Penknife

My Dad had a pearl-handled penknife. I found out only recently that he
was given it when he was 21 and I think it got broken pretty early on. I
only remember it as having a fragment of the pearl facing left and never
realised it was meant to be a showy piece.

He always seemed to have it with him. It would appear out of a cardigan
pocket at need. He would use it to fix the things that Dads somehow know
how to fix. He would cut a piece of string, pare off some plastic, whittle
the edge of some wood - making things fit. He might even use one of the
blades as a quick screwdriver.

There was an auger point he would use for scraping things out, for making
a hole to start drilling and so forth. When he used to smoke a pipe, it was
what he used to clear out the pipe bowl. One blade had acquired a notch
and he could use it to strip plastic from electric wire.

After he died I asked Mum about it. But she didn't remember having seen
it for some time.