Work knives

I used to carry the crappiest small knives for work, when I was on the warehouse floor. I didn't have time to screw around with pocket clips (especially in cold storage rooms where you wear varying thicknesses of gloves) and just had them loose in my pocket. The best knife I carried at the warehouse was a Buck Mini Iceman or a Gerber EAB Utility (a decent cutter for warehouse work and probably the only Gerber I will ever own or say nice things about). I saved my good knives for work around the home and camping. I'm sure there were some guys there who had some fine knives, but they would have kept them out of sight to avoid scaring the managers, who were probably afraid of getting shanked (they kept a strong box of cheap cutters designated for our use under lock and key, and were loathe to hand them out for fear of rebellion or something). It would be nice to reach back in time and lend warehouse me even some of my better budget knives to make warehouse me's life a bit better.

Nowadays I have a ton of choices, but need a more public friendly/less murdery knife for work in my showroom, when I'm opening packages or doing shipping and receiving. The Kizer Mini-Sheepdog Blue gets the most work done. In case I wander off and leave my Sheepdog in my office, I also keep a Spyderco Cat as a backup in the showroom. I'll have another knife in my pocket, but it's staying there, unless I get a customer who is really into knives dropping in (it happens once in a while).
 
Prosthetic technician here. I carry a Wave+ everyday on my belt and usually a slip joint of some sort in my pocket. As of late it's been a Victorinox no.7. Sometimes I will add a fixed blade to my belt. We can carry anything in our office including our concealed handgun of choice.
 
the rat said:
Prosthetic technician here. I carry a Wave+ everyday on my belt and usually a slip joint of some sort in my pocket. As of late it's been a Victorinox no.7. Sometimes I will add a fixed blade to my belt. We can carry anything in our office including our concealed handgun of choice.
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If I was ever caught carrying my concealed firearm on any of my jobs, I would have been INSTANTLY terminated, do not pass go, do not collect $200. I made sure to never be caught.
 
The Grendels said:
I used to carry the crappiest small knives for work, when I was on the warehouse floor. I didn't have time to screw around with pocket clips (especially in cold storage rooms where you wear varying thicknesses of gloves) and just had them loose in my pocket. The best knife I carried at the warehouse was a Buck Mini Iceman or a Gerber EAB Utility (a decent cutter for warehouse work and probably the only Gerber I will ever own or say nice things about). I saved my good knives for work around the home and camping. I'm sure there were some guys there who had some fine knives, but they would have kept them out of sight to avoid scaring the managers, who were probably afraid of getting shanked (they kept a strong box of cheap cutters designated for our use under lock and key, and were loathe to hand them out for fear of rebellion or something). It would be nice to reach back in time and lend warehouse me even some of my better budget knives to make warehouse me's life a bit better.

Nowadays I have a ton of choices, but need a more public friendly/less murdery knife for work in my showroom, when I'm opening packages or doing shipping and receiving. The Kizer Mini-Sheepdog Blue gets the most work done. In case I wander off and leave my Sheepdog in my office, I also keep a Spyderco Cat as a backup in the showroom. I'll have another knife in my pocket, but it's staying there, unless I get a customer who is really into knives dropping in (it happens once in a while).
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Wait, so they were genuinely reluctant to give up the cutters?! That is absolutely hilarious.

Was OHO a necessity at the time you did not carry a pocket clip?
 
Respiratory Therapist & weekend warrior.
I carry a spyderco of my choosing.
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I've been in the water and sewer utility business since 1975. Mostly retired now. When I worked as an operator it was an electricians knife. When I started working for our state DNR it was back to case or buck stockman. When I moved back to private sector as an owner and working manager I carried various buck lockbacks. The last ten years or so I learned the advantages of assisted opening and carried a BM Barrage. Now I'm back to mostly a Case Copperfield.
 
I started work in ‘87 as Further Processing QC in a meat plant. I had carried knives all through school but discovered that the most convenient knife for my daily work activities was an automatic. It’s been auto’s ever since. I’m in the mortgage business now and I have a MT Scarab on me as well as a Vic Classic.
 
Hashishiin said:
Wait, so they were genuinely reluctant to give up the cutters?! That is absolutely hilarious.

