How to convince my parents to let me get a KA-BAR!

Wow.. 16 and no KA BAR! That sucks. I think I was 13 or 14. But then again, I live in Texas and we're required to have at least a 6in folder by the time we're 13. Lol. I would wait your parents out. Show them how responsible you are with your current knives and then in the future they'll let up. My mom doesn't care what I buy with my money. My dad cringes every time I want to buy another gun. But, he's seen how much I take care of my current 6, so whenever I say I'm saving for a new one, he doesn't care.
 
thermocline said:
Sorry, kid, you already screwed up. You should have asked for the Hell Razor and "settled" for the Ka-Bar. Next time you'll know. :-)

It gets worse. If you're very, very lucky, you'll graduate from haggling with your parents over getting knives to haggling with your wife over getting knives.

But I do feel your pain. I really, really want a SureFire 6p and a Streamlight Scorpion LED. My wife rightfully points out I can already make our house into a passable imitation of the Las Vegas Strip with the lights I have on hand during the next blackout. I really, really want a Spyderco Caly3 and a Kopa. My wife points out I have enough blades in the house to fend off the next alien invasion singlehandedly.

Such is life. We have enough. We want more. I learned me that from a "Kung Fu" tv episode... :-)
Click to expand...
those are the questions i get form my girlfriend "you already have 7 knives why do you need another one?"
 
yeah johnny cakes they are all rifles and nothing tacticool or anything mostly twenty twos. but my padre has the attitude this his guns are my guns and he trusts me. so i guess i am pretty well set up.
 
Son, go mow some lawns, save the money yourself, and convince them you've earned it, maybe then they will let you have it.
 
there will be plenty of time to get a kabar, but at 16 you are playing by their rules, you only have a few more years anyway why the rush? a 3.5 inch folder should do just about anything you need it too.
enjoy and use responsibly what ya got and the rest will come in good time!
best of luck
ivan
p.s. at your age i had just my grandads camillus #26 folder and a tramontina carbon steel bowie that i managed to buy at a flea market off the radar of course:cool: thank god for flea market dealers with no moral compass:D
ended up with a big knife that i was too freaked out to do much with, but i carried that camillus everyday from the time i was 14 or so, still have it too!
it did everything it was supposed to do and more, the bowie ended up never getting carried. Relax if you have 7 in your collection you're doing okay!
 
I'm 19, and my parents don't really control what I buy, but I still don't even have anything resembling a collection of knives and guns started. Got no money. All I got is my guitar to sing mah po man's blues. sigh...
 
johnnycakes8787 said:
those are the questions i get form my girlfriend "you already have 7 knives why do you need another one?"
Click to expand...

I suggest that you invest in your future, and get your mom a pink Kershaw Leek. You will then catch her flipping it because she doesn't want to throw it away since it was a gift from you ;-)

Seriously, just argue logically that you are 16, you never had trouble with the law (right?), you use your knives responsibly, and that you feel you are no longer a child and should be allowed to show you are a responsible adult. Tell her you appreciate her concern for you, but that it's misplaced and that it makes you feel like she doesn't trust you or that you are a younger child than you really are. Also mention that your desire for the knife comes from its aesthetics and the fact that its a collectors item and that it represents a basic technology that has allowed humanity to get to where they are today, and that you feel passionately about it. Tell her you never even considered it a weapon to begin with, thanks to her upbringing.

Then promise that you will not take it into public unless you're on a camping trip (if you even want to use it for that). I'm guessing you are the oldest child and your mother kind of sheltered you from the world, because she wasn't confident in her own ability to protect you. Its time for her to let you go and let you be an adult, and its time for your dad to stand up to her. I bet your younger brothers get a lot more freedoms than you did.

You also said your dad is ok with you having knives, if it backfires, ask him for the KA-BAR for xmas. Insinuate that he really isn't much of a man (and a rolemodel/father/etc.) if he can't stand up to your moms ridiculous delicacies, you are after all a near-adult. Good luck ;-)
 
Last edited:
Im pretty young and my parents let me get a kabar as long as i dont carry is around the house. If you havent deducted, im asian (gasp!) and if they let me your parents should let you .
 
monsterdog said:
But seriously, mention to her that if you ever intended on stabbing someone, you wouldn't use a blade with a forensically recognizable blade like the KA-BAR, and instead would use a long philips head screwdriver.
Click to expand...

"Hi Johnnycakes, welcome to Group. We want you to know you're in a safe, happy place. So, tell us why you think your Mom had you committed..."
 
thermocline said:
"Hi Johnnycakes, welcome to Group. We want you to know you're in a safe, happy place. So, tell us why you think your Mom had you committed..."
Click to expand...

I know, I edited that pretty quickly ;-) Realized that some people wouldn't be able to take that humor.
 
Tell em you need it for the zombies. That should show you are mature enough to recognize potential threats to your well being and surely convince them.
 
