Well, I guess I'm in a somewhat unique situation. Except for Mr. Sharp, who is in the same boat. But being in high school, I have to be extra careful with who knows what about my knife wielding tendencies. Even today, I told a friend I couldn't meet him on Saturday because i was going to "an outdoor convention"... yeah, that would be the gathering we call "BLADE WEST".


My school rules say "don't bring weapons to school", but this poses a problem for me because I don't see them as weapons. In places like the south and midwest, there is a significant gun culture and thus knives are fairly commonplace. Here in Portland, there is NO gun culture, and thus knives attract a LOT of attention and really freak people out. My benchmade grip is considered a "huge knife" (the iron is that your average chef's knife as the size of a chopweiler). Another interesting phenomenon is that some people find plain-edged knives to be MORE scary because whenever they go into an outdoor store like REI, all they've ever seen are combo-edged knives.

In fact, simply having a locking-blade knife on you at any time is quite a taboo. I carry my folders either in the pocket (not clipped) or inside the waistband. As for fixed blades-- forget about it. I don't leave home without my leatherman Surge, but I still have to be careful with that. I think that the reason why some people find carrying a knife so hard to understand, especially if its a fixed blade, is that they don't understand what such a knife is capable of. When I tell hiking buddies about batonning, 99% of the time they'd never head of it before. If people knew all the things that you can do with a fixed blade, I bet they'd see their value more easily. Most hiking/backpacking websites warn people against fixed blades because they are "more dangerous".

I don't spend as much on knives as many forum members, but I'm sure that even my relatively cheap RMD would shock people at $140.

Here are my usual tactics with sheeple:

Q: Why do you carry a knife?... thats so creepy
A: Because its one of the most useful tools/ I use it for cutting stray threads / some other mundane reason

Q: Knives are weapons... why do you need to be armed?
A: actually, the vast majority of crimes committed with knives are with kitchen knives. Kitchen knives are perfected designed for use as a weapon, whereas my pocket knife is not.

Q: Why would you pay XXXXX for that knife?
A: Well, a knife can save you life, so I guess a better question is, how much is you knife worth?

The best strategy? Keep you goods to yourself. And also, don't just whip it out. I've just pulled a knife and started using it as I would in the back country and people freak out because it seems like it came out of no where. We get used to noticing knives, but for other people it comes as a surprise if you're suddenly holding a blade

My thoughts,
-Cloak