Knife philosophy

jackknife said:
No philosophy here, just pragmatic mind set. When you walk out the front door in the morning, you never know what you may have to deal with before you get home again. Packages to open, twine/rope to cut, food to deal with. A zillion things. Or maybe save a life.

In January of 1991, my daughter and I were driving into Frederick Maryland to the Toyota dealer to get her a car for to drive up to college. Rt 26 does a very sharp left hand decreasing radius curve to merge onto Interstate 15 south. As we approached, an old Datsun B210 blew past us at a very high rate of speed. Entering th curve, it hit ice, slid sideways, spun three times, flipped and rolled and came to rest against the far guardrail, upside down. As we braked and pulled up, black smoke was starting to rise form the engine compartment. The battery had broke loose and was laying up agains the greasy engine block, shorting out and starting to burn. Imposable to reach, and there was more pressing matters to attend to. Inside the overturned car, a baby was screaming and a woman voice was yelling for help.

Crawling into he wreck, I found a baby in a car seat strapped into the front passenger seat. It was easy to press the seat belt release and the car seat with baby still strapped in fell onto the chest. Pushed it out the window for Jessica to get the other side of the guardrail. The driver was another matter.

I found an obese young woman thrashing around screaming hysterically and as I tried to release her seatbelt, nothing happened. Her weight hanging upside down from the drivers seat was too much. Pressing with both thumbs on the release catch did zip. By this time the car was filing with greasy black smoke and visibility was going down. Death from smoke inhalation was a real possibility if this lady was trapped in the car.

Rolling over on my side, I go tout my pocket knife, which was at that time a well worn Buck 301 stockman. Opening the sheep foot blade it was easy to cut through the seat belt just above where it entered the buckle/latch assembly. Dropping the screaming lady other head, I wiggled out backwards, my job done and I was really gagging on the greasy smoke of the burning oil scum coating the old engine.

It was the one time in my long life, now 81 years, that a life was actually saved by my having a knife on hand. If I didn't have a knife, the driver would have died there. Just the little 1 3/4 inch sheep foot blade of a Buck stockman made all the difference in the world. Any knife would have worked, even a little SAK classic would have sawed its way through the nylon webbing of the seat belt.

The important thing is, to have ANY knife that is halfway sharp. "Stuff" happens. That guy who had his arm trapped by a rock, and had to amputate with w cheap Chinese knock off of a Leatherman, needed any kind of knife, desperately.

Like my old man told me when I was a kid, You never know whats gonna happen between when you walk out the front door in the morning and getting home that night.
Click to expand...
Wow! That had to be an intense ordeal. I wish more stories like this came out in knife restrictive countries like Europe.
 
From my grandpa:

“If you don’t carry a knife, boy, yer gonna spend half yer life runnin’ back and forth to the kitchen drawer.”

All my male role models carried a knife of some kind, kept it sharp, and used it without fuss when needed. That’s all the philosophy I need.

Parker
 
BladesmanUSA said:
Is there such a thing as knife philosophy?
I have always carried a knife since I was 10 Years old and got my first Swiss Army knife. I suppose I have been a fan of knives since then and have always carried a knife in one form or another for the past 40 years.
So why do people carry knives? Is it for practicality? Or just to look cool? Does anyone have any, what they will call philosophy, on why they carry a knife? And is it actually a philosophy as such, or just us men being practical.
Click to expand...
A knife is a tool. I have carried one very day since i was 6 or 7 years old. No philosophy necessary.
 
Here ya go....Knife/philosophy

68yP3M6.jpg
 
JAF1973 said:
Oh yeah this one really got to me as a kid. I was a cool kid in school after 8 to 12 weeks of shipping time.
Amazon Pffft lol. My grandma bought me this.
420 molecular steel baby.
Click to expand...
Damn that address at the end is dangerously close to where I live, there's almost a bit of shame for me there.
 
kafolarbear said:
Damn that address at the end is dangerously close to where I live, there's almost a bit of shame for me there.
Click to expand...
I grew up in Newton and Wayne NJ until I was 9 years old. Unfortunately, I ended up in Beech Creek West Virginia. Ran away at 15 and never looked back at that state.
 
JAF1973 said:
I grew up in Newton and Wayne NJ until I was 9 years old. Unfortunately, I ended up in Beech Creek West Virginia. Ran away at 15 and never looked back at that state.
Click to expand...
Lucky you, the suburbs of NJ are kind of nice but their laws are just ridiculous.
 
kafolarbear said:
Lucky you, the suburbs of NJ are kind of nice but their laws are just ridiculous.
Click to expand...
My father almost went to jail once for using a box cutter breaking down boxes at his own apartment complex in the front yard. I remember where people were not even allowed to pump their own gas legally. I do miss the restaurants however in Jersey.
 
Last edited:
There are 2 reasons I carry a knife. First is, some time ago I found myself asking other people if they had a knife I could use somewhat regularly. Usually the person I was asking didn't. It didn't take me long to realize I needed my own. The second reason is much simpler. I have 2 jobs. My full time job requests I have a knife while at work. My part time job strongly suggests I have a knife.
 
Life is unpredictable and often dangerous, especially once you leave the house.

One way to confront this reality is to learn about and carry a variety of tools to help you overcome obstacles.

A knife is arguably the most versatile tool yet invented, so arguably knives should be studied carefully and readily invested in by those looking to have more/better options in their “toolkit”.

…Oh and around the house/in the woods, my philosophy is to use a knife or knife-like object whenever possible because it’s fun. :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top