Every Man Needs To Own A Pocket Knife

Return of Kings ^ | February 13, 2018 | CR Smith

[vannrox]

Even though a permit is not required to have one, I admit to not carrying a pocket knife until 2015. I had realized that I became part of a generational sea change on this item, which I now view as being much more than just a male accessory choice.

It all started when I was at a Garden Center store looking for a trellis, but when I found one, it was bound to several others by nylon zip-ties. I knew I couldn’t saw it free with my keys, so I started to look for some help. I soon saw an old man walking down the aisle and instinctively thought he would have a knife on him, but he didn’t, nor did another man I asked. I then found a store worker who cut them free and off I went with my trellis, though not feeling good about myself or the state of male civilization.

As a kid in the 1970’s, almost every boy carried a pocket knife. It wasn’t a weapon or for showing off, unless it was new. Sometimes you had to actually cut something and scissors just wouldn’t do.

When you were bored, you’d whittle a stick or a piece of wood with it. I have a simple walking stick carved by my great grandfather, and I recall the mystique of watching and helping as he sharpened his knife. In my keepsake box, I have a pocket knife of my father and grandfather. Interestingly, along with a Confederate $5 bank note, Lincoln had one in his pocket the night he was shot.

But times have changed, and I stopped bearing the humble tool that naturally accompanied my forefathers. I am not alone here, and think this happened for various reasons and with certain outcomes.

1. Fewer Men Work With Their Hands Or At Jobs That Need Them

My farmer and forester ancestors needed knives at any potential moment, but for my generation of desk jockeys and mind workers, scissors and box cutters do just fine. This is a banal, demographic reason, but the next ones cut to the core of a man’s soul.

2. The Expanded Safety Culture

Safety is a great thing for us all. Seat belts and even OSHA have had some benefit. In my job as a scientist, we take precautions scientists never gave thought to a few decades ago. People like me in occupations with built-in physical hazards are happy for that.

But when we live our everyday lives with a requirement of eliminating all hazards, we get ridiculous. This leads to safety Nazis who apply their same calculus to pocket knives as they do to guns: viewed solely as a dangerous object to be feared and avoided, and not as an everyday tool that has hazards to be respected.

There’s a reason the 2006 book The Dangerous Book For Boys included topics on uses of knives. The safety culture agitates against even reasonable male daring, much less carrying a tool that could be used as a weapon. This mindset turned rancid as it became codified absurdity through.

3. Zero Tolerance Policies In Schools

It sounds tough, but it’s a cop-out. Adults who abandoned the need of using discriminating wisdom and good judgment implemented “no sharp objects allowed on campus” rules, as opposed to something like “pocket knives may be three inches or shorter” with strict enforcement (liberty with reasonable limits that is age appropriate).

Intractable un-Solomon-like thinking leads to such silly results as boys being expelled for bringing a kitchen knife to school to cut an onion for a science project and for biting a pop tart into the shape of a gun.

You soon realize that when adults don’t use adult discretion, kids don’t learn the right lessons and are trained to have foolish fears. Humble pocket knives became an easy victim. The do-gooders imagined they were protecting kids from switchblade or machete melees, but they forgot that Grace Kelly used scissors to kill the intruder in Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder.

4. The 9/11 Attacks

The pocket knife culture was already feeble, but 9/11 gave it a grievous blow. Swiss Army Knife sales fell by 35% as a result of the attacks. The hijackers interestingly used not knives, but the culturally un-feared box cutter to do their evil deeds: they used our overblown fears against us. Since then, many a pocket knife has been melted into plowshares by the TSA, I assume, after confiscation at airports, including one of mine. All of these contributors have led to another sad consequence…

5. The Emasculation Of Men

I believe the culmination of these factors have led men to be changed and lessened. The old man from whom I asked for a pocket knife at the garden store looked embarrassed to admit his knifelessness, as he knew from whence he had fallen. I felt no better as I had to get assistance from a female store employee, no less, who got some scissors (what else) to cut lose my quarry (what a daring name for a trellis). To complete my humiliation, she had to do the cutting… corporate safety rules, I guess.

