Kiss in the dark

This little folder is Columbia River Knife and Tool's KISS in the dark. "KISS", in this case, means "Keep it simple, stupid", which is why the blade folds up along the handle rather than in the handle. It uses a spring integral to the handle to lock the blade open, and has a lanyard hole at the base of the handle. This is a great kayaking/water sports knife. It also has a belt/money clip.

It's Fossil Friday #1!

Shut up. It starts with "F".

I decided to make Fridays fossil days, since I'm shit out of fish knives. Plus, I have a few fossils. Now, I'm no paleontologist, nor do I want to be. Most of my fossils come from fairly local sources like the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal or Calvert Cliffs, MD. With that said, I decided to start the series with a purchased piece that was given to me a gift. I have no idea where this was collected, so it's contextual value is zero. However, as a fisheries biologist, this piece is fascinating. Plus, it's a fish.

The fossilized genus here is Knightia, which is very similar in many respects (size, shape, etc.) to modern herring; species that I have extensive experience handling. The similarities through time are compelling, and fossils like these only go to show the absolutely powerful process of evolution.

I'll get to some local fossils next time....

Here's an odd thing

Despite its phallic appearance in this image, this is a hand carved wooden bottle. The top "bottle" part is hollow, and the base is either a burl or else roots. I can't tell the wood type, but I wonder is it's cypress?

This is a masinko

A masinko is an Ethiopian violin/fiddle played with a bow. This one was a gift to me, and had neither bow nor string. Before I knew anything about it and how it was played, I fashioned a wooden bridge for it and fit it with a fly fishing line string. I play it plucked, and adjust pitch by stopping the string with pinched fingers. It sounds pretty cool that way as a little rhythmic instrument with a nice bouncy yet earthy tone, but you really need to see out sounds or video of a master of this instrument playing it traditionally. Like this guy.

Screw you

Get your minds out of the gutter - I'm talking about a nautical screw, ya lubbers.

It's from the scrap pile of the shipyard I wrote about in this post and this post. It's bronze, about 9 inches, with a 3 inch pitch. They still make 'em like this - bronze is resistant to corrosion in salt water, and because it's not as hard as steel, it deforms on impact (thereby saving shafts and engines as well as making them easier to bang into shape in the field as a temporary repair until one can get to a proper boatyard).

Dominoes!

These are some old dominoes called Will's Pirate Shag. They are housed in a tin box. I think domino is missing - a standard domino set has 28 bones - this one only has 27. This game and its variants are big in the Caribbean, especially Jamaica.

A stepping off point

Once again, today's post represents something of a stepping off point. I realized some months ago that in order to accommodate my desire for doing one post per day for a year, I was going to have to expand the scope of my original intentions (old weapons). In that time, I've expanded into the realms of artwork, antiques and artifacts, and other ephemera that somehow became part of the collection I call "Flintlock's Arsenal".

I'm not yet halfway through the year yet, and if I'm going to make it all the way, I'm going to have to delve deeper into the ephemera of my stuff. I'm going to begin bringing in some more nautically themed items, including some old and interesting books. I'm going to begin including modern pocket and sheath knives that I sometimes carry (well, I always have a knife, but different occasions call for different tools), and I've found a fix for my "Friday" dilemma.

To this end, the scan above is of a photograph that was in a box of old pictures I was asked to take to the trash by my employer (State of Delaware) 18 - 19 years ago. I hated to throw these out, as there were hundreds of different pictures, but I only had time to rescue a few from the top that interested me (boats, mostly). The rest were summarily hauled off to a landfill or whatever, and are probably 50 feet down in Cherry Island now.

The photo above has the following inscription on the back, in particularly florid penmanship:

35 ft Motor Boat 4007 ' "Henlopen" on the dock at Bklyn Navy Yard 2/22/34.

As I type this, I realize that this picture was taken on the same day (2/22) as my wedding anniversary, with a probability of 1 in 365 (or is it 1 in 730? I forget)