Pocket knives

Of all the items in our farm toolbox my pocket knife gets the most use. Just this morning it has been used to cut the twine off of a round bale of hay, sharpen a pencil and cut umbilical tape for sutures for a ewe’s prolapsed uterus. And it is not even noon.

Now one can’t claim that a pocket knife is solely the domain of farmers. But a knife, kept in good condition is in constant use. I’m frequently surprised by how many men and women do not carry a pocket knife. Even off the farm it seems someone is always looking for or needing a knife. It has been my habit since a child to always have a good quality pocket knife. For most of my teenage years it was a Buck knife with three blades. The steel of the blade was and still is hard to sharpen. I don’t know enough of metallurgy to know the why.

Regardless, that Buck knife is practically indestructible. I lost it in the pig paddock about ten years ago while we were castrating piglets. There it wintered and summered for a few years before another pig turned it up out of the muck. The rust was easily scoured off of the stainless steel. And it is still functional and still hard to sharpen.

My go to knife has a four-inch folding blade made by Le Theirs, a beautiful French pocket knife with a boxwood handle. The blade is honed on both sides and easily holds a sharp edge. The French seem to have a real knack for functional and beautiful pocketknives.

Cindy carries a small three blade “Yellow Jacket” made by Camillus. It was made in the last year before they moved production from the US to China. And I carry a beautiful small Yukon model with a bone handle made by Tennessee’s knifesmith Colonel Littleton on nicer occasions.

Form, function and beauty, that seems to be a common element of our farm toolbox. Most of the commonly used tools, with some exceptions, have all three elements in either their design or use. Like the person whose beauty is not apparent on first meeting, a good tool sometime reveals its beauty through prolonged use and acquaintance.