Hi;
I am new and shiny. Hi, I am a number one handle, Hi, I am a number two handle. Hi, I am the big maroon handle. We are part of a brand new X-Acto knife set. The blades are waiting to be paired up with us and we'll be used for model building I guess. We are in a Light colored wood box, in what's a Local Hobby Shop".
Aha! the shopkeeper puts me in a bag and rings up the cost and I am going home with someone. The fellow looks like a serious person. We'll see. Oh Boy we,ve been wrapped in paper that says Happy Birthday in forty languages! We are to be someone's super gift!
Oops! I got opened first. It's a grabby little kid. Oh, it's the first time he's gotten " Hobby Tools" Boy, is he happy! Well, I am still sitting on the kitchen table the next day. Mom and Dad are going to Florida for a Dog Show. "You behave yourself" Mum says ",Oh, and be careful and don't cut yourself"! "Yes, Mom" the boy replies earnestly.
He sees them off and comes back in the house with some Newspaper. He carefully spreads it out on the table. He then sets me on the paper along with some extra blade packs. Some Pactra brand paint and Revell type "S" tube Glue, and some toothpicks?
The Model is bigger than I am. It's a model called " Pyro" " Natchez" Missississippi River Steamboat" It's lots of colors. Well, he studies the instructions and gets out the Deck and Hull. The sprue Tag connecting the parts is as thick as a straw, but it isn,t hollow.
He puts an No11 blade in Handle one. Then he tries to cut the Sprue tag in one swipe. OOPS ! ! Blade broke! Plunging the stub down to the left thumb bone lengthwise. OUCH ! ! He leaves, nary shedding a tear. He comes back sometime later and there is a bandage on his one thumb, big enough for two thumbs.
Doggedly getting down to business he get's the tag cut and proceeds with the project. By the time Mom and Dad return home the scar is the only thing visible. The boat came out great and theres no blood evident in my wooden box.
This young man is now officially, by my brethrens accounts a Modeler. He'd been christened. And Kept on with the project! I still am his set all these years later. His Hair ( what there is of it) is thinning and very grey. But he still respects and cares for me .
He and I have worked together to create some very audacious models and cruised through kits for the hobby part. Gee, It's been 68 years! He now teaches others when he can, how to use me and my brethren correctly. Oh ,That scar? It is still there !