I was embarrassed to use my knife

This thread will be reopened after Mr. Walker has a chance to climb down from that high ridge, to splash some water on his face from the creek, and cool off.

We don't need direct personal insults as a way to communicate.
 
Where I live, I am scared to even carry a knife within legal length around because of social pressure. I need to grow cajones!
 
To the OP, I've pulled my blade out before & had the same look of disgust thrust upon me, as well as the "why would you carry that" spiel they all say the same thing. here's how I handle it. When they say it's a weapon & that only criminals need 'em or some other tripe, I simply pull my handgun & tell 'em, "No, this is a weapon, & it's for the criminals. The knife is simply a tool & if the criminals get close enough that I need the knife, well it just got real!"
 
Knives are not such a big deal where I live although some people look surprised if you pull out a 4" folder. I bought my wife a Spyderco Dragonfly to carry in her purse and my daughter picked out a black/black mini-griptilian. She carries it clipped in her pocket or in her purse.

If I'm around people that might question if I use a knife I just use my knife discreetly. I pull it out of my pocket and open it by my side, then cut what I need to cut, then put the knife back down as I close it and put it back in my pocket. I'm now back to buying larger folders for EDC and I'm thinking about also carrying a smaller folder for when I might not want to pull out the larger folder. Actually I usually carry a Leatherman Juice and it has a prety innocent-looking blade.

I have known people that weren't comfortable with knives and such. Years ago when I was single there was a lady in my church that I was told was interested in me. One time I heard her make a comment like Emily did, that made it an easy decision for me.
 
Hey ! Spare me from reading clear through this thread. I just want to know what Emily finally allowed the cutting to get done with ? I am sure Emily has no use for knives. After all, it sounds as if she has a sharp tongue. regards Henry
 
When I pull out my knife and someone questions it I say "Because I am the last boyscout!" and that normally shuts them up. And then I ask them why they don't carry a knife to which they never have an answer. Always be prepared!
 
Translash said:
Where I live, I am scared to even carry a knife within legal length around because of social pressure. I need to grow cajones!
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Well, you're in NYC, and given the current state of things regarding knives, I'd be scared of carrying anything other than a SAK or other slipjoint.
 
I have been carrying a knife for the most part everyday for 37 years so it's just something I have done for a very long time and it's a tool for when I need to cut stuff.
 
I forget my wallet or sunglasse or keys on a regular basis, sometimes even making it out the front door. But I have never in the past 10 years forgotten to carry a knife to me its a million times more important than any of those other things.

FWIW most of the women i have dated have carried a knife either in their pocket or their purse, and those female friends that i make that don't have knives I give them Byrd knives as gifts. if your scared of an inanimate object I have no use for you in my life. If I'm on a first date with someone I make it exceedingly clear that I like knives, weapons (because knives are tools first) and other things that are no longer nearly as prevalent in our society and to this day I have never had an overtly bad reaction.

Don't be ashamed of your interests, screw what other think. If they are someone worth keeping in your life they will just accept you more or less as you are.
 
After finding out you're female, it changes a lot. It also means you're a logical person who carries a useful knife. Don't be ashamed of it.
Sonny
 
When someone asks why you have a knife in that kind of tone, just answer "Because I misplaced my keys after I opened a box with them".
 
Ridge Walker said:
Please do grow some cajones.
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I don't care if the OP is a woman or any other sexist nonsense, you should treat everyone equal. And on a forum where people go to enjoy their mutual passion you should treat others with some modicrum of respect and focus on our love of blades. Bring this kind of thing to W&C, I'd be happy to respond more in depth there.
 
I usually just explain to them how they actually NEED a knife but they just don't know it.

I then explain how they don't have to rip open plastic boxes with their teeth and cut their lip, pull plastic tabs off their new clothes with their fingers and cut off their circulation until their fingers turn purple, rip open envelopes with their bare hands (and rip the checks inside on accident), pull loose threads out of their socks and shirts (and cause a run or tear), have nothing to write with if their pencil is dull, fill their fingers with orange peel and stain their nails from trying to peel an orange with their bare hands for ten minutes...

I just keep listing things off until they have an "Aha" moment.
 
"embarassed to use my knife."

SACRILEGE! she went crazy not at the thought of your knife, but at the sight of your sexy body!
 
Magnaminous_G said:
I usually just explain to them how they actually NEED a knife but they just don't know it.

I then explain how they don't have to rip open plastic boxes with their teeth and cut their lip, pull plastic tabs off their new clothes with their fingers and cut off their circulation until their fingers turn purple, rip open envelopes with their bare hands (and rip the checks inside on accident), pull loose threads out of their socks and shirts (and cause a run or tear), have nothing to write with if their pencil is dull, fill their fingers with orange peel and stain their nails from trying to peel an orange with their bare hands for ten minutes...

