The practice of loaning knives

Would you loan a knife to someone?

  • Total voters
    108
I don't loan knives to folks, though that said, I consider it a different situation if a close friend wants to fondle or get a feel for a knife they're thinking of buying and I have one. In those instances, I've been known to send it to them. That works both ways, incidentally. Sometimes a trade or sale happens, sometimes not. But to clarify, these good friends are knife buds, people I know won't misuse or abuse the knife.
 
kobold said:
I have more than enough unused cheap knives that are just taking up space. But just don't ask for my latest and greatest honeymoon-phase knife.
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I have some cheap knives also that I would just give people if they wanted one. I carry a Steel Warrior with me also when I leave home if someone needs to borrow one. It is supposed to be one of the better ones that are Rockwell tested. But I don't let people take off with my knife.
 
I can think of several situations where I would lend a knife-

I'm a "knife person", but on a few occasions in my life I have forgotten to take a knife with me when going out. Even a lifelong "knife person" can forget. If I forgot to take a knife and needed to cut something, I would certainly appreciate it if someone were willing to lend me one. So I'd do the same for others.

If someone flew in to visit me from out of town and didn't want to check a bag just to bring a knife, I would lend them one while they were here.

If a friend and I were working on something together and my knife were better suited for a task than his knife, or he didn't have one, I would lend him one of mine.

If I were on on a hunting/fishing/camping trip with a friend or family member and they misplaced their knife, I'd lend them one of mine.

I was on a date and the woman asked if I had a knife she could borrow to cut one of those plastic string tag holders off her jacket sleeve. I offered to cut it for her, but she said she could do it. So I lent her the little pocket knife I was carrying. She said that she normally carried her own but she forgot it. It was in her regular-carry purse, and she was carrying her date purse.

And then there are emergency situations-

I've seen car wrecks where a person was trapped by their seat belt and random people who gathered to help, and even first responders didn't have a suitable tool to cut the person loose, and called out for a knife. In such a situation I wouldn't hesitate to hand over a knife. I certainly wouldn't insist that everyone move aside and let me do the cutting.

If someone were actively engaged in trying to save someone's life and needed a knife, I'd hand over my knife, even if it were my most prized possession.

As far as non-knife people-

If I didn't know how someone might treat a knife, and if I had a knife that I didn't care about, I'd lend it to them. Meh, why not.

Although I believe in owning and carrying knives, I don't hold it against other people if they don't. At the very least, if a person recognizes the value of a cutting tool enough to ask to borrow one (rather than using their teeth, house key, etc), that's something I can respect. And depending on what they wanted it for, and the knives I had available, I might be open to lending them one.

Who knows, perhaps lending a knife to a non-knife person might actually turn them into a knife person. How many times have you let a non-knife person look at, or handle your knife and they were so impressed by it that it turned them on to knives and they became knife people.

Of course, I would never loan, or even let a person handle one of my knives if I thought they might do something stupid with it that could cause harm to them, myself, or others.
 
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I only lend knives to people I know own and can handle them properly

The one time I borrowed my BM onslaught to a guy who wanted to cut through polystyrene
The idiot held it between his legs and ended up cutting towards his femoral artery :confused:

Told him to give it back before he kills himself and cut the polystyrene for him instead
 
One of the advantages of EDC-ing a SAK Spartan. For $20 you aren't going to shed a tear if something happens. That said I'd only lend if I a) know what cutting is to be done b) it's going to be used in my presence. Simply because I don't enjoy sharpening and certainly not dealing with chips.
 
I've loaned a knife short term a few times over the years, if I knew the person well..
Most of the time when I loaned my knife they were returned without damage.

I always asked what they needed it for, or cut it for them ... especially if one of my siblings.

I've gifted a few over the years to friends and co-workers who had knife shaped objects from Frost and Gerber, or didn't have a knife.
(yes, some of the knives I've gifted were Stanley utility knives, when their "normal" use was breaking down cardboard boxes for an 8 hour shift, stripping/cutting automotive wire, and battery cable, scraping decals and other things off glass, scoring drywall, etc.)

In the last 15 or 20 years, I've loaned zero but gifted maybe 6 or 7. (excluding those gifted to or bought as presents for my nephew/godson, and his pappy.)
 
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In short, hell no!
...at least not until I finally get around to carrying an “loaner” Opinel along with my EDC.

