Someone asks if anyone has a pocket knife they can borrow....

aquaman67 said:
What do you need to cut? I'll cut it for you.

Is my response.
Click to expand...

I say this as well. A guy at work wanted to use my Para 2 to pry up the lid of one of those huge cans of paint. It would have snapped the blade. We usually use one of those smaller prybars to open these up.
 
Some of your stories remind me of the first time I let someone use my brand new pickup truck in 1986. I was young and stupid, and I made the mistake of trusting the guy (he was a friend of mine). When I got it back the bed was all scratched up because he had used it to haul Bradford pear trees from the nursery to his house without putting plastic or some kind of barrier to keep from damaging the paint, but not this guy.

I have never loaned any of my vehicles since.
 
No. IF they are someone I'd loan my knife to, they already have one.

If appropriate, I do offer to cut what they need. That solves all the potential issues like misuse, mishandling, accidental injury etc.

My knives are EXTREMELY sharp, most folks are not used to that and could suffer a major injury requiring an ER visit - that alone is reason enough to NOT loan out the knife.
 
It's hard to trust people, even when they mean no harm. I've seen some horrible damage to knives, from relatives, friends, co-workers, children, you name it. To some people knives are tools, so they just use them, they assume because they are steel, they must be strong, or indestructable.
Most folks wouln't even know if they damaged your edge, maybe if they broke off the tip. Even then, I expect them to say sorry, shrug their shoulders, and act as if they aren't to blame, it must be a cheap knife.
 
Yeah I had a co-worker brake the tip on my lady bug prying a darin open. I don't loan them out any more.
 
I bought 20 Vic Classics off of an online auction site. Twenty of them. NTSA seizures. They cost me less than $2 each, including shipping. So if anybody wants to "borrow" a knife, they can just keep one of them. I like gifting them and always carry a couple in my bag.
 
I usually carry according to the event. Many of my events involve beer. So, I pack a SAK to those events. And yes I will loan it out but I always open and close the blade or bottle opener. Usually, I am the initiator, "I have a pocket knife if that will help...". Or, "here, let me help you...". If you hand it over, open, most of the time they hand it back open.

Today, casual Friday, jeans I have a mini-griptillian. Having a hard time opening the coffee bag, here let me get that for you. And since it is a "big" knife in some sheeple's eyes, I keep it mostly hidden in my hand.

One time, I was watching the some of the neighborhood boys playing football (7-8 yo). Standing next to me was a mom and her little one. The child had one of those huge plastic pixie sticks that the sell at the concession stand. It was all gummed-up. I offered to cut the tip off. She said that would be great, then I opened up my SOG Twitch II (assisted opening) and took care of the problem. But, I get the impression the knife startled her - switch blade? - in her eyes. Not to self to be a little more subdue...

At my fire-pit, when the neighbors pull up and the kids are running amok - in a good way - you'll often hear, ask Mr. Tim, he always has a knife on him, he'll help you.
 
Last edited:
Most folks don't ask, but the knives I carry are users. I usually don't think twice about it. I might say something like "careful it's sharp," but that's about it.
 
I ask them what needs cutting, then go and see. If it is something I want my knife doing I do the cutting for them.
No complaints, damaged knives, or injuries so far :D
 
I usually just cut it, but if they need it for an extended time, then I hand it over to them with the blade open facing up in the air. I'm always in sight of it, so it isn't lost. I don't have dumb friends, but I wouldn't loan out my knife to an ignorant person. I'm more worried about the danger of one of us being cut than my knife being harmed. My EDC knives can be replaced, fingers can't be.
 
I had a guy who looked like some Occupy camper ask me if I had a "razorblade" on me. I felt it in my best interests(and that of the general public) to not reveal that I have 5 knives on me:thumbup:.
 
I let a "friend" look at one of my knives once and he promptly dropped in on the concrete floor...
 
This comes up quite often and I'm not sure there's any knife etiquette we can point to. I certainly open the knife before handing it to a person, and I hand it to them as I would a pair of scissors--blade first. My problem is that I like large blade sizes; however, I always carry a small knife for the weenies. I live in a state where it's illegal to carry guns and I've relied on a Cold Steel Gunsite ever since I was accosted by two large dogs which had escaped from their yard. One was obviously the leader and I had to try to fend him off with a backpack I was carrying. After that, I began carrying the Gunsite and a 6-inch CS Vaquero. My EDC, though, is a Spyderco Native.
 
If its someone I don't really know well I'll probably try to cut what they need for them, or walk them through any odd lock I might have on it. But I do very much enjoy handing my buddy who's "a big tool guy not a big knife guy " something with an axis lock, ball bearing lock, or stuff like that that opens oddly for most people. So far my favorite was when he couldn't figure out how to close my Higonokami :D
 
I made the mistake of letting someone use my knife two times. The first time the guy was some kind of bleeder or something and got furious with me for having, "the sharpest knife..." he'd ever seen. Moron. The second time the guy just sort of stared at it for a second, called it, "...a weapon." and didn't get the chance to use because I took it back as I was calling him a moron.

So yeah, I don't "lend" knives. I do love to watch the morons (is sheeple a more PC word? who cares) use car keys to open boxes, though. Especially the heavily corrugated ones with staples! Yeehaw!
 
Like others here, I usually ask to see what they need and do the cutting for them. - - In some situations, such as with buddies in a hunting camp or when backpacking, I'll have a readily available (but good quality) knife to loan to them. The rubber handled Moras are good for this. They cut better than any non knife knut is likely to have experienced, but are cheap to replace.

After seeing him try to saw through something with a junk Chinese 'folder', I thought I'd get my brother a decent small pocket knife. I spent a little over $50 and got him a Spyderco Dragonfly. Well I saw it a couple months later and there were big chips taken out of the blade. I don't know what he'd been doing with it. You'd have to take out a lot of metal to get rid of these gaping blade chips. I'll never loan him any knife worth more than $10.
 
I always ask what they are going to do with it. Seems that they usually want to do something like break big rocks in half, so I decline. The few people that I will allow to use my knife can usually figure it out, in fact my daughter and I currently carry identical knives. I have to be careful loaning a knife to my wife because she has cut herself a time or two in the past. My uncle "borrowed" my mini Griptilian a couple of years ago and scraped out a cast iron cooking pot with it before I knew what happened. I've just now gotten the thing reasonably sharp again. (I say "borrowed" because I took the knife out, opened a box, set the knife on a table temporarily and when I turned back to get it it was gone, so this was borrowed without my permission.)
 
I always ask

"do you need a knife or a screwdriver" Then I usualy asy if they would attempt to cut something with a screwdriver.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top