Sentimental Pocket Knife Found, Falmouth, Massachusetts

You probably have a story of your own about how a relative gave you something special when you were a kid or a young man, something you’ve treasured over many decades.  Such was the case with Billy.  His father presented him with his Barlow pocket knife when Billy was 20 years old and Billy carried it for 60-some years.  It was an everyday tool, often used, and it always brought warm memories of his father.

Unfortunately, one of those everyday uses ended in the loss of the knife.  Billy remembered using it to cut open sacks of compost and potting soil when he was planting butterfly bushes, and he only later realized that the knife had disappeared.

My interest in metal detecting and finding lost objects for folks came up in a conversation we had many months later, and when Billy told me his story I said that I’d be very happy to look for the knife.  When I arrived with my detector, he pointed out that it likely was near the last bush he’d planted, and it turned out that he was spot on.  It took only a few minutes to find and recover the knife from beneath 6 or 7 inches of soil that had been used to fill the planting hole.

Unfortunately, nature had taken its toll on the knife.  Nonetheless, Billy was delighted to have this very sentimental item back in his hands.  I told him how to use electrolysis to remove the rust, and hopefully it will clean up reasonably well.  Although we are ‘ring finders’, it’s not always about rings…..