My grandpa's 1968 blazer had a worn right cuff for a reason I never guessed
I always figured he just leaned on that arm at his desk, but a tailor in Omaha pointed out the wear pattern comes from pulling a pocket knife out of the right pocket a thousand times over 40 years. Now I check the cuffs at every estate sale before I even look at the blade, and a soft right cuff plus a nick in the pocket seam means the knife is probably still in the house somewhere. Am I the only one who reads jackets backwards like this, or does anyone else buy the blazer just to hunt for the knife?
Honestly that line about reading jackets backwards hit me hard because I do the exact same thing now. My uncle passed a few years back and we found his old work coat in the garage, and sure enough the right pocket had that same stretched seam and a soft spot on the cuff. We dug around for two days and found his old case knife stuck between the couch cushions in the basement. It meant way more to us than any of the other stuff he left behind. So no, you are not the only one hunting for the knife, and I would bet half the guys on here have done the same without saying it out loud. There is something real about a worn cuff that tells you more about a man than a photo ever could.