Almost every non-knife person does this, and I don't know why

David Mary

David Mary

pass the mustard - after you cut it
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Those who know me best are aware that I always have at least one or two "R&D knives" on me. Those are knives that I made, which I justify keeping for a period of time for the sake of familiarizing myself with how the model carries and how the materials work for regular uses. Another purpose of my R&D knives is they are something I can show to anyone I meet who asks what I do for a living, or expresses interest in knives. Now quite often, I will end up showing a knife to a non-knife person, that is, I will hand them the knife and sheath (usually something small, like a Fried Liver Attack or Bitty Bitey Baby Birdie) so they can get a good close look, and see how the handle feels, etc.

And almost without fail, nearly every single non-knife person I do this with, after they have taken the knife out of the sheath and had a look, will pause before resheathing the knife, look at it pondersously for a few seconds, and then, to my undying bemusement, will turn the knife so it is oriented upside down to the sheath, before trying to reinsert it. Meaning the edge is facing the wrong way. It's so predictable for me now, that I know it's coming, and am ready to quickly interject a "hold on there!'. It actually surprises me the one or two out of ten times when someone doesn't do this.
 
David Mary said:
Those who know me best are aware that I always have at least one or two "R&D knives" on me. Those are knives that I made, which I justify keeping for a period of time for the sake of familiarizing myself with how the model carries and how the materials work for regular uses. Another purpose of my R&D knives is they are something I can show to anyone I meet who asks what I do for a living, or expresses interest in knives. Now quite often, I will end up showing a knife to a non-knife person, that is, I will hand them the knife and sheath (usually something small, like a Fried Liver Attack or Bitty Bitey Baby Birdie) so they can get a good close look, and see how the handle feels, etc.

And almost without fail, nearly every single non-knife person I do this with, after they have taken the knife out of the sheath and had a look, will pause before resheathing the knife, look at it pondersously for a few seconds, and then, to my undying bemusement, will turn the knife so it is oriented upside down to the sheath, before trying to reinsert it. Meaning the edge is facing the wrong way. It's so predictable for me now, that I know it's coming, and am ready to quickly interject a "hold on there!'. It actually surprises me the one or two out of ten times when someone doesn't do this.
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Haha.... You're going to really like me then. For some reason I do This too.
Before I Know, and understand the knife, Idk which way is Up.....?
It's sometimes hard to see the subtleties of the profile of the blade through the kydex

*I'm guessing that it's perplexing to you, but you have to remember that You are familiar with that blade.... Very Familiar. So it will come naturally to you.
 
David Mary said:
Taco sheath, edge down. Done. 🤷‍♂️
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I'm probably "Doing it" wrong..... But I do edge forward with my taco sheaths.
So, it kinda gets complicated/different with everybody
 
I too, am amazed at the number of folks that do this. I have had it happen to me at knife & gun shows tho. One would think people looking at knives there would know better. Go figure!
 
I once made a leather sheath for a co-workers Schrade Deerslayer. The body of the sheath consisted of two pieces of 3/16" thick leather (front and back of the sheath), and another thick piece in between with a cutout in the same shape as the blade. The sheath was tightly stitched together with heavy-duty waxed thread meant for leather work. I was very proud of the sheath, and I wanted my co-worker to be happy with it, and he was.

The Schrade Deerslayer has a distinctly curved blade, and I made the body of the sheath to match the shape of the blade, with the same distinct curve.

So he comes back to me a little while later with the knife and sheath, and a problem- He had let another co-worker look at his knife and new sheath, and the other guy had stuck the knife into the sheath upside-down, and when it wouldn't go all the way in, he jammed it it, causing the tip of the blade to push through the stiches on the edge side of the sheath.

Even though it wasn't my fault, I still felt bad. I wanted the guy to feel that he had a heavy-duty sheath for his knife, one that would last a lifetime. And instead some idiot shoves the blade through it within an hour of me giving it to him, which did not exactly give the impression of "heavy-duty".

