James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
Case Old Red Bone Pocket Knife, Texas Toothpick | Antique Finish Chromium Steel 00792
1 min read
Good knives are one of those personal possessions which just increase in importance the more used they get. Pull a good pocket knife out to cut an apple or whittle a tent stake, and you can look back to every day that put every scratch and dent and stain upon it. To some of us, it works better than a photo album. Then you lose that knife, and it’s hard to catch up again.
Though it won’t have the same load of memories, the Case Old Bone series does have the beginning of “the look,” with handle slabs harvested from the shin bones of Brazilian Zebu cattle and antiqued to give the knife the pocket-worn look the years naturally install. The 2-3/4-inch-long blade of this 3-inch folded length pocket knife has the slim look of a knife that’s been sharpened whenever you had a moment to spare and needed something quiet to do.
Of course, it’s still a brand new knife with a blade of high quality chromium steel that’s shiny and stainless and not quite the same as the one you bought thirty years ago. The fittings don’t have scratches and will probably hold up to use better than the one you lost, so there’s lots of room for new memory notches to form. It’s an old style, with no frills and no locking liner and no pocket clip — just an elegant build that’s big enough to handle the little jobs you come across daily.
You’ll probably like the Old Red Bone Texas Toothpick from W.R. Case & Sons a lot, given time.
James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
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Good knives are one of those personal possessions which just increase in importance the more used they get. Pull a good pocket knife out to cut an apple or whittle a tent stake, and you can look back to every day that put every scratch and dent and stain upon it. To some of us, it works better than a photo album. Then you lose that knife, and it’s hard to catch up again.
