This was was my Granddad's Boker pocket knife.

He would ask me if I wanted a bite of an apple. What kid didn’t want that?   I’ll peel it he said.  The peel is good for you, but today I don’t want to work that hard at chewing. ( apple peel cut away)

He would wipe the blade off on the leg of his overalls Not sure that was the cleanest place - but I wanted some apple.      

He would start telling a story,  I was waiting… he took his time.

I learn to wait on the apple, heard I lot of stories that way. 

as he carved away or whittled at the apple peel.  

There is difference you know between whittling and carving  

Carving is a designed process,  takes time, orchestrated  gouges and strokes following a  blueprinted  plan with a fancy set of carving tools- precise, measured and polite, forethought for making something of importance.  

Whittling is picking up a stick and  many times using a hand-me-down pocket knife to simply kill time, rock, sit, sip and visit while turning out shavings until someone says “hey look what you did to that stick” I like it, let me have it..  I’ll set it in my kitchen window?  

Both carving and whittling  have creative historical roots.

Both are time honored.

One is up town- the other- is down home

One is fine arts- the other - arts are just fine 

One is up tight- the other- loose and forgiving

One seems sophisticated- the other is neighborly and gathered  

By my own style and grand dads words- I am a whittler.

Whittling  is killing time pleasingly while time is always killing everything else.  This is heart cedar, I love the fact that God made the sweetest smelling wood right in the middle of the tree and you have to whittle to get there.

Like life you learn in the process.   

Always carry a pocket knife, carry a good one.

You might need to peel an apple, or whittle a stick while you listen to a freind.

this is the way my granddad did it.

wait for it… the crowd goes wild…   

If you have Pocket Knife questions drop us a note, tell us about your favorite hand me down. I still give my boys pocket knives every Christmas. No surprise really just good memories to share later with their kids.  Don’t forget to write.