Recently I was sitting in the Atlanta airport waiting for a flight with a large group of firefighters. One of the firefighters had just bought a PSP from an airport shop; while he was fighting with the multilayered package he asked (jokingly) if anyone had a knife. Every single one of us reached to our pocket only to realize we had been disarmed of our most basic tool by the TSA! It was an extremely funny scene, although disturbing at the same time.

My knife is an essential everyday tool, hardly day goes by where I don?t use mine. Now, I believe a knife is a tool, not an object to be coveted and protected? keep that in mind as you read on. I typically carry one of two knifes (or more commonly both) every day. The first knife is a Gerber Applegate (full sized) that is pretty beat up (cosmetically) but holds an edge exceptionally well. The second is a Leatherman Juice XE6, while I prefer my Wave that I carry when I am in the backcountry; the Juice is lighter and better suited for EDC. In the last 48 hours alone I have used one or both of these tools for the following: cutting packing tape, cutting rope & webbing, prying a suck button open on an iron, opening a beer bottle (or 6 <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> ), cutting my toenails, prying open a locked door, and removing an hotel key card that has managed to get itself stuck between the windshield and dash of my rental car.

I agree with earlier posts that a knife is a tool for situations that you cannot plan for. Just like the rest of my EDC stuff, you never know what you?re going to encounter or what you will need.