Truly I Am One Lucky Bastard

Yannow, after all that happened and my life starts to settle, I cannot help but reflect on the generosity of so many people in and in the fringes of my life. This small town has really come through for me as well as many of you on the internet, and some of long time friends have gone above and beyond the call. Not only cash, which I sorely needed, but places to stay, furniture, cookware, towels, sheets, dinnerware, you name it, I've gotten some pretty awesome stuff. Like Corelle dishes. Bath and kitchen towels - quality stuff, unlike the linty stuff I buy from WallyWorld. Leather furniture. Art for the walls. You name it.

One gift really stands out, though, because it's not what you'd expect. A longtime pal called me up and wanted to meet me - and he, his father and grandmother gave me a substantial chunk of money. But that wasn't all.

Scott told me that he knew I'd lost all my knives, and that I'd probably be needing a good one. Just to recount, I'd lost a bowie collection - including some custom stuff by Gil Hibben, a KaBar, and other admittedly el cheapo fantasy blades. Also - the inevitable samurai sets, some auto opening ones of different varieties, some collector trappers, a straight razor collection, all kinds of sharpening stuff (including a grinder with paper wheels - the best way IMHO), as well as some nice Forschner and Henckels kitchen goodies (although some of my replacements are Chicago Cutlery, which ain't nuttin' to sneeze at), and a bunch of pocketknives of various manufacturers and patterns.

He had purchased this older Case XX Sodbuster (buffalo horn scales) from eBay, and sent it in to Case for a tune-up. Let me tell you this baby is sharp. Tight, too, and plenty of snap. It's been damn useful around here.

And he wasn't the only one, but I have a policy not to mention that I may or may not own particular items online, especially considering I had a bunch of them stolen several years ago. It's none of the Algore's Innertube's bidness. But someone (rather, a family of someones) made sure I would be protected. Stylishly. 'Nuff said.

At any rate, it's great to have such fine friends who know me too well, and just thinking about it makes me all misty and runny and mushy. I love you all.

Harvey King Knives

I've got a couple custom knives that frankly have some of the best craftsmanship you'll ever run across. They were made by Harvey King, of Harvey King Knives. When I purchased them, he lived in Eskridge, KS. He now lives in Alta Vista, KS. If you ever go to the Chisholm Trail Antique Gun Association's biannual gun shows in Wichita, you will generally find Harvey there with a pretty decent selection of his wares. By the way, those shows are the biggest and the best of the gun shows offered in Wichita and they are located at the Kansas Coliseum.

At any rate, this was the first knife I bought from Harvey - who not only is an artist in knives, but a heck of a nice guy as well. I haven't seen him in several years, but he's always remembered me. The thing that struck me was how perfect these are - I've seen some pretty rough looking knives for sale in the same price range at gunshows in the past.


My good camera is in my truck and I'm stuck with the elderly "first gen" pichertaker, but you go to war with the equipment you have. I did set it for max resolution, so click for bigger. This one is a good gut knife - I've done one deer and it still doesn't need sharpening. This picture came out pretty well and you can see the laser etched King logo on the ricasso. The wood is plasticized with a burl pattern. Harvey uses a red liner between his handle scales and the tang, and also along the hilt. The rivets are flush and polished smooth - they cannot be felt at all. This is a Model 2 - as can be seen on the handmade sheath. On the opposite side of the ricasso is the serial number - in this case 00-018 - the eighteenth knife Harvey made in 2000. For the life of me, I couldn't get a decent picture of that side - but I was doing this inside with varying levels of light and I'm a photography noob.


This one is his Small Game Knife with a hilt - if you look on his webpage you'll see he offers it without a hilt as well. This one has bone scales, and the serial number is 04-001, which means it was the first knife he made in 2004. Again, he has the red liner beneath the scales and hilt, the seamless feel to all the joints and rivets, and the handmade sheath.

Both knives are extremely comfortable to hold and use, plus they keep an edge very well. You can get these knives in different configurations and handle materials. These are multigenerational family heirlooms - too bad I don't have any heirs. I'm sure that someone will be enjoying these tools elevated to an art form long after I'm gone.