Photos Let's See Your Open Carry Pics

[rover]

Yeah, you’re a target if you don’t have a weapon or look like a victim. Criminals like easy victims. Carry a giant Bowie.

Those cowgirls can just ride away or smile. I don’t have a horse or a pretty smile.

 

[jbmonkey]

Here ya go:

Should hold ya for a bit!

great pics. love seeing cowboy and cowgal stuff still happening in the west.

 

[Boombats]

I wish I could contribute pics to this thread. I live in upstate New York where it's legal to open carry as big of a knife as you like, as long as you don't brandish it, but where carrying said knife tends to make some people uncomfortable (especially city folks who are used to the sub-3" law in NYC). That said, I'm less concerned with making other civilians nervous as I am with making LEOs suspicious or worse, frisky. So while I feel good when I have some big steel hanging down my leg, I stick with a folder in my pocket. If I really didn't care then I'd roll with a wak on my back 24/7.

 

[jaseman]

I live in a state where there is no restrictions on how you carry a knife, or what size it can be. Open carry of a firearm is perfectly legal as well. I find in most situations, no one really notices either being openly carried. Most people are completely oblivious to the people around them, and what they are doing, unless they are making a total scene, or the item carried is overtly large. I generally could care less who notices what I’m carrying and when... though firearms are usually IWB, but often times my shirt is tucked in, so you only really see the grip.

As for knives...
If I’m wearing a belt, I’m usually openly carrying some sort of fixed blade. Most often either a Benchmade Hidden Canyon or a Bradford Guardian 3, both horizontally across the front. Out camping, hiking, etc, I’ve usually got a 4” custom on my hip and/or a small fixed blade on the shoulder strap of my pack.

I’ll see if I can get some pics tomorrow.

 

[Horsewright]

great pics. love seeing cowboy and cowgal stuff still happening in the west.

Thanks

 

[The Zieg]

You need a concealed carry permit to carry a knife with a blade 3" or longer in my county, but you can open carry all you want. I've always just carried small legal knives, but now I'm considering open carry for the first time and would like to get some ideas. So let's see your open carry pics.

I usually have a Buck 110 on my belt at the 4:00 position in a horizontal leather sheath. Sometimes I'll use the newer nylon sheaths and it will look more like I'm carrying a multitool than a three and a quarter inch lockblade. Other times I'm toting a Victoinox Trekker in the same sort of rig. For a fixed blade, I will carry a Mora openly. Once in a blue moon I'll have a Malanika puukko or a Ka-Bar Mk 1 navy deck knife at 4:00 but that's a rarity. I'll never carry a fighting knife like a Gerber Mk II and bowies are strictly for backcountry trail rides.

I won't try to discourage you. Others have done that well. If you're going to carry a fixed blade visibly, my advice is to stick to brown and tan leather as urban folks are more startled by black. Keep the knife on the shorter side of 5". Dress well and clean or look like you have a job that requires the knife, preferably both. Use a rig that can be removed without too much trouble so you can easily enter any establishment that prohibits knives or where they would cause too much distress.

Regarding knives, I try to balance my responsibilities as a citizen to obey the law and respect my neighbors' sensibilities while functioning as a gentlemanly ambassador for the "edged tool community."

What rigs are YOU considering?

Zieg

 

[The Zieg]

Yeah, you’re a target if you don’t have a weapon or look like a victim. Criminals like easy victims. Carry a giant Bowie.

Those cowgirls can just ride away or smile. I don’t have a horse or a pretty smile.

It's even better if you have a horse WITH a pretty smile!

Zieg

 

[Crag the Brewer]

I'm not sure in how many places that would qualify as "open carry". With no actual means to see or identify that it is a knife, I'll base my thoughts of it not being open carry on a similar statue in the city I work as a cop. Granted, I don't personally care unless the carrier was some POS who was engaged in otherwise illegal activities (robbery, ag assault etc).

Only the OP is aware of where he lives, and so he is the only one in this thread aware of his actual laws. However, most LEO, using the reasonable officer standard, would not see it as "open carry". I would strongly encourage the OP to see what the law is for his jurisdiction before deciding that concealing a weapon is openly carrying it.

Just something else to think about.


For the guys posting that the OP should get a firearm, I'm missing where that was an option for this thread. All I see is him looking for "open carry pics". He may or may not be looking at a knife as a weapon, but it is a fact that that vast majority of us use as knife as a tool on a much more regular basis than we do as a weapon.

