Yup.  No dirt at all back then.   All that cleaning stuff came along much later.   

There's an old country ballad, I think by Willie Nelson (not certain).  But it's about a cowboy, sitting in a bar, and some biker starts razzing him about his hat, the biker even goes so far as to threaten to knock the hat off the cowboy's head.  The cowboy tells the story of every item, where he got the hat, the hatband, etc.  At the end, he looks at the biker, and says something along the lines of, "If that vest means as much to you, as this hat means to me, best you just leave it alone."  So, yeah, we tend to hold onto things, because of the memories.

Yep. I have a Dillon Aero gunbelt that I wear daily because it's a hand me down from dear old Dad. It's old, worn, and the brass has become green with verdigris. He had it hanging in his closet, unused these days, because he "outgrew" it in his 30's I think.

On the other end of the spectrum, we also had a family friend whom was an older gentleman and fellow gun nut. I didn't know him real well, due to illness taking him when we only knew each other for a couple years, but he had no children at all. When he passed, I purchased his every day carry Glock 23 to help his wife with funds. I don't shoot or carry it often, but I keep it tucked away in the back of the safe just for sentimentality. He seemed like a really cool dude, we just didn't have much time to get acquainted.

That's the one.

I agree that the field of auto knife design has made some significant progress but most weak designs ( old or new ) are that way because they were designed around an idea that may, or may not align with what the end user has in mind.  I have several folding knives that are hell for strong and have served me well over the years.  The only automatic I would put in that category is a big, beefy handful by Charlie Ochs. 

Back in the day automatics ( "switchblades" in the parlance of the time ) were considered an essential part of the "modern" office.  They occupied a place of honor alongside the typewriter and the fountain pen and the Gregg Ruled shorthand notebook.  Secretaries swore by them and occasionally at them and they were so common they were sold at dime stores and sometimes included in large orders of office supplies as "freebies" from the suppliers.  Friction folders also found favor in the office desk drawer but those little automatics were quite popular. 

"Knife Rights"  (   https://kniferights.org  )  was an organization formed about fifteen years ago for the express purpose of doing for knives what the various gun rights organizations were doing for firearms.  To date they have been pretty damned successful for a small, recently formed organization.  I attribute that to the vision of the founder and a lot of hard work on his part.  He was a neighbor of mine twenty years ago and we used to talk about his idea a good bit.  He got this off the ground shortly after relocating for better employment and it has, apparently, grown to become his full time job.  His name id Doug Ritter and if you do a web search you will find a lot of info about a really interesting character. 

Good news from Ohio then.      Welcome back.   

Agreed.  I never met Mr. Ochs but the " 'chute knife " I have is one of those like yours.  Good kit, for sure.   I'm still looking around for the best combination of features on either an automatic or one of the spring assisted flippers.  So far nothing has convinced be to part with actual any actual money - but then I have the " 'chute knife " to compare them to .  .  .   .

 

Yup.  Boker has been good kit for a lot of years.  The one I had hoped to see in person is that new(ish) rendition of the Benchmade Osborn folder with automatic opening.  Those have always been attractive designs and now the push button opening makes them even better IMO.  They are a bit spendy though.   

Have you ever wandered over to the AAPK site?   They have a whole section there devoted to automatic openers for sale.  Some new stuff, some junk, but also some pretty nice older pieces not often found on today's market.  Might be worth a look if you haven't seen it.   

https://allaboutpocketknives.com