What started you?

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Paracord_Junkie

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Mar 27, 2012
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When I was 10 years old, I was at a gas station with some of my family. My uncle was supposed to meet us at the gas station. When he was looking for us on the road he veered into the other lane, and another guy had the swerve a little to miss him.

Later when we meet up with the uncle, a guy pulls up and starts cussing us out. I mean it, this guy used every one in the book. None of of had any sort of defensive weapon, so my uncle managed to talk it out and
we ended without anyone getting hurt.

Since then I have always had a knife on me. I was wondering what kind of experiences other people had were they thought about using their knives as weapons. (Yes I do reguard a knife as a tool that can be a weapon, just like everyone else.)
 
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First and foremost, I don't consider my knives as weapons. Growing up as I had, in a family with appreciation and respect for the outdoors, a knife to me is an invaluable tool. Even if your father or uncle had a knife or gun on them in that situation, it would seem to me that they would have been in the wrong to use let, let alone even present it defensively. The encounter was defused by words alone and that's the best you can hope for.

As to what started me carrying a knife, as I said, it was all in how I was brought up.
I probably received my first knife before I even knew what it was and had an interest in them ever since.
 
I have never, not a single time, referred to or considered my knife a weapon.

How long ago were you 10?
 
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Mods, can we combine this thread with the other one of the same title by the same OP?

I'm on tapatalk and can't hit the report button.
 
I got it. :)
Please understand, if you report it in the thread, we probably won't see it. Someone else hit Report Post to alert us.
 
Thanks. I guess thinking about it now, I should have just went on my phone browser and hit report. I'll remember next time.

Carry on!
 
(Yes I do reguard a knife as a tool that can be a weapon, just like everyone else.)

NOPE, not me. A gun is a weapon. A knife, IMO, is primarily a tool. A hammer is primarily a tool, but can also be used as a weapon.

sonny
 
I was always around knives as a kid, spent lots of time outdoors with the boyscouts, camping, biking, hiking, etc. Went through a few SAKs, spydercos and a leatherman or two for those purposes. I lost or destroyed all of those early knives over the first 10 years, except for my first SAK camper, which is still going strong and now rides in my glovebox after 15+ years (sans toothpick and tweezers, of course :))

Had a decade-long hiatus from buying new knives through HS and college. Landed a decent job and thought "hmmmm what do I want to buy myself now that I have money?" and I bought a ZT 0350 (still my favorite folder) That satisfied me for a year until I went on a camping trip and bought an orange izula II... that was the beginning of my addiction. That sexy, and extremely useful little Izula II....

From there I bought an ESEE-4 and I was hooked. Half of the excitement was in the "chase" of hunting down knives on the internet, doing research and finally the excitement of getting that package in the mail. We all know and love that feeling!

After months of reading and searching I found the emerson i had been wanting (cqc-7) pulled the trigger and the spiral continued...
Went to a gun show and found a pile of old knives, bought two... case and camillus folders
Met a custom knife maker and bought a little demascus necker...
Rediscovered sypderco...
Found the other emerson I had wanted for months... cha-ching
Bought a Rat-1 for the girlfriend, and upon opening "for inspection" promptly re-gifted it to myself and gave the gf a spydie
Discovered bussekin and bought a scrap yard 311 to test the waters. Its nice.
Found most my knives were too nice for real beater work and bought an inexpensive byrd for nasty salt water work
Another emerson? Sure!
Now i'm just waiting for ZT 0560s to be in stock...
I think I want a chopper too.... i'm thinking Junglas

the list goes on and on and on.

I generally EDC my emersons but my favorite is still the Izula II. If I could only have one knife from my collection to use that would be it.
 
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Probably watching "swash buckler" movies on tv when I was a kid. Loved Erol Flynn movies. My friends and I would make swords and knives out of tree branches. We'd peel the bark and use the concrete sidewalk to smooth and sharpen them.
I also used to draw pictures of knives on cardboard then use an Xacto knife from my model kit to cut them out. I was probably 8 or so...back in '63.

