Carl Levitian
member
Growing up in the 1950's was a lot different than today. There wasn't as many choices for a consumer as now, and in general, things were a lot more conservative. Like knives.
My memories of childhood was that every man who had pants on, had a pocket knife in pone of those pockets. There wasn't any one hand openers then, except for the eye-talian James Dean switchblades. My dad and uncles all called a knife a punks weapon, and if they needed a weapon, and a gun wasn't in the cards, then something to bash with was the ticket. Blackjack, stout walking stick, butt end of a pool stick, sawn off piece of shovel handle. We were living in some apartments in Washington D.C. at the time, and the neighborhood could have been better. It seemed that most of the men carried some kind of cudgel or basher if out at night.
But it was the belief of the day, that a man needed a pocket knife to deal with lives little emergencies. Dad was typical with his little Case jackknife. But no matter what the brand, all the pocketknives of the day seemed to run to small 3 inch or so closed two blade serpentine jacks. A two and something clip blade, and a one and something pen blade. Handles were jigged bone, wood, or some kind of plastic that was dyed and jigged to look like bone. Sort of.
Like most boys, I felt my dad was a hero. With his little two blade Case peanut, and his Prince Albert pocket tin that held some stuff, he could fix anything. Fishing, he'd gut and clean a rockfish out of the Chesapeake, or a nice fat perch out of the Potomac. Anything that needed cutting, dad would take out his little Case Case, open the blade and study the job for a moment, and then just make a cut. Sometimes two cuts, and then it was done.
I have to admit I was a knife nut, and in a way I still am. I tried all the new knives on the market, and in the 80's I even did the Pacific Cutlery Company balisong thing. I've had the one hand openers, and even owned a Spyderco. But for some reason they didn't take with me. I always gravitated back to what I grew up with, a two blade jack or my old Camilllus boy scout knife. I got so used to having a screw driver on my knife, that to this day, I find it difficult to carry anything but a SAK.
I know the zytel and micarta and G10 are great materials, but they just don't push any buttons in me. They seem to have non of the feel that some nice ebony, stag, or even jigged bone has.
My memories of childhood was that every man who had pants on, had a pocket knife in pone of those pockets. There wasn't any one hand openers then, except for the eye-talian James Dean switchblades. My dad and uncles all called a knife a punks weapon, and if they needed a weapon, and a gun wasn't in the cards, then something to bash with was the ticket. Blackjack, stout walking stick, butt end of a pool stick, sawn off piece of shovel handle. We were living in some apartments in Washington D.C. at the time, and the neighborhood could have been better. It seemed that most of the men carried some kind of cudgel or basher if out at night.
But it was the belief of the day, that a man needed a pocket knife to deal with lives little emergencies. Dad was typical with his little Case jackknife. But no matter what the brand, all the pocketknives of the day seemed to run to small 3 inch or so closed two blade serpentine jacks. A two and something clip blade, and a one and something pen blade. Handles were jigged bone, wood, or some kind of plastic that was dyed and jigged to look like bone. Sort of.
Like most boys, I felt my dad was a hero. With his little two blade Case peanut, and his Prince Albert pocket tin that held some stuff, he could fix anything. Fishing, he'd gut and clean a rockfish out of the Chesapeake, or a nice fat perch out of the Potomac. Anything that needed cutting, dad would take out his little Case Case, open the blade and study the job for a moment, and then just make a cut. Sometimes two cuts, and then it was done.
I have to admit I was a knife nut, and in a way I still am. I tried all the new knives on the market, and in the 80's I even did the Pacific Cutlery Company balisong thing. I've had the one hand openers, and even owned a Spyderco. But for some reason they didn't take with me. I always gravitated back to what I grew up with, a two blade jack or my old Camilllus boy scout knife. I got so used to having a screw driver on my knife, that to this day, I find it difficult to carry anything but a SAK.
I know the zytel and micarta and G10 are great materials, but they just don't push any buttons in me. They seem to have non of the feel that some nice ebony, stag, or even jigged bone has.
