What percentage of the public actually carry a knife?

Status
Not open for further replies.
As Townsend Whelen so aptly wrote in "On Your Own in the Wilderness" (c. 1958):

"The most indispensable tool for a hunter or fisherman or camper, and in fact for any outdoor man and boy anywhere, is the knife-a businesslike knife, sharp and keen. Mrs. Whelen's aunt, who taught high school Latin for thirty years in Nebraska, had the right idea. She asked every class, "Which boys have a jackknife in their pocket?" The ones who had none did not rate very high with her.

Her philosophy was that if a boy did not have a knife and know how to use it, he was not likely to grow up able to do many things for himself...I have had a knife like this in my back pants pocket ever since I was knee-high to a chopping block."
Click to expand...

Common sense from back when common sense was more common.

Interestingly, the book was published in the same year my grandfather would have given me my first pocketknife.
 
An rmj loggerhead, fixed blade and multitool in truck, fixed blade and multitool in edc bag, crk in pocket. Knives galore
 
No, the real question is how many knives actually is carried by people.

Me: a folder in the pant pockets or iwb, Minichamp with two blades on the keychain, and a small fixed in a bag / backpack.

I mean, I carry a Dragonfly Salt SE in the sauna. 😂
 
I grew up in a rural community in the Oklahoma panhandle where most people lived in the countryside and were farmers and ranchers. It was necessary to carry a knife of some kind and just about every pickup had a gun or three in a back window rifle rack. That was expected and there weren’t any objections from anyone I knew of.

At school most county kids had a pocket knife and the teachers would commonly ask them to cut something for them or use their own knife. There were only a few of the town kids that carried a knife but I knew some had a scout knife, SAK or a small pen knife. That was just the common practice back then in the 1960-70s period. Now days only a few kids carry a knife mostly because of school restrictions.

As for adults in the workforce id guess about 1/3 have a knife on them but where I work just about everyone has a knife on them just by the nature of our job. Lots of packing and pallets to open with plastic straping or poly cord. Lots of zip ties and tape and materials to cut such as rubber hose and plastic tubing, gasket material and various other materials not to mention lunch and food prep.

I think it varies from one location to the next as what the need is and the common acceptance in the community rather knives are seen as a useful and necessary tool or in some areas they are seen as a weapon to cause harm or destruction.
 
Wild Willie said:
I'm actually currently without chickens, had a problem with trash pandas opening the coop door. I've gotten a couple with body grips on the ramp, just the roosters left until I've exacted retribution on the remaining culprits.
Click to expand...
I've killed at least 8 coons in the last year. Trained my dogs to kill them too. 3 weeks ago had a coyote attempting to dig under the coop. He's next.

I feel your pain.
 
kobold said:
No, the real question is how many knives actually is carried by people.

Me: a folder in the pant pockets or iwb, Minichamp with two blades on the keychain, and a small fixed in a bag / backpack.

I mean, I carry a Dragonfly Salt SE in the sauna. 😂
Click to expand...
I usually have 4 on my person, with a sheath knife and machete on standby in/near my backpack. Which also contains a small assortment of tools, a boost pack, and other odds and ends I've found convenient to have on hand while working.
 
The O.P.'s question may be valid in the general public, but on a knife based forum for and by knife nuts, its kind of a non question. Of course, the people on this and any forum like it are gong to be obsessive about knives to the point of a cult worship item. We are the single digit percent of the general population that is obsessively nuts over knives.

But in the population at large, in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, LA, its probably less than half the adult walking around have a knife on them. Way less than half. If you go over to the E.U., its way less even. The U.K., and continental Europe, the person carrying knife is the exception to the rule, except for maybe the small keychain size SAK's.

The gorilla in the room truth is, while in modern urban or suburban environments, there is little need for much knife beyond a keyring size knife for opening packages. In rural places, yes, a knife is needed more, but how many folks are really out riding the range these days, or working the back forty?

Even here in Texas, I've seen more of the replaceable blade folding utility knives in use than real knives that a knife nut would chicken eye and coon finger. Moving here from Maryland in 2015, we had a lot of work done to the house, full master bath remodel, floors, kitchen redone just last year. All the contractors we saw used the folding utility knives, with Husky and Milwaukee being the favored brands.

Except for us knife nuts, most people these day don't care about a knife, but they'll have the latest I Phone or Apple product. Most kids these days would rather have a cell phone than a pocket knife. For the under 25 to 30 crowd, thats also true. Heck, you don't even have to sharpen a pencil anymore, with the world flooded by cheap ball point pens that are given away with business logos, you don't even see people using a pencil anymore. The pocket knife has went the way of the fountain pen and land line, and stick shift in cars.
 
Last edited:
jackknife said:
The O.P.'s question may be valid in the general public, but on a knife based forum for and by knife nuts, its kind of a non question. Of course, the people on this and any forum like it are gong to be obsessive about knives to the point of a cult worship item. We are the single digit percent of the general population that is obsessively nuts over knives.

But in the population at large, in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, LA, its probably less than half the adult walking around have a knife on them. Way less than half. If you go over to the E.U., its way less even. The U.K., and continental Europe, the person carrying knife is the exception to the rule, except for maybe the small keychain size SAK's.

The gorilla in the room truth is, while in modern urban or suburban environments, there is little need for much knife beyond a keyring size knife for opening packages. In rural places, yes, a knife is needed more, but how many folks are really out riding the range these days, or working the back forty?

