Do you ever feel nervous when you let someone else use your knife?

I just had a similar conversation with a friend of mine. It wasn't about lending a knife but even showing or allowing someone to handle a knife you own. I had been wondering if it was just me but almost every time someone asked to see my folding knife the first thing they did was grasp the blade and start to torque it back and forth as if to check for blade play (don't even think they knew what blade play was) or see I guess if they could break it. This absolutely infuriated me. While I was in the military on a ship I was asked often to see my (mostly BM) knives. It got to the point where I use to say, ok, you can see it but don't touch the blade unless I'm selling it and you plan on buying it. My friend related similar experiences. Also the unexplained need to stab something with it. Like it's a toy. Guess my point is most people who don't know or understand about knifes also don't know how to use or respect them. The best thing to do is "Just say no" Now I only show or hand over my knife to fellow "knife folks". Best way to go.
 
I have no probs lending my leatherman, but hell will turn cold before I lend my ZT or even my CRKT

If for example I need to cut my seat belt I can't afford my ZT going dull.

If my friends need to cut something the leather man can't handle I'll do the cutting
 
I very seldom let anyone use one of my knives . What few times I have they were used by what I call knife people I knew would take care with them . I once showed a non knife person friend a R J Marin Q36 & he dropped it . I dam near freaked out & haven't showed him another one since -
 
I will usually ask what they are going to use to for..... but for the most part the answer is a big HELL NO.
a girl at worked asked for my para 2 when she broke the tab of a Enery drink can and wanted to open it..............
 
my girlfriend likes to take my knife out of my pocket every now and then and play with it. i always freak out and go to take it back and she will get mad at me. most of the time asking me whats the big deal. i just really dont like other ppl touching my knives. i always say fondling a mans knife is like fondling his woman lol. i work with one of my best friends from high school and even letting him use one of my knives for a few minutes he bent the tip on it. im just really OCD with ppl touching my stuff, especially knives.
 
Popsickle said:
I will usually ask what they are going to use to for..... but for the most part the answer is a big HELL NO.
a girl at worked asked for my para 2 when she broke the tab of a Enery drink can and wanted to open it..............
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ick.... reminds me of a time I left one of my Delica 4 FFGs lying on the ground near my lunch/tool bag, and someone grabbed it to cut open a bag of concrete aggregate without asking me. :mad: I never have been able to get the chips out of that blade so it's a pretty much unused knife now. Thats probably the most extreme case of knife ruining that has happened to me.
 
I went fishing today with my step Dad, he asked for a knife so I passed my Opinel (my knife that I lend to people), and he proceeded to pick his teeth with it. I thought he was going to use it too cut line.
 
I don't let people touch my knives. If someone wants something cut I'll do it. If they want to cut it I'll ask "then why don't you have knife?" If you don't have time to do everyone else's work for them carry a beater knife, something like a $5 SanRenMu. Make it clear you want the knife back when they are done and that they had better not damage it. If they do mess it up it's just a $5 knife, but people usually will take better care of things if you tell them not to damage it. You might loan out the SRM and tell them that next time they need something cut they'd better have their own knife. Use it as an opportunity to get someone to buy their own knife. Tell them you can recommend quite a few knives in different price ranges.
 
The guys at work make fun of me for how much $ I spend on my knives and flashlights, but who do you think they come to when they need either one of those items? The answer is always NO! Now they don't ask any more because they know what the answer is going to be. One guy I worked with lent someone his Severtech Auto and they snapped the blade in half using it as a pry-bar. Most people think a knife should not cost more that 10$.......Just say no!
 
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learned early never to lend knives out .. i worry about damage but worry more that they don't know how to operate different locks or make controlled cuts which can cause injury or damage, guess who they blame YOU!! especially in environments where knives may be frowned upon like work and school all it takes is you lending your knife something happening because of the person using it.
i remember almost 20years ago back in highschool i lent out my buck112 to a friend who wanted to trim a thread on a jacket... he ended up cutting off a button and put a slash in the jacket. he did so while wearing it luckily had a thick bubble goose down jacket. guess who got in trouble for having a knife? since then unless i know the person is knife smart i never lend but will offer to cut.
 
This is very interesting since I find myself being asked all of the time if someone can borrow one of my knives. I actually started carrying two for a while just so I could loan out a beater knife. However, I have come to realize that even though others may get pissed off that I do not let them use my knives, this will only force them to consider them to buy their own which could in turn increase the amount of poetential knife nuts in the world. So in a way, not loaning out your knives may be a force multiplyer.
 
