Would You Wear a Fixed Blade On Your Belt in a Big City Environment?

T-Dog said:
they use to take their deer rifle on the bus during the season and the driver would hold the rifle till he took them home and drop them off short of the house so they could hunt the land on the way home...
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In some ways, those really were the good old days. What a contrast to my current situation in Chicago.

If I were to get on the bus wearing my 2 1/2" skinner on my hip, I imagine the driver would say, "Excuse me, sir! I canNOT let you on the bus with THAT thing!"
 
travclem said:
This is correct, dont forget double edged, balisongs, and switchblades. I also believe that San Antonio has a city ordinance against locking folders but not fixed blades. I'm not sure of that because I live in Lubbock and don't go down there.
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An ordinance against locking folders sounds outlandish, even in Chicago. I know lots of people who carry them in Chicago, legal or not.
 
kvaughn said:
How do you "show off the craftmanship"? That might help answer your question.--KV
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Well, I figure people would notice a nice hand-made custom sheath or the part of the hardwood scales sticking out at the top. Right now I have 3 custom f.b.'s.

Still, I think it would draw too much attention to me. I'd feel like a great white shark in a goldfish bowl.
 
If it is legal I carry it if I want to and have little concern put into how others view it. If a LEO wants to discuss it I welcome the opportunity. If they wish to hassle me, a simple "am I breaking the law/ under arrest?" has always turned the tide with others I know who have been hassled. No LEO has ever given me a hard time- although I have no problem walking up to a not busy officer and opening discussion about what knife they are carrying. If you are intelligent enough to know your rights and are smart enough to declare your rights in a polite yet firm manner then I've never known anybody to continue being bothered.

Like Tdog I utilize the opportunity to open respectful discussion about what I am carrying. I feel it is up to us to work from a grassroots basis to re-educate those around us in regards to proper, respectful knife usage. I've carried a FB openly neck carried for years, when I was disabled I carried a BRKT Lil' Bird and Trout on my belt, and often put a FB on my belt while hiking through the city.

I know my rights, have nothing to prove or hide, and use any opportunity to discuss knives. I don't often carry FB as I am in scrubs most days now, but feel no qualms about wearing what I want to wear, based on fashion, tasks or any other factor. If my 5 year old daughter picks out a FB for me to wear on the weekend- nobodies opinion of it is going to keep me from sporting it (and yes- my 5 year old loves picking my knife for me, she is upset those days she doesn't get a choice!). Besides, I don't pay $1-200 for a knife to sit on my dresser or in a box, they are designed to cut things, and can't do it without being in my hand.

I fully believe we need to take back the knife, from those trained to be scared of their fellow human and inanimate objects.
 
I agree with Cuts Like A Kris that if it's legal, it should be legal and acceptable. I get that. I don't have a problem with anybody legally carrying. For myself, however, I don't need a fixed blade in an urban setting typically and I dislike the aesthetics of wearing anything on a sheath. It's that simple. It has nothing to do with not wanting to exercise my rights. If/when I have a purpose, I'll wear a sheathed knife (or other tool), but that generally happens when I'm in a rural area or around my own house.
 
Why would anyone want to? Do you want to look like a yokel in town for the day? Will you wear the same dirty bib overalls you did when cleaning out the pig sty? The days when gentlemen carried bowies in old time San Francisco are well over. It's one of those things that is just out of fashion, as well as being against the law.
 
crom said:
I sometimes openly carry a small FB from belt but tucked inti rear pocket. Nobody has even noticed as far as I'm aware. I've seen bikers openly carry huge flea market FB's right in downtown Pittsburgh so I know it's happening.
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Since when did bikies/ers not want to draw attention to themselves. The ones out here are attention seeking missiles.
 
Right, but it's still something to see somebody flaunting a 8" blade hanging under his arm pit. The only other time I've seen that in my town was a gutter punk with a Buck 119 on his belt in a public library.
 
I've got a mental image of the OP walking up to PEOPLE in the street of some huge Yank city .
Pulling out his finely crafted hunting knife (or similar) and saying "check out the craftsmanship on this little sucker!"
You are joking I hope.
They could do a Candid Camera show out of that.
Can't you see how that would be disturbing for lots of people? How would they know that you are not some drugged up mental case?
There are events open for knife showing where the people will actually appreciate it.
Doubtful if its at the local busstop on a Tuesday morning commute to work.
Common sense suugests to me that it would not be appropriate to carry a large fixed blade knife on my belt in an urban environment DESPITE what the law says or does not say.
 
Know your environment, and if you want to show off the craftmanship of an object, try to know your audience. I wouldn't show off the fine craftmanship of a BMW to an 80 year old Amish man. Most folks in the city have neither the desire or the background to appreciate those kinds of things. A delicious cup of coffee or a perfectly baked pizza.....now that is an entirely diffent story. Mmmmmmmmmm.
 
meako said:
I've got a mental image of the OP walking up to PEOPLE in the street of some huge Yank city .
Pulling out his finely crafted hunting knife (or similar) and saying "check out the craftsmanship on this little sucker!"
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I've seen multiple posts on Bladeforums by people who've done just that and been disgruntled when the random stranger who just had a huge knife pulled on them gets upset. Typically these random strangers are then called "sheeple."

