"Good reason" to carry a knife

My wife has gotten looks for her Spyderco Meerkat in her office. I got her the smallest Spydie I could that she could operate efficiently. People still freak out when she pops open the plastic bands on boxes, or has it on the key ring sheath I made her.


Before she met me, she didn't carry a knife. Now she has a knife and a gun. She understands now that a knife and a gun make her equal to a larger, male assailant.

Think of that. Equality.

If feminists actually wanted equality, they'd do the same. Try raping a woman with a knife in her hand. Things get a bit more tricky. When I was a kid, if you were a boy you had a pocket knife of some kind. Teachers would borrow them. Now you get suspended.

Carry a knife, or be a victim.
 
Funny how it's the norm for people to have in the kitchen several full tang fixed blade knives from the smallest paring knife to the biggest bone cleavers. Yet they get all imaginative when they see a colleague take out a small folder from his office drawer.

If you worked in a city among knife-fearing sheeple, and the only blade you EDC is a karambit, what would you say your "good reason" is?
 
The reason I carry a knife in a city of knife-fearing sheeple is simple: Because I don't carry a gun, and its the next-best thing I can figure out to protect myself.
 
As an adult male I always try to wear an analogue self winding watch and carry a pen, a knife and a handkerchief or being a southern boy a bandanna in a pocket. With my Atwood Prybaby on my keychain I also have a cap lifter and a prying tool. In my 20 odd years land surveying in the field most guys had their own knife, some got there knife from me. Now that I spend most of my time in the office I am the 'go to' guy for an edged tool. I have provided several of the deserving office staff with suitable folding knives and one of the secretaries purchased a push-dagger for a necker for when she jogs early in the morning before work. The big boss in this office retired last year and after showing him a few interesting Microtechs he had me purchase one for him and before Christmas he had me get another one for his son. I just figure that some people don't have a knife because they don't know where to get a good one. I can fix that.
 
When someone asks me, "What are you going to do with that knife, cut somebody?" I usually respond, "I'm glad you don't have a knife, since the only use for a knife you can think of is to use it as a weapon."
 
James Mattis said:
There are jurisdictions out there, i.e. the UK, and individual authority figures who may ask you for what reason you carry a knife. ("For protection" is the wrong answer!) As if you needed a reason ...

"Good reason?"

My good reason to carry a knife is that God gave me rather weak teeth and rudimentary claws in an evolutionary trade-off. The hairy-armed person who figured out how to put an edge on a suitable rock made it possible for us to be recognizably human in the first place. I wear a wristwatch whether or not I have an appointment to keep, and I carry a pen and/or pencil because I am a literate person whether or not I have a specific writing task ahead of me, and I carry a knife because I am a human and not an ape.

A knife comes in handy for all sorts of random tasks that involve separating matter. Like cutting a string, or making a sandwich, or opening a package. It can also come in handy in an emergency, which need not involve a human assailant, and emergencies are by their nature unforseen, so one should carry a knife all the time.

And in a perfect world where nobody needed a weapon, I'd probaby carry a slightly larger knife, because it wouldn't scare people.

(For some longer thoughts in this direction, visit Daithi's essay at www.knives.com )

------------------
- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001



[This message has been edited by James Mattis (edited 06-18-2000).]
Click to expand...

This is just such a Classic thread. I forgot all about this but I wanted to say thanks to James Mattis for the original post. I now have you quoted on a nice sheet of paper framed at my desk at work on "Why I carry a pocket knife daily"

Great thread.
 
David Lowry said:
This is just such a Classic thread. I forgot all about this but I wanted to say thanks to James Mattis for the original post. I now have you quoted on a nice sheet of paper framed at my desk at work on "Why I carry a pocket knife daily"

Great thread.
Click to expand...

This is a classic thread and James was a Classic and Classy guy.
He is missed.
 
I always carry a pocket knife because of all of the above that drive me nuts: those hard plastic shrink wraps on everything, tie wraps, opening boxes, etc. I also think that in a car accident it could cut me out of a seat belt, or help me break a window. Ever try peeling a tough orange with fingernails? Ouch!

One time a lady friend and I were in a pizzeria and a guy wiped out at the front door. Broke both bones in his lower leg (fibula and tibia). His boot was just dangling (Eww!!). We phoned 911 and asked if we should take the boot off, as the guy wanted the weight off even though my friend and I were supporting it. They said do it, so while we were supporting his leg on both sides I took one hand off, got my Spyderco out (I think it was the Endura, but might have been the Delica), opened it with one hand and neatly unzipped his boot laces at the middle, without disturbing anything else. We got the boot off and helped him feel a bit better before the ambulance came.

Why do I carry a pocket knife? Everything from packaging to oranges/cheese to medical assistance: It would be silly not to have one around! :)
 
I carry a knife for any number of reasons. The best reason being so that I can readily open the boxes that arrive in the mail ... containing more knives.
 
As an Australian, who has a knife in his possession daily, I have to constantly remind myself of what to say if questioned.
You see, it is Illegal without 'good reason' to carry or have in my possession an edged tool of any kind.
I would quite comfortably defend myself with these words in a court of law.
 
This is the first time I've read this thread since I've been a member. The first post in this thread makes some of the best and most valid comparisons to carrying a knife that I've ever seen.

It's amazing how some poeple lose their mind when they see a knife or hear of someone getting stabbed.
 
You could use the internet archive to look at past versions of the website in his signature. And of course there are his many posts here.
 
James Mattis said:
There are jurisdictions out there, i.e. the UK, and individual authority figures who may ask you for what reason you carry a knife. ("For protection" is the wrong answer!) As if you needed a reason ...

"Good reason?"

My good reason to carry a knife is that God gave me rather weak teeth and rudimentary claws in an evolutionary trade-off. The hairy-armed person who figured out how to put an edge on a suitable rock made it possible for us to be recognizably human in the first place. I wear a wristwatch whether or not I have an appointment to keep, and I carry a pen and/or pencil because I am a literate person whether or not I have a specific writing task ahead of me, and I carry a knife because I am a human and not an ape.

A knife comes in handy for all sorts of random tasks that involve separating matter. Like cutting a string, or making a sandwich, or opening a package. It can also come in handy in an emergency, which need not involve a human assailant, and emergencies are by their nature unforseen, so one should carry a knife all the time.

And in a perfect world where nobody needed a weapon, I'd probaby carry a slightly larger knife, because it wouldn't scare people.

(For some longer thoughts in this direction, visit Daithi's essay at www.knives.com )

------------------
- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001



[This message has been edited by James Mattis (edited 06-18-2000).]
Click to expand...
Brilliant James! May I quote you?
 
As has been stated in this thread already, James Mattis is deceased. Much was lost when he died.
 
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