What We Pass Down

After my Grandmother had passed away, now comes the morbid and confusing part.  What do we do with all her possessions.  When my Grandmother was alive she told me to take anything I wanted.  She even kept trying to give me a few things.  I don't really have the room to take anything. 

Grandma had a lot of vintage and depression glass, but I'm not a glass collector.  In fact, I bought her a piece of Fenton glass for her birthday a few years back.  I even wrote a blog about it back then.  Here it is:

http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2011/08/adrian-always-has-place-at-grandmas.html

Even though I don't collect glass I thought that Grandma would want me to have that little Fenton vase that I gave to her five years ago.  Everyone was in agreement, so it came home with me.

That was pretty much all I wanted.  I was helping Dad find his possessions from his Air Force days when I came across a knife.  Grandpa loved collecting knives.  In fact, when he passed away in 2006, I inherited a few of his knives.  However, this knife was different in that, it was a bayonet type knife.

I had my computer with me, and looked it up on the internet by it's markings.  It seems it's an USM4 bayonet that fits on the end of an M1 rifle.  I looked at the different makes, and it seems that this is the second generation of the knife.  This means it was issued for use in the Korean War and the early part of the Vietnam conflict. 

This website helped me out tremendously.

http://worldbayonets.com/Bayonet_Identification_Guide/United_States__Post-War_/us_post_war_2.html

Go down to where it says, "M4, Second Generation." 

This website confirmed that it was in the correct time period due to it being made by Camillus out of Camillus, N.Y. 

http://www.quanonline.com/military/military_reference/fighting_knives/m4history.php

Dad had a theory that this knife might have belonged to my Uncle "Bug," who is my Grandmother's brother.  He served in Korea.  However, Grandpa was into trading knives, and might have traded or bought it from a veteran he knew. 

This model of knife was made from 1954 to the late 1960's so there are a lot of them out there.  So with both Grandma and Grandpa passed away I have no idea how this knife ended up in their possession.  All I know is that Grandpa had a lot of knives he collected.  90% of them were the nice little folding pocketknives that only had a single or double blade. 

There was one giveaway that my Grandfather had handled this knife.  It was still in good condition, and it was dangerously sharp.  Grandpa liked to sharpen his knives until you could shave with them.  I could also see on this knife where the blade had been "dinged," and someone (my Grandfather) had sharpened and smoothed out the ding. 

So I will keep it with my possessions.  I will take care of it.  And it will make a nice little memory.  It seems that twice now my Grandfather has left a knife for me. 

Here's a nice picture of my Grandfather.  Small animals and children loved him.

Cuts Like A Knife.... (But Really, It Does Feel So Right.)

So my friend Matt has a neat hobby.  He makes knives.  I always thought that was a neat hobby.  I mean, I build guitars, and that involves wood and electronics.  But knives require both wood and metal working. 

So I've always been in awe of those who make high quality knives.  I remember watching a program on the Discovery Channel about a man who was a renowned knife maker.  His specialty was knives that were thin like fillet knifes, but could bend side to side without breaking.  It really surprised me at what a high quality knife could do.  It would bend without breaking, but still be extremely sharp.

Matt asked me if I had any black walnut or was planning on getting any.  I had to check my woodpile, but it turns out both Matt and I were in luck.  I had one piece in my pile that was clearly marked black walnut.

It turns out he needed black walnut for making knife handles.  So, I asked him how big he needed the wood blanks, and he let me know that they needed to be 12 inches X 4 inches X 3/8th of an inch.  I was wondering if he was working on a machete with pieces of wood that big.

So I got out the wood and went to town on the bandsaw, thickness planner, and thickness sander.  After all my work, this was my results.

The blank on the left is mahogany.  Matt didn't ask for it, but I decided to show him what one would look like.  Him and his family where happy with the results.  It was then they informed me that one of those blanks where not used for the side of one knife.  It would be cut into quarters, and then used for two knives.  So I felt better about only having one piece of mahogany. 

I was worried that the knots on the wood would be a problem, but Matt said they would just add character.

But the gift giving was not over.  It turns out that Matt had a present for me.  This:

Whoa!  It's almost too nice.  Really, it's just too nice.  This knife is so sharp that I was cutting steak, and it cut the plate.... in half.  And that plate was made an actual plate, not a paper one.  This knife was so sharp that when I was washing it, it cut the water into hydrogen and oxygen.  Yes, it's that sharp.

So I am thankful for the gift.  I know they're made to be used, but dang, I don't know what I am going to use it on.  Maybe if I get a hunk of giant dead animal flesh?  Or the leg of some sort of biggish animal?  I just have to make sure I don't drop this knife on my foot.  I'm sure it would go right through.