women and knives, are we freaks?

9mmbladechick said:
My issue lies with all the ignorant people out there who think that a woman with a knife is a freak.
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Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that think that anyone who carries a knife is a freak, male or female. I think you'll fit in here just fine, though. ;)
 
I look at a woman who carries a knife as probably more independant and technically competent than those who don't. This is someone who is not going to poke at a plastic bag with a car key or sit around waiting for some man to solve her problem. My wife is a field manager. Before 9-11 she would always carry one or two knives with her wherever she went. Unfortunately she now flies too much to always have a knife in her purse or on her key ring.

A couple years back I was wondering whatever happened to the folding Carcano Bayonet that I modified to use as a camp knife. I finally remembered that my old college girl friend borrowed it and never returned it. She was an archaeologist and liked to carry it in the field. She was another woman who planned on taking care of herself.
 
I've met a few women who were able to appreciate the usefulness of a knife. I gave one of them an old Kershaw I had, one had a Spyderco Ladybug on her keyring, another had a Chive. There was one problem though...

Although they were all "knife women", none of them knew how to keep them sharp. The one I gave away came back for a resharpening...and the thing was hideously abused. The Ladybug was very dull (sad to see a serrated edge go dull and useless). The problem with the girl who owned the Chive wasn't that she didn't keep it sharp. It was that her boyfriend kept it sharp for her. Lucky bugger...
 
I almost started a simular thread! I'm a chick and have the same problem. I work around mostly other women in a hospital setting which makes it worse. The gun collection doesnt' help either! I feel like I'm a target for false accusations because of political correctness and the fact I work with what seems like an inordinate number of mentally imbalanced women. I only have a cricket and jester at work, mostly the cricket. Sometimes I wear a larger folder clipped to my scrubs. I carry a small student backpack which includes various items like cosmetics, other essentials, and a prybar. I have an SAK in there also, I find the tweezers and maginfying glass very useful!

There are a couple of men but I don't think they have a knife. I don't see why it's not more common, I use mine hourly opening boxes, scraping labels on tubes so I can see the specimen, ect.

It's even worse than that though, I actually have quite a collection of "sharp jewlry". I decided to seel a few things I didn't really use and I used the battlerat money to get two more knives!! YIPPEE! I saw them posted on e-bay while I was gathering data for selling my "Q" knives and saw a couple of sydercos at decent prices. I put in the lowest bid on both thinking I would be outbid but I WON!!! I needed more knives like I needed a bigger mouth and told myself I would sell one to my neighbor. Of course that's not happening!!! I got a native III and a delica with a black blade!!! My only regret is that I did not get one of them in full spydiedge, I'll just have to impulse buy something like that when my "Q" 's sell! I carried them this weekend under my scrubs just to test how they carried. The delica is unnoticable! The native was a larger lump but not uncomforable. They both carried better than my benchmade 705 and leeks. Those two tend to slip off the waistband. The native was most secure for waistband duty.

I don't think you're wierd.
 
gitarmac said:
I carry a small student backpack which includes various items like cosmetics, other essentials, and a prybar.
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I like the idea that a prybar rides shotgun with your makeup. ;)


What kind of prybar are you partial to?
 
I think Lorraine Bobbit made it difficult for many men to view a woman with a knife in a positive way. I like my female hiking partners to carry knives because if we get chased by a bear as I'm sprinting ahead of her I want her to be able to defend herself.
 
Women and Knives.... No, you are no freaks. Mankind can never survive without either one of you. ;)
 
Women and knives make a great combination. It's very convenient to have the same person who brings us our beer also be able to sharpen our knives for us!

(Ducking and running! :eek: )
 
This isn't the place to ask if carrying a knife is weird unless you want support. Many of us have sheeple issues which don't relate to the following tidbit.
I have a friend whose wife is from a family of sheep ranchers in West Texas. Said it was a real eye opener for him when they coincided a family visit around helping the pa-in-law with some duties involving the castration of the young males. Said she was just too confident with her blade. Her sister too.... He seemed more upset than the sheep.
My wife carries 3 in her purse I know of. A Swisscard, a mini-leatherman and a cheap 4" tanto-ish folder. She keeps 'em in the purse as long as I keep my plunker in my pants. :eek: She is also learning to throw and is looking for 'her' sword. What a woman! :D
 
I empathize.