I just keep listing things off until they have an "Aha" moment.
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Great points, I'll have to try to remember a few of them. I've always laughed at my friend when he tears apart packages with his teeth and then tries to lie and say, "I prefer doing this," when I offer my knife.

Honestly though, as useful as I still do find a knife, I think it's one of those things where I never would have discovered it if I didn't have the family I did, and live in the place I did. It was still kind of a normal thing when I grew up for a boy to have a pocket knife, and it was seen as kind of a, "For whatever happens," type of implement. First time my dad told me what I might have to use it for, he mentioned getting splinters out and "skinning jackrabbits". I never did the latter, but plenty of the former. :P

Thing is that now days, I think there really is a lot less genuine necessity for a knife, like things are designed specifically for people not to have to bring another tool to the table--or at least that is the desired or intended effect, not sure how well it's working. Even cans have the pull-tab openers now... I remember the last time I moved, we bought some wine and some canned food. Did we think to get a can opener or corkscrew? Sure didn't lol

So I think as society tries to make things more and more convenient, people just tend to think they don't need these types of simple tools. When is the last time a person needed a bottle opener for example? Well, last thanksgiving when my sister's boyfriend ordered some vintage style glass-bottled Coke, he didn't realize they weren't twist offs. He was doing the old table-trick when I just popped my Leatherman out... It wound up serving bottle-opener duties all weekend. It's also served as an improvised cork-screw, although that's a wild story. :P

Given that I just keep a knife with me to do a job better and easier right off. I don't care if society wants to cater to me with the dummy-proof "pull here, open here" labels on the back of a candy bar, I would rather just slice it open myself and save the effort of figuring out the newest "easy" way that was made to appeal to the lowest common denominator. You ever notice how they consistently screw that kind of stuff up? Cutting a package open with a knife is as easy as 1. Cut the package open 2. Enjoy what's inside.

Kind of reminds me of this show I watched with people that do consumer testing of products... They said that people were tired of losing the screw off caps to tooth paste bottles down the drain. So they came up with a great idea to make the flip-up caps instead. However, it seems that people were so use to screwing off the caps, that they would just wind up cranking the top of the flip-top caps off and then blame the new design. This has nothing to do with knives of course, but I'm just saying it's funny what kind of stupid stuff happens in the pursuit of making things easier for the consumer.

Anyway, I think it's just kind of stupid for people to ask why you would carry a knife from this point of perspective, but I don't really encounter that perspective very much either. Maybe once or twice, but it seemed to be just from people that were concerned with it being a weapon. I'm not sure why this is the automatic assumption for people, but even that is a weird thing around here... I've had my Izula which is my EDC referred to as "a nice thrower" by some before. I think it's pretty wise to not get too worked up on what people think about the usefulness of a particular tool.
 
Sunog said:
I just wanted to share a quick dialogue that took place last weekend. Just for fun. :)


Normally, I do not care too much about what others think, and I am confident in what I do and who I am, but last weekend I had a "moment of weakness".


Please take note.
None of my friends are "knife people". The only ones who carry some kind of knife are a couple guys who carry those keychain knock-off swiss army knives.


So, my friends and I were decorating our friend's house for a party/gathering. A couple off us were busy in one room.
A friend (let's call him Billy) asked me if I had a knife so that he could cut some tape.
Automatically, my hand went to my pocket (to get my knife so that I could had it to him) when another friend (let's call her Emily) across the room spoke up.

(That day was the first time I had seen Emily in years. I have changed quite a bit since then. Naming one change, I never carried a knife back when we were seeing each other more frequently.)

Well, Emily had overheared what Billy had said about a knife. That had bewildered her as she is the quintessential city, party girl.
She asked, "What?! Why would you have a knife?" in a tone that said having a knife was the most riduluous thing and only "dangerous" people, convicts, or crazy people had/carried knives.

Slowly (and in the most casual manner), I dropped my hand/arm away from my pocket and said, "Oh, I don't have one," even though I had used it to cut some plastic some 15 minutes ago in the kitchen...


That was such a random "moment of weakness." I like to be truthful and I am usually never afraid of judgement from others, but hey~ there are always times when we diverge from normalcy.


Whew. So many words for just two sentences spoken... :o




This probably never happened to you guys, right?
I'm guessing you are all tough guys who never ever care about other peoples' thoughts :D
I had a chance to help educated others about knives, but I just let it be :(


Well, I hope you all had a nice weekend. :)
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Pretty much the same thing happened to me when I was confronted about why I would actually carry a knife, but I pulled it out anyway. However, it did feel a bit awkward to do so at that particular moment. Now though, I don't really care all that much to what to the reactions of people around me to the fact that I am carrying a knife and using said knife as a tool, which I believe to be primary function of pretty much any knife. If the knife you're carrying is legal to do so where you live and you're using it in a safe and responsible manner, what does it really matter what other people think?
 
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