I found my first knife in the park. Someone dropped it and it must have been there for a while for it was pretty rusty and took some work and oil to free the blade. It was a multi knife, with 2 blades and a bottle opener. I remember sanding it with sandpaper from my father to remove the rust. I carried it until I joined the Boy Scouts and my parents bought me a Boy Scout pocket knife with a fork and spoon. I used every attachment and love eating with it though I could not at the dinner table hehehe.

I've had a knife, of one sort or another, in my pocket everyday for the past 48 years, since 8 years old. Two favorites were a mother of pearl Italian switchblade, with a 6" blade. It was a big sticker and worked great. I also had a black one with a 4" blade. Back in my "punk/street gang" days. LOL never used them for hurting anyone, thank goodness, though I cut myself more than once playing with them.

Wish I had all the knives I've had, especially the switchblades, but I either sold, gave them away or broke them.
 
A knife is used for cutting things like a tool. A sak is used for many things a tool would be used for and well a multi tool the same. Do I consider any of them weapons? Heck no!

Sent from Ash forum mobile
 
I was wondering what kind of experiences other people had were they thought about using their knives as weapons.
Click to expand...

Hasn't happened in the 50 years that I've been carrying knives.
 
The other day I pulled my EDC out at work and my friend looked uncomfortable. I asked him what was up. He said "I don't care... but don't you think others might worry about a weapon at work?"

I looked back at him and said "I hope not.. there are 500 more weapons sitting out in the parking lot, every single person here drove one to work."


If you consider knives weapons, you also have to consider every other thing in your life a weapon. A lot of damage can be done with any tool in the proper hands. I've never considered my knives weapons, and if I ever find myself thinking about using a knife for self defense, the only thing that should be going through my head is "Where'd my Glock go?"
 
I'm too new to be really taking sides in a spitting contest, but that doesn't normally stop me from trying anyway...

WindMeUp... you are absolutely right most everything in this life is /can be a weapon. Cars, sticks, stones, belt buckles & beer bottles. They can all do it; heck a claw hammer can be pretty mean if needed. In fact, I don't think it is wrong for a man to have an awareness of the potential tools of self defense that are all around him at any given time. I'm a father of 7. Our local "city" has a 1 in 20 registered sex offender rate. Life being such, I can't always carry my prefered S&W (esp. as a wrestling coach).

Other side of this guys, is that at 10 years old, situations leave MASSIVE impressions on us... for the rest of our lives. Most of us weren't much older than that (if even) the first time we saw a girly magazine. tell me it didn't leave a lasting impression! Doesn't mean that at 10 we have the ability to rationally evaluate the best course of action that should have been taken... just means that it left a scar on our soul... My family was robbed right about then... still remember the situation / night. His defense mechanism / reaction at 10 was to start carrying a knife. Can the tool be used for a weapon? Think 9-11 answered that one for us...

In my family knives were simply a part of any man's world. As a boy you looked to the day dad said you had proven responsible enough to get your own. Mine was a 34OT from the mall. BIG day when I bought it with my OWN money!

God Bless,
 
I definately consider my primary knife a weapon.
I started carrying, Italian style flea market lockblades as a teenager. To this day I carry a SAK on my keychain and a knife/spike capable of being used as a last ditch self-defense weapon. I have yet to use it or even reveal it to a hostile individual in 35 years, but I have come pretty darn close on at least 2 occasions that I recall. Knives have given me peace of mind on hundreds of other occasions. For me a knife should only be used to protect family, prevent grave bodily harm, or save your life. The criminal should not know you have it until it is too late. I always terminate communication, and walk away when I think a situation is deteriorating into a potential confrontation. Even if you are justified and come out on top, you will still have to spend thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
 
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I have never had to use a knife as a weapon. And I hope that I never do.
There have been a lot of wise comments here. A knife is a tool, yes. You should not think of your knife as a weapon any more than you should think of a carpenter's level as a weapon.
Here in British Columbia, knife carry laws are a bit fuzzy, and intent is 90% of the determining factor. If you tell a cop that you're carrying a knife for "self-defense" then you will have it confiscated and probably receive a fine and maybe even a criminal charge.

