Cali knife owners

Californian here and carry whatever I want.

Orange County allows ANY blade length carried closed/sheathed.
Open in public limits the blade length to 3" open.

So you can carry any kind of blade sheathed or folded closed over 3", but if you plan on whipping out a blade in front of police officer it must be 3">.

With that said if you are appropriately using your knife in public then you really should have no worry.

P.S. No reason to be carrying a sword, I like to keep my knives 3"-4" max.
 
I have some autos and a larger than average bali collection...I definitely made sure that they were legal to own which pretty much holds true for most states...maybe autos are illegal, but you can own them.
 
ZippoThisKnifeThat said:
Californian here and carry whatever I want.
Orange County allows ANY blade length carried closed/sheathed.
Open in public limits the blade length to 3" open.

So you can carry any kind of blade sheathed or folded closed over 3", but if you plan on whipping out a blade in front of police officer it must be 3">.

With that said if you are appropriately using your knife in public then you really should have no worry.

P.S. No reason to be carrying a sword, I like to keep my knives 3"-4" max.
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Yessir :thumbup: :)

I know a lot of people who carry knives every day , I see a lot of people with knives clipped to their pockets every day. Then again I do not live in one of the PC zones...

Today is my Kershaw Zing and JYDII Ti.
 
Overall the past 7 years, I've carried : 2 Ti-Lites ( 1 zytel, 1 titanium), a Cold Steel Desperado(I don't do that anymore),my Leatherman, 1 of 2 Kobalt folding box cutters, A Gerber Fast draw, a SOG Flash II, and recently a 710, and a Dogfish knife. I have met very few other people who carry anything bigger than a slipjoint. Of those few people one was a cadet in the Sheriff's academy, and the other was a guy I worked with who started carrying after seeing mine. Most people react to my pulling a knife out almost the same as if I pulled a gun. :rolleyes:

I don't really know the knife laws here (Bakersfield), so basically out in public, my knife stays in the pocket. The few times I've been pulled over for traffic violations (my only real interactions with LEOs), usually I will just stuff it down in my seat cushion or something. Basically, my own personal rule of thumb, if your not doing something illegal, driving under the influence, breaking and entering, etc (with or while in possession of a knife) you are good to go.
 
Live in the North Bay Area, and can be found carrying one of 3 spyderco knives, usually. The Tenacious, S30v Native, and Centofante 4. Sometimes my Opinel or SAK will replace the Spydie in my pocket. But I also generally carry clipped in my waistband, covered by my shirt, so nobody cares.

Good story, though. Went with my sister to some new church in SF for Easter full of college age people. All the guys either looked like they wanted to try out for ColdPlay, or else looked like super hipsters... I noticed one older gentleman who looked like a working man, who had a shiny clip in his pocket, and he noticed mine too, we just sort of nodded to eachother. I didn't ask him what it was, though, I didn't want to scare a guy so badly with the sight of a knife that he drops his nonfat latte on the clean floor :p
 
goodeyesniper said:
I didn't ask him what it was, though, I didn't want to scare a guy so badly with the sight of a knife that he drops his nonfat latte on the clean floor :p
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Real hipsters don't hang out in places with clean floors. Ask me about my bad haircut.



;)
 
Oh, and I know plenty of people who carry knives regularly. But I don't know of any other "knife nuts". If it's not at Big5/WalMart/Hardware store, then they don't know it exists. So, they have never heard of Spyderco until they see mine, etc...

We had one new guy at my work, I asked to check out his pocket knife, he told me he's a huge knife collector, I asked him what brand it was and what the blade steel was he just had a blank stare on his face. Was some chinese knockoff, with bad steel, and a horribly neglected edge... But, a knife is a knife, I guess :p

Kershaw flippers seem to be the most popular with guys I know. I'm not a big fan, but they're nice knives. I have a feeling they'd all think I was crazy if I told them how much I'm getting the Ti M4 Military for :D
 
I live is southern California and I'm constantly looking for pocket clips whenever i go out. I do admit that i seldom see any, but when i do it's usually a Kershaw or Spydie. My girlfriend makes fun of me because i can usually I.D. the make of a knife just by the clip. She also tells me not to use my knife in public becuase "they won't understand." Haha...

