A lot of you will relate

[Mike Griffin]

I know we drift occasionally from model planes and I try not to overdo it but these are trying times and I thought most of you would relate to this short article.  This WAS my dad and I still have his knife. 
You do not have to be from the South to relate, I just happened to have been raised in the South.

Mike

https://thenaturalsouth.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-kind-of-men-who-carry-pocket-knives_4.html?spref=fb&fbclid=IwAR2HdFRh_eiZwHsrrL-Kxv_hxzSxHTKlZc7pA-pfhX6z1iY8uT6rFP6vclI

[Dan McEntee]

  I have been carrying a pocket knife since I was old enough that my Mom would let me have one, about 14 or 15 years old. those were called Kamp Kings, cost $1.98 and had a larger 2 1/2 or 3 inch blade, a can opener and a punch type tool and a screw driver.  We had started to mess with dirt bikes and such and were going camping and riding with my oldest brother, who was more or less took over for my Dad after my Dad passed away when I was 10 years old, and both of them always carried a pocket knife. I even carried them at school with no problem, and even on airliners when things were still sorta sane in the world. As I got deeper into my working career, I had gravitated to carrying electrician's pocket knives that have a locking screw driver, and in addition to always having one of those pocket multi tools and a flash light on my hip. i have been fixing things for a living for a long , long time and even in normal, everyday life i come across situations where I fixed something at a store, or some other place for someone in distress and used just what I had on me. I have a small collection of pocket knives but not too many. It is a simple hobby that I could really let myself go on and get really into. It really is like a family tradition almost, as my younger brother did and so do my other brothers. I feel naked with out mine and before leaving to go anywhere, I slap my pockets to see that they contain my work keys with spare car keys and pocket change in my left pants pocket, my wallet in my left back pocket, and my other set of keys, small tape measure and pocket knife in my right pocket. It helps me keep my balance!
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Gerald Arana]

Mike,
Yes, I have a pocket knife. In fact I carry three of'm. My trusty "old timer" (VERY SHARP) a useless mini blade on a mini leatherman and a leatherman. Unfortunately, I used the leatherman blade for a pry bar on my daughters swimming pool (don't ask) and snapped it in two.........

Got my first knife at 8 years old or so, first B-B gun around 10 years old and 22 around 12 or so. Can't remember exactly as I'm now 80 years old and have (do) have several guns.

And remarkably I haven't had to shoot anybody!!!!!! Not yet anyway! 

Cheers, Jerry

[jfv]

Carried one since I was in grammar school.  Feel naked without it.

[Matt Brown]

Cool story in the link as well as several of the posted comments.
I’ve carried a pocket knife nearly every day for most of the last 30 years. I was never big on the name brand knives. I carried a cheapie balisong for 20ish years. I enjoyed flipping it around and it served the usual functions of screwdriver, pry bar, scraper and even on occasion, a knife. Lately I always have my little 2.5” Gerber lockblade. I abuse the hell out of it and have to sharpen it a couple times a week but it fits my needs. There are two spares still nib in my sock drawer. I’ve gone through about 6 in the last 15 years or so. I don’t carry one but I also keep a number of Kabars close at hand if the need arises.
About 5 years ago a co-worker and good friend decided to unload his knife collection as it had just gotten out of control. He sold a lot to people at work but also sold a ton on EBay. By the time he was down to the few he decided to keep, he’d amassed enough money to buy a new Nissan Murano!

Matt

[Larry Renger]

Two, actually, one is a mini swiss army knife with scissors, screwdriver, nail file, tweezers, toothpick and small knife blade. The other one is either a small spring "stilletto" dual action (in and out with the press of a button) or an incredibly compact "funny folder" from A.G.Russel Knives that ends up under 3/16" thick. All of the above come in handy.

The swiss knife plus a micro led flashlight are on my keychain, but I kept losing the larger pocket knives until I realized that they fit tightly in the pocket watch in my jeans! haven't lost one since.

[Ed Carlaw]

I got my first one when I was ten years old at the same time I got my first shotgun. The knife was a two blade Case and the shotgun was a Parker 28 gauge double barrel. Carry a Buck and a Leatherman nowadays. Ed.

