Cutting Christmas trees with own knife?

He probably just felt threatened for no reason and started lashing out.

Last summer I was taking a long hike along a part of the Appalachian Trail with an old college buddy of mine. I had a 5" camp knife (Ontario SK5) on my belt. Another pair of hikers (a young couple) approached us to ask for directions. The girl saw the sheath for my knife; her eyes bugged out of her head and she nearly tripped over herself as she quickly backed away.

We're two clean-cut, nerdy, professional guys in our 40s. Hardly intimidating. And if the deep woods isn't an appropriate setting to carry a modestly sized fixed blade, I don't know what is.
 
I got the same kind of response when I was hiking in the mountains with my .45 on my side.
Now I just carry it in my pack.
 
I live about an hour north of you in a small town in colusa county, and while I have no problem carrying a 9" overall fixed blade . i have gotten a few weird looks and end up thinking about what I'd say to them before I realize that it may just be because I'm walking a pit bull , then I really start thinking about how I'd tell them off .
People can be really judgemental, but you shouldn't worry as long as you're doing nothing wrong and aren't just doing something because you can.
There are some people who may carry a tomahawk on their belt just because it's perfectly legal, and do just for the sake of it.
 
Normally, I would say something along the lines of "tell that guy to go pound salt". But I won't this time :)

In reality, I would go back another time, during slow season and have a sit down chat with the guy, if you planned on going back.
Otherwise, pick a different tree store and have-at-it again!
 
I guess it would be fun to chop a christmas tree down with a knife/blade and I can see your kids enjoying that as well. I might suggest you put in some good old fashioned woods time with them where they can play. Saws certainly aren't very interesting in terms of cutting a christmas tree. But you likely have to saw cut it anyway before you put it up.

Don't see any big deal carrying a fixed blade in the outdoors whether it be a tree farm, wandering around in the woods and so forth. Knife choice may get some similes, but other than that, you should be able to carry what you want.

I think I cut down a tree farm christmas tree once with an axe and found it to be a bit of a pain getting access to the trunk to chop without damaging the lower branches. Switched to a saw. At the time, a bow saw. (I'd use a pruning saw now for normal sized christmas trees.) The bow saw worked just fine and I suspect that if a tree farm provides saws, it's likely a bow saw. As a family, we cut our own tree at a tree farm for years and it was something we kids looked forward to. Dad also planted our own and harvested trees from the property as Christmas trees later on. Nicer trees and there was a pride element since it was home grown. As an adult, I carried on the tradition in Texas until it got to be too much of an effort as it burned a whole day and it certainly wasn't cheaper. That's life in the big city!
 
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