I’m one of those guys who always has a knife on them. I mean if I am up, moving, and got clothes on there is a knife on me. Either my belt or my pocket and sometimes both. A knife is something that is totally personal. We can argue the benefits of folding pocket knives, lock backs with pocket clips, fixed blade knives or whatever else you could possibly come up with. But it comes down to what we personally like and think is valuable.

 In my own opinion a person who carries a knife is someone who can generally fix something if it breaks, change a tire, clean fish, skin game, and generally is useful. My grandfathers and father have always carried knives. In fact, I not only have knives owned by my grandfathers, I have a couple from 2 of my great grandfathers. 

One of them was Poppa Quintrell. Now he died long before I was born, but he was the son of a Welsh immigrant who came here to work in the Copper mines in Ducktown, Tenn. back in the 1870s. There’s a lot of family folklore about his uncles and great uncles being somewhat roguish… And even one being sent to Australia because he was too young to hang they thought. But Poppa Quintrell was a miner and farmer. My first cousin Wallace has his 12 gauge shotgun and I have a very old Barlow knife that belonged to him. Now much like him everyone loved his wife from all I have heard and thought he was a bit hard to deal with… My wife can relate.

Now my paternal grandfather was a cabinet maker, a WWII Pacific theatre vet (a SEABEE who made the landings at Saipan and Okinawa), and an avid hunter. I have several knives from him including a Case Trapper knife with the belt sheath that he used to teach me how to skin my first deer. That knife has since been used to skin many a hog, deer, turkey, squirrel, rabbit, and birds for me, my friends and my kids. That knife carries with it such meaning and love that I can still feel Granddaddy with me when I use it. 

Another couple of knives came from my maternal grandfather (whom I have written about often). I called him Pop. He was a big man from Fannin County who served in the Pacific in the Army Air Corp. Pop would often say he loved work, he could watch it all day! He was known to just take off visitin’ folks all over and drinking coffee with his buddies. I have several small pocketknives from Case and Boker that belonged to him. He loved to cook and bird hunt. Some of my first hunting memories are following him around for quail and grouse. 

Now when it comes to myself and today, I keep knives around all the time. I have given all my children knives and taught them to use them, except for our youngest of course. A young man I have taken hunting and fishing often was given one of my grandfathers Buck knives when he started really hunting and after his college graduation. A knife is a gift that is special and carries much more meaning than most people understand. My best friends and I give each other knives for special occasions or for special hunts or trips. A knife should mean something. It should have a story. Just like the people who carry them. 

Outdoors columnist James Pressley can be reached at pressleyoutdoors@gmail.com .