My difficulty making decisions means I can't answer these questions as simply as a normal person would.
I carry either a Spyderco Wegner or large CRKT Apache in my right front pocket. The Apache is a designated self defense knife. Period. The Wegner has so much more versatility and so much stronger a blade, I could use it for other things as well. I have a # of other knives I would like to rotate/alternate with these 2. But, I just can't seem to get the 2 out of there. I carry the Wegner about 5-6 days for every day I carry the Apache, tho IMO, the Apache is the most pure fighting knife I own.
I carry a utility knife in my left front pocket, that I think of as a potential self defense backup. So far, when the Wegner or Apache is in the right side, my Spyderco Native is in the left. I have a Calypso Jr that I need to convert to left handed use. If I did that, it would alternate with the Native. But, don't get around to getting the proper wrench.
So, I carry the Calypso in my right pocket sometimes, as the designated utility blade w/backup self defense resonsibilities. When I do that, I carry my Spyderco Wayne Goddard Ltwt in my left pocket, and think of it as my primary self defense carry. Like the Apache, a solely designated s-d blade.
I have a Sebenza I can't seem to leave behind. I carry it in a sheath on my belt. It may well be the ultimate utility knife, but I prefer using the shorter Native most of the time.
As last gulch backup, I carry a neck knife, solely for self defense potential.
I have a .45 auto. I don't choose to carry it because too much of my life has been spent carrying a handgun for self defense. And, because my depression makes it wiser to not have a gun around, it is at my parents.
I also carry a cane all the time. I see the cane as my first likely defense weapon should the need arise. If it does nothing else, I see it as able to buy me the time to draw a folder and get it into operating readiness. With luck -- and a lot more practice -- the cane could be the only weapon I need. It sure gives me more reach than any of my knives, or any I'm likely to face in a confrontation. I keep meaning to get a hickory heart one, but never get around to that.
All this may sound paranoid, and probably is. I get a full VA pension for PTSD, because I am like that.
I think the primary reason I carry knives for self defense is that I have no problems with the up close and personal type of combat. There was quite a length of time in my life when I made some efforts to enable it to happen. I never directly sought any fights. But, I interjected myself into situations where it easily could. Thankfully, most of the time my sense has ultimately avoided most such situations. On a few occasions, I believe that my obvious eagerness to get it going acted as a deterrent for the other person(s) involved.
In those days, I was strong, quick, and filled with a probably wholly unwarrented faith that I could take anyone. Now, I'm old, overwight and decrepit. Still doesn't change how one feels inside much, but it sure changes one's rational thinking.
