Gear and Stuff: March 2017

Paul Kruger Knife:
This knife was well used when I got it from my dad as a small laatie. He again, got it from his dad. Myself did not use it much as I rather kept it as a treasured piece. I lost this knife somewhere/somehow and it was a very sad day. About 25 years later my dad found the knife again while working in his garden. It's got Paul Kruger and Generaal De Wet's faces engraved on it, but somehow the name Paul Kruger knife got stuck.

Eendracht maakt Macht - Something we as Afrikaners struggled to do, but when we do, we are a nation to be reckoned with !

Jan van Riebeeck Knife:

Many years later I got this knife from a friend (David Bestbier) and it's got Jan van Riebeeck engraved on it. Its got a date stamped on it: 1652 - 1952. I recon this knife was produced as a 300 year commemoration, which means that the knife must be 65 years old (2017). Definitely a piece of Afrikaner history and I'm sure it cut it's fare share of meat from lamb chop bones.

Abrie van Zyl Knife:

While working on the farm Middelpos in Citrusdal, oom Abrie (the owner) gave me this knife. He took me into what he called his "Argief" and handed me the knife from one of the shelves. This knife will always remind me of oom Abrie and good memorable years on Middelpos.

BULBRO Knife:

This knife I also got from my dad, but only many years after I left home. This knife was forever in my dads bedside cupboard and I have an imprinted memory of opening the drawer of his bedside cupboard and seeing the knife lying there. Think my dad used it a couple of times for cutting biltong but it haven't seen hard work.

My Mother's clay knife: (small white one)

When my mom was a child, she got this knife and some clay at a petrol station as a handout. She used the knife to shape the clay animals she and her brothers build. She carried this knife on a string around her neck. The red knife is what we all know as the Bank handout knives. I use it for size reference with some of the knives. The clay knife is really small, but a fully functional folder.

Miniture knives from my Mother in Law:

Definitely the smallest knives I've got and they are also fully functional.
The small white knife, my mother in law got from her grandmother. Her name was Sarah and she always carried this knife with her, in her handbag or in her apron.
The small little blue knife my mother in law demanded from my father in law when he asked her to marry him in Aliwal Noord. He only bought the ring months later, so you can call this an engagement knife. She was in love with this little blue knife from the moment she laid eyes on it.

Oupa Poen Biltong Knife:

My Father in Law took up knife making as a hobby. This was one of the first folding knives he made. It's a perfect Biltong cutter and many pieces were cut by me with this knife. Beautiful handcrafted knife with excellent blade and "ebbehout" handle scales. Very solid build and will last for generations.

Israel Knife:
Not a great knife, but I bought it as a memorabilia of my visit to Israel. The blade itself is not that bad, but there is no lock action for the blade and the handle wood is iffi.

Okapi Knife:

It's not a knife collection if you don't have an Okapi knife in the collection. Proudly made in South Africa, it carries the title of the knife responsible for the most stabbing deaths in this country. As kids we had many different styled Okapi knives as it was very inexpensive, so no wonder my first knife was an Okapi knife.

Fernandez Albacete Knife:

Bought this knife in Valencia Spain at a street market. Beautiful handcrafted knife with a very unique and solid locking mechanism. All Fernandez's knifes have exactly the same look, but differ in size just like the Opinel knives.

Buck Fishing Knife:

The grip on this knife is incredible ! This knife served me well on many Kayak fishing trips (even the worst one). It killed and opened many fish and when I'm on a fishing expedition, I want this knife with me more than anything else. Truly a workhorse and well used.

Swedish Victorinox:

My oldest sister Wilmarette, bought me this knife in Sweden. Over there all the Victorinox knives have blue scales. For a long time I carried this knife and used it as a multitool. The scissors are great, as well as the small screwdriver.

Victorinox Solo:

This must be the knife model I had the most samples off and also carried the most, especially in my early days as a citrus technical adviser. The long blade is favorable for cutting fruit. I took off the red handle scales of some and replaced it with different material. The nicest one had handle scales I made from a piece of Wild Olive wood I picked up in the Cedarberge. The one in the pic below, I used a type of white epoxy putty to construct the scales.

Victorinox Pioneer:
This must be my leased used knife. It's so simple and beautiful, I just had to have one. This is a perfect little EDC knife and in combination with a big solid blade knife, it would also make an excellent survival combo.

Leatherman H501:

I rate this knife as one of my best folders. The blade sharpen to an incredible edge and the handle grips very well. I carry this knife permanently in my Step Out Bag. You can perform surgery with this knife if its properly sharpened.

Brits Agri Knife:

When we moved to Brits/Rustenburg I had the need to carry a little bit more knife than a fruit cutting knife. This was my first EDC in the Brits area. Luckily I never had to use it for self defense. The knife is heavy and wear your pants down.

