Remember the old gun right’s chant: “They will take my gun away from me when they can pry it from my cold dead fingers?” I sort of feel that way about my pocket knife. With the new tough air travel security measures, of course, the TSA won’t let 
me take this vital tool—this necessity—with me. And not having my Swiss Army knife with me aboard airplanes leaves me feeling half dressed. I’ve had a pocket knife for as long as I can remember—starting with those awful Boy Scout knives with gouges so dull you could hardly carve your name in your study hall desk. Many a beech tree, however, did yield its smooth bark to my blade. [There's actually an art museum in Italy that showcases beech tree carving!] I could even skin a possum with it (all the while wondering why no one was interested in buying possum hides!).
When I got my first Victorinox Swiss Army knife, however, I felt like a car aficionado who’d just gotten a Ford Cobra. Man, was it sweet. I got it around the time Marge and I were engaged—meaning almost 44 years ago. That knife, of course, is long gone. But I’ve had plenty more (
and plenty more varieties) since then. Enumerating all the places where I have them tucked, I believe I have about seven of them.
And each one is absolutely critical for its purpose: sawing down hiking sticks, carving hiking sticks, pruning house plants, clipping loose threads and hanging hangnails, skinning road kill (got a nice newly dead mink once when doing the RBC highway clean-up!), clipping McDonalds’ straws to the right size for our boys when they were little, making little catamaran sailboats at restaurant tables for our grandchildren, carving willow whistles, cutting yucca pods to find moth larvae, shaving bark from sassafras roots—just about anything that any regular Joe or Jane would want to have one for.
My "Ambassador" model
Now, I’ve been fortunate enough to remember in time to put my knives in my checked bags at the airport; so none have yet been confiscated. But I don’t think the security people recognize how vulnerable and insecure many of us feel without our pocket knives. And what about emergencies? What if someone needs an emergency tracheotomy and no one on the plane has a pocket knife? Perhaps even an emergency appendectomy or frontal lobotomy. Have they really thought about that?
It seems to me that many of the security officials are old enough to remember MacGyver who saved himself, helpless children, maidens in distress, and the world many times because he had a Hunter or Tinker Swiss Army knife. How shortsighted we can sometimes be. Let me be the first to predict that something dreadful is going to happen because responsible knife carriers like me are not allowed to keep them in our pockets on board airplanes!
On a lighter vein, however, you might enjoy clicking on the “Wonder Kids” page on the top options bar and read what my friend Rusty Prichard says about kids needing knives. Or just click here.
See you outdoors!
Dean
August 21st, 2009 at 10:48 am
Dean, you have pushed one of my “hot buttons” today. I love my pocket knives (well love probably is a little strong, but close!!) In fact, I carry a Leatherman every day (its my toolbox on the hip). By the way, the new Leatherman tools now have locking blades for safety, and my new one has scissors which my old one (of more than 15 years) did not.
When scouting and outdoors, I also carry my Swiss Army Knife, which is my real favorite. I can’t imagine being relieved of my knives. But alas, I know that when aboard our flying buses, they won’t be allowed. I know what you mean when you say you feel half dressed.
I love to teach young scouts the proper way to handle a pocket knife (BSA policy forbids the use of sheath knives, switchblades, etc). Its one of those connectors we have from the past to the future. Boys love to have pocket knives, and I love to show them how to be safe with them and how to care for them so they’ll last a lifetime. Seems like yours have gone the distance too.
For an outdoorsman a good sharp pocket knife is an essential. And the Victorinox Swiss Army knife varieties with all their many tools fill a lot of needs.
Bob
August 21st, 2009 at 11:02 am
Bob,
My Leatherman Blast has its own snug pocket on my office backpack. I’ve carried a Leatherman for several years and recall once using it to snip the eye off a fishhook that had lodged itself in the leg of a neighbor’s son who had gone fishing with my son and me. The emergency room doctor was appreciative of that fact when he had to push the hook point first out of the boy’s flesh (of course having numbed the spot first!). I loved the boy’s response when I asked if he wanted to be taken home after the ordeal: “No way, man! Let’s go back to fishing!”
Dean
August 22nd, 2009 at 11:57 am
I generally carry a Leatherman in my briefcase or backpack and a Buck or Camillus knife in my pocket. I really like the quality of the blade material used by Buck and Camillus. Sadly, Camillus went out of business in 2007. Among others, I have a Camillus knife that I inherited from my Dad. One bone sideplate was gone, so I carved one from an ash shovel handle to replace it. It looks odd but it’s functional.
Maynard