The awe of a child.

Do you remember? Looking at something it total awe. No other thoughts, just the sheer awesomeness of what your eyes tell you that you are to witness. The sea for the first time. That T-rex skeleton in the museum. Last night my three year old daughter had one of those moments.

The Moon. We as adults know all about it. Big rock out in space orbiting our planet. It is not made of cheese, nor does it make its own light. It was a very big deal when Neil Armstrong set foot on it for the first time.

My daughter knows none of this yet. Last night we were out in the backyard just past sunset. The Moon was coming into and out of the cloud cover. It was pretty cool looking, so I pointed it out to her. She did not pause. She simply invited the Moon down to play in her sandbox. The Moon for its part, went back behind the clouds. Mia watched for a second, then started calling to the Moon.

"Come back Moon! Play in my box!"

The Moon came back into view, but did not come any closer to the sandbox. I tried to explain to her that the Moon had to stay up in the sky, and could not come down to play.

Mia tried to jump up to catch the Moon. That did not work, so she tried to get to it by climbing up to the top of her slide.

Still too high.

She went down the slide, and just stood in the yard looking up at the Moon dancing in the clouds.

At that moment, a thought came to me;

When did mankind notice the Moon, and what did we think at first? I bet one of my ancestors did the same thing my daughter just did. I'm told that human brains today are pretty much like the brains of our caveman forbearers, it is just we today have the knowledge of all the people that have come before us in our memory banks. One can imagine our ancestors stumbling through life with only a child's knowledge of the world. It was not an easy life, and we know they lived hard, and died young, in a world that was cold, dark, and filled with monsters, both real and imagined.

But I know they liked the Moon. How? Because my daughter does. That has been passed from father to child since we became what we call human. She is simply the latest link in the chain. A chain that we cannot find the beginning to, nor see the end of. But we can see the Moon, and feel a little of what was felt, and what will be felt.

Stonehenge to Apollo 11, to beyond and before.

Finally, Mia got cold and wanted to go inside.

"Goodnight Moon!" She said with a wave.

Yeah. Goodnight Tillion, Hunter of the Silver Bow. I hope you did not mind when Neil stuck that flag in you.

Peter Lezard

One of the most amazing posts I have ever read on a forum. My gratitude for this post is immeasurable.

That's so cool Hobbit. Wouldn't it be nice to turn it on and off? I mean... to be able to see things with the eyes of a child. Kind of like when I see a new gun or knife.... oh hell... who am I kidding.... old guns and knives work too.

Thanks guys...

Yeah, old guns do it for me... I had a Winchester 1886 in my hands at the last gun show...Doug Turnball had gone through it, and it as tight as it was when it left the factory sometime about 1910...

I wanted it baaaaaaaaad.

Old knives are cool, but there are so many talented makers around today, and they are so easy to find, that I think this is the golden age for knife nuts. May it never end.

Here, here... I agree wholeheartedly. New or old... it's all good to me. I even get tickled seeing POS knives in a bucket on a hardware store counter. I wonder why that is? I don't want a dollar knife. Do you think it has something to do with my childhood? I used to love to stand at those Sabre or Imperial display racks, or hell even the bubblegum machines, and dream about those fucking knives.

I did pick up a $7 (shipping included) MTech liner lock on eBay a couple of weeks ago though. Damn... it's sharp, well made, the diamond cut in the aluminum scales is somewhat intricate, running from course to fine towards the spine. It fit's well in the hand, 3.5" blade, about 3 oz, nice lines... I've torn it down completely and it looks great. I can't wait to torture test this bastard.

Only thing I don't like is the extreme strength of the pocket clip. That coupled with the aggressive diamond cut, could get very hard on the pocket. I used my dremel and smoothed out some of the diamond cut under the clip and I'm going to bend the clip out slightley. I may have to hit it with the torch or something to soften up some of the hardness. If the blade steel is hardened like this thin little clip is... fuck!



I did this because of the high rating of the "Cheaper Than Dirt, Rough Use Knife" tortured on http://www.knifetests.com/index.html .... I discovered that this was actually an MTech knife. If the steel in all their knives are like this... they would make one hell of a hard-use disposable edc.

I've become a total freaking knife snob. I even piss off myself some days... I've EDCed a Native for so long, that I can't go below that on the cheap scale. I might be replacing it soon with something, but not sure what...I've sure sold a ton of stuff, so I should have the money...Even bought the wife something she wanted so I have some brownie points to burn..

I am devious aren't I?

yea, this is you man....

