Because of my job, I wear slacks 5 days a week so a clip is out. On occasions I carry a Mnandi in a pocket by itself, but for the most part I carry multiblades.
I collect Doctor patterns (antique, new and custom), but my favorite carries are whittlers and smaller stockmen and thin SAK's. Three blades offer quite a bit of versatility in a small package that does not attract any attention. When you look at the whole area of multiblades (factory and custom) there just seems to be an endless variety of blade material shapes and sizes as well as handle materials from the exotic to the everyday working ends of the spectrum.
I was at my girlfriend's daughters baby shower last weekend in downtown Atlanta (Bastidville
) with a bunch of folks older and younger. When it came time to open a few gifts, there was not a knife in the room other than mine and the mom and dad to be were having a little trouble getting some unwrapped. I opened the coping blade (less than an inch long) of a small Huffman balloon whitter and slipped it into dad to be's hand. He did not think much of it, but his wife (who I have known for a long time) went nutts over the cute little knife she was using. I could not imagine a better tool in that circumstance.
I love my carry tactical/utility knives which include a couple of LCC's, SOCOMS, R. Vallotton Sidewinder, Large Apogee DA, Sebenza's (Large and Small) and a couple of UT-6's. My Carson auto is one of my most prized knives in my collection, but the multiblades see the most use in the environments I seem to find myself in and to be honest, when I need to tote a knife for something a multiblade can not handle, I prefer a fixed blade.
When I look at a mutiblade there are a lot more parts joined together than in the majority of tacticals and the quality produced by many of the factories (when they want to) and the guys like Tony, Reese, Gene, Terry, Richard, Joel, Bill and others can be mind boggeling. These guys making some of those customs reach a level of fit and finish that is difficult to find in other arenas when you compare the number of parts that fit seamlessly together to form a knife.
At 50 (almost), I have never been in a position where I have wanted to use a knife for self protection and to top it off I have no training. On the one occasion in my life when I did present a weapon in defense of a female friend, a knife would not have brought the situation under control near as quickly as a .45 did. So I do not feel that I am sacrificing anything by carrying a multiblade, instead I feel that I am carrying a knife with a lot of versatility and acceptance no matter where it is used.
