Ontario

Because he is an incredibly talented and thoughtful man, my cousin Vernie made me a Newfoundland knife box.  It was crafted, he explained, from left over butternut that he built the THO table from.  I myself had never heard of one of these and I have since googled it and was not able to find such a thing on the internet.  This is either owing to my terrible googling skills or that they are something that long ago went out of fashion.  Vernie makes all sorts of really cool reproduction stuff like this: games, grind stones, tools and loads of beautiful objects.  I expect that he read about these knife boxes in a history book at one time, and just decided to give it a whirl.

I have not tried using it yet, but I will tell you what is is for and how it works.

This is specifically designed to be brought out on a fishing boat and it is used to sharpen knifes.  On the back there is a hole that slides over a nail head and then drops down about an inch over the head.  This allows the heavy box to stay level even when the boat is not level.  The box itself is kept heavy because it is filled with sand.  When one wants to use it you lay it down and the sand falls down on the long board.

The long hardwood board with the sand on it becomes the surface in which the knife is sharpened.   Apparently you just whet the knife in the sand the same way as you would a whet stone.

Anyone ever seen one of these?

Vernie always make the coolest, most beautiful and interesting stuff!  He is going to brand it for me next time I am home.  😀

UPDATE: Look what I found tonight!  Only $450 for an old one.  I wonder what a new one is worth?

Since I am writing on a nautical theme, I will share that I was at the waterfront today in Hamilton, Ontario.  Something HUGE there!  At 220 metres long and 23 metres wide it is hard to miss! I snuck up the the ladder to the top and stood on the deck of the big ship Algoma Quebecois. I wonder how many Tiny Houses would fit on this?  It is over 73 times longer than THO.