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Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Wed May 20, 2020 2:21 pm
by marshmallow
Hi, I been buying up so many spydies lately, my wife has put a kibosh on my collection process. Therefore, I am debating on what folder to buy her (to appease her and continue my collection) for her handbag EDC. I was looking into something not to small (want some intimidation factor when needed), but not too big and hard to use for immediate action for self-defense. I know we got some LEO's in here and some really veteran users. I do not want to go over budget, but something that can keep my wife safe.

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Wed May 20, 2020 9:48 pm
by sal
Hi Marshmallow,

I do not believe intimidation is effective. Once you show your weapon, your assailant knows what to taker away from you.

sal

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Wed May 20, 2020 10:25 pm
by remnar
Good luck with the appeasement. Is your wife open to the idea of carrying a knife? You might be better off getting her a new handbag. I got my wife a new one last Christmas and it was a big hit. :)

You could always include a knife with the handbag. :D If it were me, I would show her a few knives from my collection and see which ones she likes the most.

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Wed May 20, 2020 10:27 pm
by Ez556
For self defense, I think the ideal knife would be a Swick. Attach the sheath to the inside of the purse with a small length of cord so it gets pulled off as she pulls the knife out of the purse. Corrosion resistant, fast and simple to draw (no fumbling to open a knife under pressure) and a secure and natural grip. Pair it with a small folder for her to use for normal tasks (my wife loves my Lil’ Native)

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Wed May 20, 2020 10:32 pm
by TomAiello
For utility I'd get her something light with a good close bias. Dragonfly 2 (in VG-10 for corrosion resistance) would be a good choice for a handbag knife for a non-knife person. So would lil native (back lock, not comp lock) My wife has a ladybug on her keychain that's served her quite well for several years. Bonus points if you can get the tattoo version of the dragonfly, because your wife may find the aesthetic of it appealing.

I don't think I'd try to arm someone with a knife for self defense unless they had a lot of solid training. I'd much rather my wife have pepper spray than a knife in that kind of situation (or a gun, if your wife is so inclined and willing to practice, and your jurisdiction allows it). Regardless, the best self defense is good situational awareness backed up with a working cell phone. Knives, guns, pepper spray, or whatever else are entirely secondary to awareness and communications.

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Wed May 20, 2020 11:24 pm
by Doc Dan
My wife loves to carry a Dragonfly. It fits in her tiny pockets and purses. A Chaparral gives a lot more blade length in a nearly same size package. A Delica might be the largest I'd go.

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Wed May 20, 2020 11:39 pm
by Wartstein
Don´t know anything about SD with a knife, but I think I would rather not have an untrained, by nature probably often times physically weaker (than a man) person draw a knife for SD.. might be, that the attacker has none, but then would take hers and use it against her?? Heaven forbid...

As for "handbag folder":
- Delica is always a solid choice with a decent blade length, and comes in many nice colors, should that be a factor ( for both sexes, but women and men tend to like different colors sometimes)
- The sun and moon Chaparral is a stunningly beautiful, very light and slim and an amazingly capable little folder. People not used to backlocks might find the thin lockbar a bit harder to operate initially though

I would really NOT go smaller concerning actual edge length than the Chap! No need to go uber-small for handbag carry (more space than in a pocket), and something like the DFly is really cool, but imho still limited in capability by its short edge for general EDC use.

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 6:31 am
by marshmallow
Thanks everyone. Lot of great advice here. I should definitely discuss with her and let her practice with my dragonfly first. As you said earlier, perhaps intimidation will not work and the best method may be pepper spray or cellphone. We live in a very dense urban city and during these times I have been concerned about safety. I have a few folders, I will let her practice with the action and see if this is something she can get used to. Btw, she might see this as a bait & switch for me to continue my collection process ;) so I must tread softly. You guys are so knowledgeable here, didn't know forums had so much more insight than YouTube.

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 7:26 am
by JuPaul
I definitely think you should let her pick. Small is good for a purse knife, but you never know what will get her into carrying a knife - she may love a backlock dragonfly in her favorite color or the pretty stainless steel tattoo version, or she might think a comp lock lil native is more fun to use. She might love the sun and moon chap coming out soon, or the Raffir Noble one. The rhino is a really cool-looking small knife, too. There are aftermarket scales for dflies and the lil native in lots of colors, too.

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 7:33 am
by Evil D
Not sure about self defense so I'll stay out of that debate.

Mine carries a pink Native in her purse and a pink Ladybug on her keys. She uses them both quite a bit. I think her one complaint is how strong the back spring is, she has little hands and opening it one handed is a bit of a chore, I think she might be better off with a knife that has a thumb ramp and thumb hole that stick out further from the handle. These are the sort of issues you may want to really look into if you think knife self defense is a realistic need.

By comparison, she has no problem drawing her Glock and hitting center mass..

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 7:40 am
by TkoK83Spy
I'm willing to bet she doesn't even want a knife! I've done this with my wife and it worked twice...but now anytime I get told to slow it down and I find one I think she would like (most recently the teal Dragonfly when it was available) I get told "the point is to stop buying knives for a while, why would I need another when you already have 20 and I have 2 of my own?"

MAJOR BACKFIRE!

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 8:11 am
by Notsurewhy
My wife never carried before we met, but is rarely without now. She prefers a dragonfly, even for purse carry where she has room for more. I think she's just comfortable with the size and the ergos work very well for her.

