Posted by Ed Kiser on November 10, 2009 at 14:46:46 user Kisered.
In Reply to: Re: KNIVES posted by John Wilson on November 10, 2009 at 07:35:43:
There are several references to knives in use by the young people.
Interesting to note that John and Nancy both had a FILE in their knives.
Jacky had a "huge pocket knife" which he used to clean the trout they had just guddled. Dick had a knife that he used like a spade in digging a
drainage ditch, and a more traditional use in gutting and skinning the rabbit. Roger was given one as a reward for learning to swim. Titty used hers to make a blaze marker on trees. The Amazons had a "ship's knife" which Peggy lost (found by the Swallows) in their initial encounter on Wild Cat Island. Not sure, but this may be different from the one Nancy had, with the file in it.
And of course, there was the butter knife to put butter on the end of the loaf before cutting off the slice.
The adults had knives, such as CF and PD, but adults don't count.
A side issue here: "Iron Railing" - came in handy. Cross-bar in Igloo, the cross-bars in the blast furnace to hold the crucible, and the runners on the sledge made by Mr. Dixon and the blacksmith - all were "old railings".
Ed Kiser, Kentucky
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PP CH29
Crucibles are an awkward shape, like teacups with lids but no handles, and narrower at the bottom that at the top. What was wanted was iron bars, and Peggy remembered a bit of old railing rusting away behind the Tysons' orchard wall. John galloped down the wood for the second time and brought it back. He filed three deep nicks in it with the file that was one of the most useful tools in the knife he had been given at Christmas.
WH CH4
"I got a pocket-knife with a file in it at Christmas," said Captain Nancy, sitting down close by the fireplace on one of several short, stumpy logs, which were clearly meant for stools. "Jolly lucky. But we pretty nearly wore it out filing through an old railing to get that cross-bar.
PM CH11
"This must be your knife," said Dick, taking it from the shelf over the fireplace.
"I'm right glad to have it," said Jacky. "Where was it? I thought I'd lost it in the wood."
"We found it on the floor," said Dick.
PM CH13
"Gut 'em," said Jacky. "I'll show you." He pulled out the huge pocket knife they had found when cleaning out the hut. One by one, he ripped up the little fish and scraped their insides out over the beck. "My mother rolls 'em in flour," he said. "But there's no need. Or you can make do wi' bread-crumbs."
PM CH17
He rolled out of his hammock, came down with one foot in the puddle and set to work with his knife to make a narrow drain between the puddle and the door. "It doesn't need a deep one," he said. "Just big enough to let the water trickle along it."
Another in PM CH17
"I'll try," said Dick. "It's sure to come out somehow." He pulled out his knife and opened it.
"Not here," said Dorothea. "Not here... It'll make an awful mess... Somewhere in the wood... Quick, before it starts raining again."
Dick took the rabbit by its hind legs and went out. Dorothea read feverishly in the cookery book. Minute after minute passed. Dick came back. He was looking very green.
SA CH10
Roger ran off. "I've got their knife anyway," he shouted. "Peggy, you donkey," she said. "Where's the ship's knife?" ... "This knife was given us by Uncle Jim last year for polishing the cannon on the houseboat," said the elder Amazon.
SA CH13
"Now we must make a blaze," said Captain John, "to show the place where we came into this track. Then we'll know where to turn off on our way down."
Titty pulled out her knife and cut a blaze on the side of a hazel, It was not a very big one.
SA CH16
"Before we go home," said the female native. "Not this minute. Well, daddy said that Roger was to have a knife of his own as soon as he could swim, and I brought it with me in case he could."
She dipped into the hamper for the last time and pulled out a knife with a good big blade. Roger was off with it at once, trying it on the trees. "Now I can make blazes, just like Titty," he shouted.