Last time I let someone see my knife, which was my Para-Military 2 at the time... they looked at it for a minute, and then proceeded to stab it into some hard wood.. somehow there wasn't any damage done, but definitely the last time I let him 'see' one of my knives. I get all stressed out lending people my knives and now, just letting them 'see' them.. so I tend not to anymore or just cut what they need for them.

I gave that guy (who is my cousin) an old CS Recon 1 Tanto to abuse however he wants a couple weeks ago.. it was my hard-use knife for several months and held up pretty well, he gave it back a few days ago for me to sharpen for him, and it's got some nice blade play now and a DULL blade. I'm not sure how to even sharpen it using my sharpmaker.. it's too dull, lol.
 
as a kid, someone would borrow my knife and then proceed to maltreat it with everyone looking. i keep telling him to take it easy. then the telling turns to pleading but he won't stop. when he's had his fill of enjoying my discomfort, he'll make a motion as if to throw the knife away. i was the shy non-combative type back then but had he thrown it, i would have been arrested for attempted murder at the least.
 
hank_rearden said:
as a kid, someone would borrow my knife and then proceed to maltreat it with everyone looking. i keep telling him to take it easy. then the telling turns to pleading but he won't stop. when he's had his fill of enjoying my discomfort, he'll make a motion as if to throw the knife away. i was the shy non-combative type back then but had he thrown it, i would have been arrested for attempted murder at the least.
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That's horrible Hank... lucky the kid did it to you though and not someone that wasn't the shy, non-combative type... wouldn't be surprised if he would've gotten himself cut/stabbed.
 
I just posted a similar topic Friday titled " now I feel naked" It consisted of me loaning out a BM Rukus to a co-worker. Never thought twice about it. Mainly because I know the Guy and he treats others property great. If it was a stranger, I most likely would have kept it in my pocket.
 
That's horrible Hank... lucky the kid did it to you though and not someone that wasn't the shy, non-combative type... wouldn't be surprised if he would've gotten himself cut/stabbed.
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he's actually a pal but he just doesn't appreciate some things i do. it's the same with a lot of people. now you can imagine my attitude with people who want to borrow any (valuable) item i own. i don't even want people to hold my guns or knives just to "check 'em out."
 
Somehow I never learn my lesson.
Just recently I lent a BM mini rukus to a co-worker. He always carries a SAK, but needed a really sharp knife to cut notches into some rubber.
So I watch him and everything is OK, but then I leave for 5 minutes. When I return, he is cutting/scraping on a plastic piece (one of those 3D printed prototype thingies, really hard and brittle stuff) on a metal table.
Nothing major happened, just dulled the edge. Just makes you mad and you tell yourself that you should know by now.

Family and close friends on the other hand are educated by now. They handle my knives like raw eggs, or better yet just hold whatever needs to be cut in front of me :)
 
I Am Very Iffy About It.
The People I Hang Out With Have Learned.
My Friend, Who I'm Very Close To, Knew Nothing About Knives When We Met. She Had A Cheapo "Display" Lock Back And Carried It For Self Defense. Later On, Like A Couple Of Weeks Later, She Ended Up With My Meyerco Maxx-Q Plain Edge Bowie Blade All Black. We Did Some Filework And Personalized It, She Had No Idea It Was Going To Go With Her. She Just Loved That Knife. I Ended Up Giving It To Her And Told Her Simple Things About Taking Care Of It. It's Been A Few Months And The Knife Is Doing Great. Sometimes She Will Still Ask To Borrow One Of My Knives When She Needed A Sharper Blade.
She Once Dulled The Blade Of My Vic. Cadet. I Was A Little Irritated, And It Somehow Got Like A "Copper" Mark On It.
Doesn't Bother Me Because Now It's A User, Then It Was Brand New.
And I'm Really Iffy When It's Not Her. Even With My Friend Who IS A Knife Guy, He Just Has No Respect For Other Peoples Things. It's Irritating.
 
It is pretty rare that I would ever hand one of my edges to someone else. In the rare instance that I do, it is a person that has demonstrated that they know what I am handing them and they know how to use it properly. In these instances I am not nervous at all.

The first time I handed a knife to any of my sons, I was nervous as hell...but I think that is part of being a dad.
 
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