Have people reacted to your knife with shock or fear?

There are some pretty surprising comments in this thread being a knife forum and all. I think the forum may have gotten more liberal since the last one of these threads a few months ago.

I use my knife anytime I need it and anywhere. I look fairly young and dress in comfortable t shirts and shorts and I don't think I have ever gotten a negative comment. I also have never seen dirty looks and I live in a liberal college town, though it is in the south. If I have a need to use my knife, I pull it out and concentrate on the task and then put it away. I don't stare over my shoulder like I'm doing something naughty, I use it with purpose and confidence. I even cut up food in a restaurant if I need to and don't have a steak knife or it is really dull. I almost always split dinner with my wife and it is usually done with my big bad tactical pocket knife with a black blade. I always look around after I have used and put away my knife just to see if I'm getting any weird looks and have never noticed anything. You can do just about anything in a public place if you act like you are just doing what you are supposed to be doing.

Once I cut up a piece of fruit in the grocery store to try it out. A middle aged lady asked me how it was and I offered her a piece which she happily accepted. I asked if she wanted it cored and she said sure so I cut off a quarter and cored it and she thanked me, all while holding my black blade Rift. We both left with a bag of fruit because we were able to sample and try something new, to me at least.

I'm just surprised so many people have bad reactions when I have the opposite. I'm also surprised so many people are worried about using their hobby if it is legal to do so and you could use a bad reaction as an opportunity to teach someone the value of tools with a couple pre planned clever come backs.



The Logical One said:
+100000000000000000000000

Before I got into knives, if I needed to open something up like a box, I either just tore it open with my bare hands like a neanderthal man.... or I used a key or pen to tear the tape.
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Fixed that for you. Humans don't have claws and fangs because they are able to think and develop tools like knives to do the clawing and tearing for them. Biting your way into a clam shell package is not the measure of a 'real' man. Just an unprepared one.
 
I often find myself, even in the military world, getting questioned about the knives i use and why i carry one. sounds like a simple enough answer to me. when i am on duty, i carry either my ZT 0650, my Kershaw Rogue, or my soon to arrive ZT 0551. They are large folders that serve a purpose. And that purpose would be a back-up defensive role if i were to (God forbid) lose my pistol and have no other means of self defense. That stays tucked away in an easy to reach place for me, hard to recognize place for the criminals. I also carry a small folder, like a RAM or leek or OD-1. That one i use for day to day tasks, unless i forget to bring it, then i resort to the large one. But even then, i am around people packing PR-24's and Pistols all day. people don't seem so frightened about those, but dare say i pull out a knife...whew! as far as when i am in civi's. i carry whatever the heck i feel like. if i just got a new knife, and it happens to be a ZT, guess what, it is coming with me. even to the store. it may sound weird, but i bond with my knives. i like to carry it for atleast 2 weeks to get used to the feel, weight, and POU (yes, i watch nut'n fancy) of the knife. Out with the friends, hitting the club, i might be a little more conservative. but at the same time, i want to be able to defend those around me should the need arise. the OD-1 is great...but not a tactical/SD knife at all. So, regardless of what the "sheeple" say, I have a right to carry a knife, and i will carry what ever the hell i feel like carrying!
 
clichtenwalner1 said:
... Dumb side story i was at the PO today and thought i may have wrapped my car keys in with the blade i was shipping (i packed it there) so I asked the clerk for my package back and a second and thrid thoughts about using the blade on my leatherman wave to open it since who knows what kind of commontion that could raise iside a PO.
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Well, a knife with 2.5 inch blade or more is same as gun in federal facility according to the code. Possible 1 year in slammer, Class A 'meanor I guess.

- OS
 
Most everyone I know carries a knife or knows that I carry knives. They usually know what to expect when I'm around. They also usually know that the knife they see is the least lethal object I'm carrying, next to my chapstick.

I've decided that the thing to do is to start carrying an inexpensive yet serviceable knife with me, because it happens fairly often that people around me need something cut and yet have no tool available to them. When I do the cutting, there is very often a conversation about the knife used. Most recently at a local hardware store a young man who was helping me load my trailer needed a knife and didn't have one. He commented that working at the store he often needed a knife but kept forgetting to pick one up. If I'd had one to part with on me, I'd have given it to him.

