Pocket checking strangers - pickup lines

"Was returning from a morning hunt with my hunting partner and we stopped by his friends. He went to grab my Hella Eagon. Pushed his hand away and then gave him the knife. It was normal for me get some thing to eat after a Hunt. Really the only times I would open carry down in SC. Rarely any one said any thing."

Going for someone else's knife is about like trying to get to second base on a first date...
 
A customer related story:

My customer, a Deputy Sheriff was walking around Walmart in Billings Mt, I believe. He's also a cowboy and I've met him at several ropings here in Ca, which is where he'd bought his knife and sheath from me. After a while he notices a guy is kinda following him around the store. He keeps on shopping but the guy is still following him. Eventually, he stops and turns around and says: "Is there something I can help ya with?" The guy says "Yeah can I see your knife and sheath thats just cool." He was wearing one of our Beltless sheaths which I don't make anymore for a variety of reasons but still a cool story.

The customer in between roping runs with his Beltless sheath:

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At the same roping these two young ladies, both students from Montana State, came to the booth to show me their knives.

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In the time and place I grew up, commenting on something on another straight man beneath the belt line was not done, unless it was their boots :)
 
In the time and place I grew up, commenting on something on another straight man beneath the belt line was not done, unless it was their boots :)
... Unless you were looking for a "discussion with fists!"
 
i don't get carried away with that stuff... my buddy loves his buy..100 knives for 100 bucks.
 
I've only seen a hand full of people carrying knives that are worthy of discussion. 😁 (Most people carry flea market specials around here.)
 
In the time and place I grew up, commenting on something on another straight man beneath the belt line was not done, unless it was their boots :)
🤦‍♂️
Thanks for your personal history lesson, but keep sexuality out of the discussion like polite people do in the current time and place.
 
I have had several successful conversations with the opening line of "What kind of knife is that?" The person's response tells me how far down the rabbit hole I can go in the ensuing discussion (or lack thereof). I am the Knife Guy at work, and have handed out a number of budget folders to guys in my Facility Service department. I have also managed to get three coworkers to start carrying fixed blades, most recently by handing an Izula 2 with Sagewood straps to my apprentice plumber (who name-checked a 940 in his interview and then showed up months later with the Bugout I offered as a counter recommendation), telling him to carry it for a while to see how he likes it.
The better story is me, struggling to load a concrete saw into the back of my van at a local rental place, hearing from the employee helping me "Is that a breacher bar?" Found a Legit Knife Guy in the wild whose experience well exceeds my own.
I look for pocket clips, belt carry, type/condition of footwear, and all manner of things as a reflex, and use the person's general demeanor (and the permissiveness of the environment) as a guide for whether to open a conversation. Always worth a shot, as I don't care if strangers think I'm a weirdo and you never know if a recommendation (usually "get a Kershaw") will be the start of someone beginning to think more about readiness, quality, value, form versus function, etc. Do the things we carry say something about us? I believe they do.
 
Its kinda fun as a maker to run into some one carrying one of your knives that you don't know and to ask them about it. after they go on about it and how much they like it, it is fun to tell them you are the maker. I've never run into a negative comment but I guess life kinda filters that. If they didn't like their knife they wouldn't probably be carrying it. Here's a few:

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