# Did your family have an ice pick when you were little? Kept in a junk drawer in the kitchen? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 27, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635 "2010-08-27T05:06:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/21 "2010-08-27T13:21:45Z")
We had one, I think it was kept in the silverware drawer, though. Ours had a red wooden handle. As an adult, no icepick in this house–I wouldn’t know where to get one and haven’t had the need. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/22 "2010-08-27T13:39:35Z")
We’ve always had a junk drawer. I’ve never even seen an ice pick, though, and I have no idea what they are, aside from convenient murder weapons. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/23 "2010-08-27T13:58:58Z")
It just occurred to me that I don’t have an ice pick and haven’t had one for 20 years. Mom still has the ice pick in her knife drawer just like when I was growing up. What if I need it!? I do have an awl in my tool box that would work in a pinch. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/24 "2010-08-27T14:01:04Z")
Yep and yep. Like **Der Trihs** , it’s the same one that was in the drawer when I was growing up. There are times when only an ice pick will do. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/25 "2010-08-27T14:21:13Z")
We have several junk drawers, thanks to IKEA! We also have an ice pick and a potato masher. God knows when the power goes out the taters may rise up and need to be mashed! ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/26 "2010-08-27T14:32:32Z")
Yep, we did, wooden handle and all. Not sure where it wound up, my sister might have it. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/27 "2010-08-27T14:47:34Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > People still have ice picks (and don’t use them to murder people?) Where on earth do you get them? I’m not sure I’d know one if I saw one, but I know I don’t see them at, like, Target. Otherwise I’d have said, “Holy crap, an ice pick!” I have two wooden-handled ice picks that I bought at estate sales. I planned to build a collection, but I’ve only found the two. They’re in a drawer in the basement. I use them for getting the wrapping off of Yankee Candle wax tarts. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/28 "2010-08-27T14:51:58Z")
Ice pick, no but definitely a junk drawer. For the longest time, my mother’s gall stones were in it… ---
**Author:** ![Loisseau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@Loisseau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loisseau)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/29 "2010-08-27T14:52:17Z")
We used an ice pick to split and move ice blocks about in an ice box also. We had 8"square white cardboard placard with Ice and Coal on opposite ends. We placed it in a living room window facing the street. If Ice was up on ice day, you got a block, if Coal was up on coal day, you got a delivery backpacked with hods to your coal bin. I no longer have the ice pick. > [@Al\_Bundy](#): > > Thanks for bringing back old memories. I can instantly visualize that old ice pick with the weathered wood handle. More than that, I can remember ice tongs used for moving blocks of ice to the actual ice box. The ice box was replaced with a “modern” electric refrigerator, but the tongs were still used during vacations at a cottage near Oscoda Michigan. > > The ice man would come by like the ice cream man today and at one time was pulled by a horse. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/30 "2010-08-27T15:04:26Z")
Our junk drawer is called the “little drawer”. When I was a kid, the smallest drawer in the kitchen was the junk drawer, and the name has stuck through the six or so other kitchens I have had over the course of my life. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/31 "2010-08-27T15:14:46Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > People still have ice picks (and don’t use them to murder people?) Where on earth do you get them? I’m not sure I’d know one if I saw one, but I know I don’t see them at, like, Target. Otherwise I’d have said, “Holy crap, an ice pick!” Here: > **[Amazon.com: Ice Pick w/ Long Rod: Barware: Home & Kitchen](https://www.amazon.com/Ice-Pick-w-Long-Rod/dp/B000NNO2LM)** > > Amazon.com: Ice Pick w/ Long Rod: Barware: Home & Kitchen Doesn’t even look like you have to sign a waiver on if you plan to use it for ice or murder. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/32 "2010-08-27T16:32:32Z")
I have at least two ice picks; when I was a kid, I remember them being stored either in a toolbox or on the wall with the other hand tools. There was always a junk drawer when I was growing up – it was a regular-sized drawer at the end of the counter near the fridge. Mom would clean it out at least once per year. Now I have three junk drawers – one in the kitchen, one in an end table in the living room, and a very small one in a piece of furniture in the dining room. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/33 "2010-08-27T17:14:04Z")
Several. And they all had a cast aluminum butt cap that allowed you to apply _serious_ force to it when you had a tough hunk o’ ice to bust. Man, those things did damage 'round the house! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/34 "2010-08-27T17:47:21Z")
Intriguing combination of post title and username. Someone could get their eye put out! ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/35 "2010-08-27T17:48:06Z")
Yep, but it had a metal handle, not wood. Mostly used, as I recall, to make holes in belts that were being passed down from a bigger kid to a smaller kid. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Accident](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/36 "2010-08-27T17:56:34Z")
Had both when I was a kid. The ice pick has to be at least 29 years old, as it’s always been around. First as my mom’s when I was little, then it migrated to my tool box about 8 years ago. If it doesn’t break before then, it’ll probably wind up in my youngest sister’s how when she’s grown. As for junk drawers, there was only one when I was a kid, that got cleaned out twice a year. Now a days it’s more like a junk dresser, that gets cleaned out only when it’s moved. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/37 "2010-08-27T18:15:51Z")
I still have an ice pick. I keep in the drawer with my garrote, blackjack. switchblade and brass knuckles. ---
**Author:** ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/38 "2010-08-27T18:20:01Z")
Junk drawer/ice pick with wooden handle & faded Coca-Cola logo. That was 45 years ago, so I would imagine that ice pick is pushing 100 now. I’m sure it’s still in Mama’s junk drawer today. I have the junk drawer, just no ice pick. At least not since “Basic Instinct”. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/39 "2010-08-27T18:29:23Z")
Very familiar with junk drawers in the kitchen when I was a kid, both at Mom’s house and at her parents’. I think they were even the same drawer–the houses were almost next door (one in between) and the same model. I don’t have a junk drawer in my kitchen now–barely enough room for all my utensils and tools and whatnot–but the drawer on my computer desk has pretty much taken over that function. And yes, it \*was \*explicitly referred to as “the junk drawer.” > [@bdgr](#): > > You slide the ice under it [the skin on the back of the ribs], peel it up, and then grab the skin with some of those catfish skinning pliers you get at walmart…and throw in the junk drawer. You throw \*the skin from ribs \*into your junk drawer? Groady. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635/40 "2010-08-27T19:00:07Z")
I’m seriously surprised that my family does/did not have an ice pick. Now, my parents didn’t get their house until 1975 but I am pretty sure they didn’t have a self-defrosting fridge at that time. I distinctly remember mom cleaning the freezer every summer. I grew up in a house where most of the shit we had was old and second-hand. Seems like an ice pick would be something that we’d have inherited. But nope! Not even one in dad’s magical garage. We did have a junk drawer tho. I made sure to designate such a space when I bought my own house. I think 90% of the stuff in there is stuff that ended up there within a week of me moving in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-your-family-have-an-ice-pick-when-you-were-little-kept-in-a-junk-drawer-in-the-kitchen/551635.md?page=3)