Weekend Open Thread: Granting Wishes Edition

H. Clay Aalders
Weekend Open Thread
·27 Comments·

(I fixed the feature photo. For some reason it wasn’t posting. The title should make more sense now)

Good evening folks. I am continuing where I left off last week, forgoing current event memes for the time being until there is something to laugh about in the news.

It has been a pretty crazy week, especially for the week after Press. 2021 reveals are coming in fast, and next week brings Online SHOT Show and the start of lacrosse practice. I am really not ready for that.

I had spoken with my contact at Work Sharp last week while researching a piece for my Knife News column and our discussion turned to sharpening woodworking tools. I had been unaware that a while back they had released a Work Sharp Wood Tool Sharpener. I have always been partial to my Tormek when it comes to my chisels and hand planes, but I told him I was willing to give it a try.

It is a no BS unit. It is fairly heavy, and the 1/5hp motor feels pretty powerful. It moves _alot_ faster than I was expecting. I am definitely going to read the whole instruction manual before turning it loose on my nice hand tools. I am getting a good sense of how it works, and the advantage it has over the Tormek is that no extra jigs are required, which can really add up in price on top of what is already more expensive than the Work Sharp.

Here is how it works on chisels:

Stuart B. is the winner of the Case trucker hat, but as this is a fairly small prize, I am going to waive the sit out a week rule and let his comments on today’s post count for this week’s contest.

It is for the CRKT M40-15. The big one.

It features a 3.99″ blade, the Flavio Ikoma Deadbolt lock, and really fills the hand. I am a bit verklempt having to send this one out. The other usual rules apply, 5 comments or replies count as entries, and if you are new to the blog, your first comment will be held in moderation until I approve it. After that, provided you have cookies on, your comments will post automatically.

I thought of Hocky with this meme, so I figured I would share. Of course he served on submarines, so he didn’t even get to see that.

 

This is also a Hocky meme, but goes out to all who engaged in the SPAM discussion a couple of weeks back.

At least something good will come out of 2021.

Have a good one folks.

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H. Clay Aalders

H. Clay Aalders is a lifelong edged tool user. He spent the past 20 years as a woodworker and fishing guide in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Idaho, and Tennessee. While guiding in Idaho, Clay worked part-time writing for a local newspaper, and upon moving to Tennessee began writing for the blog The Truth About Knives - spending his last 5 years there as Managing Editor. His background is in fixed-blade hunting and bushcraft knives, but has jumped into the world of vintage slipjoint collecting with both feet since coming to work at Knife Magazine. Clay’s primary role is as Digital Editor, curating and creating new content for our website and blog, as well as maintaining the Knife Magazine social media accounts (FB/IG: @theknifemag, Twitter: @knifemagazine). He is also a contributor and Associate Editor of the print magazine.

27 Responses

  1. CMEAT: I googled “crevalle Jack”. Mean looking fish. Its bio states that it is a “fighting fish”; AND, can be eaten IF IT DON’T EAT YOU! Aarrgh. Which leads me to knife terminology in “The Vault”, Glossary: JACK Knife. The definition given does not mention that the term “jack” might be “fish-related”. Hmm-mm-m . . .sailors in the days of lore were called “jacks” (. . . and tars). Mostly the British types. There is “CrackerJACKS” with the sailor on it. But, wait a minute, seadogs in the days of sailing ships carried blunt tipped knives, i.e. sheepsfoot, to prevent skull impalement should they be dropped from the rigging. OVERLOAD ALERT!!!! STOP THE ENGINES!! Need to head for calmer seas, Hocky

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    1. so if a sailor has to clean up a huge pile of rotting fish guts and he complains loudly in no uncertain terms and at length… would those outbursts be called… the jack offal tirades?

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          1. Hell’s bells, CMEAT, I know what “offal” is! I did not know that a butchered animal had “waste parts”. Growing up in the Appalachian area around Edgemont, Maryland, my Mom’s side of the family tree (the Warner, Lewis and Smith clans) ate the eatin’ parts of hogs, steers, deer, squirrels, grouse, pheasants, turkeys and other wildlife. Innards and sweetbreads were turned into scrapple, punhaus and tripe. Whatever wasn’t ‘ate’ was rendered down into lard and used in lye soap, Hog maw is my all-time favorite wintertime feast. My brothers and I would fight over the golden brown and sometimes crunchy “skin”! ! Skins, feathers, horns and antlers were all put to use (depending on the animal, of course!). The old saw, “We ate everything but the “Oink”” held true. But, that was in the ’50s . . . Smile CMEAT! You provoked an ‘offally’ fond trip for me down memory lane (aka Warner Hollow Road along Edgemont Resevoir). Hocky

  2. Clay: You ever been on board a submarine? They do not ride very well on the surface. Yep, 70% or more of Earth is oceans and seas. I wish there was an Atlantis. I would develop gills to live underwater! Oh, that ship in the picture is an aircraft carrier. Submariners call them “Targets”.

    The “SPAM’ circa 1937 item made me Laugh! I just inventoried my cache of SPAM in the food locker. Got a six pack. Next to run to SAM’s, I need to get some.

