My Father’s Knife

[H Richard]

I was only 10 when my father passed away, but this was a knife he kept in his desk.
The square shaped blade is a hatchet. When I was first married we used it to get the Christmas tree to fit in the stand ring for our first Christmas.

 

[M E Morrison]

I was only 10 when my father passed away, but this was a knife he kept in his desk.

OK, I have to ask - what is that square shaped blade used for?

 

[garddogg56]

As a Battle of Bastogne Vet,cribbage partner and hunting partner upon his passing he willed me his fathers Marbles hunting knifethe Olsen is from my Moms Dad.

 

[Muss Muggins]

You may be right, but that is what I seem to remember all those years ago (over 60). Maybe it was not the actual murder weapon, but I am positive it came from an evidence locker.

Also, In the last 60 years, I am sure the rules of evidence have evolved

Not for murder. You are welcome to embrace the story, and I wasn’t there, so I’m not here to disrupt it. Just pointing out Long established rules of evidence . . .

 

[Xfuzz]

All kind of knives.
Simply a piece of steel with a honed edge.
Used to be stone now various forms/mix of steel.
Likely the most important tool since the beginning of mankind.

Onomea...
Yours in a 20th century classic....
Great blade with bonded/blood history.
Best knife thread in a long time.

 

[ACP230]

I have a lock blade knife with gray/black handles and a saw (non locking) for a second blade. Heavy and quite large. Dad was in the Army Air
Corps in Italy in WWII. The knife was evidently Navy issue. Dad acquired it on the troop ship that took him to Europe, I think.

I used the saw blade to work on a wooden spoon that I made for my
girlfriend, and then shortly my wife. She is still putting up with me maybe because
I make her another wooden spoon (now usually in birdseye maple) from time to time.

 

[diyj98]

Not for murder. You are welcome to embrace the story, and I wasn’t there, so I’m not here to disrupt it. Just pointing out Long established rules of evidence . . .

It wouldn't be the first time something disappeared from an evidence locker though. Cash, and even drugs have been "misplaced" at times. I don't mean to imply the poster's father did anything wrong, but someone else may have.

 

[smith17]

Only thing my dad gave me was a hard time but my granddad gave me his only knife. He was born in '01 in Mississippi but moved to Ft Worth in the 20s and begat my mom. He had a pecan and peach orchard up in Wise County and used this knife for everything including pecan grafting, skinning varmints and peeling his peaches.
It is a Bridge Cutlery 3 blade with the main blade about an inch shorter than original due to excess sharpening. The others aren't in much better shape but it is one of the coolest things I own. He said it was the only knife he ever had.
I took up peach farming a few years back.

 

[Muss Muggins]

Duly noted . . .

It wouldn't be the first time something disappeared from an evidence locker though. Cash, and even drugs have been "misplaced" at times. I don't mean to imply the poster's father did anything wrong, but someone else may have.

 

[redlevel]

Not for murder. You are welcome to embrace the story, and I wasn’t there, so I’m not here to disrupt it. Just pointing out Long established rules of evidence . . .

It just depends on the jurisdiction and the people involved. I personally know of three firearms used in murders that are now in private collections. I don’t have them, but I know who does have them, and I knew and worked for the official who gave them to the collector. The murders all took place in the first half of the 20th century, and the official who gave them away has been dead for 35 years.

 

[foxy320]

ONOMEA, not much more to tell. Knife belonged to my great grandfather Alvin Schlegel, a good old Pennsylvania Dutchman who gave it to my dad. Knife is a Wilbert Cutlery Co brand from Chicago. Its been sharpened many times. My dad was a stickler for taking care of his things and it is in very good shape. Dad said during the depression if it wasn't for his grandfathers garden his family would have been hungry much of the time. Dad probably used this knife to clean small game he got to add to the menu

 

[dr. mordo]

My father never carried a pocket knife, though he did buy me my first knife, which I still have.

However, my grandfather, who was a Marine at Guadalcanal, carried various knives over the years. He was the type who was regularly buying new inexpensive knives and getting rid of the old ones.

But there was one knife, that I vividly remember sitting in the same area on his counter for all of my life. I was the one grandchild who tried to visit him regularly and would oil his guns while I was there, which he appreciated. Finally, I just asked him if I could have the knife. He had it so long he didn't remember where he got it, but it sat on his counter for 40 years before he gave it to me, so I guess that's fair. He probly picked it up at a pawn shop or something. I'm sure someone here will know its purpose, but it's an unusual design by today's standards.

Around that same time, for my birthday, he gave me the High Standard Model B that was his bedside gun for my entire life, so at least 40 years. It was possibly the very first pistol I ever shot, though that could also have been an H&R .22 revolver he owned but sadly sold 30 years ago.

 

[shouldazagged]

When my dad died at ninety, seventeen years ago, he virtually never had occasion to use a pocketknife; but he always carried one, and I have the tiny three-blade Old Timer--I'm unable to read the model number on the ricasso of the main blade--that was in his pocket every day.