I don't think at 16 years old you should have to beg permission to buy a knife. Here's what I would do-

Step 1: Find a good online shop that sells the knife you want. I recommend One Stop Knife Shop (1sks.com).
Step 2: Make sure they accept money orders and place your order. Some online shops that cannot process money order purchases on their website do accept mail orders- email them if uncertain.
Step 3: Go to the nearest post office, say "I would like a stamped envelope and a money order of $(total here)", and produce an appropriate wad of cash.
Step 4: Fill out the money order as appropriate and mail it out along with the sale information including the order number and items ordered. Most online stores will have specific information for this process such as who to fill the money order out to. 1SKS will send you an email to be printed and mailed.
Step 5: Wait for the package and when it comes you've got a new knife. Hell yeah. Go cut something with that bad boy.

If you don't want your new knife to be mailed straight to your house get it mailed to a friend or get a post office box.
 
You're getting a D'allara for Christmas? That's a nice knife. Why don't you wait a bit on the purchase?

Although I believe a responsible 16 year old is old enough for most knives and firearms, I'd suggest holding off until you are a bit older.

I think you'll find that having a large collection when you've still got college ahead, living in dorms or apartment with room mates, or even traveling abroad can be a bit of a hassle (in terms of dealing with other people's prejudices, as well as transporting in and out of school each year and storing them in a place that may have arbitrary size restrictions on knives) until you have your own place.

A small number of folders is manageable, but large fixed blades would be harder to deal with and you're likely to get less use out of them during this period (unless you end up going to school near a good hiking area).

Also, by this time you will have a better appreciation of money and your likes/dislikes.

That's the situation I'm in now, and even though it looks to me like a small Kabar would fit me like a glove I'm holding off. I'm also resisting the urge to buy a Mosin-Nagant until I can find a rifle range, although I turn 21 very soon and am looking forward to starting on my CHL.
 
I think your going about this the wrong way.

Tell your parents you want a the biggest damn machete you can find.
After they see that a tiny wee K-bar will sound great to them ;)
 
Yeah dude, I bought my KA-BAR rushed....I don't like them for anything but display, "I have one of these..."
 
monsterdog said:
See, I buy my wife knives, even though she isn't into it. Its all about slowly moving their threshold for what they think is acceptable.

So I suggest that you invest in your future, and get your mom a pink Kershaw Leek. You will then catch her flipping it because she doesn't want to throw it away since it was a gift from you ;-)

Seriously, just argue logically that you are 16, you never had trouble with the law (right?), you use your knives responsibly, and that you feel you are no longer a child and should be allowed to show you are a responsible adult. Tell her you appreciate her concern for you, but that it's misplaced and that it makes you feel like she doesn't trust you or that you are a younger child than you really are. Also mention that your desire for the knife comes from its aesthetics and the fact that its a collectors item and that it represents a basic technology that has allowed humanity to get to where they are today, and that you feel passionately about it. Tell her you never even considered it a weapon to begin with, thanks to her upbringing.

Then promise that you will not take it into public unless you're on a camping trip (if you even want to use it for that). I'm guessing you are the oldest child and your mother kind of sheltered you from the world, because she wasn't confident in her own ability to protect you. Its time for her to let you go and let you be an adult, and its time for your dad to stand up to her. I bet your younger brothers get a lot more freedoms than you did.

You also said your dad is ok with you having knives, if it backfires, ask him for the KA-BAR for xmas. Insinuate that he really isn't much of a man (and a rolemodel/father/etc.) if he can't stand up to your moms ridiculous delicacies, you are after all a near-adult. Good luck ;-)
Click to expand...

its amazing you know my family. seriously you just defined whats going on in a nutshell. my brothers do get more freedom than me. anyway thanks for the tips and no i havnt been in any serious trouble with the law.
 
No, I'm not a parent, but barring any unusual circumstances, by age 16, one should be responsible enough to have a Kabar.

Do you have a driver's license yet? If you're responsible enough to move 2 tons of metal at 60+ mph, you ought to be responsible enough to own and safely use a knife like a Kabar.

Also, if your mother is primarily worried that your younger siblings might find the knife and hurt themselves (or others), you might show her how you will store the knife so it will be inaccessable to them.

Best of luck, and be safe. :thumbup:
 
Last edited:
Look, Johnnycakes,

Just let it go, man. Do not pull an end run around your parents. You've got a good chance of losing all seven knives you currently own if you do. There's always going to be something you want that you can't have. It's true for you, it's true for me, it's true for men I've worked with who were born with multi-million dollar trust funds.

Try to have some sympathy for your poor Mom. She looks at that Ka-Bar and she sees a boy's minor fistfight turn into a prison term and a tombstone. She sees it sticking out of your stomach after you've tripped over it. She sees a million ways for that knife to become tragedy, and very little upside to an 8th knife.

I've been taken to the emergency room a bunch of times in my life. Lost track of the number of stitches I've gotten. Worn a bunch of casts. Had to pop a dislocated shoulder back into place without help once. I've jumped out of airplanes. Fell into flooded whitewater. Fell off of facings that collapsed out from under me. Even had a tree dropped on me once. I can look at every scar I carry and giggle about it now.

I think about the handful of times I had to rush my wife or kids to the emergency room, and I still get nauseous about every one of them. The time I got my skull cracked is now a funny story I tell. I've still got post-traumatic stress about the time my boy got three stitches.

Just let it go. Consider it a Christmas present to your poor Mom.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top