Posted by Alex Forbes on October 11, 2005 at 01:26:42 from 66.215.139.247 user Pitsligo.
In Reply to: Re:was Winter Holiday - references: CHRISTMAS posted by Ed Kiser on October 10, 2005 at 20:50:15:
Speaking of knives with files, was there a standard pattern clasp knife running around then? I believe reference is made to scout knives, but I have often wondered what exactly is a scout knife of that era? Is that what John would have carried? I assume that there were different makes and models available commercially, if for no other reason than Roger, in S&A, holds up "a big clasp knife" when he finds the Amazons' knife, implying that there were smaller ones as well in AR's melieu.
The picture in my copy (Godine) shows something much like the simple, durable, folding rigging knife I was equiped with in my early years, but that wouldn't account for files or other useful features.
(While I have since become a convert to sheath knives and seperate marlingspikes for use at sea, I don't ever go out without my "Swiss" in my pocket. Having had a knife in my pocket since age five, when I learned to sail, I was stunned, about the age of ten, to learn none of my classmates carried such a useful tool. If the Swallows, Amazons, and Ds carried pocket knives, what sane kid wouldn't? I mean, even Roger, at age seven, had a knife...)
Anyway, if anyone knows of a standard pattern knife of the era that might match what Our Heroes had in their pockets, I'd love to know about it.
Alex