All About Pocket Knives

I was cleaning a bunch of Granddad's knives that had been adversely affected (ranging form severe rust to minor tarnish) by rust caused by one celluloid Boker that due to being unchecked for 20 years, had outgassed. I came across this Ranger Stockman, advertising "Bluefield Farm Bureau", which is my town's branch of the Farm Bureau cooperative, who has a handful of locations throughout Southwest Virginia (mostly here in Tazewell County). This particular location has been in my town since the 1930s, with the company having celebrated their 100th anniversary last summer. We used to shop at the Bluefield branch a lot, until about five years ago. Mismanagement by a "new" manager the company brought in from out of the region drove many of their longtime employees and customers away. We shop at the Tazewell branch these days, it's where most of the feed and mineral comes from. I guess because Granddad bought a lot of stuff from them, they gave him this knife.

Knives with advertising for local companies mean a lot to me. I try to focus on the coal industry (particularly, mines and mining companies in Southwestern VA, eastern KY, and Southern WV), but I have a Buck for a local quarry (whose operations I can see from my house), that they gave to employees on Christmas, 1993 and often pick up a knife on eBay if it has a company located in my area on it.

Always fun to find something of special interest to you. And also a really cool knife.

Colonial used their Ranger Stockman Line for all sorts of Advertising and Events Promotion and such.

I like things from close to home.