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originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
A long time ago, Dad and I went camping. I forget what the occasion was (there was usually something). We were pulling our Great Divide 22' trailer through the mountains of Wyoming.
At one point we stopped in the Hoback Canyon for lunch. Dad always carried a Buck 102 on his belt. It was exquisitely sharp. In fact, he sharpened that knife to the point of wearing it out. I always carried a Buck 110 (folder). I remember I even had my hiking boots on. I don't think we were going anywhere that remote really, maybe just Yellowstone (no biggie, for me, then). I remember Mom wasn't there; we were meeting her somewhere.
Dad always loved his sammiches. He just loved a good sammich. He'd buy nice salami and always a tomato or two. Always the best bread. I think he enjoyed the prep of a sammich almost as much as eating it. He got that old worn Buck 102 out and started slicing those tomatoes down. It was sharp. He cut the hard salami down into wafer thin slices, and asked what sandwich I would like. (well, the choice was pretty obvious). I never really even liked hard salami that much, but it was okay.
Dad passed away in 2014 (the morning of his 90th birthday). In a drawer Mom was cleaning out, she said "here's a knife Dad wanted you to have". It was that same old sharpened down Buck 102. He'd sharpened that knife so many times it was literally worn down to nearly nothing. But there was more, there was another Buck 102. It had a yellow post-it note on the leather sheath which said "new". It was one of the last Buck 102's ever made with the leather sheaths, and I'd bought it for him many years before. I'd hoped he'd retire that old 102 he had. All those years he kept that knife "new". Why, I don't know, maybe just waiting for that right moment to use it once again in Hoback Canyon slicing tomatoes and salami to make one of his favorite 'sammiches'.
I have a couple other Buck 102 Woodsman knives just like it, leather sheath and all. For the life of me I cannot bring myself to strap one on my belt. I just can't. And, that old Buck knife, the one sharpened down to nothing...it's legend. Sometimes I just take it out and admire it...for what it represents.
Gawd, I miss that guy!