25 years ago, one Sunday morning, coming back from a cousin's place after helping him load a stock trailer with some particularly hard-loader cattle, I blew a radiator hose in my truck. As luck would have it, I was pretty close to a NAPA store that was open Sunday mornings, so I hiked the quarter mile to get a hose. Well, changing the hose got to be a little difficult & the bottom end didn't want to come off very easily....reach down into my pocket...NO KNIFE ! ! !
Lying under my truck, wrestling with the hose, I hear a voice say, 'You need any help there, son?' I asked back, 'You got a knife I could use for a minute or two?' 'Heck, yes', was the reply, and I reached out & a little cheap Barlow was put into my hand. You know the kind of knife I'm talking about, you see them at the discount & hardware stores in the plastic tubs on the counter, for about $ 1.00. Well, it served me well enough to get the hose cut off, and I was soon out from under the truck, looking into the bluest eyes that I had ever seen, an older man, probably in his late seventies, or maybe even his eighties, stood there smiling at me. He was tall & slim built, with a full head of silver white hair and had the erect posture of a military cadet. I thanked him for the use of his knife, and we talked a little about what I was up to that morning, and the nice Spring weather, I went to hand him his knife back, and he refused it, saying, "No, you keep it, a young man always has a thousand uses for a decent knife."
I tried politely to refuse him, embarrased myself at being without a knife, when 20 or so were sitting around my house a dozen miles away. He would have no part of it, and insisted I keep it, saying again, "A boy always needs a good knife." ( I was 40 years old at that time.) So I became the new owner of a little Barlow that morning.
That knife has a special place with my better ones, and I take it out & use it every so often, and will always treasure it. Since that day, I have always made it a point to give a boy a knife when the opportunity arises, because " A boy always needs a good knife."
Cheap knife, but a favorite & a good story
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Re: Cheap knife, but a favorite & a good story
What a great story Wizrd! I love to read these stories from you guys! Very special !
Rocky
Rocky
Rocky, AKA- AREMINGTONSEDGE
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Re: Cheap knife, but a favorite & a good story
WOW................what an awesome, awesome life story!!
thanks for sharing it with us!
thanks for sharing it with us!
SCOTT
HOME OF THE BRAVE! (not the scarety cats)
Colonial Knife Company History ebook:
https://gumroad.com/l/ZLDb
HOME OF THE BRAVE! (not the scarety cats)
Colonial Knife Company History ebook:
https://gumroad.com/l/ZLDb
Re: Cheap knife, but a favorite & a good story
That was a great story!
Thanks for sharing it.
Thanks for sharing it.
Dale
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Please visit my AAPK store: www.allaboutpocketknives.com/orvet
Job 13:15
"Buy more ammo!" - Johnnie Fain
“Evil is Powerless If The Good are Unafraid.” – Ronald Reagan
AAPK Administrator
Please visit my AAPK store: www.allaboutpocketknives.com/orvet
Job 13:15
"Buy more ammo!" - Johnnie Fain
“Evil is Powerless If The Good are Unafraid.” – Ronald Reagan
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Re: Cheap knife, but a favorite & a good story
wizrd, if you aren't an author, you should be. that was a great story, i don't think it could be told any better. thanks for sharing it.
Re: Cheap knife, but a favorite & a good story
Thanks for sharing that story with us wizrd.
I got a chuckle out of that old fellow telling you "A boy always needs a good knife." when you were forty years old.
Phil
I got a chuckle out of that old fellow telling you "A boy always needs a good knife." when you were forty years old.
Phil
Phil
AAPK Administrator
Jesus died for you. Are you living for Him?
"Buy More Ammo!"
Johnnie Fain 1949-2009
AAPK Administrator
Jesus died for you. Are you living for Him?
"Buy More Ammo!"
Johnnie Fain 1949-2009
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Re: Cheap knife, but a favorite & a good story
Great story, glad I checked out this forum (for the first time).
Deep in the guts of most men is buried the involuntary response to the hunter's horn, a prickle of the nape hairs, an acceleration of the pulse, an atavistic memory of his fathers, who killed first with stone, and then with club...Robert Ruark