There's so much I could say in this thread that I don't know where to start.

I've been a confirmed "knife nut" since I was about seven years old that I can remember... and that was a long time ago. I can tell you for sure that we are born, not raised- my mother has always abhorred anything remotely weapon-like, my father was not an outdoorsman by any means (both my grandfathers were, but I barely knew them), and never owned a gun or a "real" knife to my knowledge. I had no older siblings, so I became a knife nut, a camper, a backpacker, and eventually a shooter with no family guidance or encouragement at all- quite the contrary.

When I was too young to undestand the value of discretion ("camouflage") the knives got me in trouble more than once... in later years, they got me out of worse trouble more than once.

Unlike some, I've always understood, even as a child, that a knife is potentially a weapon as well as a tool, and I make no apologies for carrying one with that in mind. I've been a responsible armed citizen for enough decades now that I'm tired of trying to justify it to those who will never understand. The idea that the need to defend yourself, and your loved ones, can be legislated out of existence is just ludicrous... it's as basic as life itself. However, in today's society (especially here in the suburbs of a major city), I would not consider revealing a larger-than-tiny knife to cut string or open a box in public... IMHO, that's asking for trouble in today's PC America. I carry a Leatherman Micra, or a Vic classic or similar, just so that I will never have to reveal what else I may have on my person for so trivial a purpose.

For some reason, though I have a LOT of knives, I've been on something of an axe/hatchet kick recently, and an article I came across on that subject mentioned that there are many, many fewer laws about carrying hatchets and tomahawks than there are about knives- an interesting thought, expecially since there are some very sweet small hatchets out there that can do most things a knife can, and, in wooded areas, maybe more.

One parting point- those "knife nuts" out there who are also interested in survival, but have never read Robert A. Heinlein's "Tunnel in the Sky", are missing a real treat. It's one of his "juvenile" novels, but in Heinlein's case that doesn't imply condescension- his "juvenile" characters are as competent as his adults. The story is based around a high-school survival course's final exam, set in the future, and may have been written partly as a rebuttal to Fielding's "Lord of the Flies". It's one of my favorite novels, and may be my all-time favorite "survival" novel. Yes, I've read some of Gary Paulsen's books. This is better.