Legality and Perception of EDC's
- Thread starter Tony
- Start date
The Police are not out to fit everyone up, they are trying to deter/prevent crime. There are a lot of people carrying knives as weapons, and likely to use them in an argument.
They are under a lot of pressure, they are personally at risk, and have to make difficult, and sometimes wrong, quick decisions. Many , if not most, join from a very early age and have little life experience or knowledge of how others live.
On occaision they are also politically pressured to take action, and sometimes give way and do so, when completely incorrect.
They are under a lot of pressure, they are personally at risk, and have to make difficult, and sometimes wrong, quick decisions. Many , if not most, join from a very early age and have little life experience or knowledge of how others live.
On occaision they are also politically pressured to take action, and sometimes give way and do so, when completely incorrect.
In what you could call inner city higher crime areas, policing might be called more intense. But it's difficult to see a valid reason to carry a bladed implement in those parts. I'm glad to say my connections there do not carry, (but have been mugged for their phones.)
Not been stopped since I was a young man some forty odd years ago when I would walk home from the pub with a legal knife in my pocket, even then that was considered acceptable and I was left to go my way in peace.
I carry a rough rider UK legal most of the time and a sak some of the time(It tends to be in my bag). If I have an excuse I will carry my Leatherman.
I binned a rough rider on the way to a football match as I forgot to leave it in my car however it was in the press that someone got caught in the ground with a 9" kitchen knife.
The problem seems to be the perception rather than the law I find.
I binned a rough rider on the way to a football match as I forgot to leave it in my car however it was in the press that someone got caught in the ground with a 9" kitchen knife.
The problem seems to be the perception rather than the law I find.
Needing a knife to eat an apple?
I'm 52 and still have all my teeth (three fillings though so its not all perfect) and I don't carry an apple as an excuse to carry a knife. Have you no teeth?
Reminds me of the W.C Fields quote.
"Always carry a flaggon of Whisky incase of snakebite. Also carry a small snake"
I do have a sub 76mm blade slipjoint knife which I carry most of the time but I'm just not making up silly reasons to have it.
Its legal to carry, it lives in my back pocket.
I'm 52 and still have all my teeth (three fillings though so its not all perfect) and I don't carry an apple as an excuse to carry a knife. Have you no teeth?
Reminds me of the W.C Fields quote.
"Always carry a flaggon of Whisky incase of snakebite. Also carry a small snake"
I do have a sub 76mm blade slipjoint knife which I carry most of the time but I'm just not making up silly reasons to have it.
Its legal to carry, it lives in my back pocket.
Im a builder and in my various trouser pouches and pockets always have a fixed blade stanley in a sheath, a folding stanley, a large garden pruning fixed blade which gets used, abused as a chisel, prybar etc (usually but not always, out of sight in a long wooden rule pocket), a ukpk, SAK and a Gerber suspension, pencils, sharpies voltage tester screwdrivers and a tape measure that's edge has done me more damage than the list above. I have never even considered emptying my pockets before visiting cafe's, bakers or Tescos on the way home and have never been challenged or indeed looked at in a shocked expression. Not you understand, in a 'F U im doing what i want' kind of way but i just can't be bothered to do it every time i get out of my van to buy some materials, derv or a sandwich. All they see is a 63yr old grey haired grubby builder bloke stopping off for some provisions. Im pretty sure that if i was stopped and questioned by plod ( I used to be one btw ) common sense would hopefully prevail
Funnily enough, I have just had to switch to cutting up all apples with my knife rather than biting chunks off with just my teeth. I have a tendency to bite the inside of my lips and cheeks, then get ulcers, figured out the most common culprit is big bites of apple. I might not have changed anything, but I damaged a saliva gland inside my lip, then badly bit the resulting cyst twice, a week apart, while eating apples. Ended up having a surgical procedure to remove the damaged gland. Learned my mum has a similar problem, and the same solution.