We modern Humans need to be reminded now and then how reliant we are on our tools, even if we have become complacent and spoiled in our every day lives.

Andy
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
There are some pretty surprising comments in this thread being a knife forum and all. I think the forum may have gotten more liberal since the last one of these threads a few months ago.

I use my knife anytime I need it and anywhere. I look fairly young and dress in comfortable t shirts and shorts and I don't think I have ever gotten a negative comment. I also have never seen dirty looks and I live in a liberal college town, though it is in the south. If I have a need to use my knife, I pull it out and concentrate on the task and then put it away. I don't stare over my shoulder like I'm doing something naughty, I use it with purpose and confidence. I even cut up food in a restaurant if I need to and don't have a steak knife or it is really dull. I almost always split dinner with my wife and it is usually done with my big bad tactical pocket knife with a black blade. I always look around after I have used and put away my knife just to see if I'm getting any weird looks and have never noticed anything. You can do just about anything in a public place if you act like you are just doing what you are supposed to be doing.

Once I cut up a piece of fruit in the grocery store to try it out. A middle aged lady asked me how it was and I offered her a piece which she happily accepted. I asked if she wanted it cored and she said sure so I cut off a quarter and cored it and she thanked me, all while holding my black blade Rift. We both left with a bag of fruit because we were able to sample and try something new, to me at least.

I'm just surprised so many people have bad reactions when I have the opposite. I'm also surprised so many people are worried about using their hobby if it is legal to do so and you could use a bad reaction as an opportunity to teach someone the value of tools with a couple pre planned clever come backs.
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I live in the South too, and in an area that is loaded with Colleges and Medical Industry, I would say that being careful is the smart thing to do. Just never know who will flip out around here, people seem to flip out over everything and anything. Strange area really and loaded with Northerners, yuppies and other assorted types, lots of deer in headlight types around here, really thin skinned.

Hopefully some things will work out soon and I will be long gone from this state, can't wait to get out of here.... It has gotten progressively worse in the 16 years I have been here, it was once voted the best place to live years ago and that never does an area any good, attracts all kinds of the wrong types of people. Like I said, down hill.....
 
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Dang, I love Alabama! (The state, not the football team. War Eagle!). I regularly use my Swamp Rat Rat Trap, a large folder, to cut my daughter's sandwiches in half at a nearby sandwich shop, and no one pays any attention at all. Of course, this place is frequented by cops, firemen, and EMT's, all of whom know the value of a good knife as a tool.
 
I used my little Spyderco to split a chocolate muffin in two while having coffe at McDonalds. It was opened with 2 hands, cut a muffin, wiped down and re-pocketed. My co-worker was shocked that i would use a knife for that, even more so as the place was crowded. He was VERY worried someone might see us.

Oh, and my co-worker is an ex- professional soldier with tours in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. :rolleyes:
 
Most of the people I know or associate with also carry a knife(it's still a common practice were I live) so I haven't encountered any strange looks yet.
 
This is troubling to say the least, that people are actually so indoctrinated by society to think a folding knife is a weapon. I hang around with alot of service folks and they all carry knives, use knives and other tools daily to do the mundane work of cutting stuff that needs cutting, so the scary has worn off I guess.
 
stabman said:
My thought a lot of the times these threads come up (which is often), is that some people get a thrill out freaking others out.
And then they get all superior over how much more awesome they are for having scared others.:rolleyes:
I haven't had people react with all sorts of fear when iI use my knives because I do so in a responsible manner (no "ninja flicking" the knife to get a reaction).
Even when people asked why I was carrying a weapon, they weren't all freaked out, and I explained the rationale behind carrying a knife.
They didn't always seem convinced, but they didn't think I was going to gut them either.:)
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I couldn't have said it better. Nicely put.
 
I've only showed my collection to a knife collector and a former U.S. Marine. I do get some stupid looks when I tell the last few how much I paid for a Chris Reeve folder or Busse fixed blade knife. Last time I do that.
 