Last time I made the mistake was when my wife asked to use my knife for breaking down some boxes. I caught her bracing the cardboard the garage floor, preparing to scrape my ZT 0850 on the concrete.

Nope!
 
dandan said:
Nope . Dont loan any to anyone. Too many people disrespect the knife or blade. Damage is a no no , but so often you get it back dirty , or covered with finger prints and tat on the blade.

I have learned over the years!

I Dont lend my knives or my wife!!
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Under Certain circumstances, I definitely would.....
Wives too.

However, Some knives are harder to replace.
 
I have given a few away to family but as far as handing my knife to someone, I`ll ask them to let me cut what they need cut and I surely would not loan one to someone for a week, day, hour or even 5 seconds
 
It comes down to who you regard as friends.
My good friends would not do the wrong thing by me.
If they misuse the knife or do not give it back then you need to rethink who you lend knives to
 
Not often. It just kinda rubs me the wrong way. I would feel about the same way handing over a firearm to someone else. I don't mean that my knives are weapons. I just mean that in my mind every knife that I deem worth keeping on my person is worth a great deal of reverence and respect. I don't mean that it should be babied. It just needs to be used hard....with care;)

I usually keep 3 to 4 edges on my person. If someone at work needs something cut, I will usually go back to my desk and get them an old SAK I keep for such chores before handing over my personal knife if I can't do the cutting myself. If..IF I loan out part of my EDC kit, it will be my multitool. They have less of a chance buggering it up.

At the end of the day, I would rather just give away a medium quality knife than risk getting something I really value on a personal level thrashed. A person who can't be bothered to carry a knife probably won't understand that the tool on my hip or pocket costs 100s of dollars.
 
I have unspoken agreements with friends. When traveling by airplane, if I pick you up at the airport I will have a pocket knife for you to use during your stay. I have at least one friend that reciprocates. My last trip to his place he loaned me a well used, but razor sharp Kershaw Leek.
 
killgar said:
I can think of several situations where I would lend a knife-

I'm a "knife person", but on a few occasions in my life I have forgotten to take a knife with me when going out. Even a lifelong "knife person" can forget. If I forgot to take a knife and needed to cut something, I would certainly appreciate it if someone were willing to lend me one. So I'd do the same for others.

If someone flew in to visit me from out of town and didn't want to check a bag just to bring a knife, I would lend them one while they were here.

If a friend and I were working on something together and my knife were better suited for a task than his knife, or he didn't have one, I would lend him one of mine.

If I were on on a hunting/fishing/camping trip with a friend or family member and they misplaced their knife, I'd lend them one of mine.

I was on a date and the woman asked if I had a knife she could borrow to cut one of those plastic string tag holders off her jacket sleeve. I offered to cut it for her, but she said she could do it. So I lent her the little pocket knife I was carrying. She said that she normally carried her own but she forgot it. It was in her regular-carry purse, and she was carrying her date purse.

And then there are emergency situations-

I've seen car wrecks where a person was trapped by their seat belt and random people who gathered to help, and even first responders didn't have a suitable tool to cut the person loose, and called out for a knife. In such a situation I wouldn't hesitate to hand over a knife. I certainly wouldn't insist that everyone move aside and let me do the cutting.

If someone were actively engaged in trying to save someone's life and needed a knife, I'd hand over my knife, even if it were my most prized possession.

As far as non-knife people-

If I didn't know how someone might treat a knife, and if I had a knife that I didn't care about, I'd lend it to them. Meh, why not.

Although I believe in owning and carrying knives, I don't hold it against other people if they don't. At the very least, if a person recognizes the value of a cutting tool enough to ask to borrow one (rather than using their teeth, house key, etc), that's something I can respect. And depending on what they wanted it for, and the knives I had available, I might be open to lending them one.

Who knows, perhaps lending a knife to a non-knife person might actually turn them into a knife person. How many times have you let a non-knife person look at, or handle your knife and they were so impressed by it that it turned them on to knives and they became knife people.

Of course, I would never loan, or even let a person handle one of my knives if I thought they might do something stupid with it that could cause harm to them, myself, or others.
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Well said.

I will add, if it is someone that has ever questioned why I need to carry a knife, they are on their own.
 
Generally speaking, the people I would have to lend a knife to do not know how to use but not abuse a blade. I find it simpler to just do the cut for them, so its on my terms.
 
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