On Jun 6, 10:52*pm, Don Foreman wrote:
I have to go in the lake tomorrow. * Water temp at the surface is
about 69 F. * Kids happily swim in water like that all day, or until
they turn blue and their mothers yank them out. * I do **NOT* like
being cold, not even a little bit. * But I gotta do it. *When I was 16
Sally Brown and I jumped into the Detroit River when there was still
ice on it, but *it's been quite a while since I was 16. *

I was fishing off the dock this evening, *tossing a bobber with a
leech to the reeds since there was a very nice NW breeze to help carry
it out there if I cast high. * After a bit I noticed that my slip
bobber wasn't erecting. *I tend to notice when things aren't erecting
as expected. * * *Reeled it in, found that the bobber stop on the line
had gone missing so the hook, bait and sinker were going to the
bottom. * *It happens. *Hm, I rummaged in my shirt pocket. *Sho' nuff,
there was a bit of dental floss in there. *That'll make a fine bobber
stop, just wind it on the line like a needle knot or a snell, snug up
and trim. *Got to the trim part, *dug out my trusty Gentleman's Folder
pocket knife. *

Part of the perverse nature of inanimate objects is that tools have a
strong affinity for lakes. *Cosmic forces yanked the knife from my
hand to fall to the dock, and then conspired to make it bounce and
rotate *in both roll and yaw *so it could exactly fit between the deck
slats and get to the lake beneath. * It'd take 1000 *tries to get that
right at a carnival with *a kewpie doll at stake, *but with a lake
beneath *the slats the outcome was as certain as sunset. *

I really like that knife! * They're not available any more. *I want
mine back! *It's a one-hand opener, very thin, very light, 3" *ATS34
stainless blade heat-treated to Rc 59-60 *that takes and holds a razor
edge.

Earlier today I'd *used it to scrape corrosion from some battery
terminals. *After that, *four licks on a ceramic "steel" restored its
keen *edge to where it'd cut *thru a ripe tomato skin by its own
weight. *

I don't know if ATS34 *is magnetic or not but I'm inclined to doubt
it. *Else I could use the big donut magnet on the end of a string --
except that the magnet is in the bed of the truck and I drove the
Camry this trip. *So I *gotta dunk my dainty self. *

The good news is that I know *right *where it dropped, the water is
quite clear and it's a firm sand bottom, not loon**** like in some MN
lakes. *Even if I can't see it, *I should be able to feel it with my
toes. *Fortunately, it was folded when it dropped. *

Minnesota Mary, *who thinks 40 is wet teeshirt weather, offered to do
the honors while very tactfully avoiding any use of the term
"candyass". * It's tempting, but I'm the one that dropped it so I'm
the one that should fetch it. *

It'll be ferritic(magnetic), couldn't hold an edge otherwise. Don't
know where the myth started that ALL stainless was non-magnetic, think
it was some junkyard guy separating nickle- and chrome-plated steel
from all-stainless car trim with his little magnet-ona-keychain.
There ARE more exotic non-iron alloys that will hold an edge and are
non-magnetic, you won't find most knifemakers using them, though.
Don't commonly fall into the "stainless steel" category, either.

Stan