So today is Valentines Day, and my turn to take our 10 year old daughter to dance class.

I am standing in the lobby of the dance studio with about 10 other parents; one mother is having difficulty unwrapping a heart-shaped chocolate treat, while the child at her feet is raising a big fuss because she wants it "NOW".

I casually ask the petite woman "would you like to use my knife to help open that"; she replies, "that would be great, I got the bow off, but not the plastic".

I reach under my coat, draw my Leatherman TTi from the belt pouch and with my thumb snap open the main blade like I have done hundreds of times before. Everything went silent in the room as all the other people stopped talking and looked toward the sound, I then wished I had reached for my tiny Gerber STL 2.0 or kept my mouth shut.

I passed the woman my open Leatherman and it dwarfed her small hand; I could anticipate what was coming next so I said "be careful, that blade is really sharp, would you like me to do it for you", (the room was still quiet). Luckly the lady managed to cut the tie on the wrapper and handed me back my multi-tool (blade first), I tucked it away quickly.

The lesson I learned tonight is that many people do not have the same comfort level around edged tools as those who EDC them and that my wife should take the girls to dance class from now on!

Mike

They probably thought it was switchblade or something. Everyone knows that they equal BAD...

If they thought the Leatherman was a "switchblade" they would have called the Cops if I had of used the "Speed Safe" Kershaw Leek clipped to my left pocket. SNAP!

Mike

SwampDonkey

Nice title. Love it.

Would the scissors have been the better option? Always remember, "Nice guys finish last."

It may be a cliché but sometimes it’s true.

Nice to none,

Blitz

Anytime I loan a knife I worry more about the knife getting hurt than the person wielding it...does that make me a bad person?

LOL I have the same thought on loaning out a knife, if the person gets cut, they will heal, the knife stays broke if they screw it up, or I have to spend time redressing the blade.

In fact I don’t loan out my good knife, I have a beat-around knife (a small locking blade Buck) that I let people use. I had a small Kershaw I let others use, but one time it was at a party and I did not get it back. Lots going at the party and it slipped my mind to get it back, and the guy using it never gave it back.

Hi Blitz,

I never even thought of the scissors until just now when you mentioned them! I carried a Leathernam original PST for about 10 years (no scissors) and recently started carrying the TTi, I guess I just forgot about them, DUH.

Mike

That's why I carry my Leatherman Squirt with a Photon Freedom hooked to the key ring. It rarely draws attention in my school. I keep my ChargeTi in the briefcase or in my car because the one time I pulled it out, most of my students (all teenage girls) screamed in terror.

The funniest part of the story is that the girls who ride horses, and the handful who go backpacking/camping, came up and wanted to check the ChargeTi. They carry pocket knives during their competitions in case a horse gets tangled up in their bridles and begins to choke. Most of them prefer swiss army knives and their parents made certain that each girl knew how to use and care for their knives. Most of them also referred to the Squirt as a "sissy little toy."

Hope still exists for the next generation

IMHO some of this comes from the was the modern society has changed in the last 50 years. Used to be just about every boy got a pocket knife when he was just old enough to accept a little responsibility without getting himself killed.

Somewhere between eight and ten years-old the kid got a pocket knife for birthday or Christmas. It was something of a right of passage. Nearly every adult male, and not a few females, had a knife in their pocket. Many had a Boyscout knife or SAK and the business suit guys, worried about the suit hanging right, had a tiny pen knife.

Knives were practical tools and used nearly every day for small jobs. Knives were symbolic of getting things done, and being prepared and, a mark of having the competence to do it without slicing a vein.

This changed. Some of it may have to do with packaging. Back in the 50s most men had their shirts done at a laundry. These would come back wrapped in paper and tied with string. Meat and produce were often package the same way. Lots of every-day items were similarly packaged. You might have to spend several minutes untying these packages but with a small knife you simply cut the string.

Packaging has changed. No longer do most people pick their cuts of meat and watch as the butcher wraps them. Everything has gone to plastic shrunk on with a machine.

There is also the rise in liability and non-acceptance of the small injuries that used to be common with kids. Used to be Cub Scouts had knives. Nobody would dream of it being any other way. I was shocked the first time I heard about Boy Scouts having to get a badge before they could carry a pocket knife.

Oh well, no going back. And it is easy to overlook the fact that the 'good old days' weren't all that good. Most men stopped carrying knives but there are now blacks in Boy scouts and the voting booths, and women aren't relegated to secondary status. Fair enough trade in my book seeing as that I still carry a Leatherman.

It is still funny too see people struggle to get a CD out of it's plastic wrap. Or open many of the tri-laminate wrapped foods. Maybe pen knives could come back. Then again last I went into the courthouse they had stopped storing knives if you had one on you. I would have had had to have walked all the way back to my truck to stow my Leatherman if I hadn't noticed a friend lounging around out front. He was kind enough to hold the knife as I did my business in the courthouse.

"Whipping it out" it depends on the situation. Sometimes a quick grab and flick and then a just as fast disappearing act folding it against the leg and back in it's sheath has the desired effect. One time I saw a young buck giving a woman's purse, hanging from a chair, a long look. The tiny click of the knife locking open before I sliced an article out of the newspaper had an effect. I will never know for sure what that effect was but when he heard that tiny click he looked back and our eyes met. Might have meant nothing. Or it might have registered that he was being observed and that there was a guy who cared with a knife behind him. He straightened up visibly and a few minuted later she left taking her purse with her.

If I'm in a meeting with the sorts of people who might be startled by the sudden appearance of a sharp knife I try to make sure to announce what I'm doing ahead of time. I have sometimes asked something along the lines of: 'The meat is tough today, would anyone mind if I used a sharp knife?'.

Better to give them some warning and eliminate any idea that I'm just randomly fondling a knife under the table.

I'm with BoBS in that I do not loan out a good knife. No way. The last knife I loaned out was a serated balde that cost me less than $3 at Walmart.

Still, I got looks for having one so readily available. Not too many of them, because those present knew me enough that they were not too surprised.

Society has changed, unfortunately. And fewer people respect the knives they do have. The boning knife in my kitchen could do more damage than most of the knives I carry. But no one seems to be in fear of my owning one, even in NYC, where I bought it.

As far as the title of this thread, well, there was the one time I put on a free show . . . .