Even the cheap imitation Swiss Army knives can come in handy on occasion. This one has a plastic toothpick, tweezers, a combination flat-head screwdriver/nail file, scissors and a small blade.Jim Moore faced a serious dilemma.
He was in an airport in a city he can't remember on one of his many tours with The Animal Band, the wildly popular, kids-oriented outfit he founded three decades ago. He'd forgotten that his pocket knife, which he has carried for more than five decades, was in his pocket.
Charles Sample's favorite pocket knife came from the 1904 World's Fair.Reaching into his pocket at the security checkpoint, he realized that he'd never get it through airport security; he'd have to leave it behind without any guarantee that he could ever get it back.
"It was a Roy Rogers and Trigger knife, and it is one of the few things I have left from when I was really small," Moore says. "I carry that blamed thing around thinking it is a token or something. I've had it since I was about 6."
Moore, who now works at Unum, started carrying the knife back in the days when he would go to the Princess Theatre in South Pittsburg on Saturday mornings to watch Roy Rogers and fellow cowboy film star Gene Autry catch bad guys on the big screen.
"I had that knife in my pocket when I signed my first record deal. I had it in my pocket on every album and tour we did, but I forgot I had it in my pocket in the airport."
As fate would have it, one of the ticket clerks happened to be a former classmate of his daughter's; she took it and returned it to him later.
"I was not about to toss it," Moore says.
Jim Moore, 62, is rarely without his circa-1950s Roy Rogers and Trigger knife.Such is the relationship people can have with their pocket knives. For some, it's sentimental, a gift from a loved one or a treasured memento from childhood. For others, it can be a simple matter of practicality, a tool they use every day. Some use them in their jobs. In either case, the knife can become a familiar friend, a comforting weight in the front pocket.
And it seems to predominantly be a "guy" thing; the only nods to women appear to be pocket knives with pink handles. The website for Knife Depot, a web-only store and information site, lists a folding knife with a pink aluminum handle that says: "This sweet-looking, single-blade, folding pocket knife will make any woman swoon." The word "swoon" doesn't show up in the descriptions of knives aimed at men.
Still, whether it's a small single-blade pen knife that comes out every now and then to cut a tag off a new pair of work gloves or a multi-tool type similar to the one Richard Dean Anderson used on "MacGyver" to whittle a small engine out of a tree limb, a pocket knife is simply handy, say those who carry one regularly.
"A pocket knife is very utilitarian," says Scott Louisell, a local Realtor. "I've carried one at all times for several decades. No heirloom, just a small model that easily fits in my pocket with change and keys."
Pocket Knife Uses• Cutting those plastic tags off new clothing.• Opening a letter.• Cutting up an apple or fresh peach.• Fending off a bear. Just kidding, but who hasn't imagined that they could, or would, if suddenly face-to-face with one.• Going MacGyver in an emergency situation such as being stranded on an island or in a mall parking lot with a car that won't start.• Opening a bottle of wine or beer while camping or tailgating. This is real-world crisis stuff here and a good multi-purpose knife is better than using a rock, which might cause you to spill some of your beverage.Knife history• Folding knives date back to Roman times. Archaeologists have even unearthed a Swiss Army-type knife from around 200 AD that had a spoon, blade, spike, fork, spatula and pick.• The Vikings carried clasp versions that were simple and utilitarian. They went out of favor over the next several centuries, giving way to straight blades carried in sheaths.• In the 1700s, pocket knives returned and became much more complicated with puzzle-type locking mechanisms. Those gave way to the back sprung slip-joint types more familiar to us today.• The penknife came into fashion in the early 1700s and was used to trim quills for writing, hence the name.• The Swiss Army knife as we know it was created by Carl Elsener in 1897 as a way to provide factory jobs in then-lightly industrialized central Switzerland. Elsener called it the "Officers and Sports Knife" and based it on the original Swiss Army-issued knife that could be used to open a can of beans and disassemble a service rifle.Elsener figured out how to add a smaller cutting blade and a corkscrew to the design, then added the familiar cross-and-shield emblem to the grips.
Some pocket knives are fancy with pearl handles and etched designs on the blades; they're designed more for collectors. Others, like a well-made jackknife or penknife, are good for slipping into a pants pocket until they are needed, or for when you are sitting in a rocker whittling a stick. The jackknife has a simple hinge on one end and can sport one or a couple of blades, while the penknife has a hinge on either side and two or three blades.
Then there are the multi-purpose knives like the famous Swiss Army. These have any number of blades but also tools such as scissors, a corkscrew, a saw, a toothpick, tweezers, Phillips and flathead screwdrivers, a leather punch and a can or bottle opener. This is the tool if you fear you might be trapped in a prison yard surrounded by zombies, or are camping and brought a nice cabernet but forgot the opener.
Local artist Daniel Swanger carries an imitation Swiss Army knife that he says "comes in handy with envelope opening and with nail cleaning -- out of sight -- and also the file is useful if a lady friend breaks a fingernail."
Mark Simpson, who works in human resources and IT for local manufacturer, is always prepared with a miniature Swiss Army model. "Just the Boy Scout in me I guess. The little scissors also come in handy."
For Charles Sample, a retired electrical engineer, his favorite pocket knife is a matter of sentiment -- and uniqueness. In the shape of a women's shoe, it's only a little bigger than a quarter. It belonged to his grandmother, who got it at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. While he carries a pocket knife every day, this one is too small for actual use and "would be very easy to lose," he says.
"It has great sentimental value to me. And it does have monetary value, too," he says. "I found on the Internet where one had sold at auction for $123."
Along with his Roy Rogers model, Moore has also carried a small pen knife at various times over the years.
"It was given to me by my great uncle," he says. "It was a Case knife and he had honed it to such a keen edge. I carried it because you never know when you might need to cut a piece of rope or something. It was one of those that just felt good in my hand."
He doesn't think the Roy Rogers knife was ever sharp enough to cut much more than soft butter, but he did use it for a tightening screws on his bike.
But, the Roy Rogers pocket knife is more than a handy, albeit dull, tool.
"I'm afraid if I don't have it, something bad will happen. Plus, it's a cool-looking knife."
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.