All About Pocket Knives

Hey all.

Well I cleaned up my great grandfather's PAL Pocket Knife and it turns out the liners are steel but the pins are brass. Not all brass like I thought. So my question is was this normal practice during the war? Thanks. Rich

There was probably a transition period sometime early in the war when left-over brass pins would have been used.

My grandmother, who is 94 use to tell me stories about America during WW2, particularly about rationing. She grew up in Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn, a child of the Great Depression . During the Dwpression you made do with what ya got, and if you ain't got it then you improvised. Nothing ever went to waste. If it could be used for something else it was, if it couldn't then it was saved for another time. Well fast forward to 1941, two years after the end of the depression, America is knee deep in WW2. She along with her 2 sisters, my great great grandmother and great great grandfather, would salvage through their home and yard and the rest of the neighborhood looking for precious metals such as brass, copper, aluminum, tin, steel etc. Much of It came from what they saved during the Depression. So I guess that stuff that could be used for later time, well.... its time had come. When I look at my great grandfather's knife it is so much more than stag handles, steel liners, and brass pins. It's history, not just my own family history, but the history about a time when "What's best for our country" wasn't just a slogan. It actually meant doing it.

LesPaulGuitars wrote:My grandmother, who is 94 use to tell me stories about America during WW2, particularly about rationing. She grew up in Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn, a child of the Great Depression . During the Dwpression you made do with what ya got, and if you ain't got it then you improvised. Nothing ever went to waste. If it could be used for something else it was, if it couldn't then it was saved for another time. Well fast forward to 1941, two years after the end of the depression, America is knee deep in WW2. She along with her 2 sisters, my great great grandmother and great great grandfather, would salvage through their home and yard and the rest of the neighborhood looking for precious metals such as brass, copper, aluminum, tin, steel etc. Much of It came from what they saved during the Depression. So I guess that stuff that could be used for later time, well.... its time had come. When I look at my great grandfather's knife it is so much more than stag handles, steel liners, and brass pins. It's history, not just my own family history, but the history about a time when "What's best for our country" wasn't just a slogan. It actually meant doing it.

Outstanding post! Thanks for sharing.