bronko22000

I had a Barlow knife. That heavy main blade was great for whittling. I used it to make many a homemade bow form willow branches.

ronlaughlin

We played a game called 'Stretch' on the school playground during recess, and also before school. Can't really recall the 'rules'. Just remember throwing our knives, and sticking them in the ground and the opponent had to stretch his foot out to the knife. Kinda recall, we had to stick the knife in the ground close to the foot of the opponent, and then he had to stretch his foot to the stuck blade, or some such thing. Winner was the last man standing, so it seems one couldn't just stick the knife a way out yonder. Seems i recall some kind of 'honor' to avoid sticking the knife into the opponent's foot.

Myself, i kinda recall i quit playing when i discovered the blade of my knife was dulled by sticking it into the ground. To bad i didn't have the diamond stones then, that i have now, and/or the money to purchase such a thing. Right now my 'carry' knife is a Case with a single non-stainless blade , that one opens with one hand. Never will i forget when i discovered how brittle the stainless blade was, on a new pretty knife. Today, one kinda has to search for a pocket knife that doesn't have a stainless blade, but they are plentiful, and easy to find, if one looks.

Semisane

Here are the "mumbly-peg" rules we played by.

Two guys stood facing each other with their feet together. Each would throw his knife to stick in the ground as close as possible to his own foot, then move that foot next to the knife. Keeping that position, the knife was thrown again, with each throw spreading the feet wider. The first guy who could not stretch his feet wide enough to contact the knife lost. Or if your knife did not stick up, you lost. Then the winner, holding the tip of his knife blade, used the handle to drive an ice cream stick (the peg) into the ground as far as he could and the loser had to pull out the stick with his teeth (the mumbly). Of course, the game is played on soft ground - best after a rain.

(Aren't off-topic posts fun! I love this forum.)

Hey! It rained. Let's play mumbly-peg.

cayugad

I drove my poor old mother crazy with pocket knives. She used to confiscate them from me when she could catch me with one. Most of them were Barlow because the little store down the road sold Barlow knives and I could afford them. My mother never liked the idea of me walking around with knives, but she finally gave in and just told me not to cut myself. When I was about 24 years old the (ex) wife and I were visiting the folks and the women were looking for all the embarrassing things about me when I was a young kid that mothers save.. (you know the ones.. photographs of me making muscles, in swim trunks, short cut hair, valentines to mother we had to make in first grade...).. anyway my mother came out of the back storage bedroom with a cigar box and handed it to me. Inside were seven pocket knives. She always told me she threw them away, but I should have known better. My mother never threw ANYTHING away.

Semisane

That's great Cayugad. A box of memories.

I had bunches of pocket knives. My grandfather (Dad's father) was a cop. Anytime he confiscated a knife from a drunk in the French Quarter one of the grandkids got it.

My favorite was a two-bladed Case with a drop point on one end and a Sheepsfoot on the other.

SuperKirby

My 5 year old has been asking for a pocket knife for awhile. After reading this I reckon maybe on my next day off it's time to go get him a pocket knife (with a few rules of course.)

RobertSubnet

+1

I was too young for it but I have heard stories of guys who used to bring rifles/shotguns to use on the school range.

Agree that the "entertainment" industry shares responsibility for what has happened to our society. There is no way a person who actively consumes the stuff that passes for entertainment today cannot be effected by the sex, violence and profanity.

Muley Hunter

We all had knives, but look at us now. We kill animals, and cut them up.

Blackpowdersmoke

Ironically, this incident happened in the same school district in which I went to school 12 yrs. When I was in high school, we had a "Sportsman's Club" as an extracurricular activity. For 8 weeks during the fall semester we would meet every Friday after school (weather permitting) at the local rod & gun club for a shoot. I can remember many times getting on the bus in the morning with my .22 or shotgun.

We had to leave our gun up front with the bus driver and take it to the office when we got to school but we were allowed to keep our ammo in our locker. We had a school van driven by the teacher that headed up the activity to haul us to the shooting range after classes were over. The only thing we had to worry about was getting a ride home when the shoot was over.

And yes, we ALL had pocket knives. It's sad to think that this way of life is gone from us forever.

BPS

WV Hunter

I agree, the world we live in sucks now.

A little over 20yrs ago I was at Va Tech and had a rifle, shotgun, and compound bow in my dorm room closet. I'd go hunting whenever I had free time. Tons of public land a stones throw away from campus. Never had an issue, and everyone knew it was there. Funny thing...I wasn't even worried it would get stolen.

Last year a kid in my state got expelled from highschool for shooting an airsoft ball at a classmate through a straw (aka spitball) ... some over zealous liberal pansies called it a "weapon". Un-freaking-believeable. What I can't understand is how anyone can agree with this kind of BS.