I agree with all of this...
also, where (I) live open carry IS legal, but really Not worth it... In fact with our laws its too easy to break them. Very seemingly innocent actions turn you into a felon.... Like the picture above covering it up, or accidently holding a backpack, or briefcase, or a shopping cart just blocking/concealing it for a moment... or even All the troubles of "properly" (legally) getting in & out of your car..... Just isn't worth it.

Here, people who choose to open carry (I'm against it publicly) tend to still have their paperwork too.

 

[brownshoe]

If you think open carry is a deterrent, you are assuming the other guy is rational and has smaller cohones than you. That could be a mistake. In a nearby town a gun store owner mistakenly believed he could shoot it out with a day time armed robber, he paid with his life.

 

[jaseman]

I

I won't try to discourage you. Others have done that well. If you're going to carry a fixed blade visibly, my advice is to stick to brown and tan leather as urban folks are more startled by black. Keep the knife on the shorter side of 5". Dress well and clean or look like you have a job that requires the knife, preferably both. Use a rig that can be removed without too much trouble so you can easily enter any establishment that prohibits knives or where they would cause too much distress.

Not that it’s anyone’s business but mine what I’m carrying (within legal parameters) but this is generally pretty sound advice. 5”+ is kind of a large blade to be overly useful, da-to-day, in an urban, or even suburban environment. And any knife is gonna stand out less if it’s part of a ‘uniform’... carpenter, maintenance crew, or whatever. A guy in a 3-piece and wingtips might draw a bit more attention, walking around with a K-bar, then someone in coveralls, with their name stitched onto their shirt.

I live in the suburbs, but almost always carry some sort of FB. Usually a 3” edc of some flavor. Know one has ever even noticed when I do.

Benchmade Hidden Canyon in an Armatus Carry sheath

But none of these ever get noticed..

 

[The Zieg]

Another possibility is a Kydex pocket sheath. I have two Dawsons that carry this way and you can go quite large this way. And with the pommel showing above the line of the pocket, you're still in "open carry" territory, I reckon. I really like the horizontal rigs J jaseman is showing, though, especially the leather one.

Zieg

 

[hhmoore]

I live in upstate New York where it's legal to open carry as big of a knife as you like, as long as you don't brandish it, but where carrying said knife tends to make some people uncomfortable (especially city folks who are used to the sub-3" law in NYC). That said, I'm less concerned with making other civilians nervous as I am with making LEOs suspicious or worse, frisky.

I'm also in upstate NY, and routinely carry a fixed blade. I generally stick with 4" and under, don't sweat 4.5", and go over that if I'm so inclined (which was rare until I received the Q a few months back). About the biggest thing I carry - off my property - is my Urban Grudge, and I probably do that less than once/month. I was much more concerned about other people, and LEOs, in my long-haired youth; but figure I'm "safe" since I passed 50. Even before that, I realized local law enforcement didn't care about the knives I carried as long as I wasn't giving them a reason to.

 

[jaseman]

The Zieg that’s a Guardian 3 in the leather. The knife is great, but honestly, the sheath is just OK. Much bulkier than it needs to be, even for leather. I’ll eventually replace it with another Armatus like I have the Hidden Canyon in.

 

[The Zieg]

You need a concealed carry permit to carry a knife with a blade 3" or longer in my county, but you can open carry all you want. I've always just carried small legal knives, but now I'm considering open carry for the first time and would like to get some ideas. So let's see your open carry pics.

This is an example of a beautiful knife that you might carry proudly. As of this posting time, it is still available here on BF.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/two-san-mai-compound-ground-kwaiken.1753453/

I can see carrying this knife in a cross draw or horizontal rig at 5:00 over a tucked in polo or dress shirt with a nicely tooled brown leather belt--something with horsehair and silver accents since you're in the west. Add nice boots and fresh blue Wranglers and no one would bat an eye. You might even attract some romantic attention!

Zieg

 

[000Robert]

This is an example of a beautiful knife that you might carry proudly. As of this posting time, it is still available here on BF.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/two-san-mai-compound-ground-kwaiken.1753453/

I can see carrying this knife in a cross draw or horizontal rig at 5:00 over a tucked in polo or dress shirt with a nicely tooled brown leather belt--something with horsehair and silver accents since you're in the west. Add nice boots and fresh blue Wranglers and no one would bat an eye. You might even attract some romantic attention!

Zieg

Although Wranglers are better than the nut-crunching Levi's, Diamond Gusset jeans are the best.

 

[Eversion]

Just a simple upright cross draw position. The shirt just sits atop it and covers much of it, but I don't go out of my way to make sure it does so.

The lanyard is useful for getting a grip, since most of the handle is covered by the sheath. But if I don't want it flopping around, I can stick it in my pocket right there.