The Art of Manliness: A Beginner’s Guide to Whittling.
Lost art. Time was, you’d see a kid or a man leaned up against a storefront waiting for someone, knife out, whittling on a stick to pass the time. Often just carving it down to nothing, but sometimes crafting something beautiful. Now all I see in Santa Fe are bored husbands waiting outside the tourist bling stores frowning and squinting at their smartphones.
And yet, could we ever go back? Having a knife out in public would be considered outrageous behavior now, reason to call the cops, I suspect. We’ve become a very fearful culture, in many ways.
Comments:
I find your average person doesn’t know the difference between a ‘switchblade’ and a ‘lockback’. Therefore all lockback pocket knives get the ‘switchblade’ horror treatment ("You’re not letting your child buy one of THOSE are you?").
I have a Gerber Paraframe II I carry around, esp. on photo shoots. Whenever I slip it out, it draws gasps. Very light, slides into a pocket easily (and slides back out *way* too easily).
You can still buy fully automatic Benchmades over the counter in Arizona.
http://www.benchmade.com/
If you have reason to be in Phoenix one of my favorite places is Shooter’s World
http://www.azshootersworld.com/go2/phoenix_firearms_shooting_range.cfm
Sad that, but true.
A few weeks back knives came up in a discussion with the youngest. I advised him to purchase the iconic 110 Buck. He ended up hauling me to the store with him as he is ‘only 17’.