As is human nature, some rebel against our anti-knife culture and dive headlong into getting more, bigger and longer blades, but most of us just rolled over, and we were figuratively castrated.

But I’ve decided to not roll over anymore. I didn’t need an impressive knife like my son’s, which doubles as a gun bayonet, but I did ask him to get me a traditional pocket knife for Christmas, and now I carry one with me always.

The two knives I have now are quite different and illustrate the types that are suitable for many guys. My small one is barely 2-1/2 inches long when closed and is a sleek 3/8 inches wide, with two thumbnail opening blades. It serves for minor and general use at work and doesn’t fill my pocket. It looks and works better than a stupid freebee keychain Victorinox-wannabe with bad scissors.

My other knife is almost four inches closed with a full-bellied blade and can be opened with one hand by a thumb stud. It is more useful for chores around the house or in the woods.

A thick, multi-tool Swiss Army knife is useful, but can be too bulky for a pocket, which is why if you have one, it’s likely in your dresser drawer. Just start with your needs and avoid the urge to go full-bore Crocodile Dundee. You may rarely need it, but when you do, you’ll feel better for having your own pocket knife.

Read More: How To Keep Your Knives Blazing Sharp

[GingisK]

Many here seem to be babies. I have carried a knife everyday since I was seven, so that makes 62 years. The official Cub Scout knife was my first, and my general carry knife now is a Victorianox “Officer’s”. (Swiss Army Knife, for those not in the know.) My big knife is a SOG Bowie.

[Bitman]

https://www.google.com/search?q=ultimate+swiss+army+knife&client=tablet-android-att-us&prmd=sivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjE8cbsyK_ZAhUr5IMKHfhBBywQ_AUIEigC&biw=1280&bih=800#imgrc=7Jwyv4ARV7AIgM:&isa=y

Like this one?

[ExpatGator]

I carry an old McGrew three bladed folder everywhere I go and an 80 year old Marble’s hunting. Nothing new or fancy just old, hand crafted carbon steel tools.

[Lurker]

For later.

L

[jagusafr]

I’ve had one in my pocket since I was 6 years old, and it still pisses me off that I have to pack it in my checked luggage.

[Blue Collar Christian]

I always carry at least one knife. The pocket knife, along with my wallet, a little change, my belt and my keys are always together and go into/onto my pants when I don them.

A second knife is an accessory that is chosen for whatever activity is on for the moment. A hunting/filet knife specific for the game I’m after, or a double edged “boot knife” in my off hand pocket when on church security duty, or a Buck 112 at work...

I’ve had coworkers ask to use my knife, to which I reply; “Ask your mom, she’ll probably say you’re old enough to have your own now.” Is it wrong for me to shame them like this? I think not.

[jagusafr]

Gibbs’ Rule
#9: never go anywhere without a knife. Correct.

[Sirius Lee]

Like this one?

LOL, yes. A true t*ts on a hammer tool if ever there was.

[Brooklyn Attitude]

I’ve carried a Victornox Tinker for the last 30 years and use just about every day. Perfect size, no stupid corkscrew. Gave them to my 3 SILs as stocking stuffers. Now they carry them daily.

[FreedomPoster]

No, and I like it! ^5!

LOL

[snoringbear]

“Growing up we played stretch and chew the peg all day long then hit the farmers field to carve up some cucumbers and sweet potatoes to hold us over until dinner.”

Stretch... you’ve pushed an old memory button. First, I’m old (72) and grew up in rural Texas in my Grandfathers farm. Anyway, back in those days virtually every boy carried a pocket knife. And, the game Stretch was often played during school recess. Well, one day the teacher watching recess observed another boy and I playing Stretch. Guess she was bored or something but she came over to us and asked if we were playing stretch. We said we were. Then she asked if we were playing for anything. We said marbles. So, she then proceeded to take our marble bags away from us as playing “Keepers” with marbles was gambling and against the rules. Got our marble sacks back at end of day with admonishment not to gamble anymore. I’ve got a chuckle reminiscing about this incident over the years and how times have changed. Back then, the concern was gambling. Today, the concern would be having a deadly weapon at school, would be expelled for a week, parents meeting, counseling, etc, etc.