I don't recall his teaching me the importance of carrying a knife. It was simply a given in my long-ago boyhood. Nearly all men and boys, and many women and girls, packed pocketknives, and needed them. There were pencils to be sharpened, paper-wrapped and string-tied packages to open, meat and cheese and fruit to be sliced, etc. And of course, as boys we tended to throw them at each other's feet a lot, despite safety lectures.

At one point, soon after Dad came back from overseas--he was a war correspondent--I found what I recall as a Case rigging knife, though it may have been another make, in his sock drawer. Whatever it was, it sliced my eight-year-old finger very neatly.

It was not long after that when I acquired my first pocketknife. By swiping it, I'm afraid. The beginning of my life of crime, but I've never been without at least one knife on my person since then

 

[hoc9sw]

The rest of your story is very touching, and your father sounds like quite the man. The above part is most likely not true. Murder evidence must be kept in custody forever . . .

Not always the case. At least in my jurisdiction. The custodian, usually the County Sheriff, could release anything after all appeal channels were exhausted. This was up through the early 70's.

I know of many "murder" handguns that were released to the public (ok, generally deputy and honorary deputy officers, as there were very few), and they would not be flagged in today's system.

 

[Texas Star]

My father never carried a pocket knife, though he did buy me my first knife, which I still have.

However, my grandfather, who was a Marine at Guadalcanal, carried various knives over the years. He was the type who was regularly buying new inexpensive knives and getting rid of the old ones.

But there was one knife, that I vividly remember sitting in the same area on his counter for all of my life. I was the one grandchild who tried to visit him regularly and would oil his guns while I was there, which he appreciated. Finally, I just asked him if I could have the knife. He had it so long he didn't remember where he got it, but it sat on his counter for 40 years before he gave it to me, so I guess that's fair. He probly picked it up at a pawn shop or something. I'm sure someone here will know its purpose, but it's an unusual design by today's standards.

Around that same time, for my birthday, he gave me the High Standard Model B that was his bedside gun for my entire life, so at least 40 years. It was possibly the very first pistol I ever shot, though that could also have been an H&R .22 revolver he owned but sadly sold 30 years ago.

The knife is a cheap George L. Herter copy of the Russell Canadian Belt Knife from Grohmann Cutlery of Pictou, N.S.

In the 1960's, it sold new for under $3.00. But was a good value then. I think the real Grohmann cost about three times that amount, or more.

 

[Onomea]

All kind of knives.
Simply a piece of steel with a honed edge.
Used to be stone now various forms/mix of steel.
Likely the most important tool since the beginning of mankind.

Onomea...
Yours in a 20th century classic....
Great blade with bonded/blood history.
Best knife thread in a long time.

Thanks for the kind words, and for the understanding, Xfuzz.

Great knives, and great stories, guys. I love ‘em all. Keep ‘em comin’!

 

[Onomea]

... But there was one knife, that I vividly remember sitting in the same area on his counter for all of my life. I was the one grandchild who tried to visit him regularly and would oil his guns while I was there, which he appreciated. Finally, I just asked him if I could have the knife. He had it so long he didn't remember where he got it, but it sat on his counter for 40 years before he gave it to me, so I guess that's fair. He probly picked it up at a pawn shop or something. I'm sure someone here will know its purpose, but it's an unusual design by today's standards....

I really like this story. And the knife. By coincidence I was just reading about this unusual knife the other day. If you read up on it, you will learn that it is a very highly regarded design.

Added: Its purpose is for skinning game, a task at which it is said to excel.

 

[hoc9sw]

I saw "cheap copy". I guess I would have said "inexpensive" or "less expensive copy of xxx", unless I had some evidence that it was the useless junk that "cheap" implies to me. I see a picture of a well worn knife that served a purpose for its owner. The owner died before the knife, so if there was a "lifetime guarantee", it was used. A lot of my stuff will fall in that category, deserved or not.

My skin is getting literally thinner with long term chemo (round 15 was today), so I guess I can be accused of being thin skinned and it would be true.

 

[SteveA]

My Dad was combat infantry in World War II in the ETO. He's still kicking at 92 and still carrying around his Boy Scout knife he's had since the '30s. That knife went with him to civil air patrol duty as as young teenager on the Texas coast in 1942 and he's carried it all of my life. I doubt he took it to Europe in the War but I know he took it when he took us kids to Europe in the early '80s. He also has a GI issue pocket knife and an old Fairbain/Sykes dagger with the tip broke off representing some of the stuff he brought home from the war. Never talks about that knife or how the tip broke.

 

[kthom]

hoc9sw,
I understand what you are saying and I am in general agreement with it. I've owned some knives that were expensive, relatively speaking, that weren't worth a hardly, and I've had some inexpensive ones that would do the job. Those loaner knives I mentioned in my first post were not expensive knives! But some of them survived some serious abuse for a few years. Price can be but is not always the indicator of quality. The reputation of the Grohmann is excellent and comes from performance. I worked for some time as a butcher in a grocery store and later worked in a slaughter house. Good knives that would hold a good edge for most of the day were a treasure, but one that required constant sharpening during the day was worthless. A dull knife was responsible for more cuts on myself than the sharp ones ever were! That's when I found out that price didn't always dictate which were the best knives!