Have you ever found something that you forgot you had, something that suddenly fits a current need, maybe even something of value? Or been handed a forgotten object that you didn't even know was in the family? For a Galoot, that would be a tool, a tool that you didn't have to buy off of Ebay or pursue in the flea markets and garage sales. The Porch archives have many stories like this. My own account is of the rediscovery of my Boker pocket knife. I bought the knife in the spring of 1972, to use in setting up Vinton County Camp (Episcopal Church camp in SE Ohio) for the summer. I bought the knife in the Farmer's Hardware store in Gallipolis, Ohio and used it during the camp setup. I was proud of that knife, the precise click when the polished blades snapped open and the fit and finish. I remember accidentally touching it with fertilizer coated fingers and the shame I felt at having to clean the rust off of the high-carbon steel blades the next day. Rust never sleeps. A few weeks later I went back to the camp to work as a counselor for my third (and last) year. I met my future wife about fifteen minutes after I exited the car. I remember what she was wearing, I remember the color of her eyes... Yep, I was struck by Cupid's arrow, center-shot through the heart on the gravel lane leading up to the administration building. The Boker knife was in my pocket, already forgotten...
From: Tom Price Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2001 Subject: The Boker Shrine To: OldTools Esteemed Galoots, I built myself a tool chest a couple of years ago and have been working out of it since. I guess you end up with certain tools that you use fairly often, no matter what you might think you need when you start out on this whole hand tool experience. One of these is a little Boker 'Tree' brand pocket knife that I've had since 1972. I sort of forgot about it for a decade or so and came across it a couple of years back when I was looking around for a general shop knife to cut leather, whittle, sharpen pencils and so forth. Up out of a drawer came the Boker, all stuffed with pocket lint and maybe a little rusty in patches. Well, I was just tickled pink to have found the thing. I cleaned it up, oiled it, ScarySharped it and put it to work. Only problem was that I didn't have a place for it and the danged thing kept disappearing into the bowels of my tool chest or the tool tray on my bench. I decided to make a french-fitted fixture to hold the Boker and installed it into the lid of the tool chest. So I guess the tool chest has become something of a shrine for the Boker knife. Boker was bought out by Wiss and the knife is a commemorative model with a fancy gold-filled etch on the main blade and two medallions, one Boker, one Wiss, inset into the handle. Got it in 1972, the year I met SWMBO. Good times... And I still have this predilection for saws, all for use in my shop (ahem). I like those handle fixtures with the swiveling lock doohickie to hold my backsaws. With a tilting sawtill for the handsaws, the lid to the chest has 9 saws in it. Plus a spokeshave and the Boker. I got a monkey on my back and his first name is Disston. **************************** Tom Price (TomPrice@aol.com) Will Work For Tools