Was OHO a necessity at the time you did not carry a pocket clip?
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The warehouse had a bit of a prison yard vibe to it and it was easier to ask for a raise than a cutter. I knew a number of guys who carried knives and multi-tools, either for preference of a better tool and/or not wanting to go through the hassle of making an official request for a cutter. Getting a multi-tool out of a pouch isn't as bad, because it's a once in a while thing, but knives are frequently needed. A paracord fob might have been useful, but you really wanted to avoid having things like that that could get caught in machinery and pull you in.

OHO? Some tiny knives had pocket clips, but they fit just fine in a pocket without them. If I'd carried something larger than a tiny disposable knife, I might have used a pocket clip, but I've never really been overly fond of them. I wanted my knives deep in the pocket, with nothing sticking out that might catch on something. When I was wearing gloves in the cold rooms, I really didn't want to mess around with them. Some of the places I worked in were -25 Celsius, drive in freezers.
 
OHO = one handed opening, and I suppose that is a necessity when you got gloves on in a freezer, huh?
Absolutely hilarious situation with the cutters, though. I knew what you meant as soon as you gave the descriptor "prison yard vibe" I almost worked in a place like that, and may just yet work there in the future.
 
Yeah, I know too much about what that's like. I worked for a while in an HSN shipping warehouse. Get there at 3am and go through a pat down and metal detector just to go clock in for work. Then go through it all again on the way out. I hated that place. More than a little.

As much as it was like a prison, I was one of the only people that did get it be issued a box cutter. 🙄 I was an unloader at the shipping docks, so I got to rip open all the big palates wrapped in plastic and nylon bands. But I also had to sign papers for them every morning and turn them in every time I left the main floor. It was the most ridiculous place I've ever worked by far.
 
Oh, I just realized, I guess I forgot to answer the op question. As to what I carry for work..? I don't technically have a job. I'm disabled through the V.A. due to epileptic seizures caused by vaccines I was never given🤫🙄 while in uniform for the U.S.Army.

I have in the past done all sorts of work from fast food kitchens to land scaping to electrical and hvac, etc. I've never really stayed with any one knife too long. I will say that it's always best, in my opinion, to have at least a few different ones to keep a variety of options.

Aside from just a blade, I've pretty much always had some sort of Leatherman tool and at least one full size sak on me at all times. Mostly the Wave or Rebar for the multi, and a Huntsman or Farmer for the sak.
 
Hashishiin said:
OHO = one handed opening, and I suppose that is a necessity when you got gloves on in a freezer, huh?
Absolutely hilarious situation with the cutters, though. I knew what you meant as soon as you gave the descriptor "prison yard vibe" I almost worked in a place like that, and may just yet work there in the future.
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I generally had a feel for which direction the small knife in my pocket were facing and periodically checked to make sure it was still there, with all the movement and swapping machines during a shift. The heaviest gumby gloves were mostly just worn when operating reach trucks (high lift trucks) in the drive in freezer. If I needed to cut the plastic off a palate that I just dropped down into a bay, I'd hop down from the truck, tuck my right hand glove into collar of my jacket, and deploy and cut the plastic wrap off in one hand. I was just using small and disposable knives loose in the pocket (like the Cold Steel Mini Iceman I still have kicking around). All those crappy little cutter knives were easy to deploy one handed. If I was off the reach truck, picking orders with a power jack, I'd just have light gloves on and didn't even need to take them off to cut the plastic off the palates (that some other reach truck operator was too lazy to do himself). The bulky freezer gloves were just for the first few minutes you started work in the freezer, before you got warmed up (you had to be really careful with your layers to avoid sweating, when pulling 10 hour shifts, or when you were on the machines, because of how cold you could get not moving around a lot next to all that pig iron (just like winter warfare training, ideally you want to be a little cold, but not uncomfortably so, when you're working. Another appealing part of tiny knives in the freezer is that having large chunks of metal next to your body was undesirable.

I met a few great people working in a warehouse, but there were also people working there you'd never turn you back to, and a lot of sketchy individuals for whom this job was the last stop before prison or death. Just like in the wilderness, the key to thriving in places like that is to project confidence and not act like food. I really liked working on the bigger machines, because they were like big Tonka toys and a lot of fun to operate when they were properly maintained.
 
I briefly had a job where they issued knives and we were told to carry them daily. They were low-budget liner locks that left me in fear for the well being of my fingers. Then, as now, I most often carry a 112 of some sort.
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