Share a story of a knife preventing injury or saving a life

When we lived in the Bronx, back in the 60s and 70s, my father got cornered in our garage one day by 3 or 4 17-19 ish delinquents who wanted his wallet and keys to the car. One of them pulled a knife and advanced on Dad. He simply reached back and grabbed the garden sickle (Do they still make those?) on the wall and invited them to dance. When he advanced they retreated. Around that time our German Shepherd who had been barking madly hopped the fence and joined the party. To this day I don't know which sharp object did what, but when I got home from school Dad was at the old 44 giving a statement and there was blood on the car and the garage floor and two teen punks were getting stitched up in the hospital. My father testified in juvenile court and we never heard any more about it. I still have that old sickle.
 
I save lives at work every week. How is that? We barbecue weekly, and I'm the only guy with any pocket knives or kitchen knives.:)
 
This isn't my story, but I read this online while looking for a picture of the Spyderco Matriarch:

http://www.themartialist.com/0503/matriarch.htm

If the bit of swearing isn't appropriate for this section of the forum, I don't mind if a mod edits it or someone asks me to edit it.

Drug Task Force Agent Harry Barker was glad to get home from his three- day assignment in Southern West Virginia. The information he and his team of undercover Sheriff's deputies and state troopers had collected would go a long way toward bringing down a group of Methamphetamine dealers that were ruining the lives of a lot of good people.

Being by nature a cautious man, Barker took no chances where his personal safety was concerned. He carried a nickel plated Series 70 Colt Commander in 45ACP. This gun, while being more than powerful enough for the job, didn't scream "COP" like a Glock or a Sig-Sauer would. He could get away with drawing and pointing that weapon at a perp to make a point and it wouldn't make those people think he was anything other than another drug dealer -- albeit a well-armed one. Also, the Mother of Pearl grips with naked ladies on them would not be tolerated on the sidearm of a cop, would they?

The third thing Barker did on arriving home, after disarming his burglar alarm and petting his dog, was to set his 45 down on his coffee table. He grabbed a cold beer, sat down in his recliner in front of the TV, and quickly fell asleep. The cop was so fatigued he didn't even take off his shoes.

Stirring around 3 a.m., Barker starting looking for his briefcase. Remembering it was in the car, he ran out to get it from the trunk. It was a decision he would soon regret. Bending over to put the key into the lock of his trunk, he was slammed hard in the back by what had to be a baseball bat.

"April fool, motherfucker, you didn't think we would forget, did you?"

He had put so many people in jail over the past year. This attacker could have been any of them, or related to any of them.

Falling to the ground, the cop realized a huge weight -- probably the attacker, -- was on his back, trying to choke him out. The attacker's hairy forearm was around his neck and he could feel himself slipping away. If Harry allowed that to happen, it would be all over for him. Frantically, the cop clawed in his pants pocket for the familiar clip of his Spyderco Matriarch, a wickedly sharp hawk-billed folder. He was able to pop open the knife and, with some difficulty, found his attacker's forearm. With all his might, he sliced across the man's hairy skin. The assailant rolling off of him followed a sickening scream and the warm feeling of blood across his face.

"Mother Fucker! You CUT me," the attacker screamed. "Oh Jesus, Oh holy Jesus."

Harry clawed at his ankle holster for the ever-present Smith and Wesson 442 Airweight 38 special. He drew the last-ditch weapon and pointed it at the attacker. He recognized the very surprised and gravely wounded assailant as a member of the Detroit Crips. The man's sidekick, who probably thought this was going to be an easy murder of a cop, tugged at a Ruger 9mm pistol he had in his waistband.

"Don't do it man," the cop urged, I don't want to have to kill you."

Fear, good sense, or a combination of the two caused the sidekick to drop his gun on the ground and throw his hands into the air. The cop's neighbor, a retired deputy, heard the screams and came into the yard with a cell phone in one hand and a snub nosed Colt Diamondback in the other.

"Cops are on the way, and so is an ambulance," the neighbor noted, "but I can see you have everything under control as usual."

This scenario, based on an actual incident related to me by an undercover officer over a year ago, is the very situation for which the Spyderco Matriarch was designed. This knife evolved from its big brother, the Spyderco Civilian.
Click to expand...
 
There are definately two different kinds of stories her.
1. I saved myself from being injured/killed by cutting materials around me. Usually done with knives like an SAK.
2. I saved myself from being injured/killed by cutting other people. Usually done with knives like combat rambo death kill folder.

Anyway. I have seen more than one occasion where people keep saying that knives are weapons, even if it is a flimsy SAK. When those PC people end up in a "knife needing" situation they might get help from someone who is not PC and therefore are carrying a tool with an edge. Then when the help is administered, that PC person starts yelling again about your knife. I dont get it. You can not carry a knife that does the job perfectly, but you can TRY to do the same job with a pair of scissors.

About a month ago or so, there was a car accident not very far from here. the car hit a tree. The car behind it stopped and the driver ran out and cut the trapped people loose, just seconds before it was too late. That only shows that a knife is a good thing to have.

The earlier described baloon incident is a perfect example of why you should have a knife (or any edge tool) on you. Even the tiniest SAK or Leatherman could have solved that before it became critical. A SAK in your purse/ pocket is very helpful in many ways.
Lets say that kid had had a thorn or something in her finger, a SAK would have solved that too.

There are two things that is almost mandatory (toolwise) if you have kids.
Some kind of multitool/medium sized SAK and a Petzl E+Lite (or similar small head lamp).
Perfect when you need to use the bathroom at McD and the light is out.
You have tools in your car, which you can leave behind and fix later.
Why dont you have tools for your kid, you can not leave it on a bench in the mall to go home to get stuff to make it happy again.

I am going to get that for my brother and her girlfriend when they get a kid in october.
 
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There have been some great stories posted. Thank you to all who have participated. Let's have some more!

The best to all of you!
 
A couple of winters ago a oncoming car passed me fishtailing and after passing crossed the center stripe on the way to the ditch. The ditch was rather deep and steep. The car rolled 450 degrees before stopping on its passenger side. Generally I have my boots lacked up but not this morning as I was being a bit lazy, so after a quick lace up I plunged into the snow on the way back to the car. By the time I got there another guy had stopped and was helping the mother out of the car. Gasoline was leaking out heavily, so I tried to get an infant out of the car through a busted out window while leaving the little guy in his car seat. Since the buckle was not reachable due to the position and the car being unstable and about to roll more, I asked the mother if I could cut the seat belt. She said yes and my Benchmade helped get the little guy out of the car before a fire caught.

It makes for a nice rebuttal to the a#$holes that ask "Why do you have a knife? Rambo?"
 
"2. I saved myself from being injured/killed by cutting other people. Usually done with knives like combat rambo death kill folder."

Hey now, I never said my knife was a massive, scarey folder. I doubt the blade was even 4" long. It was what I carried once in a while before I knew what decent knives were. And it wasn't a tactical/mall ninja anything. All I remember about it was it had a drop point and a couple of serrations down at the base of the blade. It was the fact that I had a knife at all that probably detered the confrontation.

-Mb
 
I did not accuse anyone carrying mall ninja knives. I just was reflecting on the knife industries different approach to knives depending on the supposed use.
 
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