Ever show a non-knife person your knife?

I was with my neighbor who was 12 from across the street and he was like "hey, check this out.. I stole my dads knife!" (I couldn't identify it but it was a gentlemans lockback) and he opened it and 3 seconds later he looked at me "I DONT KNOW HOW TO CLOSE IT!!!!!!!!!" and I was like "its called a lockback.. you see that bar on the spine right ther-" and I hear a "splash!" he threw it in the river. later I learned he was severly punished. but I don't get it at 12 years old you should know how disengage common locking mechanisms.. :confused: and to get his hands on a knife he had to steal one.. I see why he has never had one
 
I'm always anxious to show off a new knife I've made but have learned that there is no point in it if the person can't appreciate what they are seeing. I hardly ever show them to anyone I don't know nowadays. I really hate showing them to most of the old school makers at events either. Some of them are just a-holes and can't stand the fact that people are learning the skills on-line instead of some ABS college course. All of that aside if someone asks to see my knives I'm generally inclined to show them with the hope of creating more knife enthusiasts as well as a possible customer.
 
So far I've only had one person ask to see my knives, and he seemed to appreciate them for what they were. Didn't so anything stupid with them, mainly wondered what they were and where I got them.
 
I'd guess almost everyone on this forum has at least one or two horror stories. We seem to be moving towards a society of generation after generation of lawsuit-happy irresponsible overspecialized plastic bubble people with no more common sense than a goat. That being said, there is still a social responsibility to help uninformed others in knife handling safety and etiquette.
 
I don ´t let any of my knives, and especially to non-knife guys.
I think there is always a risk for someone to get hurt when one is not familliar with his tool

During some camping I let my Swiss Army knife to a friend who was not used to use blades, and he achieve to cut in the hand of another friend when unboxing some bottles of water....
We had to walk 2hrs in the night to reach an hospital.... Stupid accident

Since that time I don't let my knives.

I now carry larger EDC and I take care to the reaction people may have when seeing one of my knives.
Looking at my ZT0350 one of my friend called it "a weapon" ...:(
Hopefully he reconsidered his opinion when he saw the used of this heavy blade on some materials we had to cut
 
I, funnily enough, have a specific person that I show every knife I want to use in public to. He distrusts knives a lot, and if his opinion on a knife is "it's a tool", then I take it to mean that that one is especially unintimidating.

Knives he has distrusted:

The Boker Plus Gnome, because the neck sheath made it seem like a concealed weapon.

Kershaw Chill (Flipper intimidation)

Spyderco Bug "The hole makes it look designed, and that makes it scary!"

Byrd Hawkbill "I don't want to know what that's designed for!!"

Knives he rated categorically as a tool:

A 4-blade congress by Schrade Imperial

Knives he wavered on:

Svord Peasant Mini

Blind Horse Knives Patch Knife "It was intimidating... until you took it out of its sheath.


I find him a really useful touchstone for non-knife-person opinions on knives, because just because I look at the Gnome and go "Oh, that modified sheep's foot has naff-all point on it, it's not designed as a weapon" doesn't mean someone else doesn't see it as the raptor claw of doom!

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Dangerous implements of death, in the eyes of some NKPs! (Even when they trust the wielder, they just question the tool itself...)

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The raptor claw!

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Second from the bottom: Intimidating when in a sheath!

Third from the bottom : "Not scary, it's clearly a tool!"
 
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I have a small limited number of friends I let see my knives and most family members I have no problem sharing (usually the male family members). Christmas is the time where most the guys get to break out their knives however most of them are not "knife guys" and same with my friends. I know personally only two people who are a little into knives, but their interests usually stop around Spyderco and Benchmade at least for the price range and they usually only buy a couple or a few knives a year.
 
cPadgett said:
I was with my neighbor who was 12 from across the street and he was like "hey, check this out.. I stole my dads knife!" (I couldn't identify it but it was a gentlemans lockback) and he opened it and 3 seconds later he looked at me "I DONT KNOW HOW TO CLOSE IT!!!!!!!!!" and I was like "its called a lockback.. you see that bar on the spine right ther-" and I hear a "splash!" he threw it in the river. later I learned he was severly punished. but I don't get it at 12 years old you should know how disengage common locking mechanisms.. :confused: and to get his hands on a knife he had to steal one.. I see why he has never had one
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His dad should have taught him about knives, but more importantly not to steal and to have some respect for people's property. If it were me at that age I would have gotten a stern lecture and grounded for stealing one of my dad's knives. But I had my own at that age so it wasn't an issue. However, I would have gotten a severe whipping with the belt and a waaay longer grounding for then throwing the knife in the river (or if I had stolen from anyone else). I only had to get one of those kind of whippings when I was a kid and it was more for repeatedly lying and covering up my mistake than for what I did wrong.
Hopefully this kid will learn a valuable leasson. Theft and disregard for property are not traits that will serve him well in the future.
 
You really have attachment problems to that knife. Are you really that worried about a guy flipping your spyderco open. If so why would you carry a knife that you perceive to be so delicate?
 
I agree with some of the other posters. I'd show my knives way more if I thought people would be able to appreciate the quality and materials. Most people just look at it blankly or with apprehension.
 
imbryan715 said:
You really have attachment problems to that knife. Are you really that worried about a guy flipping your spyderco open. If so why would you carry a knife that you perceive to be so delicate?
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I view flipping knives open about the same way I see flooring your car.
It probably won't hurt it, but doing so creates a lot of unnecessary stress on the components.
 