I could have just re-stitched the sheath, but I felt so embarrassed that my work had "failed" that I told him I would make him an entirely new sheath, this time one that was riveted all the way around instead of stitched. So that night after work, using the same patterns I had used to make the first sheath, I made a near identical one, but this time with heavy-duty aluminum rivets and stainless steel washers all around the edges. I figured that sheath would be idiot-proof. I swapped the riveted sheath for the stitched one the next day, and the guy was happy. And I think he learned a lesson about letting people handle his knife.

It seems like some people have some sort of fixed-blade dyslexia. Their eyes and brains just can't seem to match the shape the blade to the sheath, even when it should be obvious which way the blade goes in.

And then there are the people who try to force a folder closed against the lock when they can't figure out how to unlock it, and they just keep pressing harder on the blade. Don't even get me started on them 😁 .
 
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Well I have seen that before and it amazes me how backwards some people are. I have also seen it at work with mechanical tasks. If there’s a wrong way to do it that is the way they will do it, every time. I to think it’s some sort of dyslexia where their eyes and brain get crossed up kinda like a camera reverse image.
 
Related: I once handed a young lady a crkt Minimalist Bowie when she asked to borrow my knife, and as soon as she had it, without hesitation, she full fisted the sheath, grabbed the handle with her other hand, and yanked the blade out so quickly and forcefully that I could barely shout "WAIT!" before she had opened her thumb right up, having solidly pressed it against the mouth of the sheath, right in the blade path.
 
eveled said:
I can’t figure out why more sheaths aren’t made so the blade can go either way.
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There can be a variety of reasons. Including the specific design of the knife.

If the blade is curved, then the sheath would have to be excessively wide to allow the blade to go in either direction.

And the hilts/top-ends of the handles on some knives are shaped in such a way that in order for the entire blade to be covered by the sheath the knife can only enter the sheath from one direction.

And if it's a kydex sheath that retains the hilt of the knife, it has to fit into the sheath a specific way, and depending on the design of the hilt, that can exclude the option of a sheath that allows the blade to be inserted from either direction.
 
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If they are not knife people and if this is a new experience, they are likely thinking about many other things, least of which is blade to sheath orientation. The rest of us have few excuses.
 
killgar said:
There can be a variety of reasons. Including the specific design of the knife.

If the blade is curved, then the sheath would have to be excessively wide to allow the blade to go in either direction.

And the hilts/top-ends of the handles on some knives are shaped in such a way that in order for the entire blade to be covered by the sheath the knife can only enter the sheath from one direction.

And if it's a kydex sheath that retains the hilt of the knife, it has to fit into the sheath a specific way, and depending on the design of the hilt, that can exclude the option of a sheath that allows the blade to be inserted from either direction.
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An ambidextrous sheath would work on most fixed blades, yet most come with sheaths that only work one way. I recognize there are some exceptions. But the vast majority could be ambidextrous.

The WW2 KA-BAR for example the hard fiberglass NORD sheath is ambidextrous yet the leather sheath is not. Same thing with the USN MKI DECK knife.

You can get a Randall with a model C leather sheath which is ambidextrous. There are others.

view
 
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I've seen quite a few of your knives with a fairly straight edge and a rounded spine - the opposite of what most are familiar with.

Or, perhaps, it's just a Canadian thing... 🤷‍♂️ 😁
 
TC said:
I've seen quite a few of your knives with a fairly straight edge and a rounded spine - the opposite of what most are familiar with.

Or, perhaps, it's just a Canadian thing... 🤷‍♂️ 😁
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I had a Canadian perfectly rounded spine moment just last night.

Cant believe Im going to admit this but. Laying in bed watching TV. Fiddling with a DM. My back suddenly started itching real bad, about three inches out of reach, right between the shoulder blades. I turned the knife, edge away, and reached back to scratch with the spine, just behind the point.

I'll be darned if the spine wasn't so perfectly round and smooth that it wouldn't scratch. I laughed and thought, now that is a comfortable spine if there ever was one. lol
 
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