Pocket Knives-Who feels naked without one?

[Mitch from LA]

Listening to the radio recently, and this gal on a morning show was shocked by someone carrying a pocket knife in Austin.

This got me to thinking. Growing up I learned that you carry a pocket knife with you, not as a weapon but as an essential everyday tool. The edge is arguably man's most important invention and you can get a lot done with a knife.

I was curious as to how many of you grew up the same way I did, and if anyone grew up in or lives in a place where pocket knives are considered weapons and nothing more. I'm very interested to hear everyone's perspective/opinion.

 

[BleysAhrens]

It is the most useful tool a person can carry. My grandfather gave me and my brother a pocket knife on at least 2 different occasions. From the box you cant open to the occasional small game you have to skin in the wild... Not many days go by where I don't use mine, and miss it when I have on my sweat pants..

 

[Geno]

After being unable to extricate myself from my seatbelt in my 1995 automobile accident, I figured out pretty quickly how important a tool the folding pocket knife is. Don't know about feeling naked, but at the moment, I felt like a coyote ready to chew through that belt as the car filled with smoke. I soon figured out that the smoke was from the airbag, not a fire. But let me tell ya...I learned a valuable lesson. As I sit here typing, and as always, I have my Benchmade154CM clipped inside of my pants pocket.

Geno

 

[Valkman]

I may be carrying a Strider, a Moore Maker, a Case or a SAK but I'll have at least one on me. Sometimes two or three of them, just for fun. Seems like a knife is always need for something.

 

[messerist]

Me feeling naked is a scary thing so I always carry a knife, sometimes three or four!

 

[stan rose]

I always have a knife on me, and it has been that way as long as I can remember.

 

[Carl Levitian]

My granddad gave me an Imperial Barlow knife when I was 10. My dad gave me a Camillus scout knife when I was 12. I turned 70 last month, so it's been a long road traveled with a knife in my pocket since then. I'd sooner walk out my front door without my pants than without a pocket knife. Old habits die hard, but that's one habit I'm not about to change.

Carl.

 

[TimboKhan]

I'd sooner walk out my front door without my pants than without a pocket knife

I frequently walk out of my front door without pants, because it gets hot here sometimes and I wear shorts. Hey-O!

Seriously though, Every once in awhile I forget to carry a knife, and it is always very weird for me. The same is true of a can of chew. I have been carrying both in my pockets daily for all of my adult life and a good chunk of my pre-adult life, and forgetting them from time to time always just sort of messes up my chi for the day. Lesson learned, and now I keep a "backup" knife (and can of chew) at work for just those occasions.

The thing is, I really enjoy knives not only as functional tools, but as objects. I have my favorite manufacturers (Spyderco is #1) and I have my favorite models (Endura is #1), but I have really come to like them all. At one point only a couple of years ago, I would laughed at you if you told me that I would ever own a Case knife. now I own two mini-trappers, plus a few examples of other manufacturers efforts with that design. Not only do I own them, I frequently carry them. I have a Case wharncliffe mini-trapper that I like so much that I am buying a spare just in case I lose it!

 

[huntsteven]

Huh, didn't know you could wear pants without a Case Trapper. Glad that lady pointed it out for me. Ha

 

[shiftyer1]

Must have been north Austin

 

[bcp280z]

Always man, goes into my pocket every morn along with wallet, keys. done it since I was 11. of course I have a high dollar gerber and bench now instead of cheap swiss army/case. Funny in the south someone would complain about it.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Naked?

Uh . . . yeah.

Wearing pants = haz knife.

From my twelfth birthday on, I have had a knife of some kind on my person, excepting only airplanes since 2001 and court houses since some time in the eighties.

When I turned twelve, Dad gave me a red-handled Imperial U.S. Officers Ulster.

Standard 4-blade scout/camping style knife.

I have it to this day. Next year in November, I will have had that knife for fifty years.

I remember the discomfort I felt when I discovered there were people around me who wore clothes and yet were naked.

Wait -- you got dressed this morning, and you stopped after only putting on your clothes? No knife? Dude, yer momma sure dresses you funny.

 

[bikerdoc]

All day every day since 1955.

 

[Yo Mama]

I feel naked without one, but it wasn't always so. I grew up no father, and mom had a zero tollerance policy for guns and knives. NONE.

As I got older, and had male role models, I saw everyone I was hanging with carried a blade and a gun. It caught on like wildfire, and I think I have overcompensated for the years of no weapons allowed.

A knife to me now is part of the dress code.

 

[Armored farmer]

Pocketknife everyday.
Here in farm country, you need a pair of pliers or multi-tool on your belt also.

 

[CTPhil]

I can't believe everyone doesn't carry a pocket knife, it's just common sense.

 

[sidheshooter]

Pretty much what Arfin said. It's against my religion to not carry a knife.

 

[JShirley]

Feels wrong, and like something's missing.

As I do today, in my federal building.

 

[hunterbob]

I carry one all the time (since 5 yrs old in the 50's) , and remember when they were not lock blade jackknives. Ouch!
Grew up on farm and used knife all the time, castrated pigs too. Probably work good on politicians too.

 

[towboat_er]

Checking pocket... Yep its there.

 

[Gary G23]

Yesterday I was carrying a pocket knife, a fixed blade on my belt, and a neck knife. I always carry a pocket knife.

As has been pointed out, a knife is most useful tool you can have. It would also be a necessity in a car wreck. I carry the fixed blade in case I have to break glass.

 

[hso]

I see knife clips sticking out of pockets everywhere I go around East TN and suspect half of the pockets I see without a clip have a knife nestled with the lint in the bottom of the pocket.

That isn't a great surprise to me since I have been told by sales managers in the knife industry that more knives are sold in OH/KY/TN/NC/SC/GA/FL/AL/MS than the rest of the country combined.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Growing up I learned that you carry a pocket knife with you, not as a weapon but as an essential everyday tool.

Exactly! I teach a teenager's Sunday School class and EVERY boy (14-18 years old) in it carries a folder with clip in their pockets to church. No one cares as it is NORMAL behaviour around here. I carried a folder in a belt pouch for many years. If I forgot to put it on I MISSED it all day!

 

[VT Deer Hunter]

This is what i carry Gerber 7400 Demolition Explosive Technician Multi-Tool. Then eventually a pistol. This is for now.

 

[XxWINxX94]

Yup, I try to have one on me whenever I can. Comes in handy for a tool, but here in Pat Quinn land, we don't have the right to carry a firearm, so my knife is my only legal weapon.