To give in to the sheep, or not to give in to the sheep?

[PhilL]

It sounds like you may be growing up.

 

[Knifeclerk]

Here is one, almost sober, enthusiest's advice:
Go into your collection and find the biggest, scarriest, most aggressive looking fixed blade that you have. If you don't have one, go on ebay and get a cheapie that looks scarry and is big. If you don't want to use a fixed blade, go ahead and purchase the Ti-Lite VI from Cold Steel. Point is, make it look ephing mean! Then wear that to work for a few days. Maybe four or five. Let everyone get a good look at you with a giant bowie knife on your hip. A kukri would also work well.
Then, after the four or five days, change back to your old stand-bye. It will seem so dainty in comparrison.
This is a great idea.*
-KC
*this is not actually a great idea.

 

[Rat Finkenstein]

Never give in to the sheeple! More people need to start carrying larger knives around so that the sheeple get used to normal people with knives. If you switch to a small, "sheeple friendly" knife, it just reinforces their belief that "big" knives are used by bad people. A tiny knife can do some things, but a one hand opener is alot easier to deploy and use- and much more efficient, I might add. Use the strider, or get something bigger- screw the sheeple.

 

[drjones]

It sounds like you may be growing up.

 

[T. Erdelyi]

You don't work at a daycare and leave it lying around, do you? ....

Quick story, my daughter was about 2 1/2 (she's 14 now) and we were checking out Daycares, we went into a local one and we were told that we could leave our daughter there for a couple of hours to see how she liked it, so we did.

Back then my EDC was my blued O-1 Bud Nealy Aikuchi, I always kept it hanging upside down from an inside jacket pocket, well as we talked with the daycare providers I took my coat off and laid it on the sofa I was sitting on, as my bad luck would have it, it slid outa my jacket pocket and onto the sofa in the cushion,

I picked up my coat and we left, I didn't notice the knife and sheath were missing, when we returned one of the head teacher came over and pulled me aside and asked me if i had lost anything when I was there earlier?

I checked for the obvious stuff, money, keys and then my hand went to my pocket and I realized what she had found, not just a plain old nail cleanin' splinter pickin' slipjoint but an 8" blued steel Tanto shaped tactical looking razor sharp fixed blade in a tactical Multi Concealment Kydex Sheath .

I didn't know what to say, well except yea it was mine and start apologizing out the wazzoo, I thought for sure she was gonna call the cops hand my kid over to DYFS and have me branded as a terrorist.

She handed me back the knife commented on how it was a good thing she found it instead of one of the kids, and on how it was a very nice looking knife.

Well they accepted my daughter and she left the daycare after she started school, during the time she was there we all became friends and just recently I ran into the woman at a middle school band concert that my daughter was playing in and she mentioned that first day.

We laughed about the incident and she told me that she was wondering what kind of person I must have been only to find out over the years that I was a great dad and a good person,(keep in mind I had a ponytail down the middle of my back, a ZZ Top beard and I looked like a cross between Sonny Barger and Jerry Garcia back then.

So my point is even a Day Care Facility can be tolerant of big mean looking knives.

 

[drjones]

Thanks a lot for all the great advice and support so far.

I think I will get something else to carry/use when it simply wouldn't be appropriate to whip out my GB (like in front of my boss again. *sigh* )

I'm thinking either the new Strider PT: http://tadgear.bayarea.net/edged tools/pt.htm

or a compact multitool, like the Squirt. I've been wanting one of those anyway, and I should have one on or near me more often.

To respond to a few questions/comments (in no particular order):

- Why is the 4" bladed GB seen as so "scary"? I guess its the stripes and unusual (tanto) grind. Unusual only to non-knife people, of course. We all know that when something, like an AR-15, LOOKS more eeeevil, it automatically increases its killing power like, at least 20-fold.

- NO, I do not work with the public or anywhere that I'll scare customers, nor do I use my knife regularly in the course of my job. To be perfectly honest, and it pains me to say this, but I honestly cannot remember the last time I used my GB for ANYTHING at all!

- I think that the next time my boss asks for a knife or is having difficulty opening something, I'll quip, "Gee, I'm glad I don't have a knife on me!"

 

[kamkazmoto]

For me it is not a matter of giving in but rather of using the appropriate tool. If someone asks to open a box, I will hand them my SAK, if something larger is required I will use my Microtech SOCOM or what ever large blade that I happen to be carrying. I find that I rarely need a large blade but I almost always carry one.

 

[silenthunterstudios]

Thanks a lot for all the great advice and support so far.

I think I will get something else to carry/use when it simply wouldn't be appropriate to whip out my GB (like in front of my boss again. *sigh* )

I'm thinking either the new Strider PT: http://tadgear.bayarea.net/edged tools/pt.htm

or a compact multitool, like the Squirt. I've been wanting one of those anyway, and I should have one on or near me more often.

To respond to a few questions/comments (in no particular order):

- Why is the 4" bladed GB seen as so "scary"? I guess its the stripes and unusual (tanto) grind. Unusual only to non-knife people, of course. We all know that when something, like an AR-15, LOOKS more eeeevil, it automatically increases its killing power like, at least 20-fold.

- NO, I do not work with the public or anywhere that I'll scare customers, nor do I use my knife regularly in the course of my job. To be perfectly honest, and it pains me to say this, but I honestly cannot remember the last time I used my GB for ANYTHING at all!

- I think that the next time my boss asks for a knife or is having difficulty opening something, I'll quip, "Gee, I'm glad I don't have a knife on me!"

