Look, I bought a Gunting as an every day carry (EDC) utility knife for my arthritic hands. As you have noted, Gonzo, it is a most comfortable device to use. It worked out wonderfully well in the role and I was very happy with it and still would be escept that I work in a Federal government building and have to ride the Washington, DC, area Metro subway system and the Gunting is just a bit too noticeable in the post-911 world. I know that I am giving in to pressure on this, but we have to pick winnable fights and trying to take a 3" blade into a federal building is not a winnable fight under 18USC930 which specifies a 2.5" blade as legal. During the time that I carried it, the only problem that I ever had with the blade was when I had forgotten to check the pivot scrrew in my regular maintenance of the tool. As a question, do you expect to carry a tool or a weapon and not to have to spend a bit of time maintaining it? I haver always assumed that maintenance is a part of carrying or using any implement. In any case, the horn on the back of the blade caught on my hand as I reached into my pocket for some chcange and it sliced my pocket. It coould have sliced my hand or leg, but I was lucky. I am now very careful to check the tension on the pivot screws on any knife that I am using that has an adjustable pivot screw. The near accident was NOT the knife's fault, however, it was MY fault for not doing a very real piece of maintenance work, as the horn is designed to assist the opening of the blade, and that is what it did.
I carried the knife with its clip and never saw a need to carry it in any other manner, further, Bram has repeatedly indicated that a sheath, while nice and a great addition, is not a requirement if you attend to the tension on the pivot. The trouble starts when people try to "flick" a Gunting and leave the tension loose enough to do that. This is not a good idea as the horn makes it too easy for the blade to catch on your pocket or your hand and to start to open if the tension is insufficient, as it did to me.
I also need to point out that a lot of the "slicing and dicing" that you read about may well have been the result of people not paying attention to Bram's warnings and trying the kinetic openings with a live blade rather than a drone. A kinetic opening is one where you catch the horn on the other guy's arm as you slide the knife past his arm, pulling the blade open on the way. If you try this on anything larger than an arm, the blade will be open BEFORE it is clear of whatever you were opening it against, resulting in a very nasty slice. Many tried this on their own legs in the early days with the result that there were a number of visits to Emergency Rooms, but they were doing these openings against Bram's specific warnings. The kinetic opening was designed to work against an arm or something similarly narrow, where the blade has clearance, not against a large object like a leg or a torso. And it is risky to practice such openings with a live blade, just as it is risky to practice disarming techniques with a live blade or a loaded pistol, and that is why they made the drones, a rebated practice version of the knife.
In sum, I would recommend that you spend some time studying your purchase before giving up on it, I believe that you will find it worthwhile. And I also believe that contacting Bram about it would also be worthwhile rather than making a decision based upon posts to this thread.
