Wednesday, October 10, 2012

knife-edge


This is a broken knife - a French Opinel I have had for about thirty years.  I have probably used it most days, usually to peel and chop vegetables but also for other things, like piercing a metal lid to help open a jar.  I could do this sort of thing because the knife was seemingly indestructible and had this magical quality, that not only did it never need sharpening but it actually grew sharper with use, the blade is still keen though broken from its handle.  Several years ago, on holiday in the Dordogne and thinking it might not last much longer, I bought another, slightly larger version.  I never used it because it wasn't a patch on this knife.  No knife is - Kitchen Devil, Sabatier, I have tried them all.  We were a team and worked together beautifully.  I began to believe it would last forever - I was wrong.

What to make of this?  Don't tell me that a knife is a knife - I am a sign-reader and the granddaughter of a Jungian analyst who, on seeing a bird fall into her grate stone-dead, foretold her own death.  I am a thrower of coins each new year, for the I Ching that repeatedly warns of a ridgepole that sags to breaking point and tells me that the wanderer has no place to lay his head.  However you read it, this is just not auspicious.  But it is also not the end.  I will carry on chopping carrots, celery, leeks and butternut squash though I will never again do it with such unthinking flair or feel so in my element.  Time to get out of the kitchen?  The wanderer has no place etc......

6 comments:

Fire Bird said...

that is very sad. someone in your life may be looking for a replacement for Christmas but maybe they are very hard to find.

I don't know what it means. It reminds me of dreams where your teeth fall out. Disempowering. But also feels autumnal in a weird way. Falling leaves, a falling knife. The moment when it broke must have been memorable.

Anna MR said...

I felt sure there was an ooooold saga about a Broken Sword. Rather sadly, it wasn't all that ooooold, it was this:

"Narsil
(Quenya: roughly, Red and White Flame) A sword in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, influenced by the legendary swords Tyrfing and Gram. The sword was forged during the First Age by the Dwarf Telchar[ of Nogrod, a famous weaponsmith and artificer who also made the knife Angrist, which cut a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth, and the Helm of Hador later used by Túrin Turambar. Narsil was broken in the overthrow of Sauron at the end of the Second Age and was later reforged as Andúril (Quenya: Flame of the West)."
[thank you, wikipedia]

But nevermind all that nonsense – we can write our own sagas, after all. So …

On that day, The Eternal Knife broke, severed from its hilt. The Damsel doth read the signs…and lo, there was to be much searching for The Mender of Knives, for another hilt to be joined unto The Eternal One's ne'er-blunting blade…

… and so on. I'm sure you see what I mean. What you need is a master craftsman; one who knows how to whittle another handle (from the hardest oaken wood, natch) and attach it firmly onto the blade. For verily, in the olden days, no way would such a fine knife be just left and/or chucked, for the lack of a hilt.

I have spoken, and please note the signs are not ominous, merely suggesting some fundamental work needing doing.

x

Reading the Signs said...

F B I don't think there can be a replacement for this knife. The moment it broke was just - weird - and seeing the rotting inside even more so.

Anna, this has created quite a kerfuffle. Mr. Signs threw the knife into the bin earlier. I didn't feel good about it but shrugged it away. Now because of what you said here we've been rifling through the midden trying to find it again. Success, it's back with us - or with me, at any rate (Mr. S having nothing to do with this). Will have to live with this awhile ...

Anna MR said...

Hmmmm. I am very, very glad the knife is rescued from the midden (I am hopeless with Things I Have Owned Forever; irreplaceable as you say, they simply cannot be thrown away, no matter what their state or lack of usefulness – or indeed, usability). However, I am also a bit shame-faced that I've created a kerfuffle (fond as I am of the word).

I seriously hope a knife-handle-whittler comes your way soon. It would seem very apt. I would whittle one for you myself; but alas and alack, I am not there to take them measurements. And besides, while I prolly could make some sort of a handle, it might not be to the master-knife-handle-whittler standard. Besides which, I don't have a clue as to how one would go about attaching it to the blade. What I do know, however, is that it can be done.

Perhaps you should take it to Germany next time you go? See if a Germanic Kniefen-Mender Mensch appears?

Anyway, a knife that has been with you for thirty years – helped you cook your children their meals when they were only wee, blah, you know what I mean – it just deserves to remain with you. A letter-opener could be its new, retirement-age occupation…?

x

Fire Bird said...

yes I see what Anna is saying - good

Vot said...

Buy an opinel in the same size, remove the lock (put lock in closed position and pull out blade, ring pops off,) tap out the pin, and put your old blade onto the new handle. Someone at BRitishBlades forum would likely do this gratis because they like your story and old knives.