Let my buddy check my Benchmade Adamas, turned around for a second, he started using it to hammer some little piece of metal on the counter to fix something, I was 1 level below shouting at him, but i snatched it quickly and showed him the marks he left on it, and called him stupid...:confused:

another time he dropped my griptillian.

and the sog I gave him,

but he likes shaving the hairs off his arm with my knives...:rolleyes:
 
bladeboss said:
I ran into one of my friends (and his friend) tonight at a local gathering.
I've known him for many years, and we share alot of interests, such as hunting, fishing, and 4-wheelers.
So, I said: "Were's your pocketknife?" in a friendly, almost jokingly way.
"I broke it." was his reply.
So I pointed down to my pocket clip, saying, "Got mine!"
So he asked if he could see it.
My heart dropped, yet I handed it to him. :foot::o
He didn't take too much time looking it over, opened it quickly one-handed, and it seemed like he knew what he was doing.
"Pretty nice." he said as he was reading the tang where it said "Spyderco S35VN". (Obviously not having had heard of it)
Next, I didnt see coming.
"hi-YA!" he yelled as he jabbed it towards my privates, stopped quick, turned the blade horizontally, and scraped it off my pants.
I wasnt too sure what to say, so I didnt say anything and just looked at him.:eek: He handed it back and I let his friend see it too.
He was quieter and a bit more calm than Mr. Stabby.
He also opened it one handed and said "Nice" and handed it back.
They both asked where I got it.
"GPKnives"
"Wheres that?"
"On the internet"
"Oh. I like Gerbers the best"
:barf:
Now, I know they didnt do anything bad TO MY KNIFE (disregarding the stupid privates-stabbing), but when I returned home I checked my knife all over, almost as if it was abused, to make sure nothing was loosened or harmed when the two non-knife folks were fondling it. They didn't flick it open, but opened and closed it fast. Im usually slower and calmer with it.
I wasnt too fond of letting them see my best friend, especially knowing that they didnt know much about knives.
Irrelevant, but it was my Native 5.
Do you ever let anyone see your knives? And if you do, do you check it over after they're done with it?
Any horror stories?
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LMAO! The dude was having some fun. Don't be a girly man.
 
I pulled out my B710 to cut some limes for cuba libres when I was at my sister's house... Her roommate freaked out and backed into the corner... "Get it away!" she said. Come to find out, she is from Philly where there is apparently a lot of stabbings???? I guess so.
 
I've once lent my first knife, my trusty Buck 112 (and only /proper/ knife I own, other two being Vics), to a friend whilst camping. Now, I'm fairly new to this whole knife business. I've owned it for a few years now, and I know some EXTREMELY basic things about knives. Grinds, sharpening, how to properly care for a blade different names for different types, etc... Never learned 'em. But there are some things that are obviously not meant to be done. It's funny how people react to that blade as if it's a weapon rather than a tool, and after a short bit of explanation as to the differences between the two as well as teaching them how to use it, they'll treat it as if it's a toy of sorts. Anyways, back to that fateful hiking trip. He decided, while I was going to get branches for kindling, that when I return to the bonfire, I find him stabbing into a fallen tree. Apparently, he was trying to 'find grubs like Bear Grylls', ripping chunks of bark off the log by stabbing the blade down, and this is the *BEST* part, pushing against the *SIDE* of the handle! Needless to say, the tip of the knife is gone, and the rest of the knife managed to get out with only minor damage. It's still a great knife, but it's just incomplete without the tip. I'm thinking about sending it to Buck sometime to get it repaired, what with their lifetime guarantee and all. Between that incident, and a few bad cases with loaned books, I hardly, if ever, loan anything to anyone.

And if anyone is wondering, no, that person isn't an acquaintance of mine any longer. He wasn't the greatest of people to begin with. Sorry about that, folks. Rant over.
 
I got smart after reading what you guys had to say, I'm all prepared for such an instance. Somebody needs to borrow my knife, I've got a folding utility knife ready to pass to them. Let them just try and ruin that.
 
One of my best friends is a strong believer in the "any knife is good enough" policy. He's had the same shitty spring assisted stiletto from China Town for 4 years. I started there but have moved onto Spyderco and Benchmade. My collection isn't large since I'm only 15. But he does admire some of my better knives.
 
"Why did mommy not use a screwdriver?"
my daughter (4y) asked me while looking a bit surprised and confused.

My wife borrowed my sak to change batteries in a toy car. While doing that she rammed the thorn 1/2 inch into her palm. To her credit she was trying to use the saks screwdriver first but it didn't reach deep enough into the hole and only then she tried the longer pointy thingy which she probably didnt know what it was.
Anyways be sure guys that my kids are being taught everything about tools and knives by me. My daughter already has a mini Kukri which she can take out from the safe under my supervision and is handling it pretty well.
After that incident last week I think my wife needs a few instructions too on the other hand I guess she already learned a lot by what had happened.

Not hating on non knife people.
We all are non something people in many areas I bet. Once my daughter complained that I made her hair look like an alien. I thought I did a good job with all these clips and rubber bands.

ps: The kids and me will electro edge my wifes name into the sak pioneer) and it'll be one of her Christmas gifts :)
 
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