Peanut Knife . . . the Ultimate Gift!

This Christmas I got what is probably the best gift I've ever received . . . I got a Peanut knife . . . one of only 4 in the world . . . and each of them are slightly different too!

Opening Christmas presents yesterday with my wife Connie yesterday, she handed me one to unwrap from her brother, Norm Spencer.  Norm is one of my very best friends and we share a ton of interests.  Though he and his wife live in Gallatin, TN, Norm and I manage to meet somewhere a time or two a year for a guy's fly fishing getaway. 

Anyway the gift was a small, walnut stand . . . obviously designed for something specific.  Then Connie handed me another small package.  It was a medium sized, fixed blade knife in a leather sheath.  Cool!  The knife was obviously a hand-made knife with the blade made from a metal file.  You could still see some of the file teeth in the blade.  I thought that was just a little strange in a custom-made knife . . . while files are often used as the metal for a blade, usually the knife maker will grind off all remnants of the file teeth and highly polish the blade.  Still . . . this was a beautiful knife!  And it fit in the walnut stand perfectly!  THAT is an awesome gift for someone who loves the outdoors!!

But then Connie handed me a sealed envelope.

Here is part of what the letter inside said:

"Congratulations!

You are now the owner of one of four original "Peanut" knives.

  Your knife has been hand made from a file found in Norm "Peanut" Spencer toolbox and a piece of walnut that he had saved from his years at the Mead paper mill in Kingsport.  The sheath was handmade by a Mennonite craftsman at Muddy Pond, Tennessee, from leather taken from Peanut's office chair that he sat in for years.

You have been chose to receive this because of your love and admiration of Dad . . ."

You see . . . Peanut was Connie and Norm's father.  And Peanut was one of my very best friends in this world . . . yes he was also my father-in-law . . . but our relationship was quite unique and and I looked at him more as a friend than a father-in-law.  I loved and admired Peanut . . . and I miss him so much.

This "Peanut" knife is the ultimate gift . . .