SoToo wrote:

Here, here... I agree wholeheartedly. New or old... it's all good to me. I even get tickled seeing POS knives in a bucket on a hardware store counter. I wonder why that is? I don't want a dollar knife. Do you think it has something to do with my childhood? I used to love to stand at those Sabre or Imperial display racks, or hell even the bubblegum machines, and dream about those fucking knives.

I did pick up a $7 (shipping included) MTech liner lock on eBay a couple of weeks ago though. Damn... it's sharp, well made, the diamond cut in the aluminum scales is somewhat intricate, running from course to fine towards the spine. It fit's well in the hand, 3.5" blade, about 3 oz, nice lines... I've torn it down completely and it looks great. I can't wait to torture test this bastard.

Only thing I don't like is the extreme strength of the pocket clip. That coupled with the aggressive diamond cut, could get very hard on the pocket. I used my dremel and smoothed out some of the diamond cut under the clip and I'm going to bend the clip out slightley. I may have to hit it with the torch or something to soften up some of the hardness. If the blade steel is hardened like this thin little clip is... fuck!



I did this because of the high rating of the "Cheaper Than Dirt, Rough Use Knife" tortured on http://www.knifetests.com/index.html .... I discovered that this was actually an MTech knife. If the steel in all their knives are like this... they would make one hell of a hard-use disposable edc.

sotoo, was that 1 of the cheap knives you were talking about on knifetests??? in the other thread about the scrap yard DMCG?

No... but it's made by the same people. The knife on knifetests was the "Cheaper Than Dirt, Rough Use Knife". The MTech name isn't on it, but I know it's MTech. I suppose Cheaper Than Dirt bought a shitload from them and wanted to use their name. Anyway... I'm hoping this little bastard can stand up to half the abuse of it's big brother. It scored a 4.5... not bad for a $10 knife.

I wish I could afford to be a knife snob.

Strength wins out for me everytime. I don't abuse my knives like I did when I was younger... but it's sure nice to know that I can. You should see the abuse a fucking Victorinox can be put through. I've really liked Victorinox for an edc for quite sometime... but damn I was surprised. My son and I sat here and tried to destroy one. Batoning wood... sure, gouging through the wood... no problem, the tip didn't break until my son drove it in about 3/4" with a hammer and then pulled to the side, about a good 45 degrees till it snapped clean. I tried to destroy the edge by hammering it through a piece of 3/4" diameter steel tubing (2mm wall thickness), but it was cutting through the tubing and did little to the edge. I then flipped the blade over and started pounding the edge with with the length of tubing and we were just in awe. I drove the edge down the tubing lengthwise with the hammer and that's when it showed a couple of nicks after cutting down about 3/8". I then proceeded to chop at the hammer head with the blade... fuck, no problem. Then we tried twisting the blades out of the liners and cutting up everything we could get our hands on with the scissors. Let me tell you... Victorinox makes some damn sturdy knives. A few strokes on the diamond rod, brought the edge back to shaving, and besides the broken tip, the entire knife is in damn good shape. Fan-fucking-tastic.

Vics take a licking and keep on ticking...and I thought I was rough on mine... :lol:

I'm to point that I would rather go without than buy cheap stuff. Not just knives, but things like beer, and cloths... Yeah, I'm the nut job that would ride my bike to work in the snow with a custom knife in my pocket and a $300 rain coat on my back rather than buy a junker used car. Infreakingsane I tell you.

SoToo - you are a knife snob. a poor knife snob.



but thats better than not being one at all now isnt it.

thekill wrote:

SoToo - you are a knife snob. a poor knife snob.



but thats better than not being one at all now isnt it.

My love of knives is expansive... that's what it is. It ranges from those that are obviously stamped pieces of shit to those that are made from stuff found on other worlds. My grading scale is just as expansive... it ranges from which dollar amount is put on which knife, and whether or not it can cut through stuff that a knife shouldn't be asked to cut through. If a $30 knife will cut through shit that a $300 knife won't.... seems simple enough to me... I can have 10 of the one that can cut through the shit, or bullshit I might say.

Alas, tis true too... one in the living room beside my chair, one in the bedroom beside the bed, one right here beside the computer, one in my pocket, one in my son's pocket, one in my daughter's pocket, one in my wife's purse, one in each glove box in the jeep & car, one in each tool bag in the jeep & car, one in the kitchen drawer... whoops make that about 10 in the kitchen drawer too. Not only is there a folding knife in the kitchen drawer, but nearly all my kitchen knives are Victorinox as well.

Yeah... I guess I'm a bit of a snob... but the money's right and you'd be hard pressed to find this boy without a knife close by. Victorinox... bet ya can't own just one.