How many of you really NEED a knife

GingivitisKahn said:
Is it just me or is posting the question "how many of you need a knife" on Blade Forums similar to:

Generic gun forum: how many of you need a gun?
Generic hunting forum: how many of you need to hunt?
Generic motorcycle forum: how many of you need a motorcycle?
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Nah, it seems like a legitimate question to me. 90% of the people here don't actually need a knife because they work in an office and the only tool they require to make their living is a computer keyboard, but most of the people who work for a living do legitimately need a knife of some kind. There exists a decent part of our society that requires the use of a knife for their livelihood - Anyone who works in a kitchen, on a construction site, in the forestry or fisheries industries...

For a motorcycle forum, for example, you couldn't say that any one of them legitimately need a motorcycle, but there are definitely people in the world (and even on Bladeforums) that actually do need a knife.
 
RogueBowie said:
I definitely don't 'need' my knife daily, but when I do it reminds me why I carry it daily. Because needing a knife and not having one is one of the most frustrating situations to end up in (especially for us knife knuts).
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My exact thoughts. Although mine gets used daily for some reason or another. Even if its opening up another knife :D. My work place is where they see the most use. I think daily there is something needing cut, or boxes broken down.
 
Absoulutly every day without fail, its primal, if I get dressed and leave the house I've got a knife on me.......unless going to the airport or some government building, but that doesn't happen very often....
 
I'll be completely honest. After I left retail and no longer open boxes everyday I do not need a knife. I'll be honest and say now it's pretty much pocket jewelry. I still love them though and continue to carry one everyday. I think it stems from seeing my dad and granddad carry them everyday. It's what a man does...
 
I could get by without my knife but there have been too many times where it has come in really handy for me not to carry it every day.
 
bullet08 said:
i guess i don't really NEED it. but it's nice to have a knife or two with me. things come up at least once a day where i'm glad i have a knife with me. yesterday my migraine was about to kick in and i couldn't open the med. it's in strange child proof packet. zt 550 solved it really quick.. yeah.. it was overkill but it worked.
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I found myself in this exact scenario. My head was hurting to much to figure out how to open it, so my Griptilian came to the rescue.
 
I have a real need for my knife on the job. As a service tech I am constantly cutting tape, tubing, shrink wrap, nylon packing straps, cardboard, etc. Life without a knife would be unthinkable:(
 
Icancutstuff said:
I'll be completely honest. After I left retail and no longer open boxes everyday I do not need a knife. I'll be honest and say now it's pretty much pocket jewelry. I still love them though and continue to carry one everyday. I think it stems from seeing my dad and granddad carry them everyday. It's what a man does...
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This is pretty much my exact thoughts.

As for me asking a question like this on a knife forum, I think it's totally legitimate. I'm not asking how many of us like knives, I'm asking how many need them. How many carry them out of necessity rather than just for the enjoyment of having one in your pocket. There's nothing wrong with either one. It was just a conversation starter.
 
I very seldom need a knife in my everyday life but if I do I am glad that I have 3 or 4 on me to choose from.
 
Its goes well beyond the knife in our pocket WE ALL NEED KNIVES. The knife that makes our dinner the knife that cut the drywall in your house the knife that well you get it. A minute does not go by in our life where its impacted by a knife. I always say its better to have than not when it comes to knives.
 
mdsmith said:
Totally off topic, but Carl, did I hear you say the word Spyderco ?!? Lol. :)
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Yes you did. I figure not everyone is into the traditional pocket knives, but they should have something,, anything, on them, even a small keychain knife of modern design, just in case. It's way better to have and not need, than to need very badly and not have.

Carl.
 
Well I farm for a living and live in the most rural part of the county. With that being said I've carried a knife since I was eight. I carried a knife all the way through school. My elementary school was a two room school with a total of 20 kids. But anyway I actually carry a knife smaller than I need. I use my knife daily.
 
lol i think i am the guy whose post in the other subforum made mdsmith start this thread. lol

i work in the environmental industry. some days im on the computer and phone and dont use a knife at all. though i almost always have a serviceable but value-priced pocketknife on me. some days i cut dirty rope, erosion control mat and/or plastic safety fence all day long. some days i dont do anything but look at my pocketknife. today i didnt use my pocketknife at all but i did use a machete for about ten minutes to cut some brush so i could walk through some woods to go look at something. some days i dont even touch my machete. some days i cut stuff with a machete for literal hours. always an adventure.
back during my student years i sometimes had a pocketknife and sometimes didnt. i think i often had one rolling around neglected in my backpack. sometimes i wouldnt use or even wish for a pocketknife for weeks or months. never thought about it much.

still, even in these settled suburban postindustrial times i think people ought to have some sort of knife for the same reason you ought to have a gallon of water and a rain poncho in your car. a good multitool or swiss army knife would be even better. fortune favors the prepared.
 
Depends on which of my jobs I'm working at the time. At my teaching job, I'm legally prevented from carrying one of my knives. I'm essentially forced to use scissors for most cutting tasks(ironically, even ones where a knife would be safer...like opening boxes when an order comes in). At the gun store, my knife is absolutely essential. I open dozens of gun boxes that are taped for inventory reasons in a day. I also cut open lots and lots of boxes to restock shelves.

Aside from that, I've always carried a knife because it's one of man's first tools. A knife in my hand is a bond back through time to early man, as he knapped a blade from stone or used natural cutting tools they found useful. Going through life, a knife is a great tool to have and isn't that hard to carry. In the same regard, I carry a flashlight and a lighter. I don't smoke, but the lighter has come in handy pretty often. The flashlight too. When legally able to(when I leave marylandistan in any direction) I also carry a firearm. It's not that I have an absolute need all the time, just when you need it....you REALLY need it. It's just a mindset of preparedness and self-sufficiency really.
 
Well I am in school so I carry mine from late afternoon to night and use it about 3-5 times a day. I also don't go out of my way to use my knives either most of the time. Even when in an office setting there sometimes will still be uses.
 
Lol ok I'll play along then. I'm a computer geek for a living and I spend tons of my off time hunting. Yep - I need my knife (knives, actually).


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Beckerhead #42
 
I wish I needed a knife then I could justify the thousands of dollars I have spent on them. I can't even dull the blades fast enough to justify the $850 Wicked Edge Sharpener system I just ordered. I will have to take a metal file to the edges just so I can sharpen them back to a mirror polish. My wife sometimes kids me that I have spent thousands of dollars just to cut an apple for lunch. But then I don't give her a hard time for the two or three dozen shoes she has that all look the same to me. It works we are happy. I get knives and she gets shoes. it's a good life.
 
I don't need to carry a knife. I can function without them but I enjoy having them around. Every now and then I will cut boxes, tape, or bundle strap at work with my pocket carry knife but I could just as easily use my finger nails, a pen, a key or a box cutter. I do however use a knife at almost every meal I eat at work. I cut up apples, oranges, kiwi fruit, tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocados. I used to eat a lot more processed instant microwave food items but after a less than pleasant visit to the doctor I've been eating a lot more fruits and vegetables which means a lot more cutting. My lunch knife is actually kept at my desk, not in my pocket, so technically it is not a knife I carry.
 
I think it's an interesting question. I'm new to the knife world, but the one day last week that I forgot it, I was really surprised at how preoccupied I was about not having it with me. Do I need it everyday? Probably not, but I also think that when you need one you really need one, and I like to be prepared that way. And I just like them. They are very satisfying mechanically and in design. It's a little bit of art and function that helps me stay sane in an insane world....
 
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