Using your EDC at a restaurant

[RustyTang]

I occasionally use my edc (Benchmade 710) to shorten the straw in my young son's drink so he can reach it without tipping the cup and spilling all over himself. I try to be casual about it to deter any overreacting.

 

[Ernie1980]

Just used my sodbuster at KFC, but thought that taking a pic would add the the funny look my friends were giving me.

 

[stabman]

Just used my sodbuster at KFC, but thought that taking a pic would add the the funny look my friends were giving me.

You know, taking pictures of yourself doing it would probably make everyone think it's more normal.
People are odd.

 

[roseskunk]

I live in Texas. It would be a little odd to pull out a knife in public. I usually just shoot the food into smaller pieces.

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[MostMenAreRuthless]

Dear God, imagine, cutting FOOD with a KNIFE. What could possibly be more absurd.

Do you sterilize the utensils that the restaurant gives you? How about the dishes and glasses? Do you conduct biological tests on the food you are served? I've worked in a restaurant, and I can guarantee you that of all the things in a restaurant that might pose a threat to your health, your own pocketknife is the least of your worries. Or at least it should be.

Hmm, I wonder if the cook washed his hands after going to the bathroom? I wonder if he dropped your steak on the filthy floor, then served it to you? I wonder if the same knife the cook just used to chop salad was previously used to cut raw chicken, and wasn't washed?

If you have ecoli in your pocket, maybe you should take a really hard look at how it might have gotten there. Sounds like you might have a serious problem.

Yes, I actually bring a complete set of dinnerware in a picnic basket to each restaurant I frequent. It scares the sheeple a little, but I don't CARE.

 

[MostMenAreRuthless]

Have you not noticed the astounding profusion of hand sanitizer stations everywhere?
I always clean the blade before and after.
Most bathrooms also seem to have sinks in them...with soap and running water.

I am not a proponent of washing utensils in the same sink where hundreds of people have washed feces and urine of their hands--that's just me. But hey, if you like to do your dishes in a bathroom sink--if it works for you, use it.

 

[mrynecy]

My wife and friends make fun of me because they almost expect me to pull out my knife at restaurants & cookouts to cut up food. Why not when the best knife there happens to be in my pocket?

 

[MostMenAreRuthless]

On the topic of EDC at a restaurant--please tell me I am not the only one who EDC's proper dinner linens to my favorite restaurants. I mean, those cheap and flimsy paper napkins just do not suffice--they tear easily and sometimes leave bits of napkin on my chin. Furthermore, I generally EDC various wattages of light bulbs (not in my pocket, but in my car.). It is so troublesome when I sit at a table and I can barely see my food because of the low-light, low-watt, cheap light bulbs they sometimes use. That really grinds my gears. I sometimes get stared when I am swapping them out, but forget the sheeple man--they just make do with whatever light they are given. Lastly, I cannot possibly be the only one that EDC's my titanium straw with me to the soda fountain, right? Flimsy plastic straws drive me crazy!

 

[hank_rearden]

of course, you take out the knife you normally use for killing people only when the steak knife is dull. i agree, it's hokey. but wait. are the days gone when one is often invited to have dinner at someone's house where invariably they serve steak (and invariably it's tough)? i picked up this notion decades before the idea of an EDC knife.

 

[CSG]

I have learned three things from this thread:

1. It seems that the general population of knife enthusiasts eat a lot of steak at steak restaurants.

2. I feel slightly embarrassed at the idea of using my own knife to cut food at a restaurant--it seems a bit hokey and silly to me.

3. I don't want to cut food I am about to ingest with the knife that has been in my pocket with change, keys and other items--I try to avoid getting E.Coli into my system as much as possible.

Amen. I have harsher criticisms of those that do this but you were much gentler than I'd be.

 

[CSG]

I should add that at 62, I cannot once *ever* being in a restaurant where their steak knives weren't more than sufficient to cut steak, chicken, etc. Almost all steak knives in restaurants are serrated to make them efficient slicers. I just think a whole lot of people responding in this thread just want an excuse to play with their knives in public.

