You are a little young to appreciate one of your presents this year and I might not be around when you are old enough to understand it so a hard copy of this
I have given you a collection of mostly old knives. I say mostly because there is one brand new knife in there, an Old Timer 180T, the perfect, high quality, "first" pocket knife for a boy when he gets old enough to carry one. This knife was given to me by one of my clients who is a dealer.
The next knife is a bone handled Schrade "Uncle Henry" from the 1960's. I found it in your great grandmother Rubeye Kumpe's effects after she passed. She kept it with her sewing and quilting materials and while it had rusted, it was still razor sharp when I found it twenty years after it had last been used. This was a pretty high quality knife for the time and I am surprised that my mother had it.
The center knife is a Camillus from probably the 1960's or so. Your great grandfather William Kumpe carried this knife everywhere he went. He kept the sharp pointed blade cleaner than the rest because that was the blade he used to dig splinters and shards of steel out of his hands with after work. The round nosed blade was usually used to "doctor" livestock. That could mean anything from lancing an infected spot on Bossie's hip to doing a castration. Your dad can explain that last word when you are old enough to understand it. The big blade was used to cut the twine on old fashioned square hay bales and for just about everything else. I have seen the knife in my dad's hands more times than I can remember. It was a valued tool that he used daily.
The plain metal, silver colored knife with "US" stamped on the side is also a Camillus. It is a military issue utility knife. Camillus began making this knife for the US military in 1957 and continued until the plant closed in 2006. This particular knife is a Desert Storm veteran. I acquired it to replace the identical Viet Nam Era model that I carried throughout my years in the Navy and unfortunately lost a few years ago.
The big knife on the bottom is a KaBar folding hunter. The blade is real, old fashioned 440, stainless. It is a solid brass framed knife with rosewood handles. A very high quality knife. I carried it during the years I was driving truck. That knife has been to or through the vast majority of the United States at one time or another.
The large knife standing vertically is, like your great grandfather William Kumpe, a World War II veteran. How he, a soldier in the Army's 45th Division, acquired a KaBar Marine Corps fighting knife is probably an interesting story that died with him. This is my guess. Dad made five amphibious landings, four of them under enemy fire. He spent considerable time on amphibious ships of the types I served on later during my generation's war. USMC equipment was pretty common on those ships. Dad probably bartered for it on one of those ships the same way that I acquired my Camillus during the Viet Nam years.
That old knife had quite a life after the war. It traveled around with Dad until he married Mom and then became the family butcher knife. It was made of far better steel than any civilian butcher knife and would take a razor sharp edge. I have watched Mom chop everything from cabbage to chicken's necks with that old knife. She wore out the handles and did a pretty good job of wearing out the blade as well. She used it as her butcher knife until she could no longer take care of herself. I found it in pretty bad shape in her kitchen and did my best to stop the rust and stabilize it.
So Ben, there is a lot of family history in that box that I gave you this Christmas. Each one of those knives was carried by your ancestors who used them daily. Maybe you can pass the collection along to one of your sons someday.
Your Grandpa,
Bill
No comments:
Post a Comment