Hobo ware

Ryan Mooney

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So there seems to be this new trend of "treen ware", mine mostly isn't so fancy. While on our last jaunt we had left the plasticware in the hotel (we often make at least lunch on travel, and often dinner as well) so lacked tools to make the nut butter and jelly sandwiches. Not wanting to get jelly into the crevasses of my pocket knife I took liberties with a nearby branch and whipped up a couple of hobo ware spreading sticks. They were also sharp enough to cut a turkey sandwich in half the next day which surprised the boss even more than it did me.

Would have been slightly better without any pith, but serviceable just the same :D

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I always carry a pocket knife. Great tool. The younger generation doesn't seem to carry them like my generation does. But I always get asked if I have my pocket knife when they need something done that requires one. My grand children are fascinated with my little collection of pocket knives and I have given them each one, but they don't take care of them and lose them. They can get their own now.
 
I always carry a pocket knife. Great tool. The younger generation doesn't seem to carry them like my generation does. But I always get asked if I have my pocket knife when they need something done that requires one. My grand children are fascinated with my little collection of pocket knives and I have given them each one, but they don't take care of them and lose them. They can get their own now.
The younger generation gets suspended from school for carrying one these days. It's a shame. We used to play mumbley-peg at recess. The stretch version was our favorite.
"In the variant known as "Stretch", the object of the game is to make the other player fall over from having to spread his legs too far apart. The players begin facing each other some distance apart with their own heels and toes touching, and take turns attempting to stick their knives in the ground outboard of the other player's feet. If the knife sticks, the other player must move his foot out to where the knife stuck while keeping the other foot in place, provided the distance between foot and knife is about twelve inches or less. Play continues until one player falls or is unable to make the required stretch."
 
One of my Grandmother's stories was about having to have pocket knives in school to sharpen their pencils. However the girls wore dresses, so they had to borrow a pocket knife from a boy. Well one of the boys always offered, but the girls had to reach into his front pocket for it. Of course he had cut the pocket out and didn't where underwear. :)

Nice job on the hoboware Ryan. :thumb:
 
I too have always carried a Swiss Army or similar pocket knife in my pocket, except now I have to put it in my checked baggage when flyhing or in the car when going into historic or some government buildings. I have always thought of my pocket knife as a tool, not a weapon, and when I was a kid, if I got into a fight the knife would stay in my pocket. We used to play mumbledy-peg, too, although where I lived we called it 'knifey.'

I have shocked some younger people by producing my SA knife to use the screwdrivers or scissors. They don't get the concept of carrying a useful tool. To them a knife is always a weapon, but they grew up in a milieu where you could be suspended for taking a paring knife to school in your lunchbox, or charged with sexual assault for mischievously kissing a girl on the cheek. It`s a strange and not particularly brave new world.

Those spreaders look like a real Boy Scout solution.
 
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I had a rather long conversation about the pocket knife issue with my one cousin from Australia where apparently you aren't allowed to carry a pocket knife at all. Her take was that you would only carry one if you were "trouble", my take was how was I going to do impromptu whittling without one! :dunno: Her brother on the other hand is more of a bush man (whereas she's a bit of a town girl) and was firmly on my side of the discussion.

Posted this sort of as an aside on the thought that we see a lot of fancy woodworking, but sometimes the simple things are quite useful as well and its nice to not loose sight of that so perhaps sometimes showing a little "primitive" hacks will help encourage folks to not get to hung up on over doing things sometimes. In the end these worked better than the plastic knives we'd brought so we used them pretty much exclusively the rest of the trip :D
 
The younger generation gets suspended from school for carrying one these days. It's a shame. We used to play mumbley-peg at recess. The stretch version was our favorite.
"In the variant known as "Stretch", the object of the game is to make the other player fall over from having to spread his legs too far apart. The players begin facing each other some distance apart with their own heels and toes touching, and take turns attempting to stick their knives in the ground outboard of the other player's feet. If the knife sticks, the other player must move his foot out to where the knife stuck while keeping the other foot in place, provided the distance between foot and knife is about twelve inches or less. Play continues until one player falls or is unable to make the required stretch."

We use to play that all the time when I was in school. Kids just don't get to know what real fun is these day. It's okay to watch all the trash on TV and play those horrible video game to trash their minds, but good clean fun, never! Ahh, but we deviate for the purpose of this thread. Good pocket knife, a piece of wood and a campfire. Good stories being told.... the good times.
 
I seldom go anywhere without a knife in my pocket. As I sit here, I have three - a Leatherman tool in my left pocket; a Swiss Army 'Gentleman's' knife in my right pocket; and a Kershaw spring-assisted clipped to the edge of my right pocket. They're all tools - not weapons - and hardly a day goes by that I don't use at least one - and usually all three - of them. Used two so far today, but it's still early...:D
 
I always have a knife on me (save for airplanes and court houses). I've carried a variety over the years. For much of high school I carried a 4" Buck Folding Hunter on my belt (everywhere, including at school). When I was a construction inspector, the Leatherman was on the belt every day. These days I carry a little Leatherman Micra in my pocket, but have a Victorinox multi-tool that I'll carry if the occasion warrants.

A quick Leatherman story...I got my first Leatherman shortly after they first hit the market. Not long afterward, I was flying with my friend Ken (the pilot) in a hot air balloon over Albuquerque and we'd emptied one propane tank so it was time to switch the fuel line to the second tank. These tanks had quick-connect fittings, and Ken was having trouble getting the hose attached because the ball that's part of the valve was frozen. He was trying to press the ball down to free it up, and not having any luck with his fingers. I handed him my Leatheman, and without even opening it up, he just pressed the steel grips on the ball and got it unstuck. Once we got things sorted out, I gave him the grand tour of all the gizmos on the Leatherman, and he was impressed. We flew again the next week, and he was proud to show me his new Leatherman. As far as I know, he never flew without it again.

Some segments of the younger generation (20 to 30 year olds) do carry knives. My three nephews are in that age range and they are avid carriers and users of lock-blade folders.
 
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