THAT being said. When I pick a knife that I want to CARRY on me (to EDC, not to collect) I will always make sure that it could fit into an emergency defensive role. I want to know that if my life was ever in danger, or the lives of people around me, that in an emergency situation I could use my knife as a LAST RESORT. The same way a cop or a soldier would use their knives if they had to.
But the knife is not the important thing here. The important factor is that the user would consider anything around them to be a weapon if they absolutely had to. If I thought that the only way out of a situation was to use the crowbar sitting next to me to defend myself (and I had absolutely exhausted all other non-violent measures) then I would certainly be willing to pick up the crowbar. Except in most cases I will have a perfectly capable Spyderco Military in my pocket.

I do not advocate violence.
 
I've been carrying a knife now for 60 of my 71 years on this each, and I've never come close to using it, or thinking of it as a weapon. Including the 10 years I spent in the army.

Growing up in the 1940's and 50's, everyone had a pocket knife on them. Everyone. Didn't matter if it was the milkman, mailman, store clerk, cab driver, whatever. Most times it was a small two blade slip joint of some sort. No blade locks, had to pull the blade with a thumb nail. Yet these knives worked for an edc cutting tool just fine. They were never thought of as weapons at all, but tools to cut what you needed. There were some weapon style knives around, like the Italian style switchblades, but they were not that popular. Lousy blade profile for cutting was one reason. The other being, a knife was considered a punk's weapon back then. It was thought that if you couldn't settle things with your fists, then you needed a club. For some reason, weapons were not that prevalent then. Men got in fights, settled it and it was done. No knives. If you wanted to defend your home, you had a gun next to the bed.

I suppose being from that generation, I still have that outlook. To me a knife is a valuable tool for gutting that fish I just caught, or opening that UPS box that was dropped on my porch, or even assist in eating like a civilized person. If I need to defend myself, there's plenty of better things to use than a knife. A knife may look great in a Hollyweird movie of video game, but not real life. I don't even carry a knife that could be used for a defensive weapon.

But I like a nice looking pocket knife with real jigged bone or stag when I open my mail, or slice a snack off something in the 'fridge.

Carl.
 
Was given a Lone Ranger silver bullet 'scout' type knife when I was 7 years old.

Then saw the the T.V. show "Jim Bowie" w/ Scott Forbes and that hooked me on large blades.

I was born and lived in NYC for 25 years [ been out for 40 years ] and I have ALWAYS carried a knife.

And yes there are times it was a S/D tool.

So due to that I edc 3 blades and one is a primary S/D tool.

BUT the 2 pistols on my person now are more to that task.

Unless its a dog attack on me or a child,then the knife is the tool of choice for me.

btw,I would never advise trying the blade w/o training = LOTS of it.

And having been LEO for 26 years,gotta say that even if the blade saves your life - its going to cost you more than you can imagine.
 
I think the thread was about what made you start carrying a knife...if that's true, then I remember going on vacation every year and we would end up driving through the Smokey Mountains. On our trip, my dad would always stop at SMKW and we'd spend a while just walking around there and he would always buy a knife. After a couple years, he bought me a small Puma and I've had a knife since then.
 
I got my first knife when I was 4 years old.. It was a SAK and since then I've been hooked. As for the argument that a knife isn't regarded as a weaponthat's just crazy talk. My knife its a weapon first and a tool second. I've carried multiple knives through my time in the marine corps. Taught people how to use knives as weapons as a combat instructor and definitely appreciate their ability to deal damage. But if you ask mewhat roll I use my knife for more, tool or weapon. Its a resounding tool
 
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