeling left out so "I wanted my turn too".

<waits, gets a cup of coffee, sips>

You figured out what a 703-3 is yet?

Hey, you, yeah you over there, looking in Ultimate Extreme Tack-Tickle Magazine
You are so cold , a well digger's butt in North Dakota in January in warmer than you are.
*yeah, I am having fun*

I sure hope hso ain't figured this out yet, then again knowing him, he will cheat and ask his daughter.
Yeah he says he uses resources for all this knife stuff, the truth is, his daughter has forgotten more than her daddy will ever know, and she is only 11 years old.
*pokes hornet's nest*


Give up?
Okay here is a really really big hint:

http://www.ontarioknife.com/oldhickory.html

*grin*


This is a 3" 1095 carbon steel paring knife, with a full tang.

Some of you are aware of me and this knife, still for the new folks, I thought I would share what is "normal" for me with this knife.
Then again, does anyone really know what "normal" is defined as being?

Typical use then...stay tuned.

<strops some more on jeans at the thigh, looks at 1 1/4 inch stick cut from a tree, that was cut using this 703-3 >.

[EHCRain10]

looking forward to this one...

[sm]

New Folks,

Being the resident plankowner, rebel, curmudgeon and other stuff Art's Grammaw will not allow me to type around here, this s my way of passing forward, sharing my experiences and observations.

My buddy kudu, a member sent me this knife.
Why?
Because I moved sometime back to a small village, not even big enough on most maps to have a dot, and the closest towns 15 miles away, did not have any Old Hickory knives in inventory.

Boy was I shocked, and still am.

hso, later on sent me Eze-Lap Hone & Stone L Pack 3
http://www.eze-lap.com/product/honestone.htm

Why?
Because in moving I lost my Eze Lap 1" x 3" fine stone [21 F] and my Eze Lap credit card stones, [200, 201, 202, 203 ] and of course, nobody in the surrounding towns I have checked around here, carries anything like these either.

http://www.eze-lap.com/product/1x3ds.htm
http://www.eze-lap.com/product/creditcard.htm

So I said at some point I would share my experiences and observation with this Old Hickory 703-3 , three inch paring knife and Eze-Lap Hone & Stones,

Right off, I will share 98% of what I do , is with the 600 grit.
So if one is going to buy one small, portable stone, get the 600 grit.

Here is my deal, one should have the skill set, to strop, freehand sharpen, in order to inspect, maintain, and sharpen a knife anywhere.
Whether this is at home, work, emergency situations, camping, hiking, fishing, hunting...

This paring knife is another tool in the tool box that fits so many uses, and is affordable to have multiple of, for home, work, emergency kits, camping, hiking, yard work, property duty...


So I snag something and do stuff like this to keep my skill sets up to date, and to pass forward.

i.e. I used a Victorinox Spartan as my main knife , including kitchen duty, for a bit.
Opening cans, food prep, drilling holes in a heavy plastic drum for rope handles, fixing a tractor, motor vehicle, breaking down boxes...everything.

i.e. Case Peanut.
I am known for having done some things with knife as well.
Going back many decades too.

So this Paring knife, as are other Old Hickory knives, and I have a history as well.
The stuff I am passing forward, applies to a Dexter, or old Case Kitchen knives or the old carbon steel Chicago Cutlery , and other old carbon steel knives.


So I get this knife, get it out of the package and it could use some attention.
I strop on a piece of dry cardboard, then the local paper ( all four pages, counting front and back) and put the knife to use, fixing food.

It did fine.
Yes it could use being sharpened, still stropping as I did, allowed me use the knife as it come.

After eating, I stropped on my leather belt.
I used the knife to break down some boxes, cut some cord and rope, and other stuff.

Then just stropped on my blue jeans, at the thigh. I kept doing this for a few days, just using it for various tasks, and stropping using various things.

Why did I not sharpen it right away?

Over my lifetime, which is over five decades, there have been many many times situations have come up, where a new knife, was used, and used "now".

Some have been simple things, such as needing a knife for food prep at a business, for a party.
While at the store getting items, snag a few Old Hickory's off the display at the grocery store, and come on back.
Some businesses, or offices, did not have items for such a task. Still all it took was a strop on the top of the vehicle window glass, or cardboard in the office, or stack of typing/copy paper, etc., and meat, cheese, fruit, bread, whatever , even cutting a cake was handled with no problems.


Some have been more serious. One of my things is being spontaneous. Like informing a girl friend, or even a wife when I had one, we are taking a drive.
Just head out the door and go.
Stop at a mom-n-pop grocery store, snag some meat, bread, chips, cokes and have a picnic, on the side of the road.

One time the girl friends car, had a heater hose go out, after we had finished our picnic, and of course I had snagged another Old Hickory. My plan was to leave this knife in her car, for her to have for all sorts of reasons.
She had one in her other car, but for some reason when she got this good used car...the old knife was nowhere to be found ,so we had talked about snagging one the next time out, and getting a stone to be kept in the car.
It was her idea to take her car on this trip...
We shared expenses on dates...just how we were...


We used water from a ditch , contained in our soft drink cans ( a bit slow, still works), and we made it to another small grocery store.
Side of the road, mom-n-pop grocery store that had all sorts of neat stuff...besides "groceries".
I used the knife to cut a pc of garden hose, the folks let me have from a hose they had spliced as it had been cut by a mower.

Heck they offered to let us use one of their vehicles to run to the next town, to get hose and parts...boy have times changed. We politely declined and these nice folks agreed what I had in mind would work...

So with a garden hose "patch" and some hose clamps, we were able to make it on down to a town with a gas station and parts store.
Patch job held, no damage to car, and we put on new hoses, and properly filled with 50/50 antifreeze.

Sure, we could have used either one of our pocket knives, just this gal , was like me.
She was a country gal, so opportunities like this were good practice of skill sets.

Neither of us were raised to learn anything with a crutch. Instead correct basic fundamentals, software not hardware, improvise adapt overcome and thinking out of the box.

To us, this being spontaneous about taking a drive, and having a picnic, was quality time and fun.
The heater hose going out, added even more quality time, fun and added to ...just how we do things.
We got along great...to us, this was all just neat...

I do know some couples that have had some really negative experiences when something like this happened on a date, or in a marriage.
Sorta nice to know how someone responds to, reacts to, and handles situations...especially before you marry them, or before as a married couple you have to go through a serious situation.



More serious, were these knives bought in case of emergency and later actually put to use during a tornado.
Just new knives bought, and tossed into kits, and stashed here and there.
Some had been sharpened, most had been tossed into kits and all, still in the blister pack.


One never knows the where or when of next encounter - C.R.Sam

[bikerdoc]

Anoyher example of common sense so lacking today. 703-3, spartan, peanut, will cover 95% of anybody's needs.

[Carl Levitian]

A nice sharp paring knife is a wonderful thing. Thin blade slices so nice!

For several years now, I've been using the Victorinox paring knives, and even made a pocket fixed blade out of one. Cut the blade down to a 2 inch sheepsfoot, shortened tha handle by about 1/3, and made a leather pocket puuko type sheath for it.

For cleaning a mess of pan fish, small game, and general utility, a really sharp paring knife can't be beat. In this day and age of over glorified, over hyped, movie Walter Mitty Jack Baurs, people forget a knife is a cutting tool and not an object of worship.

Paring knife, Victorinox bantam and classic, and a small lockblade stashed someplace around, about all I need to keep me going.

But maybe I'm getting too pragmatic in my old age!:scrutiny: