Man, that has never sat right with me. It irks me that they sell our knives for profit. But then I think of the alternative such as destroying them or something, and that would be even worse. Think if that nice old Micarta Duke, probably a Script, had been destroyed and thrown out.
Technically, I think, TSA isn’t allowed to profit off it so they give the knives to the airport who sells them and keeps the money. And also technically, the TSA doesn’t confiscate anything - we voluntarily choose to fly and we voluntarily choose to abandon or surrender anything that isn’t allowed past the security checkpoint, or we choose to keep our stuff and go away and miss our flight. I hate being put in situations like that.
I used to fly a good deal for work. We were coming home one time and a co-worker had forgotten to take his Gerber off and put it in his checked bag. Not wanting to “voluntarily abandon” it, he turned around, left the line, and went to the baggage claim with all the folks who just arrived and were going to be leaving the airport. He found a young military man traveling in uniform, gave him the Gerber, said “thank you for your service” and went back to the TSA line to catch our flight. I never forgot that.
Since then, I never “surrender” anything to TSA. When I fly, I usually leave “my” knives at home and carry something cheap, but quality, that I could stomach losing a little more than a higher end or sentimental EDC knife if I forget to check it. Something like a 112 Slim Select, or a Kershaw, or whatever miscellaneous knife has found its way into my possession.
One time coming home through Logan in Boston I forgot to check my pocketknife. I got out of line and headed to the baggage claim looking for someone in uniform to give them a gift. I couldn’t find any. The terminal was under construction so I approached several construction workers separately. “Excuse me, I forgot to check my pocketknife and don’t want to give it to TSA. Do you want it for free?” Nobody would take it. It was a name-brand, quality knife that would be recognized as nice, but not expensive - not something too good to be true. I was clean cut, khaki pants with a belt and tucked in shirt - didn’t look like I was up to no good or trying to ditch something that had been used in a crime or anything. I approached at least seven guys and none of them wanted anything to do with it. I ended up traveling home without that knife, but TSA sure didn’t get it. Still gets my goat, though.
Nice score on the older Duke - send it back to Buck and they’ll fix it up right.
Did you get anything else good in that batch?