 

[r8shell]

Lastly, I cannot possibly be the only one that EDC's my titanium straw with me to the soda fountain, right? Flimsy plastic straws drive me crazy!

Ha! I saw those titanium straws in a catalog once, and I really want one!
I have used my Boker Plus carbon fiber gentleman's knife in restaurants. No one noticed, and I hate trying to cut tough broccoli stems with a butter knife.

I just think a whole lot of people responding in this thread just want an excuse to play with their knives in public.

Pretty much, yes. But at least I admit it!

 

[Gary W. Graley]

You mean to say a # 13 is not a good steak knife.

Hehe, well, you guys/gals be the judge, if you think it would be prudent to use this 'folder' as a dinner utinsel

[video=youtube;sMhy4T12-UI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMhy4T12-UI[/video]

G2

 

[Nullity]

I should add that at 62, I cannot once *ever* being in a restaurant where their steak knives weren't more than sufficient to cut steak, chicken, etc. Almost all steak knives in restaurants are serrated to make them efficient slicers. I just think a whole lot of people responding in this thread just want an excuse to play with their knives in public.

Big +1 to that, good sir.

 

[Texas_T]

I have always used my own when they bring a tough steak and give me a crap knife. I did get some weird looks the first time I ate lobster and used my leatherman.

It was new years day at my ex wives grandmothers house, she served prime rib and lobster. My first time eating either, I could figure out the meat but had hell with the shellfish. All my ex's fancy aunts and uncles were appalled....grandma just giggled. I miss that woman sometimes.........grandma, not the ex!! lol

 

[Krazy Cash]

I had to use a Spyderco back in college at their foodcourt because all they supplied was plastic flatware that wasn't even sturdy enough to spread butter. 1 girl threw a hissyfit. Told campus PD, he measured the bladelength (3" was the legal length). When she continued to complain, he pulled his own spyderco out of his pocket and said "Its just a pocketknife, miss."

 

[orixa]

Any self respecting sushi chef would slice you into little pieces if you even "think" about re-cutting their sushi.

 

[TotalDbag]

I always carry my knife in a pocket by itself. Don't want coins, keys to ding up the knife, so no worries about e. coli.

Same here.

 

[killgar]

It never ceases to amaze me how here, on a KNIFE forum of all places, that people can be criticized for using knives to cut things.

Personally, I would never presume to tell other people when it's appropriate for THEM to use THEIR knives to cut things. If someone on this forum says that they needed to cut something, and that they felt that their knife was the best tool available for the job, then I for one am inclined to believe them. What I would not do is judge or criticize them for it.

Furthermore, I would never presume to suggest that because I have never needed to use a knife for a particular task, that NO ONE should ever need to use their knife for such a task. I would consider such a suggestion to be nothing less than narrow-minded arrogance.

As far as using ones knife rather than using other available items to perform cutting chores, countless times in my life I have used MY KNIFE to cut open packages that I could very easily have ripped open using my house key. Guess I'm just a peculiar kind of guy. I like and prefer the efficiency of a sharp blade.

For me, when I cut something with my knife, I don't just look upon it as a mundane utilitarian task. Instead, when I need to cut something, and when MY KNIFE handles the task well, I look upon that knife as money well spent, I look upon a well done cutting job as confirmation that I made a good choice of knives, and I feel a rewarding sense of satisfaction from knowing that I was prepared with the right tool for handling the job. But that's me.

And if there is anyone on this forum who looks upon knives as nothing more than utilitarian tools, no more special than a stapler or a backscratcher, why would you bother to join an internet knife forum?

 

[hank_rearden]

It never ceases to amaze me how here, on a KNIFE forum of all places, that people can be criticized for using knives to cut things.

in a restaurant, it works for the good and the bad. on the one hand, people will know you carry a knife for reasons other than hurting or killing fellow humans. on the other, there is still a residual fear or at the least impropriety; because normally an eating utensil belongs to the table, not the diner.

that, i believe, is the reason for most people to think that a knife, as a tool, belongs in your house or shop, for use exclusively inside those places. your next point revolves around expediency, which is the main argument for personal carry. at the moment, we will have to accept that most people feel this is not a strong argument for knife carry.