My mum, soon to be 80, has a UKPK which she has had fun producing to help an old gent cut string in the post office, and open some lunch stuff in a food tent at the Chelsea Flower Show. She loves seeing people’s faces! In her younger days, back in the 1960s and 70s, she carried a Stanley blade in her purse for odd cutting jobs. 
Edit: She also has a mini-Ritter Griptilian in hi-viz yellow as her garden and woods knife, and was most unhappy when I told her she shouldn't be carrying that one into town just because the lock makes it safer.
Edit: She also has a mini-Ritter Griptilian in hi-viz yellow as her garden and woods knife, and was most unhappy when I told her she shouldn't be carrying that one into town just because the lock makes it safer.
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I used to always carry my UKPK but perception of it being a bit stabby etc I moved to a SAK. These days though, I only carry a SAK when hiking and EDC is one of the keying SAKs. All in all, I haven’t had a situation where I’ve needed something more so, for me, it maybe is a sign I didn’t really need to carry my UKPK etc.
Per the original question, where it has probably changed for me is locking folders - which are legally fixed blades - and what we’d traditionally refer to as fixed blades.
Unless doing bushcraft or heavy duty work, I always carried a locking folder when camping. In most cases it was a small Sebenza, as it was easier to clean than a SAK etc if doing food prep and was a little safer if doing heavier work. Personally, now though given it’s legally the same to carry a locking folder as a fixed blade, I tend to carry a fixed blade instead of a folder.
Difference being, I’ve got a Victorinox paring knife that Jimmypie made me a kydex sheath for, which now lives in a small cook set. Whereas before I’d probably have a sebenza ratting around in a bum bag or something and provably have wandered into town still carrying it, when getting supplies etc.
Its a funny one but I’d definitely say in that context my perception of the law and how my choices would be perceived have directly steered my actions.
Per the original question, where it has probably changed for me is locking folders - which are legally fixed blades - and what we’d traditionally refer to as fixed blades.
Unless doing bushcraft or heavy duty work, I always carried a locking folder when camping. In most cases it was a small Sebenza, as it was easier to clean than a SAK etc if doing food prep and was a little safer if doing heavier work. Personally, now though given it’s legally the same to carry a locking folder as a fixed blade, I tend to carry a fixed blade instead of a folder.
Difference being, I’ve got a Victorinox paring knife that Jimmypie made me a kydex sheath for, which now lives in a small cook set. Whereas before I’d probably have a sebenza ratting around in a bum bag or something and provably have wandered into town still carrying it, when getting supplies etc.
Its a funny one but I’d definitely say in that context my perception of the law and how my choices would be perceived have directly steered my actions.
Hi, a little late to the party, but new member, first time replying… I have an EDC, which changes depending on my day out, it could be: a SAK ‘Compact’ or a SOG, a Leatherman PST ll; occasionally I’ll have a Opinel, I love the little No6 (with locking blade), or the No8 (with locking…). Yes, I know they are illegal, but it is very unlikely that I’m going to get stopped & searched, as I use common sense and do not flash it about. I have a variety of other knifes, some fixed blades, which never leave the house. I know the law, (I was a PC in my youth & my son has followed the same route) but I will always carry a knife, as I use a knife virtually every day. I live in SW London and it wouldn’t be a walk on Wimbledon Common without one to do a little bit of wittling. But I’m not going to take an Opinel on the tube, or to the pub, it will be a small SAK ‘Classic’.
I’m surprised that a bit of whittling on Wimbledon Common doesn’t draw any attention.
Plenty of fixed blade kitchen knives on show with summer picnics!
Good reason to carry. Can’t see anyone having an issue with that. People seem to see a little pocketknife as far more threatening than a sharp serrated bread knife. That’s what I was thinking about the whittling knife. Always some upright busybody prepared to feel “threatened”.
But sitting in a quiet wood with my dogs, while whittling doesn’t draw much attention at all, but then I use common sense, although it would seem that common sense is a very uncommon thing.
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