The Core

Having not carried a pocket knife since I was a kid, I got talking to a friend a few weeks back who challenged me to borrow one and see just how much I used it for a few weeks.

Just to be clear, I have no interest in a knife as a weapon. I am British (what what) and don't feel the need (sorry db, I love ya  )

I took up the challenge borrowing a basic Wenger Swiss Army knife (I had a Victorinox when I was a kid...it got stolen).  I didn't think I would use it at all, but I have, almost every day. As a Dad there seems to be endless times that you need a screwdriver, oh and bottle opener 

Anyway, I have given it back now and with Christmas coming , I thought it would make a great gift for the family to get me.  I wondered if anyone else here had one, or a mult-itool, and what they thought of it? 

Of course, it has to be UK legal, non-locking, under 3 inches blah blah (sorry db  )

Yes, I agree locking blade is a safety feature.  I have a lock knife in the house, but can't take it outside. 

However, my kubotan is very legal and makes a lovely keyring.

In second grade I can remember myself and all the other Cub Scouts used to wear a Cub Scout pocket knife to school with our uniforms on meeting days. Today they would be calling in SWAT teams and crisis counselors if a kid did that.

When I was a kid I had a simple pocket knife on me all summer long.

Now, I can't enter a county court house with even the tiniest of knives on me or I'll get arrested, and you can't enter with a cellphone either because some dink at the court found a plan for a gun made to look like cell phone 10 years ago so they banished them too.

So I don't bother trying to carry any sort of pocket knife on my person anymore. 

I have to wonder how many people have gotten hurt from improperly using a non-locking blade vs. violent acts that have been prevented?
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I use to teach science in a middle school, 6-8 grade right after a string of school shootings.  Everybody was hyper-vigilant and bordering on paranoid.   This dumb kid brought in a small, cheaply made, plastic handled, two inch lock-blade knife to show off.  Being dumb he pulled it out in class right in front of me.  I knew the kid wasn't planning on stabbing anybody, he just wanted to look like a tough guy with a cool toy. 

If I followed the procedure, I would have taken him to the office, then the kid would have been arrested and expelled.  That probably would have been the smart thing to do.   Instead I took the small knife and had him stay after class to talk to me.  I told him that we could do this by the rules where he gets sent to juvy and kicked out of school or I could just keep the knife and he never does something so stupid again.

Disclaimer:  I did the same sort of thing when I was a kid, but had more sense than to show off in front of a teacher.

And I thought Japan was bad about knives...
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20090728hn.html

I used to carry a little Leatherman tool around with me in the city for its all-purpose handiness-factor, but after they started cracking down I don't bother. I do carry something bigger, and possibly illegal size knife, when camping. I doubt I could fend off a bear or wild boar with the thing, but I don't meet too many law enforcement officials on the trail.

>I use to teach science in a middle school, 6-8 grade right after a string of school shootings.

*grin* You just jumped a notch on my "cool" scale.