I usually just carry whatever I'm in the mood for which is usually a large micarta sebbie or a low riding para fixed up by STR with a blk/wht delica IWB.

Most of my buddies carry BM hardware.
 
I'm in San Francisco. I usually carry a Small Sebenza or a Buck Waimea, sometimes a Spydie Urban. I never need anything larger as an EDC.
 
I always have at least one knife on me, sometimes two or three of you count the Buck Metro on my keys. Size depends on what I'm doing and will range from a Kershaw Scallion to a Rajah I for folders and a little CRKT neck knife to an RTAKII for fixed blades.

A funny story; I stopped by autozone last week to pick up some brake pads. The guy has a couple different types of ceramic pads so I ask if he minds if I open the box to see the difference. He says that's fine and starts looking around for something to cut the tape on the box. As he starts going for a Papermate pen, I flip out my JYDII Composite and cut the tape. The look on his face was priceless as he said, "Holy $h!+ that thing is bad@$$." :eek:

I couldn't believe he didn't even have a little SAK or something.
 
In the Bay Area and you'll most likely catch me with an XM-18 clipped to a frayed pocket. By next week, you might catch me with a Custom SnG clipped to the pocket. I'll be moving to San Francisco next month where there is a 3" limit on blades, but I don't that's gonna stop me from carrying the XM-18. I will be a little more paranoid about it though.
 
Another CA resident here and I carry my ZT 301 daily. I work in East Los Angeles so the only difference is when I'm in Los Angeles the clip can't show so I just put it all the way in my pocket.
 
I've lived in So CA most of my life, and carried most of that time, and never really noticed any special attention over the issue. I also don't know many other knife nuts. I very rarely notice anyone with a nice pocket knife. But that's probably because they are pocket knives, and I'm not prone to eyeing men's pockets.

I don't get the sense that carrying is particularly unpopular here. Most folks that carry simply don't make much of a show about carrying or using. I can't recall, ever, anyone making a fuss over me using a knife. On the contrary, I find folks are quite accommodating when you use the right tool for the job.

I would not be surprised if you get funny looks for pulling out an oversized tactical zombie killer. Anywhere in the civilized world. That kind of passive aggressive exhibitionism would likely draw as much eye rolling as fear here in Los Angeles.
 
Someone above stated a limit in LA of 3" for folders. This is not correct. The 3" limit only applies to open carry of fixedblades. Concealed carry of fixed blades is a no-no nomatter what size. There is no size limit for folders, and you're just plain better off carrying them concealed (which means no pocket clip or sheath/holster).
 
Los Angeles said:
Someone above stated a limit in LA of 3" for folders. This is not correct. The 3" limit only applies to open carry of fixedblades. Concealed carry of fixed blades is a no-no nomatter what size. There is no size limit for folders, and you're just plain better off carrying them concealed (which means no pocket clip or sheath/holster).
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Slight correction. There is an open carry limit for folders with blades longer than 3". Blades longer than 3" are legal, but you have to carry them concealed. This is the reason Emerson created the CQC-14, as far as I understand. For open carry EDC in LA. I was close to moving down there from the Bay Area a couple of years ago and that's what I found. I even bought a 14. Ended up selling to get a more expensive folder, but that is a great knife.
 
Kaizen1 said:
I'll be moving to San Francisco next month where there is a 3" limit on blades, but I don't that's gonna stop me from carrying the XM-18.
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Never heard of a 3" limit in San Francisco with the exception of the 2.5" state limit for schools.

Doesn't seem much different in California than anywhere else. Pulling out a big knife for a small or unnecessary task under circumstances where it's not expected will always catch attention. Someone sitting in the financial district in a business suit using a strider to open the potato chip bag seems out of place. It's kind of an "in your face" thing by some folks to find excuses to show off the knife.

Probably that's why balisongs and switch blades found themselves banned and restricted, too much potential for "in your face" style intimidation. At least Ca state laws will allow a tiny auto for opening the chip bags.
 
I've lived in California my entire life and carried at least one pocket knife pretty much everyday since I was 12. The only time that I have ever got in trouble for it was when I brought my SAK to school in the 3rd grade. :rolleyes: Nowadays, my usual EDC is a Benchmade 804 in D2. But I live in the rural Sierra Nevadas, not the California that everyone pictures. Around here we look at you funny if you don't have a clip in your pocket.:D
 
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