Anyone have an suggestions for a non-metal alternative for a Razor Hobby Knife Blade? I'd like to have some kind of cutting instrument the size of a hobby knife blade on me at all times and not have to worry about being questioned about it.
Sharpened piece of plastic? Lexan? Bone? Any ideas or experience in the matter?

Thanks
Wayneburg

Fibre filled resin or PE cards can be sharpened and used for cutting but they neither get as sharp as metal nor do they hold an edge well. Flint can get reasonably sharp and hold an edge but it´s tricky to make. There are also ceramic blades which can be used.
Bear in mind that most alternatives are known to security personel. They will possibly presume that you wanted to conceal a weapon when they find it. This could easily mean more trouble than a metal blade.

A piece of formica laminate, when broken, produces an amazingly sharp edge that is moderately durable. I have sliced my hand open just like a razor on a small bit of laminate. A small sample chip of laminate is certainly light and unobtrusive. I'd suggest carrying an intact sample chip for best results.

Also, a small ceramic tile sample - while not as tough or light as a laminate sample - will, when broken, produce a failrly tough sharp blade edge, not always as sharp as the laminate, but more durable.

Finally, there's that old stand-by glass. Almost anything made of glass can be broken in a way to produce a very, very sharp edge.

This is generally a very bad idea. Don't get me wrong, I don't feel kindly to the police state we live in curently nor do I think that it is justified. OTOH, at times like this folks in security roles seem to have extremely limited senses of humor. If "THEY" determine that they think you are attempting to evade the regulations the only survival kit you will need is a free pass to solitary so you don't have to become BUBA's lover. Sad, Unfair, Un-constitutional - maybe so but they still have more guns than you do so......

If youre insistant on this line of thinking you might consider planing for improvisation. A CD will crack in half fairly easily and produce an edge with a decent sized area for holding and enough sharp jaggedness to pass for a serated blade for a stroke or two. A bottle can produce a decent weapon, A sheat of glass from a picture frame will produce a decent sharp edge for slicing tasks that will last long enough to skin out a bit of game. A clam shell can be nice and sharp or sharpened by knapping it, Most any thing sheet metal can be given an edge if you have the time and patience. Carrying an emery board is allowed and all that is needed to sharpen a cookie sheet. I don't know about carrying a can opener - rotary or p38 but either is all you need to make a fairly sharp edge out of the top of a can. The rotary kind makes a slightly more useful can lid. Once you have that it is simple to fold it over to make a handle and keep it sharp with your emery board. That sould be enough to make a survival knife as good as an Xacto blade and may be something that gets past security without much trouble. If you can't get the can opener past then you could try ordering up one of thoes metal ssn cards. Don't sharpen it ! They will notice that but it gives you the starting point for a convenient blade that can be made later with the emery board. OK so the emery board needs to be an emery block like used for taking calluses off your feet but that should pass more easily than an arkansas sharpening stone. Same stuff essentially. Just some random thoughts. Still, all and all, this is not a good line of thinking. If you must travel on a restricted conveyance or in a restricted building simply make arrangements for your gear to meet up with you later. As Chris K suggested once, Mail your stuff Fed-Ex to yourself C/O the destination hotel and fly clean. So you don't end up at GitMo for an undetermined amount of time while they determine if they actually have to charge you with any crime to continue holding you.

Thanks for all the replies. And all the suggestions. I would like to clear up some confusion about why I want an alternative to the hobby knife blade. I don't intend to get passed any kind of security by means of consealment. I want a cutting instrument that won't make family, friends and co-workers ask "Why do you have that?" Of coarse I would declare it or its alternative at a securitiy check point.

i take a completly diffrent approach... SR*W IT ! i carry a folder with me at work, because i use it and is way more practical than the cutting stuff we got there. The co-workers do comment about it, but i'm not braking rouls ! Guys ( actually most are girls ) i carry a knife, live with it !

If someone´s going to question your need for a cutting tool, that person is going to do this even more when you try to replace it with something that may not appear like one at first sight. Take the confusion you caused here as a hint for how people who don´t feel the need to carry a cutting tool might react on the alternative.

I must agree. as long as I am not circumventing any regulations or security zones I will have my leatherman on my belt. People used to give me a bit of grief but then I started wearing a vest full of other trinkets and a big cowboy hat. Now folks just leave me alone and give me a bit of room.

OTOH, if I had to walk the 30 miles home after a sever disruption of civilization (hurricaine, riots etc) I would have with me enough to purify water, treat injuries, set up a tarp, build a camp and a campfire, catch some squirrels or pigeons, or open a found can or 12 of food. carry a couple of liters of purified water and cook with it. punch my way out of a car window, light up the dark, create dark and silence in midday for a nap, communicate with just about anyone with cell, sw Ham radio, signal mirror, whistle, leave a note, take a note, find my way cross country to avoid the SS (or whatever), cut firewood or poles for shelter structures, Is this too much? Perhaps but with all that in my vest the leatherman rarely raises any comments anymore.

I just tried to break two AOL CDs in half: one slowly, and with a sharper motion. Both times, the CD merely bent in half like a piece of stiff cardboard, and didn't even crack. So much for my improvised shank!

Heck, it's way more fun to stick an AOL CD in the microwave for 30 seconds anyway.