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

"Friend": "May I borrow your pocket knife?"

Knife owner: "Sure! Here ya go!"

"Friend" then proceeds to unscrew a slotted, rusted-in screw...or at least gives it a try...SNAP!
 
rubiconss said:
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.
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Exactly.

If a person doesn't have sense enough to carry their own knife, I wouldn't trust them to use one. Especially a sharp one like mine.

However, if I kew the person was a "knife person" and responsible with knives, and that they just didn't happen to have one on them at the moment because they forgot theirs' or something, then yeah, I'd lend them a knife.

Of course, it really is funny trying to watch someone try to figure out on their own how to close a liner/frame lock folder. Like a monkey with a cell phone.

I wonder what, if any, your legal liability is when you loan someone a knife. Imagine you loan someone a knife, they accidentally close the blade on their fingers, cut nerves, tendons, etc. This being America, I wonder if they'd have a civil case against you.
 
killgar said:
I wonder what, if any, your legal liability is when you loan someone a knife. Imagine you loan someone a knife, they accidentally close the blade on their fingers, cut nerves, tendons, etc. This being America, I wonder if they'd have a civil case against you.
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Well, you can bring a civil case against anybody for literally any reason, theoretically anyway. But that doesn't mean you'll win it or that an attorney will agree to mess with you on it, other than to just take your money. I would imagine if an adult of sound mind asks you for a pocket knife and then injures himself due to his own choices in misuse of it, your liability risk would be extremely low, UNLESS this even happened within your home or a business you owned. If he (the knife borrower) got injured on your property, then I'm sure risk would be higher.

I'm not a lawyer, btw.
 
I wouldn't hand them my knife in the first place. Only I use my knife. I point them to the nearest scissors or cut what they need cutting assuming it's not something stupid like copper wire.
 
At work, I keep a spare, relatively inexpensive knife (which I sometimes use too), as well as a multi-tool. If I loan one out, it'll be one of those. In social settings, the SAK tends to my preferred loaner.

I tend to loan them out with the blade (or appropriate implement, if it's the Leatherman or SAK) deployed. I also tend to ask for them back with it open. I've seen some near injuries with people trying to disengage locks. I've even had a friend almost close the blade on a SAK with her fingers still wrapped around the handle.
 
people havent asked to use my knives for a few years now .
I do get asked to cut stuff for them now and then .

There were a couple instances when someone has asked to use my knife , I flicked out the opinel and passed it to them , they passed it back and asked if Id cut whatever it was ...

I went to a send off get together for a friend , and when it came time to take down the decorations I heard one of the guys being told go ask me if I will cut the balloons down , just dont ask for my knife youll probably take your hand off with it .

I teach the kids who come thru my care that I trust with a knife that a knife is like your testicles , always with you , never flashed around in public , and only put in the hands of people you REALLY trust .
 
I would only loan my knife out to people who had the mentality "I should always carry a knife" Which negates the necessity to loan it out since they will have one.
 
A while ago a friend has at my house visiting. So he was looking at the gear I have laying around. He loves this kind of stuff but never got into it.
At some point he found the knife and firesteel. He had a very general idea of how it is being used. I didn't really pay any attention for a few minutes.
So he takes the razor sharp f1, and using the EDGE with EXTREME FORCE he cut a large chunk off the fire-steel, while trying to generate sparks.
So I lost half a firesteel, but learned a valuable lesson. Beware where you give your precious knife.
 
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I keep my mouth shut, let them struggle with what ever and when they are finished I take my knife out and tell them that is why you need your own.
 
cmon guys! what's great about carrying a knife is one's capacity to be a good samaritan increases 100%. being able to help someone with it makes the trouble to carry worthwhile.

but i'm all for keeping my knives intact and undamaged. ;)
 
Daddyo16 said:
... and you hand them yours. Do you open it before you hand it to them, or do you let them figure it out, or do you show them what to do? With so many different types - AO, flipper, studs, no studs, etc - unless they know what they're doing, it might take some doing for them to get the thing open.

What do you do?
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i never hand anyone a knife. if they dont have one, I'll cut it for them.
 
hank_rearden said:
cmon guys! what's great about carrying a knife is one's capacity to be a good samaritan increases 100%. being able to help someone with it makes the trouble to carry worthwhile.

but i'm all for keeping my knives intact and undamaged. ;)
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I agree, it must be said, it varies from person to person and situation to situation (for me). A complete stranger, I will cut it for him. People that I have thought how a knife is meant to be used they can lend it. But I still tell them they need their own.
 
I have only on a few occasions had people ask to barrow my knife. I usually have a multi tool or SAK of some kind and a knife in my pocket. If its a friend I can trust and I trust they know how to use a knife I'll let em use my multi tool.
 
I don't. I let a friend at work borrow my Sage 1 and it came back with the tip chipped to hell and back. I asked him about it and he said, "What, there's nothing wrong. It's only like $5, right?" No, jackass, it isn't.
 
I think I'm seeing a pattern - don't hand anyone your knife, unless you just don't care about the condition when it's returned. :)
 
99% of when i gave a knife when asked, i wish i hadn't. From careless use, such as dropping on the ground after cutting, checking for play with excessive force, trying to bend it, kidding around with it, ..and so on.
i guess people don't care about a knife as we do, so with that in mind, ill never pass a knife to someone else, or, if needed, ill do the cutting myself.
 
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