Buck Technical Knife:

My second EDC knife in the Brits/Rustenburg area. It had a piece of serrated blade close to the handle, but I ground that out. This is a mean cutting machine. This was also the first knife I carried with a clip. Today I almost can't carry a knife without a clip.

Gerber Knife:

Small technical knife with a clip that I couldn't resist buying. Carried for a while, but just to small for my style of knife using. Great little knife to carry as a backup in a bag, car or whatever.

John Deer Knife:
This knife I got from Francois Reyneke as a present in the early days of the Mosplaas Citrus development. When we planted the first trees I handed the knife to workers to cut open the black plastic bags the trees came in. At the end of each day the knife would be very very blunt because it cut through the plastic bags into sand. Each night I would sharpen this blade to get it ready for the next day. This knife had a real tough life, but played an important part in the first 75 Ha's plantings in March 2009 of the Mosplaas Citrus project.

Old Budding knife:

This knife I also got from Francois Reyneke. It was his dads knife and was well used from reworking orchards.

Mosplaas Budding knife:

On the Mosplaas Citrus project we also had to change from cultivars that didn't work to new promising cultivars. This involved cutting the trees back to the rootstock, let the rootstock form new shoots and then budding the shoots with the new cultivar. We started this with 8 women we taught the skill and also 8 of these Felco knives. This specific knife was used by the best budding worker we had, Jo-Ann. The knifes were numbered in the beginning and she had this No. 1 knife. It had to be sharpened regularly, because the success of budding relies on a very sharp knife. Unfortunately you can only sharpen a knife that much. This knife is very special to me and serve as a reminder of the hard work that was done on the Mosplaas Citrus project.

Joseph Rodgers B61:

My grandparents each had a Joseph Rodgers pocket knife that was carried everywhere in my grandmother's handbag. These knives were used with style to cut meat from a "braai tjoppie". Sadly I could not get hold of these knifes after they died, so I bought myself one of these timeless pieces. This knife stays in my motorcycle tank bag, just in case my journeys take me past a piece of biltong or a "skaaptjop braai" at the side of the road. Thin but strong blade which sharpen to an excellent edge.

K'roo Knives:

On the blade forums I met this guy called Willem. Willem farm with sheep in the Willowmore area, not that far from my own hometown. He started knife making as a hobby and absolutely just excelled in it. I love his designs so much, that over the years I bought a couple of knives from him. He signature his knives K'roo, referring to the area Karoo he farms in.

K'roo Friction Folder:

K'roo "Moby Dick" Biltong Knife:

This knife has warthog tusk scales and for me this is the most raw, natural and overall best handcrafted knife I owe. The shape resembles a whale and therefor the nickname Moby Dick.

K'roo Hunter Skinner Folder:
When I first saw pictures of this knife, I just had to have one. In the end I ordered 2 of them, one for me and one for Tiaan my son. The laminated micarta scales are just awesome.

CRKT M21-02:

If you ask my friend Jors to pick one folder to carry for all applications, he would choose this knife.

It's a beast in size, double blade lock and the blade sharpen very good. With this knife I carved wooden teaspoons but also split firewood when we forgot an ax. The shape of the blade is also my favorite shape and the knife is build like a tank ! For a One-Knife-Do-It-All you can't go wrong with this knife.

Spyderco Paramilitary 2:

Spyderco Tenacious:

Kershaw Black Gulch:

Kershaw Speedsafe:

Omnia Victorinox Knife:

Three Silver Fishes:
These 3 knives I got for free with a dagger I bought from a guy on the Airrifle forum called Scoutsniper. These 3 knives must be the least valued in my collection.

Anthony Knife:
Anthony Adams worked for me at the Mosplaas Citrus project. He also helped me on Saturdays in the garden and whatever needed to be done. His wife Anna worked in our kitchen. We were almost more friends than anything else - we were there for one another. One day he gave me this little knife; funny little knife with a lot of heart - just like Anthony.

Opinel 6 + 7:

My first Opinel knife I bought when me, Charel Richter and Francois Reyneke went for a week trip to the Eastern Cape to look at different pack house machines. Somewhere in EC, at a farm stall, we bought some biltong and this Opinel No 7 knife to cut it. The handle was very boring to me, so I tried to stain it red and also burned black spots on it with a small blowtorch. This knife I now carry in my camel-back which I use when I cycle or run far. The No 6, still in original condition, I carry in the small tool bag of my bicycle. These knives are incredibly light and the carbon blades get very sharp. The blade lock system is simple but yet very efficient.

Opinel No 8 Blond Horn Handle:

Only about 10cm of the tip of a cattle horn is solid. Opinel (France) import horns from South Africa to make these very impressive knives with blond horn handles. Each one is unique. I saw this in Spain before it was available in South Africa. I contacted the guy from Awesome Tools in SA and he imported me one with his normal Opinel order from France. Blade steel: 12c27 Stainless Steel.