Dad gave me my Grandad's knife he butchered hogs with.
His initial carved in the handle. They were poor, raising nine kids. Don't remember ever having beef at their house. Chicken or pork, which is what they raised. Had the biggest gardens I've ever seen. One huge one by the river, nothing but potatoes. Burned wood for heat, coal at night. Old warm morning stove in the kitchen, wood stove in the living room. Out house til the early to mid 80"s.

Anyway, a knife like this was a prized possession. Hard to tell how many years be had it and how many times it was sharpened. I'm going to use it whenever possible.

thats a great knife!

People like that lived a different life.

My grandmother was one of 13 kids. Picked cotton when she was young. All of them did.

That's something to treasure JM.

The old folks in our part of the world lived in a way few folks today would understand

It's profound how wealthy we've become in just a few generations.

It's something to cherish.

30 years ago, I was 18, and 50% of my mother's extended family still didn't have indoor plumbing. That was before prescription drug abuse, meth and welfare in all of its forms took hold in the mountains. There used to be, and in some places still exists, an honor in self sufficiency. Quality of life not measured in $$.
I'll never forget my grandmother telling me she went from being amazed at seeing a motorized vehicle as a child, to seeing a man walk on the moon. Crazy thing, is technology now is moving at a much faster pace. We took a field trip in 3rd grade to go see an Apple II PC. It was the first one in town at a private home, belonged to a Doctor.

That’s cool...I’ve got an old parring knife of my Gmas somewhere. The small blade has a crescent moon shape to it from a 100 years of sharpening.

Speaking of poor...Same lifestyle lived here in old Oregon during the depression. Granddad had a huge garden. Meat was only deer and elk, pig, chicken, ducks and geese. Fish, was plentiful, too

Granddad and his 9 kids would hunt, catch fish, and grow vegetables. All animals were cleaned, ready for the stove before being giving to the neighbors who were older, poor, or couldn’t provide for themselves.

Dad said his family of 9 never went hungry - neither did the neighborhood.

A different time for sure....I believe there is still a lot of that type of community in us, even today.

I just won’t give my ball sweat to a liberal family who supported tearing American down.

😎

I have my grandfathers old Camillus stockman pocket knife. It was the only pocket knife he had owned for many years before his death. Somehow he managed to make it through a lifetime of hunting with only one shotgun, one deer rifle and one .22 rifle too. Gramps had indoor plumbing as far back as I can remember but my aunt/uncle and cousins had hand pumped water and an outhouse up until the mid 70's.

Didn’t those old Camillus stockmans have a bail on it?

Not a pass down, but when Cookie does Walmart, I visit a nearby thrift store and always go through the kitchen knife tub and scan for iron skillets. About 4 months back I found a Chicago Cutlery butcher knife for 75 cents. Oiled up the very dry and bleached handle and gave it a sharpening run across some oil stones. That knife holds an edge like nothing I've ever used in the kitchen, and I do have some high end knives.

Jackmountain:

As a kid, I remember seeing knives like that in a kill plant when I went to pick up hogs for the job. Two guys there could dress and skin critters like every cut came with a zipper. When the edges needed a touch up, they went over to a big 12 x 12 inch support post that was likely oak, made a few passes, and were right back at it.

One man's treasure is often another person's junk.

Pretty damn cool Jackmountain, I got several old blades from mine and the commanders grandparents. Wish they could talk

That's neat. It actually looks like it has not been sharpened that much for what it is.....only a slight recurve towards the handle and the tip is still round. Sometimes you see those old butcher knives that look like fillet knives so much of them having been ground away.

after my wifes parents past when we cleaned out the house i found 4 of my mother inlaws old hickory knives that she used as a meat cutter for 40 some years . the wood handels were dryed up and cracked . still dam sharp going to put some axis deer horns on for new scales . you got a family treasure enjoy it JM

We'd ride in his '64 step side, and he'd smoke camel non filters and later pall malls. I'd watch in amazement at that ash. He never took it out of his mouth. It would burn and burn and the ash would be two inches long and you'd stare, just waiting for it. Then BAM it would fall all over him and if he noticed he showed no signs of it! Fried sausage then dumped the grease over his pancakes. Lean as he could be though. Worked all the time except Sundays. Dad always said he gave everything he made for the family and never asked for anything for himself except the cigarettes.

Looks like that your grandfather unlike many folks of that time period, he sharpened it, not "WORE IT OUT.

That’s a million dollar knife right there. I hope, as crazy as it sounds, the roof goes back to times like that before too long.

Picked up a 6" butcher, a 8" butcher and a 6" curved skinner at an estate sale for $1.50ea.
I cleaned the gunk off and found CASE XX on all three. My favorite BBQ knives now.

That's pretty cool sir.

We were raised just the way you descibe. No running water or indoor restroom. Ate what we grew or raised or killed in the woods.
Bare wood floors. First time we lived in a house with linoleum I didn't know what to think.

Moms grandad lived in a dirt floor cabin. Got a pic of him with an old willy's in the 40's, foot up on the bumper holding a pistol. Mom went to a school with all 12 grades in one room. All four kids graduated high school though which was rare at that place in time

sounds like the same white privilege my dad grew up with....
6 kids in a house with no tub,shower or sink to brush your teeth in...out house and they never had beef either as it would bring more money than chicken and pork...wood fired stove...cut wood for the week every sunday and get an orange for xmas......people have no clue when they talk about privilege....all the boys got out at 18 it was called the draft

Appalachia pre 1960 was more like pre 1900. I'm almost 50, but growing up, a brown warm morning brand stove in the kitchen and a GEM pump outside was the norm in our family. Coal bin and a wood shed. "Canned" food came in a mason jar. A friend asked me today, when we were discussing how many hours we'd been working, "how much money is enough?". I honestly haven't been able to quit thinking about that question. I think I was born at least 75 years too late. I envy my grandparents lifestyle.

Your grandparents sound a lot like mine on my Dad's side. He was also one of 13 kids.

Smokehouse full of pork, check. Chickens check. Huge gardens, check. No beef at Grandma's.

Or an inside bathroom. Lol.

Grandfather's knife he carried working for Southern Pacific Railroad. Dad gave it to me in 79' when Tata passed. Haven't used it in many decades.

Awesome

Punching this up. Because I love that knife jack.

Amen

Great story, @jackmountain. I'm with you. Halfway between 40 and 50 and feeling like my Grandparent's era was the one I belonged in.

I'm glad I saw this. My mother in law gave me her mom's case XX butcher knife about a year ago. It was in rough shape. I've been working on it with some #0000 steel wool and am getting it cleaned up. Just like this one. I put a hell of an edge on it. Been thinking about soaking the blade in citric acid cause there's some small rust on it.

I'll get some pictures up.