EDCING A UTILITY KNIFE

JParanee

JParanee

Joined
Dec 23, 2006
Messages
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So this has been covered before but I thought what’s one more time :)

So what prompted this is I have a trip to Japan coming up and as many know carrying a blade with a blade of 6 CM is illegal

This is a problem for me being someone who carries a gun and knife daily

So automaticaly my thoughts go to the many utility razor knives on the market

My favorite edc blade is a custom Wharnie that is more of a utility knife on steroids than anything else so my knife preferences are in align with utility style blades

My current fav edc



So I have been using a Riley Tools non folding utility knife for awhile and its a great knife



It performs and feels similar to my normal edc

When I told Gavin I was heading to Japan he was kind enough to send me a Shortcut and I am really liking it what a tremendous tool







What utility knives are you EDC’ing
 
I use the civivi at work. Which is most of my knife use.

Put a little serrated blade in there and it mows through most things.


If that was going to be my ad. I would have had at least two takes on the flip demonstration.
 
The jiffy box cutters are easy to carry and are good for slashing. Less than $1 each. They use the single edged blades.
 
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I lived in Japan for a few years and I took a backpack with me to most places I went. In the backpack, among other things, I had a Swiss Army Knife. Ok not exactly a utility knife but a handy thing to have for a lot of tasks. I am about 98% sure that was fine over there as far as carrying a knife goes.
 
I will mention utility knives before the end of this screed, I promise. An entire book would be needed (and no doubt many have already been written) to address all the peripheral factors your query engenders.

Pablo668 has it about right. A small pocket knife should take care of blade errands during your journey. I'd recommend a small to medium SAK for its versatility, which is what I carried while there. Your behavior will be a *MUCH* more important factor re: getting noticed and/or hassled than an extra cm or two on your blade length

The most salient point to make, according to ~15 years married to a native Japanese lady and five weeks journeying through the north & south of Japan, is that the fear of others that motivates us to carry weaponry (guns, knives, canes/sticks, martial arts training, attitude, anything) in the USA or other countries is & will be useless in Japan. Fearing or worrying about the people around you on the streets or in stores/restaurants is wasted energy. The exception would be in some areas of port cities which can be rough, so just don't go there, eh.

With extremely rare exception, the Japanese populace is civil & courteous in the extreme. They are culturally conditioned to not mess with circumstances or people that fall outside their individual pre-defined role within the society. As a foreigner, you are well outside those limits. If anything, they will try to help you navigate their locale so they will be alleviated of removing this disruption (you) from the usual orderliness & routine of their life.

The toughest thing I found was the inability or unwillingness of the people to speak anything other than Japanese, even in areas where many foreign tourists came to sightsee. Train stations, especially in larger cities, tended to be better.

Quick illustrative story about how fearfulness is unnecessary there, then on to utility knives. During our journey in Japan, we accidentally left a coin purse with about $8-$10 worth of Japanese yen sitting on a low wall outside the gate to the most popular temple in east Kyoto. After about half an hour we realized the purse was not with us, retraced our steps back up the hill, and found the coin purse was still sitting on that wall where we'd left it. During that half an hour literally hundreds & hundreds (thousands?) of people had passed that coin purse sitting in plain view *AND NO ONE HAD BOTHERED IT NOR STOLEN IT!!! * You will be as safe as that coin purse. Guns, intimidating knives, and the underlying fears that justify their utility in other countries don't fit and aren't needed in that truly civilized country.

As for utility knives, the closest to EDC I get is the standard yellow Stanley rigid utility knife that lives on my tool belt and is an invaluable tool on just about every project.
 
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After reading RokJok's message and doing a little research out of curiosity, I'd have to say that I would avoid carrying anything in Japan. Maybe a blade-less Victorinox of some sort. An American self-defense attitude might get you in deep trouble over there.
 
I carry an Exceed Design's Razor 3. You can google it as I am not sure I should post a link.
 
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