The Working Reality

[lobodelanoche]

Here's the sad truth, many work places restrict knives. That sucks, and i know that i am not the only on that caries anyway and has the people that are supposed to enforce the "no weapon" policy ask to borrow a blade. So my here's my question, if you work in a place that does not allow blades and you still carry, what do you carry, and for those who are fortunate enough to work in a reasonable place, what do you carry?
personally i carry either a SAK, med Case stockman and before i traded it a FFG Delica, and im going to start integrating a Case CV Jr Soddie.

 

[mkjellgren]

No restrictions for me as I work in a kitchen. Normally I carry either a para2 or a zt 0350 along with a serrated h1 dragonfly. Sometimes I'll throw my sage 2 or 3 in the mix.

 

[cutter17]

With my job, construction engineering, carrying a knife is not a problem. For this reason I have no trouble in putting my big folders in my right front pocket. Currently I have the BM275BK there, a Case Gunstock in my left front pocket, and a Leatherman Juice S2 in my wallet.

 

[Nathan Ihrke]

I'm lucky in that I can literally carry anything I want... If you are looking for justification if you ever get called out you could go with a leatherman, it's hard to say that that is a weapon instead of a tool.

 

[MassMatt]

A SAK is the most sheeple-friendly thing out there, provided it isn't too large. I find that people react better to red (more traditional or less tactical looking?) than black, even of the same design. The fact that it's got multiple tools heads off the "why do you carry that?" sort of question. Many people can't see much need to cut much during the day but a little thing with tweezers, a screwdriver, bottle opener etc seems OK to them. I think a leatherman or similar type mulkti-tool might work but size would be an issue, most are too large for me to EDC but also pulling that out would raise eyebrows due to size of the overall package, even if any individual blade were no bigger than a SAK's.

 

[SP120K]

I work in a knife restricted building but I still carry my Delica 4 or Manix 2. Since the Manix 2 is not ideal for slacks I usually pack my Delica. I carry it deep in my pocket so the pocket clip isn't visible. No one is going to search my pockets so I'm good to go.

 

[res1cue]

The school I am currently at has a generic "no weapons" policy. I don't carry a knife as a weapon, and I don't advertise it, so no problems yet.

In my old workplace, I used this little trick:

one time I had it on me and forgot about it, and went to a monster truck rally and they were checking people for weapons (??? ). I got patted down and the guy let me in

 

[mlanghornes]

I always have a sak classic on me, and sometimes a yellow case peanut. Most people won't classify those as weapons, especially the classic. Just get one in basic red, or maybe go pink or another pattern that's really, um, fabulous. There's a ton of variation with the classic, its cheap, high quality, and 9.9 times out of 10 won't scare anyone. I keep my delica or my para 2 deep in the pocket, and everybody's happy.

 

[Smaug]

My workplace doesn't have a strict policy, that I know of. I occasionally raised an eyebrow when I pulled out my old Spyderco Endura to cut tape, twine, or strip wire. After many years, I realized that I really don't NEED a knife that big, so why raise eyebrows?

Now, I carry a small traditional knife, like a Case Pen Knife or Buck 309 "Companion". When I'm in the lab, I carry a SAK or pliers-based multi-tool.

I think the thing to do is carry what you want, 3" or less, and only pull it out when you need it for a work-related task.

 

[marcinek]

Big corporation with a no weapons policy for me.

I carry a Vic SAK (Classic or Super Tinker) or peanut all the time and have openly used them. Nobody cares.

And I carry any less "HR-compliant" stuff in my attache or backpack.

Funny thing to me is that there are 3 or 4 huge (6-8 inch) carving knives in the coffee room/pantry for cutting "office birthday" cakes and such. Nasty suckers. Nobody cares about those. Oh well.

 

[jackknife]

I'm retired now, but being retired I sometimes fond myself in knife restricted areas more than when I was working. Living in the Northern suburbs of Washington D.C. in Maryland, my better half and I find ourselves 'downtown' very often for day trips to the many museums and art galleries and restaurants of the city. Most of the federal buildings have a 2 1/2 inch blade limit, and the security checks.

Since my edc cutlery is pretty small anyways, I never have much problem with the security. A Victorinox classic is on my keys, and a Case peanut is my pocket knife. I've only been held up twice going through some entrance way check point, and that was because the Case was being admired. One young lady in uniform had reached into the plastic tray and picked up my yellow handle Case, and was staring at it. I asked her if there was a problem, and she just said that her grandpa had carried a yellow handle little knife like that. She just handed it to me with a smile, and said I reminded her of him. Great, just what I wanted to hear form an attractive young lady, that I remind her of her grandpa! Another delay was a young man looking at my Case Thomas damascus peanut, and asking just what kind of steel that blade was?

Some buildings have more security than others, and it changes. Lke when the National Gallery Of Art gets a visiting exhibit from one of the big European museums, things can be tighter. You'll have mixed teams of securitypersonel from over there and here. The European security people, especially from the British Museum, seem much more anti knife, so if we're going in there, I just leave my edc pocket knife in the car and just carry the Vic classic. That doesn't make even the British guys blink.

Carl.

 

[Dorito Monk]

No restrictions for me as I work in a kitchen. Normally I carry either a para2 or a zt 0350 along with a serrated h1 dragonfly. Sometimes I'll throw my sage 2 or 3 in the mix.

I used to get a kick out of some peoples' reactions to knives in kitchens. I've worked in a couple of kitchens and I'd get some pretty bad reactions to opening up a pocket knife to open/break down boxes...

"Oh my god what is that?! "
"A pocket knife? "
"That's scary why do you have that?"
"Scary? What the hell, you've got a thirteen inch long chef's knife in your hand RIGHT NOW, how is my pocket knife scaring you? "

The only place I ever worked where carrying a knife became an issue was this night-shift job restocking shelves in this giant grocery store, oddly enough. There was nobody around except for the half dozen guys working overnight, except for like a half hour at the beginning and end of each shift when the normal staff would be around. One of my coworkers came up to me one shift and said to make sure I didn't have any kind of knife (even a box cutter, which everyone had) out while the rest of the staff were still there, and to only take it out once they were gone. I asked him why and apparently they'd had complaints from them in the past.

Really? A job where my sole task is to open boxes, empty the contents, and then collapse the boxes and I'm not allowed to be seen with a box cutter? It wasn't a big deal because the other overnight staff really couldn't care less and I just had to be discreet.