[Phil Spillman]

I am absolutely NAKED without my pocket knife! Grandpaw gave me first one; I broke it he fixed it! Got another one now as I don't know what happened to the very first one! I am afraid that later on this year when as and If I go back to work, I'll have to leave it in my van as these things may not be allowed in Busch Gardens any more! I am sure I'll be much less effective as an employee!

Phil Spillman 

[Will Hinton]

Being a nearly full time wood worker my Camillus lock back comes out of my pocket at least a half dozen times a day, been carrying a lock back since they came out.  Phil mentioned Busch gardens, I had to leave mine under a trash barrel when I was there to be sure I got it back when we left!!
Got my first .22 at eight, allowed to hunt alone from then on as long as I told Mom which way I was going on the farm.  I still have that Stevens Model 94C clip fed, bolt action hanging on my basement wall, just above the AR15.
Carry a Glock 43X any time I have pants on now.

[pat king]

My father was born and raised in Texas. I never knew him to be without a pocket knife, even as a GS 13 working for the Navy. I started school in a two room school house in September and turned 5 in February the next year. I carried a pocket knife to school when I started. Every boy in that school carried a pocket knife. I still carry two except when on an airplane. I have a mini Swiss Army knife with the a single blade, scissors, nail file, tweezers, and toothpick. The other is a 2 1/2" blade Gerber lock back.
Kids can't carry a knife to school these days. I don't know what I would do without my knife. I don't know a man can get along without a pocket knife.

Pat

[Larry Fernandez]

I had a pocket knife from the forth grade on.
In 2001 my son was suspended for three days (he was in the seventh grade at the time).
He had a Boy Scout Meet that night so he wore his Scout uniform to school that day.
He always carried the knife to meetings and I see any problem with it.
Like a dumb-ass, he was showing it to some of his classmates and someone ratted him out.
I had to take off from work to deal with this matter. When I got there, there was a San Jose police officer in the principals office with my son. The officer was cooler than cool. Once in the parking lot, he told Aaron not to worry
about it. And in the future, if he took his knife to school on the days of his Scout meetings, check it in at the
as soon as he got to school and pick it up at the end of the day.
My has the world changed since I was a kid. During elk and deer seasons all the guys had guns in our trucks and cars in the school parking. A couple of teachers were avid hunters and would hang out in the parking lot while we all showed of our guns
Ahh the good old days.

Larry, Buttafucco Stunt Team

Oh did I mention that the principal was as horses-ass bull dyke bitch?

[Clint Taylor]

I carry a small Case knife at all times.  I use one in my work drilling water wells and installing pumps every day.  My pants always end up with a hole worn in the front left thigh area.  I switched to the smaller frame Case in an effort to save my pants, but it still happens.  Those pants cost me about twelve dollars at Walmart and they wear out every couple of years.

[John Park]

My grandfather, a carpenter and joiner by trade, gave me my first pocket knife when I was seven. It was one of his throw-outs: the smaller of the two blades had been sharpened so much it was about 1/8" wide, and the other one wasn't much better.  Today, on my morning walk, I had three knives on me: a common-or-garden two-blade penknife, made in Sheffield, in my trouser-pocket; a miniature Victorinox Swiss Army knife on my key-ring; and in my coat pocket a small multi-tool that does duty as pliers, knife, saw, awl, bottle-opener etc. etc.  I'd feel lost without any of them!

[Gerald Arana]

Larry, Buttafucco Stunt Team

Oh did I mention that the principal was as horses-ass bull dyke bitch?

No you didn't Larry.  Are you going to?!   

Jerry

[louie klein]

Hi Mike, Great story. I have my dads Case knife and a while back I remember Case having a web site that you can look up when the knife was made if you can find a serial # on the blade. My dad's knife was made in 1914. The best knifes around.-----Louie

[john e. holliday]

Great article Mike.  Can't remember when I got my first pocket knife.  Had to be after we moved to our first farm in 1950.  Didn't take long to learn to respect that knife.  As time moved on there were times I could not have a pocket knife on me.  Now I'm retired I carry one when ever I can.   Boys today don't know what they have missed and kids in general are not taught to respect people.