I carry and collect knives, and have for a while now. Normally, I have at least three with me; my stainless Delica cliped to my pocket, my Cricket cliped in my bra, and my swiss army knife - and that's at least.

And I am constantly meeting ignorant people. Most of them don't think I'm a freak necessarily, but they certainly either seem to think that I'm just some dumb little girl who's playing with pointy things and must only like the cute little dainty-like knives 'cause they're pretty (and there's something to be said about a really pretty, well-made functional knife - but I do not just like knives because they're shinny), or that I couldn't possibly know anything about knives. They take those opportunities to try to show me up.

And I love to rise to the occassion.

Some of my best memories are arguing with them, proving their assumption wrong. And surprising the hell out of them. (I also get a kick out of it when I know far more about knives then they do, and they're selling them.)

So yeah, I get kind of nervous that people are going to look at me and just assume that because I'm a girl, I don't know anything or I'm out of my league or something. And that's irritating, because many of the girls I know are just as into knives as guys. Hell, more of my girl friends own and appreciate knives then most of my guys friends.

So yeah. I personally think it's really sexy and says a lot about a woman who carrys a knife and knows how to use it well.

And we're definately not freaks.

Well, okay, speaking for myself, I'm definately not a freak in_a_bad_ way. Some people just don't know how to appreciate a woman with good taste. :)

--Danielle
 
My wife (city gal) never carried a knife till she met me, when I got her a SAK (after catching her drooling over mine). She was then the only person at her workplace (offices of a nationally-circulated magazine) to carry a knife. And plenty of men worked there as well as women. One day someone locked tthemseleves in a restroom-- and something was clearly needed to fiddle between door and jamb. Of course, my waife had her trusty SAK-- and saved the day. And, of course, there were still some people asking her " hat do you carry that thing for?"

I would say that women carrying knives are rarer, and get more strange looks, than do men. But bottom line is, who cares?
 
Actually I know several women who carry. My mom has a small folder that replaced her dad's, stolen from her purse when she was a teacher. Another is my brother's GF, who despite being highly unlikely as a target of sexual assault, carries a switchblade. My brother is a non-carrying dork whom I have quit gifting with blades. No appreciation.
Most of the other fems are rennies who also drool over swords. I'll have to start watching around.
I was surprised that I had to ask 5 women here at work before locating a nail clipper to trim a ripped fingernail. None offered a knife as a substitute though.
 
Most females I know carry at least a multitool, and usually a small folder. At this point in the game, I've probably given away more knives then I still own, which is saying quite a bit. If I know someone who needs one, male or female, I'll either arrange a decent purchase, or I'll give one out of hand. This has led to most of my sisters recieving them as they need them, or come of age, as well as all of my more pacifistic friends. I figure that as long as I'm not in town, my sisters should be at least able to watch out for themselves.

The knife goes hand in hand with basic use, and that's a given.
 
I have a couple different brands of small ones, 6-8 inches more or less but I just got a prybaby a couple weeks ago and keep it in a pocket, to do the things you shouldn't be doing with a knife!
 
9mmbladechick said:
I'm a normal female who carries on my person at least two knives at all times. One of which is concealed and one that is clipped to my waist band or pocket.

My issue lies with all the ignorant people out there who think that a woman with a knife is a freak. That we are something to be feared and something to be ridiculed or made to feel stupid. ( I have an indepth posting about this w/ in the Spyderco forum: titled knives and women who carry them. Should you want more detail about my story)

The question I have is why are we any different then a man who has a knife? Why are we "freaks" when we pull out our knife to cut open a bag of jerky? Can we not take care of ourselves? Funny, its ok for us to use "kitchen" knives, to cut onions for dinner, steaks for our family.....but God forbid we "carry" a knife and use it outside of the kitchen!!
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ummm freak isnt the word Id use..Hot yes..freaky no... :p
 
Hm, I got the saucer-eyes, from a guy at work, for digging out my 35-year old Hoffritz slipjoint to carve up an apple. :confused: I've been carrying the thing since my mother gave it to me in 1966 and don't plan to stop any time soon. Has come in handy on many occasions (also has a screwdriver, bottle opener and can opener as well as a standard 2" blade). Good thing I didn't have my BM 910HS Stryker on me :D
 
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