Davor said:
I've only showed my collection to a knife collector and a former U.S. Marine. I do get some stupid looks when I tell the last few how much I paid for a Chris Reeve folder or Busse fixed blade knife. Last time I do that.
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A lot of people spend so much money on booze and other stuff they don't even have money for gas or tires let alone a nice knife.

Used to see the same people coming in almost every day getting a few 12 Pks of beer........ Then they talk about how broke they are..... Yeah right.... I wonder why... :rolleyes:

They could buy a $250 knife a month easy and still have a lot of money left over with all the money they blow on booze.... They complain that a $100 knife is expensive...

Lots of people running on bald tires around me....

I stopped telling people what knives cost years ago.
 
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its the exact reason i only EDC victorinox SAKs... people got paranoid with knives to easily...
 
God Im glad I live in such a rural area..I suppose we have kept the bunny huggers away with our backwards hillbilly ways:D...A knife's still a tool around here and folks use them all the time in the open.
Of course I tend to think common sense is more common in the country..;)
 
Kentucky said:
God Im glad I live in such a rural area..I suppose we have kept the bunny huggers away with our backwards hillbilly ways...A knife still a tool around here and folks use them all the time in the open.
Of course I tend to think common sense is more common in the country..
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You got that right... :thumbup:

That's until they build a ton of developments and then the idiots start moving in and ruin everything.....
 
I seldom get a negative reaction.

I think it's mainly because I'm generally clean cut, middle aged, and don't come accross as a scary, aggressive, badass punk.
 
Ankerson said:
A lot of people spend so much money on booze and other stuff they don't even have money for gas or tires let alone a nice knife.

Used to see the same people coming in almost every day getting a few 12 Pks of beer........ Then they talk about how broke they are..... Yeah right.... I wonder why... :rolleyes:

They could buy a $250 knife a month easy and still have a lot of money left over with all the money they blow on booze.... They complain that a $100 knife is expensive...

Lots of people running on bald tires around me....

I stopped telling people what knives cost years ago.
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so very true, include lotto tickets and smokes into that, as well. i work across the street from a convenience store/gas station. you'd be shocked at how people drop hundreds of dollars in scratch off lotto tickets and are wearing sneakers that should have been replaced a decade ago. most walk out with a case or 12 pack of beer, couple packs or a carton of smokes, and a handful of $5 up to $20 per each scratch off lotto tickets, then put like 6 bucks in gas in their car. then they get in their car with tires with the wear bars being the tread and drive off. after awhile you start to recognize the same folks and they spend a small fortune in this store. it is amazing what people will do with what little cash they have. of course i say that and blow money on knives every couple of months or so. pot calling the kettle black i guess i am.
 
Exactly! I don't cut up my food with my EDC in a fancy restaurant. Loudly ninja flicking a large blade open is sure to get you attention. Larger blades and “tactical black” blades or anything that looks military is bound to cause a reaction. Do you HAVE to do that? Couldn’t you slowly and quietly open a small unobtrusive blade to cut your sandwich? Couldn’t you have asked Subway to cut it for you in the first place? Why would you want to get mayo all over your good folder?
Backpacking or camping would be a different thing. Nobody looks askance when you pull out a blade on the trail. Unless of course, you loudly snap open a 7 inch tactical black blade to clean your fingernails. Nobody ever sweats a Dragonfly that is opened quietly and used unobtrusively. Even off the trail in a public place, you will get no reaction if you are low key.
 
in certain settings like work, i'll ask people if knives freak them out. In public i don't really care what other people think, i don't sit there playing with it, if it's out it's being used, don't like it, not my problem.
 
Salguod, Sir you have the wrong attitude, imho. knife and gun owners shouldn't have to dance all around weak people and their prejudiced non logical fears. it's this thinking that got us where we are today with both knives and guns. afraid to carry and use(knives only obviously) them.

this is exactly what the anti-gun and anti-knife crowd wants. us voluntarily using and carrying them less to appease a bunch of naive, weak, and sad people...who are afraid of tools. it's a sad world we live in today.
 
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