Best Knife

When I was a teenager I taught sailing, for several years for Offshore Sailing School, and then on my own using my father's Soling. One of my students came to be Jos, Joslin I think, whose last name I can't recall. He and I sailed a lot together and his preference was for long sails, as in Edgartown to Menemsha, say 30 miles. Jos was much older than me, perhaps as old as thirty, or even thirty-five! He smoked cigarettes and always brought a thermos of European black coffee, the latter exotic then, and I enjoyed both on those long, long sails.

Jos was an artist in metal. He cast abstract sculptures and lived in a cottage supplied by his patron, a wealthy New York City woman with a waterfront place up island. Jos did know metal and at the end of that summer he presented me with a knife he had made. He bought the Morseth blade, and explained to me that it is layered so that the backbone of the knife is very strong and tough while the edge is made to stay sharp. Perhaps you can see the layers in this photo. He made all the rest of the knife, including the Micarta handle, and he engraved a sentiment on the end of the handle. I keep this knife in the pocket of my car door.