manliness and the traditional knife

S

Student762

Joined
Mar 7, 2014
Messages
937
I know this may be somewhat ambiguous and perhaps completely erroneous but here goes anyway. When you carry a traditional knife do you feel just a little bit more manly? For whatever reason when I strap on a belt and a SAK or slip a traditional lockback in the pocket I feel like I am ready to face the day. (apologies to the ladies)
 
No more than when I carry a pencil. A knife is but a tool in the arsenal of tools I use all the time.
 
I definitely feel more practical for my daily tasks as opposed to carrying a big bulky curvy tactical knife.
 
I don't know about feeling manly, but I do feel better prepared for the day.

leghog said:
No more than when I carry a pencil. A knife is but a tool in the arsenal of tools I use all the time.
Click to expand...

Interesting concept. I'm wondering how many pencil forums you frequent. I come here because for whatever reason knives trip my trigger. I just assumed that everybody else here was in the same boat. I find it interesting that you don't hold them in any higher regard than any other tool, yet have devoted enough time to this forum to post more than 3,000 times. No offense meant, I just found this concept intriguing.
 
I started carrying a pocket knife when I was seven. I've carried pocket knives every day since. Through puberty, and adolescence, and adulthood. Through a career and into retirement.

It’s hard to see how pocket knives were a significant variable on the issue of manliness.

Honoring my word. Maintaining my commitments. Being true to my values. Supporting friends and loved ones. Such issues impact my value as a man.

Carrying a pocket knife? Not so much.
 
festerfromnzed said:
Solid handshakes are manly....Knives are for cutting and stabbing...

FES
Click to expand...

Yeah but you've obviously never shaken the hand of my neighbour and good mate "the puntman". He will damage most normal hands without meaning or malice.Just strong. Then at the other end there is the the (uuurrr shudder) wet fish softy boy handshake.
Normally I carry both penknife and pencil. I can use the knife to sharpen up the pencil and do rude/humorous drawings of people whose handshakes aren't normal.
 
In 1988, GTE Sylvania gave me a Swiss Army Knife with one sapphire, signifying 5 years service. I carried it for many years until the oinkers confiscated it at SFO in 2004.

Since that time I have not carried any edged item on my person. In California I would probably get more jail time for carrying a fingernail clipper than an individual who has actually killed someone.
 
Now that I reflect a little, about 50 some years ago when I was first allowed to use my dad's, uncle's and grandfather's knives, yes I probably did. Shortly after that when I got my first knife it became a useful tool that had to be with me at all times. Same with firearms around the same time. After the first shot with a .22 rifle I became one of the men of the family, in my mind anyway. Nowadays sometimes I feel like a kid at Christmas when I get a new knife and carry it.
 
Last edited:
I've carried a folding knife for most of my life, and a few months ago had to stop (due to some serious rules at a place I was frequently going). I always felt more prepared (for whatever) if I had a knife.

Did I feel less manly when I had to stop... no. As someone else said, that's just what I am anyway.

However, for a while (and still, when I remember that I'm not 'carrying') I felt almost naked without a knife somewhere on my person. Now that's something that would get me arrested!
 
incision said:
...Nowadays sometimes I feel like a kid at Christmas when I get a new knife and carry it.
Click to expand...

exactly, perhaps it is the tool of a certain old masculine archetype - the stockman, the trapper, the hunter, all carried the traditional knives that bear these names. I'm am man who works in an office though, and I like collecting a new pattern, or some nice old antique knife, it makes me feel more like a kid getting a new toy. If I unseflconsciously carried a beat up shrade old timer year after year until it was worn down to a toothpick, that would qualify me for some sort of man badge; that I have an array of 20 different possible knives to take with me to cut that lunchtime apple, or open a bag of coffee beans, does not. I find also that a woman is just as likely to find one of these knives cool as a man.
 
Who doesn't feel more manly when you are packing a pencil? I prefer mechanical versions myself but the wooden ones are great if I feel nolstagic.
 
I wonder if her knife makes Pertinux feel more manly? I SERIOUSLY DOUBT IT! The OP's supposition would probably apply to most people that carry the Super-steel tacticools, but not to Trads. People, both male and female, have been using knives, as a tool, on a daily basis since we first walked upright.
 
I feel very manly, and uber daring, not to mention highly skilled and accomplished when using my circa 1970's Ginsu knife; not so much though with the Becker/ESEE kitchen set.;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top