[Clutch Martin]

“My carry knife of choice has always been an Uncle Henry in stockman style. 3 blades, < 3” long. Razor sharp at all times”

I carry the Old Timer version called the Rancher I’ve had it for years. I can’t seem to get a good edge on stainless steel blades so that’s why I like this old-timer it’s low-carbon and it’s not rusted either because you take good care of it, handle it, oil it et cetera, and knives won’t rust.

I need a knife that I can sharpen easily, not a knife blade in an astronomical Rockwell hardness that will never have a suitable edge for my liking.

[Blue Collar Christian]

I won a Cub Scout pocket knife (actually my Dad deserved the win) in a craft contest in 1964 when I was 8 and I have carried at least a pocket knife everyday of my life since.

I don’t know where the writer of this article lives, but boys and men around me have a knife with them. Some of them because of the shaming I gave them.

[papertyger]

I carry a knife as a substitute for my penis.

So I asked the lady that told me so if that raggedy purse substituted her vagina.

[Makana]

““I have Amazon Prime”

To open my grandchildren’s toys and battery packages.

[OKSooner]

The alox Soldier is an excellent knife. I used to carry one until the model was discontinued for a supposedly improved model that has a one-hand open blade - nothing wrong with that - but the alox scales were scrapped for the typical Victorinox plastic scales, which I don't like because they are just not durable.

So my old alox Soldier, which I consider to now have semi-collectible value, got retired to the "stuff" drawer with other knives and stuff, and I got myself an alox "Farmer", which is essentially a Soldier with an added pruning saw, which is actually quite functional. I like it, and it carries just the same as my now retired Soldier. Can opener, bottle opener, two screwdriver blades, regular blade, and a leather awl which is surprisingly useful make for a neat package that for me, is more useful than any blingy multi-tool.

I also carry an AG Russell Sea Skorpion flipper clipped inside my left pocket. Total stainless construction, half-serrated blade that will cut (almost) any polypro rope or strap on earth, and a little thingie called a Marlin Spike that will help you untie (almost) any knot on earth, and is also useful as just a bonus sort of diggy-pointy kind of implement. I abuse the crap out of it and get it filthy dirty and then run it thru the dishwasher before oiling it and touching the blade up.

And yeah... here in my part of the world no one has a problem if you carry a pocket knife. One time I needed to cut up an apple so I got out my Victorinox and there was a guy (snowflake) from uh, somewhere else present. Someplace where they eat lots of tofu. "You carry a KNIFE?"

As I was cutting my apple up, I said "Yeah, I never know when I might want to cut up an apple or something." I politely didn't call him a diphsit.

[bravo whiskey]

I carry a 9mm and two knives, CRKT in right pocket and inexpensive Amazon knife in left pocket for general use. Also have one in range bag, one on driver side visor and another CRKT I carry at the gym. Have lost 2 Swiss army knives over the years. One was run over by a tank at Ft Hood.

[Manuel OKelley]

Fallkniven PZL or kershaw blur in sv30 unless im in a suit in which case i carry a lightweight Gerber evo. Canr stand ro bot have a good sharp kbife on me at all times

If im out doing anything outdoorsy i add leatherman charge and often a belt knife of some sort. Hunting or in thr boonies fallkniven thor is mandatory

[fatboy]

I live in PA so carry is no problem but work in NJ so no carry. However I always have my Zero Tolerance 0566 with me. Love that knife.

I shoot in Steel Challenge competitions. There are several teens and even pre-teens that shoot this on a regular basis. It does my heart good to see a pre-teen female, and there are several, step up to the shooters box with a open rimfire rifle or pistol and see a pocket knife in the pocket, right where it should be. All is not lost (yet).

[Drew68]

I love my Kershaw Scallions with SpeedSafe assisted opening. They're like Zippos, I've owned and lost several.

I need to send my most recent back to Kershaw for repair. I accidentally left it in my pocket when I washed my pants and in the dryer, the safety lock broke off. Definitely don't want to carry one of these in your pocket without the safety lock engaged. It's a good way to wind up a soprano.