MIL'S FAVORITES...for everyday use
GRANDDAD'S....100 YEARS AGO
A BIGGIE---FOR THE YUKON
Whar I come from, down in the cotton
fields of old West Texas--down there
south of Lubbock ("Look away..Look
away.."), every "toxic masculine" man
trying to eke out a living---carried a
pocket knife.
It was okay for true Americans, living
in blessed freedom, and making their
own way in this world...to have a knife,
and they had one everywhere they
went...
They for one thing, were their own
fixers, food-producers, and had dozens
of uses for an immediate tool.
Many "town guys" in those times, fresh
off being raised on farms, also carried
folders in their "dress pants."
It would take pages and much
remembering for us to make a list of
all the uses these farmers had for their
knives. They kept them sharp, often
sharp enough to shave with, and many
were worn down from the ever-honing
and the scales were sometimes
beat-up and broken.
Some also had special "cane knives,"
and "fruit knives," which languished open
in tool boxes in barns or along the sides of
their garages...
Most of these early rural people dressed
up in pressed khakis, dress shoes, and
about all had Stetsons and went down
to the town's square or main street every
Saturday afternoon where they visited
the barber shop for a shave, shine, or
haircut....and their women shopped for
groceries....cornmeal, flour, sugar, coffee.
For this grand weekly social outing, they
oft carried their smaller, lighter, gift-knives
from some previous Christmas, which
didn't bulge their pockets. (Somehow
wood pieces turned up and much
whittling occurred on shady town
sidewalks, the men sitting on parked
cars on the coolest side of the street.)
Anyone visiting small towns across
Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, or Texas
during the 20's, 30's, and 40's have
seen these sights. Packed sidewalks...
This pocket knife devotion and use
seems to date all the way back to
old Rome. Relics of these old-time
folders exist and it is suggested that
many were so sharp, they were used
for shaving.
My granddad gifted me two of his old
pocket knives (likely made a hundred
years ago) when I was but five. They
are pictured, dulled, and points filed
off. They were his "Spark Plug tabacca
chaw knives." He kept his newer one...
Thus I became an early appreciator
of folders, even before I drove tractors
and wheat trucks in the forties and fifties.--
i.e. becoming a "farmer."
Using bigger folders and sheath knives
for hunting or surviving, say in the Yukon,
is a "whole nother" subject to be tackled
later.
Today's farm folk descendants, who live
in towns--most still have their pocket
knives handy and ready to go...it is a part
of their genes.
Smaller knives of a dozen varieties are favs
among these boys. Barlow's, with one and
two blades (of Tom Sawyer fame), are
abundant, popular, and well-made.
The "Canoe" knife I much favor, because
of its big main blade and ease of opening.
One of the best choices for about any
use is the oft-underrated "Swiss Army
Knife." They sharpen easily and one
should last a fellow his whole life. I prefer
the thinner ones, with fewer "tools."
Wrapping it up for this time, you need
to remember that even today, on a
pleasant summer's evening, after
supper, the men of the family will be out
on the cool green lawn, as dusk is
falling, sitting on an old quilt and just
talking.
Inevitably, after a time somebody will
say....(usually an uncle): "How 'bout a
game of mumblety peg?"
My friend, ya don't want to embarrass
yourself by having to go somewhere ...
to borrow a folder.
-----------
MIL
25 APRIL 2019
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