"Do you have a knife?"

M

MikeH

Joined
Oct 18, 2001
Messages
4,611
After reading horror stories about misuse of loaned knives, I finally got the big question two times in the past three days. What I found out is that these situations are easy to deal with if you chose to not put yourself and your blade at the mercy of others.

#1
At church work/cleanup day on Saturday, preacher's 17 year old son asks, "Do you have a knife?"
"That depends on what you want to do with it."
"Well, I just need to use it."
"Are you going to pry something, or use it as a screwdriver?"
"Oh, no. I need to cut some twine."
"OK, here it is." (He's a good kid with a practical bent, so I felt fairly safe in letting him use it.

#2
Took my daughter to VBS tonight. Couple of ladies were carrying armloads of toys to upstairs storage area.
"Do you have a knife?"
"That depends on what you want to do with it."
"We need to jimmy this door lock."
I go to to the door and begin to try to push the deadbolt back with the tip of a car key. It won't go all the way.
"They did it with a knife last night."
I keep trying.
"Don't you have a knife?"
"Yes." I try again with the car key.
"Well, why don't you use your knife?"
Because I don't want to break the tip off prying on a deadbolt."
About then someone showed up with the door key.

You don't have to be nasty, just a little assertive. And I have found my standard answer to "do you have a knife?"
"That depends on what you want to do with it."
 
I tend to stick to: “what do you need to cut.”

If the job doesn’t involve cutting many people seem to acknowledge that they need another tool at this point.
 
I would carry a cheap multi tool around if you have room. Just give them that when they ask for a knife.
 
Asking that simple question has saved me a lot of unpleasantness. Then there are those who know me and just say "let me use your knife" in leiu of "do you have a a knife?". Asking if I have one is considered a stupid question among my friends. :D Actually I believe my brother started that. Now he's got a Kershaw Leek and doesn't have to use my knives.
 
I think of a lot of people need to discover the ultimate usefulness and cheap price of the Opinel.
 
You break it, you buy it. I've had two knives replaced because the loanee snapped the tip off using the wrong tool for the job. I just said no problem, now you own a nice knife with a screwdriver tip, that'll be $60 and no I don't take checks.
 
It's not called a "dead" bolt for no reason. Once it's in place, it is dead and can not be moved. Know this: nobody jimmied a deadbolt lock with a knife and you weren't going to get it with your car keys either.

A passage lock has a live bolt which still moves when it's locked. That can be jimmied with a tool if the door jam permits it.

If you lock a deadbolt lock while the door is open, it will actually prevent the door from closing. If you lock a live bolt lock such as a passage set while the door is open, you can pull the door shut and it will lock behind you.
 
I don't have that problem much anymore at work. The people who know me either:

A) Know I'm particular about my knives and know I won't lend one to do something stupid like use on a screw or chop something ontop of our stainless steel counters, or

B) Are scared as hell of how sharp they are and rather than asking to borrow my knife, simply ask me to cut something for them.

The biggest irony when people ask to borrow my knife, and I ask "why?", it's usually something better suited for a screwdriver or scissors. Although it is amusing to see the look on their faces when instead of giving them a knife to use as a screwdriver, I hand them a screwdriver. :rolleyes: :D
 
I carry an SAK. I ask what needs to be done. I open the appropriate blade and do it myself in most cases. Many times I have opened locked doors using my can-opener blade as fast as you can do it with a key. Sometimes I pick a lock using the toothpick and awl blade. I don't even loan out my SAK screwdriver to be used for heavy prying. I can use sophisticated prying as the need dictates. It's usually best if I do the cutting as well.
 
:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
1st CARRY LOCKPICKS
2nd carry a pos knife that you lend out so if they break it your out <$10
 
I used'ta hand over my SAK when people asked to borrow a knife... It's easy to sharpen nicks out of the thin, soft steel, and a SAK is fairly cheap and easy to replace if need be.

Then I started carrying a Victorinox Yeoman, which I'm not sure I could replace if I tried. Now I'm much more careful. :rolleyes:

On a related note, every year my Rocky Horror cast does a massive show in Brookhaven, Long Island (we've broken the "biggest audience" record twice, and hope to do it again next month), which tends to have a very large tech crew and lots of last-minute jobs to be done. The "can I borrow your knife" effect is so certain that I've taken to carrying my old Delica just for that purpose. Last year it ended the night with fine chips from tip to base (I suspect somebody was cutting polypropylene rope against the concrete floor :confused: :mad: :eek: ). Glad it wasn't the Calypso.
 
spyder8 said:
:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
1st CARRY LOCKPICKS
2nd carry a pos knife that you lend out so if they break it your out <$10
Click to expand...

Great advice on the second idea, but lockpick sets are illegal to carry in many places, aren't they?

Chris
 
I carry a cheap little knife to loan out if someone asks. I never loan out my good ones.
No one ever asks IF I have a knife. :)
 
I'm as concerned with 'how their going to cut' as 'what they're going to cut', as I keep my EDC FB's as sharp as I can, and a lot of people don't have the experience of working with really sharp knives. I had an employee, long ago, borrow a box cutter from my office, with a brand new blade in it. He wanted to cut out a section of folded cardboard, which he had in his lap! Unfortunatley, I was out of the room, and just walked in as he made the cut. I didn't say anything to him, just continued walking to the first aid cabinet, which I was into before he knew he had just opened up about three inches of his thigh. While driving him to the ER to get stiched up, we agreed that I would do the rest of the cutting. Granted, that was an extremely stupid move on his part, but I also believe that 'Murphy' watches who you give your sharp knives to.
 
When I am carrying my Sebenza my answer is usually something along the lines of "no, sorry I don't have a knife" even if it is plain sight. Stangers don't question that answer and friends already know that I don't loan out the Sebbie. :D If carrying any other knife I am happy to loan it out and take my chances, though I still keep it in sight at all times so I can monitor it's usage. ;) The only exception to this is a situation like hunting or camping when I friend loses, break or does something similar to his knife and needs to borrow mine to take to his hunting blind or somewhere else where I obviously can't be around to monitor. In this case (did this last year) he gets the Mora. If I don't have the Mora to loan then he is S.O.L.
 
Friends and family who know I carry knives, outside of work of course, know that mine are not thrift store junk knives, and that I will be distressed, at least until I receive monetary replacement of the knife itself, if the knife is damaged. A friend of mine ruined one of my good knives, when I told him it cost me $80, he laughed and made a joke, after my three months of berating him for the money to replace the knife, he knew I was serious, and came through. Yes, we're still friends.
 
If something needs cut, I cut it. I bought the knife so that I can have the pleasure of using it. I will use my knife in a way that I feel is appropriate. Some people can mess up a knife on even the simplest cutting chores by doing stupid things, such as slicing whatever on a brick surface.
Too many people would quickly mess up one of my knives that they are not willing to spend any kind of money on. I say to heck with them. If I can save up and buy a decent knife, then so can they.
 
Do you have a knife?
Yes.
Can I borrow it?
It's razor sharp. Do you think that you can open it without cutting yourself?
Never mind.
 
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