    Still have not received my January “Knife”. Steve Nuckels is loaning me his hand-held copy.

    Hocky

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      1. Aahh, the diesel boats of WWII. “Up Periscope”; “Run Silent, Run Deep”; “Operation Pacific”; “Destination Tokyo” . . . The “Tursk” is at the Baltimore Inner Harbor. I visited the “Cod” in Cleveland in 2019 during the reunion of the “Bancroft”. Hopefully, the next “Bancroft” reunion in Kings Bay, Georgia will happen later this year or in early 2022. (The reunion was scheduled for March 2021. Cancelled due to virus.). The modern “nuke” boats are marvels of technology. Perhaps, if the timing is right and you are going to the ocean around the time of the reunion, I can arrange for your six-foot five-inch lumberjack-style body to drop “inside” the boat. (I would like to see the Navy name submarines after “fish” like they did last century! Fierce names like: Grunnion, Barracuda, Shark, Grouper (they can be ferocious!) Ha, Ha Hocky

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        1. Hocky – In my student days I visited the Wilhelm Bauer Type XXI U-Boat in Bremerhaven, Germany. I just remember how cramped that was, hard to imagine fighting for weeks on end with all the supplies and other crew crammed in. It takes a special breed.

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          1. “Das Boot”, one of the best films depicting “working inside a submarine”. During WWII, both the Allied and Axis Powers submarine were powered by diesels (Surface ops) and batteries (Submerged ops). Submarines spent as much time as possible on the surface; and, submerged to do battle. Air quality was terrible after any amount of time spent submerged. Diesel fumes, sweat, CO2 buildup, farts . . . The modern “nuke” boats starting with the Nautilus in the ’50s and onward focused on what was called, “Atmosphere Controls”. The reason being that the strategy was for the boats to patrol underwater for long periods of time. That was called “detente”. To stay underwater for 75 days (Normal patrol period for a “Boomer” like the SSBN643) the “air quality” had to be maintained. This was accomplished through a combination of stringent controls such as: No aerosols, e.g. shaving cream, deodorants or anything that produced “off gassing”; and the use of mechanical means to “refresh” the atmosphere via CO2 Scrubbers; O2 Generators; CO burners et al. Oxygen was made and stored in big O2 tanks which was then “bled” into the boat. . . Relief from a liberty hangover could be found by “sucking on pure O2” from a O2 bleeder nozzle! Well, enough for now regarding “Life on a Submarine”. Part 2 will address topics like: “Making Patrol Wine”, “Breathing Pure Fart” and “Oxymoron: Why Smoking Was Allowed in a Submarine”. Hocky, MM1(SS)

          1. Is “jack” alluding to “Amberjack”? There was a WW2 sub named “Amberjack”. One tough ass “fish”! Hocky

          2. they might be related, but amberjack is edible. crevalle jack are like the rabid terriers of the salt; if they don’t chew through your leader keep away from the bidness end once onboard.

  4. Clay, thanks but I’ll take a pass this week on the draw, I dont want to burn up all my luck this year too soon as I feel it will be a long and bumpy road in ’21 and I may need some saved up for later.
    I cant say any of this years knife releases are that interesting, maybe the maddening hypocracy of the cancel wars are drowning everything else out. I figure it will balance out, eventually, but it’s a level of dumb that’s hard to just brush aside. Maybe that’s the point; the bigger the clown show the more we should shift our focus back to something more real and less vapid.

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    1. The crkt ritual caught my eye, probably just because it’s so unique. I’ll have to see one in person first before I buy one though.

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      1. It’s interesting, just not something that speaks to me.. The Lanny, at least from the photos, is more my idea of a “Sundat-go-to-meeting” knife. And who doesn’t need one of those.

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    1. Hunkering down on the homestead and avoiding the ridiculousness of people, internet or otherwise. Nothing I’ve seen so far in any of the 2021 knife releases has sparked my interest. Been getting back into classic slip joints as of late, maybe its because I’ve gone full “no F’s given'” and switched from pants to bib overalls. So many handy pockets. I have a few of my late grandfather’s carving knives that I feel proud to carry. Clay, I look forward to the review of that work sharp. Don’t accept any wooden nickels.

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      1. Yes, Slipjoints! I recently ordered an “Albers Cutlery Co.” (Eric Albers), jack knife in CPM154 with bone scales. The color of the scales is a mottled brown. . . think ‘root beer’. I call it “Rota-Bone” as it resembles the harbor water in Rota, Spain, where my submarine, USS George Bancroft SSBN643, called home port. Why was the ‘harbor water’ brown?? Well, there was plenty of “nutrients” in it and the sheepshead liked the taste of it! Yes, Pockets! Hocky

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      2. I for one applaud the switch to overalls! And slipjoints ! I see where Case is bringing back a full sized Copperhead this summer-yeah, their stainless isn’t very Madonna-but I may need this knife! I’m almost done with 3” frame locks!
        Hocky-like you, I prefer a smooth blade, but I’m not opposed to a semi-serrated knife, depending on the chore at hand.

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      1. The new crkt bonafide looks nice too. I like the field strip on the original homefront so I assume the field strip 2.0 is great.

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