Even here in Texas, I've seen more of the replaceable blade folding utility knives in use than real knives that a knife nut would chicken eye and coon finger. Moving here from Maryland in 2015, we had a lot of work done to the house, full master bath remodel, floors, kitchen redone just last year. All the contractors we saw used the folding utility knives, with Husky and Milwaukee being the favored brands.

Except for us knife nuts, most people these day don't care about a knife, but they'll have the latest I Phone or Apple product. Most kids these days would rather have a cell phone than a pocket knife. For the under 25 to 30 crowd, thats also true. Heck, you don't even have to sharpen a pencil anymore, with he world flooded by cheap ball point pens that are given away with business logos, you don't even see people using a pencil anymore. The pocket knife has went the way of the fountain pen and land line, and stick shift in cars.
Click to expand...
👍😞👍
John 🥾🥾⛰️
 
jackknife said:
The O.P.'s question may be valid in the general public, but on a knife based forum for and by knife nuts, its kind of a non question. Of course, the people on this and any forum like it are gong to be obsessive about knives to the point of a cult worship item. We are the single digit percent of the general population that is obsessively nuts over knives.

But in the population at large, in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, LA, its probably less than half the adult walking around have a knife on them. Way less than half. If you go over to the E.U., its way less even. The U.K., and continental Europe, the person carrying knife is the exception to the rule, except for maybe the small keychain size SAK's.

The gorilla in the room truth is, while in modern urban or suburban environments, there is little need for much knife beyond a keyring size knife for opening packages. In rural places, yes, a knife is needed more, but how many folks are really out riding the range these days, or working the back forty?

Even here in Texas, I've seen more of the replaceable blade folding utility knives in use than real knives that a knife nut would chicken eye and coon finger. Moving here from Maryland in 2015, we had a lot of work done to the house, full master bath remodel, floors, kitchen redone just last year. All the contractors we saw used the folding utility knives, with Husky and Milwaukee being the favored brands.

Except for us knife nuts, most people these day don't care about a knife, but they'll have the latest I Phone or Apple product. Most kids these days would rather have a cell phone than a pocket knife. For the under 25 to 30 crowd, thats also true. Heck, you don't even have to sharpen a pencil anymore, with he world flooded by cheap ball point pens that are given away with business logos, you don't even see people using a pencil anymore. The pocket knife has went the way of the fountain pen and land line, and stick shift in cars.
Click to expand...
I live in a dairy farming community in Western New York. Most guys still carry a pocket knife of some variety. I even count folding utility knives in this category, because it's still a cutting tool. Pay enough attention and you either see clips, or a lightened area from a knife in the pocket.

My little brother isn't a knife guy, but he still carries one. I even had a buddy, after seeing my pioneer, ask me to procure him one to replace his folding utility knife.
 
jackknife said:
The O.P.'s question may be valid in the general public, but on a knife based forum for and by knife nuts, its kind of a non question. Of course, the people on this and any forum like it are gong to be obsessive about knives to the point of a cult worship item. We are the single digit percent of the general population that is obsessively nuts over knives.

But in the population at large, in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, LA, its probably less than half the adult walking around have a knife on them. Way less than half. If you go over to the E.U., its way less even. The U.K., and continental Europe, the person carrying knife is the exception to the rule, except for maybe the small keychain size SAK's.

The gorilla in the room truth is, while in modern urban or suburban environments, there is little need for much knife beyond a keyring size knife for opening packages. In rural places, yes, a knife is needed more, but how many folks are really out riding the range these days, or working the back forty?

Even here in Texas, I've seen more of the replaceable blade folding utility knives in use than real knives that a knife nut would chicken eye and coon finger. Moving here from Maryland in 2015, we had a lot of work done to the house, full master bath remodel, floors, kitchen redone just last year. All the contractors we saw used the folding utility knives, with Husky and Milwaukee being the favored brands.

Except for us knife nuts, most people these day don't care about a knife, but they'll have the latest I Phone or Apple product. Most kids these days would rather have a cell phone than a pocket knife. For the under 25 to 30 crowd, thats also true. Heck, you don't even have to sharpen a pencil anymore, with the world flooded by cheap ball point pens that are given away with business logos, you don't even see people using a pencil anymore. The pocket knife has went the way of the fountain pen and land line, and stick shift in cars.
Click to expand...
The future of the pocket knife and other things rests in our fervor in teaching it to our kids and everyone we can. I know you're older than I, my kids are just now teenagers but they will pass it on to their kids. I've made many a non knife guy, into a knife guy with gifts. It's not over yet, not by a long shot. Maybe it's silly hopefulness but I refuse to accept defeat.
 
shinyedges said:
The future of the pocket knife and other things rests in our fervor in teaching it to our kids and everyone we can. I know you're older than I, my kids are just now teenagers but they will pass it on to their kids. I've made many a non knife guy, into a knife guy with gifts. It's not over yet, not by a long shot. Maybe it's silly hopefulness but I refuse to accept defeat.
Click to expand...
My childhood best friend left my place with a small tramontina machete and a Swiss army knife after I found out he'd gotten a job with a big tree outfit up in Rochester.

Gotta make sure to spread the word!

kulfaz-blues-brothers.gif
 
I’ve noticed among my circle of friends that the ones carrying pistols also carry a knife of some sort. Those that don’t carry usually also are not carrying a knife. The two kind of correlate, at least here in northern California.

For years, I got by with just the smallest crappiest knife that comes with the SwissCard that I always carry in my wallet. When I finally got around to getting my carry permit, I developed an interest in carrying a real knife. That morphed into an EDC lifestyle obsession. Now you wouldn’t believe what I have on me when leave the house 🤦‍♂️
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top