Just like anything, it's all about remembering to put yourselves in the other guy's shoes to try to understand his viewpoint, something not everyone is good at. I work in an office environment where no one carries knives, so I leave my FBs and larger folders at home and use smallish slipjoints. I don't consider people sheeple if they aren't on board with knives, guns, etc.
 
redsquid2 said:
Here in Chicago, I would not wear a belt-hanging knife, for fear that an L.E.O. or security guard would hassle me. People around here just don't do that, except maybe electricians or other tradesmen who carry tools. I want to carry these knives sometimes, just to show off the craftsmanship, but there is a whole different attitude in the urban environment.

I had a roommate who came here from New Mexico, to attend college. When he came, he came here in his F-100. Of course, he kept a gun rack with a 30-30 hanging in the back window. The Chicago cops pulled him over and told him "We don't do that in Chicago." They let him off with a warning. I guess it really is illegal. I just tell this story to portray the general attitude about weapons or anything that looks like a weapon, in this city. I think a fixed blade looks like a weapon to people around here, even if it is under 3".

I grew up in southern Oklahoma and northern Texas. In that place and time, a cop would not even think of pulling anyone over for having a gun hanging in the cab of their truck. I don't think fixed blades on the belt were any big deal either.

What's you guys' view?
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Your roommate was damned lucky that he didn't get busted for having a firearm in Illinois without a FOID card. We have a similar (FID; Firearms Identification Card) law here in MA to own long guns. The 1986 Firearms Owners Protection Act (FOPA) wouldn't have protected him because his destination was Illinois and the rifle was not kept in a locked container out of reach of the occupants of the vehicle. In short, his college career would have ended before it began and he would have retuned to New Mexico as a convicted criminal (possible felony conviction) and forever a prohibited person under federal firearms law.

As for knives, I only tried carrying a FB once (in Boston) in the back of my belt. It was the now-long-discontinued Gerber "Frisco Shiv". Drawing the knife caused the sheath to come off the belt with it on many occasions; not the best scenario for fast deployment in a SD situation. Some of my friends discovered that the sheath was what gave away their concealed carry, not the knife itself. I gave up on all sheath knives for city carry; my EDC is a locking folder with a 4" blade.
 
I picked up an izula 2 in November. At first i was a little worried/apprehensive about using it around people, but there has not been one shriek or grumble. in fact i think i might have gotten a few friends into a new addiction.
 
Ok, I didn't even read all of this , but I have read enough of them to feel the need to vent a smidge. Is society today so fearful that one cannot carry a small fixed blade knife such as an Izula 2( for size comparison) on your hip without a call to 911? Surely that is not so. Also, in a post above meako said this: "Can't you see how that would be disturbing for lots of people? How would they know that you are not some drugged up mental case?" If "they" are worried that everyone carrying a knife in such a way is a mental case then "they" are in fact mental cases themselves. How many people driving our highways at a high rate of speed do you think are drugged up mental cases? I would bet it is a bigger number than you would think. The point is, we can't constantly worry about every possible scenario all day every day. The word for that is paranoid. I,for one, am not paranoid and couldn't give two craps about who is carrying a knife and are they on drugs or possibly wacko. Methinks there are too many laws on the books and too many lawyers in the courtrooms....
RP OUT

SEMPER-FI TIL I DIE
 
I live in Phoenix, and I usually carry a belt knife when ever doing yard work or if I'm going outdoors. I have carried a sheath knife into restaurants and grocery stores many times and have never been hassled. Most people don't even notice, because I don't flash it around, if I need to cut my sandwich in half I just use my pocket slip-joint. If any one is frightened by a free citizen then they can blow it out their ass.

Ok, I didn't even read all of this , but I have read enough of them to feel the need to vent a smidge. Is society today so fearful that one cannot carry a small fixed blade knife such as an Izula 2( for size comparison) on your hip without a call to 911? Surely that is not so. Also, in a post above meako said this: "Can't you see how that would be disturbing for lots of people? How would they know that you are not some drugged up mental case?" If "they" are worried that everyone carrying a knife in such a way is a mental case then "they" are in fact mental cases themselves. How many people driving our highways at a high rate of speed do you think are drugged up mental cases? I would bet it is a bigger number than you would think. The point is, we can't constantly worry about every possible scenario all day every day. The word for that is paranoid. I,for one, am not paranoid and couldn't give two craps about who is carrying a knife and are they on drugs or possibly wacko. Methinks there are too many laws on the books and too many lawyers in the courtrooms....
RP OUT

SEMPER-FI TIL I DIE
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:thumbup:
 
OldKnife007 said:
It's one of those things that is just out of fashion, as well as being against the law.
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I dont know where you live but its not against the law where I live....and I don't know what fashion has to do with it,this isn't a fashion forum.
 
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It seems that in the original poster's place of residence....the gubmint has won by bringing fear into his thoughts.

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."
Thomas Jefferson

Here is my 3 inch long blade edc I have on my belt.....



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If your fixed blade is legal I wouldn't worry about it,I'm not to knowledgeable about urbanites and how they react to the sight of knives but I do know around here it is fairly common to see a farmer or rancher type sporting a small fixed blade of some sort these guys use knives a ton and find fixed blades to be more easily accessable than a traditonal or modern folder. All in all I'd figure as long as you don't act in a reproachful manner or draw negative attention to yourself you should be fine.
 
I use my knife quite often.

I have been wearing a 3" fixed blade , concealed horizontal carry , for about 5 years now , every day. I live in the city. 3" is legal to carry concealed here , so I do.

Nobody knows I have it ( thats the whole point of concealment right ?), I had drawn it used it to cut something , and resheathed without people hardly noticing.
 
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