EDC Mishaps & Their Prevention...Stories & Solutions

[Agent Starling]

Hi all~

Ever have an EDC mishap? And what did you do about it, so that it never happens again? :D

Agent Starling :cool:

[chipped]

Pocket clips catching edges of doors - happened twice in a week and never since. Luckily I always have a Kershaw T-tool (my only Kershaw product... need to fix that) and a multitool on me so I can pop the clip off, bend it back, and replace it in no time.

[Dr. Snubnose]

Once left a custom fixed blade (expensive) on the roof of my car after tying some funiture to the roof then I drove off...knife slipped to the ground...I realized it was missing bout ten hours later and drove back to the store...didn't expect to find it but there it was right on the ground behind the dept store in the receiving and pick up area. Now I double and triple check to make sure that any knife used goes back to where it came from....Doc :D

[bh49]

Hi all~

Ever have an EDC mishap? And what did you do about it, so that it never happens again? :D

Agent Starling :cool:

this is like at my work: failure mode, and corrective and preventive action.

1. Failure mode: I scratched my wife's new car on the second day with with the clip (thanks G-d, she didn't see that). :eek: :o
Corrective action: ignore the scratch, it wasn't that big. It is a car anyway. :rolleyes:
Preventive action :D o not buy new cars.

2. Failure mode: I dropped my Persian on hardwood floor. It brake off huge chip from the floor and scratch on micarta :o
Corrective action: I sanded and polished micarta
Preventive action:I put a rag on the floor.

[Qcrazy]

My mishap was more of an oversite. In a hurry off to the airport shortly after all the 9/11 changes, knife in pocket to security. They gave me two options, toss is in the destruction bin or run back to mail it to myself (no time). I tried for a third option of giving it to a police officer at the security area, DENIED. Into the confiscation bin for disposal. Bye Delica PS. Dang

[dbcad]

I was freeing up an underused 7 year old Leatherman super tool about 8 years ago, Started talking to someone else and before I knew it I had a 1/4 inch deep gash in the tip of my left thumb. The feeling in the tip of my thumb has only recently returned.

What I did was to stop using the super tool for it's blades. The locking mechanism for the device while functional on that 15 year old model was a little too cumbersome.

I am now exceptionally aware whenever I take out a sharp blade. One good gash will do it to you.

Charlie

[2cha]

My mishap was more of an oversite. In a hurry off to the airport shortly after all the 9/11 changes, knife in pocket to security. They gave me two options, toss is in the destruction bin or run back to mail it to myself (no time). I tried for a third option of giving it to a police officer at the security area, DENIED. Into the confiscation bin for disposal. Bye Delica PS. Dang

Yep. Lost quite of few that way. Just this past winter, almost lost another (not a spydie). Made it through security TWICE with a 3 in blade--then the knife was discovered in Honolulu. Luckily, there are mailing stations outside of security there. A local office services company will mail for $10. Oddly, the knife in question was my solution to the seizure problem--I keep knives in Hawaii and San Francisco, the two places I travel regularly.

Another: years ago my 3 year old stole my original Leatherman Wave--the one with the real screwdrivers, nice brown leather sheath and USA on the pliers. He stole it. It hasn't shown up. Solution? I bought him his own **** knives--knock off cheapo multi tools at first--now he has a few low end Leathermen, a Leatherman Charge, 3 custom fixed blades, a dragonfly, a spin, a giraffe Kopa, a couple SAKs, a coupla' Cases (including the Hobo--I still recall my first Hobo knife and how I insisted on eating dinner with it!). He hasn't permanently lost a knife in a few years, and he doesn't mess with mine AFAIK anymore.

[yowzer]

Problem: Lost a knife after the screws that held the clip on kept loosening and then having it snag on something. Solution: Started buying Spydercos.

[Scottie3000]

My mishap was more of an oversite. In a hurry off to the airport shortly after all the 9/11 changes, knife in pocket to security. They gave me two options, toss is in the destruction bin or run back to mail it to myself (no time). I tried for a third option of giving it to a police officer at the security area, DENIED. Into the confiscation bin for disposal. Bye Delica PS. Dang

By "disposal" do you mean for sale on EBay? There are a number of sellers that sell mostly knives from airports.

[Bolster]

Starling why do you ask? What's your story?

[JNewell]

Never had any mishaps with EDC blades, thankfully. I have had some mishaps with other EDC tools that would make your hair stand on end, but they're not good for public reading.

[white cloud]

i like to contra dance. i was at a dance and they gave you a thin plastic wrist band to show one had paid to get in. so about three dances in, a woman presents me with my delica3. it had been clipped on my pocket and had caught on her plastic wrist band when we had danced. she had pulled it out of my pocket without either of us noticing. she remarked that she noticed she had a knife on her wrist band.

note to self....unclip and pocket your knife at contra dance. :D

[jabba359]

this is like at my work: failure mode, and corrective and preventive action.

1. Failure mode: I scratched my wife's new car on the second day with with the clip (thanks G-d, she didn't see that). :eek: :o
Corrective action: ignore the scratch, it wasn't that big. It is a car anyway. :rolleyes:
Preventive action :D o not buy new cars.

2. Failure mode: I dropped my Persian on hardwood floor. It brake off huge chip from the floor and scratch on micarta :o
Corrective action: I sanded and polished micarta
Preventive action:I put a rag on the floor.

Thanks for the laugh! I love your very practical preventive actions!