A shame that sheeple are preventing you from using your knife. On the job, to prevent flak from your boss, just use something else like you have said. But on your own time, carry that GB. Don't let anyone stop you. As long as you don't sully the name of the company you work for, your boss has no reason to pay any attention to what you do outside of his business, whatever that may be.

 

[drjones]

A shame that sheeple are preventing you from using your knife. On the job, to prevent flak from your boss, just use something else like you have said. But on your own time, carry that GB. Don't let anyone stop you. As long as you don't sully the name of the company you work for, your boss has no reason to pay any attention to what you do outside of his business, whatever that may be.

Thanks.

Don't worry: NOBODY is going to stop me from carrying my GB and any other things I want!!!

 

[GarageBoy]

Carry it anyways. He's a gun nut, how bad can it be?

 

[drjones]

Carry it anyways. He's a gun nut, how bad can it be?

That's what I was trying to explain in my initial post: He OWNS GUNS and occasionally shoots; he is NOT a "gun nut," nor a member of the gun culture by any means.

If he was, he'd encourage me to carry my knife, and would ask me where I got is so that I can get him one too. (At his expense, of course!)

 

[silenthunterstudios]

What I have been trying to get at is this. Did he tell you that in jest? Did he tell you that just as a precaution when dealing with people outside of work, or with the people you work with? Was he just making an open comment, and not telling you to not carry it? I would find out. It would stand to reason that while a person who owns guns might not be interested in knives, he still wouldn't be appalled at them.

 

[redtail]

I've gotten looks when using my Twitch II or Blink in public. I guess sheeple don't like small assisted openers either.

When I am in public, I always open my Leek with two hands, just so I don't scare people. Sad, but true.

Before class one day, I used my Leek to cut an article out of a newspaper. One of my students (community college) asked me why I didn't just use a pair of sissors. It took me a while, but I finally asked, "Who carries around sissors?" (I'll bet you can guess what I really wanted to say.) The sheeple are getting younger all the time...

 

[drjones]

When I am in public, I always open my Leek with two hands, just so I don't scare people. Sad, but true.

Before class one day, I used my Leek to cut an article out of a newspaper. One of my students (community college) asked me why I didn't just use a pair of sissors. It took me a while, but I finally asked, "Who carries around sissors?" (I'll bet you can guess what I really wanted to say.) The sheeple are getting younger all the time...

No, I think your reply was better; who the hell DOES carry scissors??

 

[GarageBoy]

My aunt, full 8" fiskars in the purse. THAT scared me

 

[Temper]

Esav posted something a while back, it was a short piece by some guy that says he carries a pen because he is litterate and a pocket knife because nails make a poor substitute...

Its rather well written and I think if its printed out and given to your boss he may well concede that its better to have it and not need it than the other way around.


I will have a mooch around the forums and see if I can dig it out

 

[mthall47]

I'm tempted to tell people who get after me, like one did just recently,
that first of all, this is still America, second I am a law abiding citizen who
is careful to know and follow the laws of the state. My favorite everyday carry knife sometimes gets a not so good response from people. I have a Camillus assisted opening knife with a 4" blade. I live in West Virginia, but work in the State of Maryland where many people seem to think that the only people who should be able to have a knife, or a gun are either law enforcement, or else the BAD guys ..... honest, decent citizens are supposed to just hope and or pray and go around with nothing in their pocket at all-- except money and keys. Well, actually there are some others who feel like I do, but Maryland has many individuals who get spooked at any thing other than a pen knife. SOme mistake my assisted opener, legal knife, for an illegal switch blade.

Your friend in West Virginia, and Loyal American,

Mike

 

[Esav Benyamin]

"My good reason to carry a knife is that God gave me rather weak teeth and rudimentary claws in an evolutionary trade-off. The hairy-armed person who figured out how to put an edge on a suitable rock made it possible for us to be recognizably human in the first place. I wear a wristwatch whether or not I have an appointment to keep, and I carry a pen and/or pencil because I am a literate person whether or not I have a specific writing task ahead of me, and I carry a knife because I am a human and not an ape.

A knife comes in handy for all sorts of random tasks that involve separating matter. Like cutting a string, or making a sandwich, or opening a package. It can also come in handy in an emergency, which need not involve a human assailant, and emergencies are by their nature unforeseen, so one should carry a knife all the time.

And in a perfect world where nobody needed a weapon, I'd probably carry a slightly larger knife, because it wouldn't scare people."

-- James K. Mattis z”l

On Sunday, I went out relatively knifeless: a Leatherman Blast multitool in a beltpouch, a Victorinox Classic on my keychain, a Chris Reeve Mnandi in my shirt pocket, and a Jot Singh Khalsa Life Knife on a chain around my neck (it's jewelry, not sharpened steel ). Normally I would have had a good sized folder in my right front pocket.

But not every knife is convenient for every task. Sometimes a small blade is easier to maneuver around small items to cut, less dangerous to the contents of a package, less clumsy in a restricted space.

A Native III or Kershaw Leek may actually be a better knife for most office tasks than a big Strider. Don't let your political instincts force you to carry a knife just to prove you can. Put the big Strider in your pocket but carry a SAK or small folder for the times when they really are the best tool for the job.

By the way, on that knifeless Sunday, I had two scissors with me, on the Classic and on the Blast

 

[TomF_32]

My first reaction is to say carry whatever you want and f**k you boss but in this day of corporate risk management and workers who go postal if you work for any large company I'm sure there is a policy against weapons and your boss has the authority to enforce this policy. Strangely enough I go into public armed with a 9mm for the state, but they have a strict policy against carrying personal weaponsi.e. knives, though I still carry I just don't go for the largest most obvious one in my collection.

 

[Easyrider]

I tend to believe in "the correct tool for the job" mentality mysefl.