My Dad always said "A Gentleman always has a pocket knife"

When HE went to school, you were expected to carry a pen knife - they actually still taught you to sharpen a quill!! (1920s in NYC!)

I keep a Vic Classic in my change purse for public viewing -- pen knife blade, scissors and it looks innocent. It's fairly acceptable, much more so that the RSK Mk 1 I whipped out once to open a carton while in line at the grocery store. Lady behind me didn't say a thing, but she did switch lines.

Yup, sure is a sad state of affairs these days. I personally don't mind whipping it out in public, but then I gotta deal with the misses hissing "put that away" in my ear. Its why I make sure I carry my swisschamp all the time now. People are a lot less spooked by the (somewhat) familar red handle SAK. So I just take the few extra seconds to remove from the pouch and just leave the buck/strider clipped to my pocket. Keep the "average" joe/jane from having a heart attack, keeps my wife from having a hissy fit, makes my life a little less complicated.

-Bill Liptak

Likewise, I think this has much to do with it. These days (here in the U.S.) we're seeing increasingly frequent acts of violence. Just this past week: two college campuses and the regrettable incident with the psychologist. It seems to me the general public has two stages of "alertness" to their surroundings: completely oblivious, or hyper-alert, with no in between. It's the latter that I think makes many folks edgy when they see displayed what they perceive to be a weapon of some sort.

Recently, I had just returned from an outing, and still had my black-scaled SAK OHT in my pocket. A box with the super-tough strapping tape needed to be opened, so I was going to use the OHT. A couple of folks visibly shrunk back when I retrieved it from my pocket, thanks I suppose to its slightly larger size and the unfamiliar (vs. the trademark red) color. Someone spotted the SAK red/white cross logo, and says, "Oh, is that a Swiss Army knife?" — then all was well.

Edit: Bill ... your post while I was typing — echoes some of what I said regarding the SAK.

Hi Bill and Others,

I agree with you that the Swiss Army Knife is the best "low profile in public" knife and I usually carry a Vic Farmer when I am in a suit/tie. The problem is that I have not been able to find a red coloured one in Canada, the silver Alox Farmer is not as easily identified as a SAK and therefore still draws some unwanted attention.

Mike

Yep, my little classic is the first thing that comes out for the wife or female co-workers. I reserve the Wave for myself and those I know can handle it. The wife is a dedicated Klutz when it comes to knives, and I don't want her cutting on anything more than what the lil classic can handle. That's also why I do all the butchering work at home too. I let her cut bread and occasionally smaller veggies, but I do the winter squash and melons.

Sometimes I get these pitiful, almost sobbing looks from guys when I have to break out the lil classic for these women.

Other times, I get looks of admiration and gratitude from my buddies when the daughters hand me one of their full size leathermans and tell me to be careful cuz they just sharpened them.

"...when the daughters hand me one of their full size leathermans and tell me to be careful cuz they just sharpened them."

Love that!

Sue

This thread got me thinking (a dangerous thing at times) and I replaced the Vic Pioneer (silver alox) that was in my Mission Wallet with a Vic Spartan (red plastic). I do believe that will be my go-to knife in public -- it's just a Swiss Army Knife.

In the process I got a small blade, tweezers, toothpick and corkscrew; I saved all of 10 grams. I don't get the strength of the aluminum sides, but in that knife it isn't critical. The Pioneer goes to the bullpen while I think about where it would be most useful to be stashed.

In my current work environment, I am apparently the only person in an office of about 60 carrying a multitool regularly (original model Wave). I am the go to guy when a screwdriver or pliers is needed and that is just fine with me. Although the Leatherman is big and bulky, it doesn't seem to be threatening at all. It must be the pliers - it just doesn't look like something Freddy Kruger would carry.

I just can;t help myself. I'd have been tempted to unsheath a full-size Canadian Camp knife just to still their already fluttering hearts. Like my Dad used to say "You want something to cry about?"

"Here nice lady. Let's get that plastic wrap off there in record time. There's no sense pussyfooting around with some wrapping."