[Water Bug]

Hi all~

Ever have an EDC mishap? And what did you do about it, so that it never happens again? :D

Agent Starling :cool:

What, no story of your own? And, you started this!


Mishap: When I was stationed overseas, I was traveling from Okinawa to mainland Japan. I had to take a flight through the domestic airport at Naha, and as I went through the metal detector at the security gate, it went off. The security guard patted me down and found my Imperial Boy Scout pocket knife. :eek: I forgot to put it in my check baggage!

The guard seemed quite surprised by the discovery, stared at me, and spoke to me in Japanese. All I could do was say, "Sorry, I don't understand." Well, now he knows I'm an American and he convenes a discussion with three other guards. He showed them my pocket knife and kept pointing at me. The other three guards seemed quite shocked as well that I'd have a knife on me and kept looking my way. I couldn't understand a thing they were saying, but could see all of the other Japanese and Okinawan passengers waiting to go through security listening to the guards and staring at me like I did something REALLY WRONG.

Finally, the guard returned and in his best English told me my pocket knife was going to be placed in the envelope, which he held in his other hand. The envelope would be sealed, turned over to the captain of the aircraft I was boarding, and that it would be returned to me at my destination. He then allowed me to proceed to my gate.

Problem was I had a connecting flight with a different Japanese airline once I reached Japan to get to Misawa. Arriving late in the evening at Misawa, there was no one at the airport to ask about my knife and I figured it was lost. Next day I got really sick and was checked into the hospital at Misawa Air Base for five days. When I was finally released, I asked a troop at the Public Health Flight I was visiting if we could go to the Misawa Airport to see if my pocket knife happened to be there. Upon arrival, I asked an airport staff member who spoke English about my pocket knife. I gave him my name and the flight number. A few minutes later he returned with the envelope containing my pocket knife! :)

Solution: At the time, place sharp, pointy things into my checked luggage for international flights. Of course, this now applies for all flights.


Mishap: I once had my Spyderco Delica 4 FRN PE get pulled from my RFP when my jacket caught the clip and sent it clammering onto the concrete pavement outside my apartment. The Delica 4 survived with minor scuffing on the handle.

Solution: Check my :spyder: s clipped to my pockets often to ensure they're secure.

[yowzer]

i like to contra dance. i was at a dance and they gave you a thin plastic wrist band to show one had paid to get in. so about three dances in, a woman presents me with my delica3. it had been clipped on my pocket and had caught on her plastic wrist band when we had danced. she had pulled it out of my pocket without either of us noticing. she remarked that she noticed she had a knife on her wrist band.

note to self....unclip and pocket your knife at contra dance. :D

Another contra dancer? Yay!

I've never had that happen, but we don't do wrist bands.

[cr123]

Another contra dancer? Yay!

I've never had that happen, but we don't do wrist bands.

What's a contra dance?

...
my story:
i just got a spydie ladybug h1 serrated. i'm used to the opening/closing the paramilitary d2, so when i closed the ladybug, part of my finger was still in the way of the blade. i ended up w/a spydie bite that drew blood. lucky for me the new graham (they seem to give them away when you buy a knife from them) band aids were conveniently nearby.

i'm more careful with knives now, small and big.

[HistoricalMan]

I was having a little trouble opening a large package a couple of months ago and almost cut my thumb off. The cardboard gave way and I slammed the blade of the knife directly into the base of my thumb. If the hand holding the knife hadn't come in contact with the palm of my other hand, I could have easily sliced off my thumb and maybe even a couple of fingers. Needless to say, I have a large scar there now.

Lesson?

Always point the blade away from yourself whenever you're handling a pocket knife. :o

[Agent Starling]

First time I EDC'd my Swick, it fell to the floor in a shopping mall a few feet before the up escalator. :eek: I quickly snatched it from the floor and threw it in my purse. :rolleyes:

The problem was, the sheath came with black Paracord, which I simply knotted and placed around my neck. I didn't realize the Paracord knot would come undone so easily! I later learned that there are ways to seal the two ends together--though I don't know the details of how it's done. :confused:

I sort of soured on wearing--but not collecting!--neck knives since then, and just haven't dealt w/it--it just seems too failure-prone & then there's the issue of concealing the ball chain or paracord--(I live in a warm climate so most of the year we don't wear layers & layers of heavy clothing.)

So, in the future I'll wear the next necker on a ball chain or a sealed-together piece of paracord. :o

Agent Starling

[Bolster]

I dunno...the idea of having durable paracord around my neck makes me nervous...I'd want it to be breakaway somehow.

I've noticed that many of the around-the-neck ski-ticket holders have a piece of plastic, sort of like shrink-tube, connecting the two ends of the cord. That way if you get it caught on a tree as you're whizzing by, the cord breaks in half...instead of your neck.

[2cha]

I was having a little trouble opening a large package a couple of months ago and almost cut my thumb off. The cardboard gave way and I slammed the blade of the knife directly into the base of my thumb. If the hand holding the knife hadn't come in contact with the palm of my other hand, I could have easily sliced off my thumb and maybe even a couple of fingers. Needless to say, I have a large scar there now.

Lesson?

Always point the blade away from yourself whenever you're handling a pocket knife. :o

Perhaps from a long history of working with power tools, and an extensive history of working in commercial kitchens, I have a seriously ingrained "thumb tuck" habit--when I slice things with a knife, the thumb of my left hand hides under my palm.