Main reason you carry a knife [POLL]

Here's why I like to carry a knife when I leave home [choose main reason]:

  • Honestly, its jewelry, an accessory to me. A statement about who I am, and is useful on occasion.

    Votes: 26 11.9%

  • A knife is a tool. I keep one handy because it helps me get my work/job done.

    Votes: 161 73.9%

  • I keep a knife on my person for safety reasons, for personal protection.

    Votes: 3 1.4%

  • Because I love to drop a pic of my EDC in one of the bladeforums threads!

    Votes: 5 2.3%

  • Other

    Votes: 23 10.6%
  • Total voters
    218
I’ve never thought about it. As a very small boy every man I knew carried a knife. I didn’t shut up until I had one of my own and I carried it everywhere. I still have it but have added 100+ more to keep it company. In the last 34+ years since getting that first knife, I’ve used them for everything. It’s more of a handy tool for me than a weapon, even though twice in my life I have used a knife as a weapon, it’s not my first choice.

Times where I go places that guns aren’t allowed, I carry a modern folder because in my mind I’m still somewhat armed. If questioned by law enforcement, I can always say “oh you know, it’s just a pocket knife, just a handy tool to have on my person to open food and stuff with” followed up with a shrug. It’s hard to say that about a concealed Glock and spare magazines. Think sporting events, graduations, concerts, that kind of thing.

Sometimes a knife can fit into the man jewelry category for me as well. I like dark jeans and nice shirts for events where my T shirts and cowboy boots and jeans with skoal rings aren’t acceptable attire, and a nice artsy looking pocket clip seems to accent my look. Same for a nicely tooled leather sheath for a Buck 110 or similar. Think weddings, funerals, and date night with my old lady. A nice modern folder or a folder in a nice belt sheath with a bone or stag handled traditional in my pocket is the perfect combination for me for those scenarios.

I reckon I could say my reasons fit into several different categories. Mainly and foremost a handy tool. Sometimes pocket (or belt) jewelry.
 
Spillproof said:
All one needs to do is check out the "EDCXIII What Knife or Knives Are You Carrying" thread to see that the at least half of knives posted there have never cut anything. They don't even have marks on the clip so they aren't really carried either.

Given the choice between admitting that they're ostentarious jewelry and pretending that they're "hard use" tools, people are gonna people.

Polls are funny that way.
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Even those people that really use their knives. Have knives they don’t use. Also we take pictures of them when they were new.

To answer the original question. For me its a tool, but also a habit. I feel naked without a knife.
 
eveled said:
Even those people that really use their knives. Have knives they don’t use. Also we take pictures of them when they were new.

To answer the original question. For me its a tool, but also a habit. I feel naked without a knife.
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Personally, I enjoy seeing and taking pictures of knives that have done some living. To me, most of the examples of a given model start out looking pretty much all the same, it's the markings of the lives they've led that really does it for me, but to each their own.

Some of mine get used more than others, but they all get used. I couldn't bear owning a "safe queen." I didn't even like typing it just now - gives me the willies.

I feel the same with guns. The following is a paraphrased excerpt of a conversation with a good friend of mine as he was giving me a couple pistols that had been in his family for generations (he was moving to a city where they were not welcome):

Me: You know I'm going to shoot these, right?

Him: Yes, that's why I'm giving them to you.

Me: Okay, cool. As long as we're on the same page.

Him: Well, I think it would be sad if they just hung on a wall forever.

Me: Yeah, me too. That won't happen here.

Him: Thanks, man.

Me: No, thank you.

Recycled picture of some knives in various stages of life:

https://imgur.com/a/ToKIuPw
 
Combination of one and two for me. I don’t need them to do my job, but I use them to cut (or usually open) things around the house or on our terrace. I Pretty much always have one on me at home, or at least nearby when I’m sititng on the couch.

I do not need as many as I have, and they don‘t need to be so aesthetically pleasing, but I do really appreciate and admire the way they are put together. I love the way they look and feel. And they are super useful.

All the men, and many of the women, in my family carried a pocket knife when I was growing up. I’m sure they still do. It’s unfortunately extremely rare here, and they would probably be viewed as a self defense thing, which I have never even considered when I look at a pocket knife. They are tools that look really cool to me!
 
birdsbeaks said:
Personally, I enjoy seeing and taking pictures of knives that have done some living. To me, most of the examples of a given model start out looking pretty much all the same, it's the markings of the lives they've led that really does it for me, but to each their own.
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I like the contrast / before and after.
What it looked like new vs now after all this use.
 
as a ex carpenter and construction guy I always had a knife on me, so I voted as a tool.
 
I guess the main reason is I've been carrying one since I was seven and I feel naked without one. That's 56 years of nearly every day carry!

I carry a knife as a tool first and foremost.
 
Well I was making a point about what actually belongs in a safe if its purpose is to hold value, and be liquid.
 
rishma said:
^this

Whenever my family asks “do you have a knife?” I always answer “yes, I am wearing pants.”
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Lol. I say basically the same thing. “Am I wearing pants?” Which is even funnier when you aren’t wearing pants.
 
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eveled said:
Lol. I say basically the same thing. “Am I wearing pants?” Which is even funnier when you aren’t wearing pants.
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If I'm wearing pants of any kind and not in bed there's a knife in my pocket.

My dad must be a psychic or something because he only carrys a knife when he thinks he'll need it, I have no clue how he can possibly know he won't need a knife.
 
My Dad was very smart, but not smart enough to do that! Lol.

I thought when I had kids I’d magically become wise like he was. It doesn’t work that way. 😞
 
I voted “Other”, meaning all of the above.

And just like keeping a firearm around, Tis better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

But I kind of recoil at the idea of calling it jewelry, as if it’s to be looked at, but not used. I would not own a knife that I would not use. Not that there’s anything wrong with that ~ I love seeing photos, or even better, getting to inspect fellow member’s safe queens.
 
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