If she's inexperienced, I think It's a good idea to have her handle a variety of knives to see what she likes. Be careful though, doing this cost my buddy a pm2. He thought she'd go for a dragonfly or ladybug. Not all ladies prefer small knives. :D

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 2:23 pm
by bbturbodad
My wife doesn't usually carry a purse but she has a Dragonfly and a Ladybug with a neck sheath. She definitely likes and uses the Dragonfly way more. She's also quite fond of the Dodo that I frequently leave by the backdoor where we open packages but I don't think it's something she'd carry. I also preordered a Swick for her but honestly it was mostly because I wanted both the SE and PE versions. ;)

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 2:46 pm
by Tgmr05
Others have said it best. Let your wife pick which knife, if she would consider having one with her.

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 2:54 pm
by James Y
marshmallow wrote:
Wed May 20, 2020 2:21 pm
Hi, I been buying up so many spydies lately, my wife has put a kibosh on my collection process. Therefore, I am debating on what folder to buy her (to appease her and continue my collection) for her handbag EDC. I was looking into something not to small (want some intimidation factor when needed), but not too big and hard to use for immediate action for self-defense. I know we got some LEO's in here and some really veteran users. I do not want to go over budget, but something that can keep my wife safe.
Hi.

How do you know that she even wants a knife? From your description, it sounds as if she just wants you to stop buying more knives, so it seems doubtful that buying a new one would appease her, even if it’s intended for her.

Knife SD is a tricky subject. A knife in the hands of a determined person, including a small woman or a child, can be deadly and difficult to disarm. BUT if the person doesn’t have it in him or her to fight back, with or without a weapon, and has no idea of how they would do it, then it’s probably better that they don’t have a weapon. And don’t count on intimidation with a knife to scare away a potential attacker(s). An experienced criminal or other determined person may not be discouraged at all by someone flashing a knife at them, and will likely call their bluff and take it from them, or use a weapon of their own.

Now, if you are semi-serious about the possibility of knife SD, and your wife is willing to try it, hand her a red Magic Marker felt tip pen, and tell her to try her best to mark you with it, and no matter what, she cannot let you take it away from her. Maybe wear a good pair of safety goggles and a white shirt. Tell her to slash and stab at your hands and arms if you reach for her. The groin, thighs, etc., are also open season, so wear an athletic cup, too. Make a game out of it. And you must try your best to take the pen from her. A poster on another forum said that his son, who is a big, strong LEO tried this with his very young ( possibly 7 to 9 years old or so) granddaughter; his son eventually got the pen away from her, but it took a while, and his hands, arms and body were marked all to heck. Each one of those marks represent cuts or stabs, if it had been a knife. Had it been for real, this large man would have had severe injuries. This game is only an exercise, but it can give you some basic indication of how determined she might be if she was ever in a real situation. If she is unable or unwilling to, then she is probably not ready to carry a knife to defend herself. And if she is, a purse is not the place to keep it. The last thing you want is to have to fumble through a purse for a knife.

Note: The above-mentioned game/exercise can get pretty physical, which it should, considering what it represents. So don’t try to force her to do it if she doesn’t want to.

Jim

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 6:50 pm
by BG-ThatsMe
marshmallow wrote:
Thu May 21, 2020 6:31 am
Thanks everyone. Lot of great advice here. I should definitely discuss with her and let her practice with my dragonfly first. As you said earlier, perhaps intimidation will not work and the best method may be pepper spray or cellphone. We live in a very dense urban city and during these times I have been concerned about safety. I have a few folders, I will let her practice with the action and see if this is something she can get used to. Btw, she might see this as a bait & switch for me to continue my collection process ;) so I must tread softly. You guys are so knowledgeable here, didn't know forums had so much more insight than YouTube.
This is such a tough decision. I am generally not one to support someone carrying/using a knife for self defense unless they seriously train and are prepared to take another person's life in a confrontation. The problem with using a knife as "intimidation" is that somebody willing to attack your wife has no value for human life (his or your wife's). Psychopath's are that way. He will just escalate the attack and disregard the threat, and now the situation just got exponentially worse.

My wife and I have lived in some of the largest cities in the US, and we walk the streets with our heads on swivels. We don't talk on our phones, we don't text and we are always scanning what's happening around us. It drives me nuts to see how so many people walk around oblivious to their surroundings.

A big part of being safe is staying vigilant. If you guys have that covered, and are willing to practice with a knife, then a delica or Yojimbo 2 is a good option.

I'd buy her the trainer version to practice with before taking off the training wheels.

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 11:28 pm
by ZrowsN1s
marshmallow wrote: .... I am debating on what folder to buy her (to appease her and continue my collection) for her handbag EDC. I was looking into something not to small (want some intimidation factor when needed), but not too big and hard to use for immediate action for self-defense.....
Hi Marshmallow, training is better than not training. I recommend training/practice. It also depends on the person, I have untrained friends and family, some of who I think would do just fine defending themselves, and some who would never be able to. Depends on the person. Training can help someone determine which category they fit into.

Ok, I've got the obligatory "you should train" disclaimer out of the way.

So onto your question... a handbag knife for someone with little to no training. I'd recommend a Matriarch 2. If it's going to be carried in a bag, you probably don't need the emerson waved version just the regular version. They're about 100 bucks, and their use is 'intuitive'. An untrained person blindly slashing could mount a decent defense with one (training helps improve this).

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 3:12 am
by spyderwolf
Buy her a gun,and a shooting class.A knife is a horrible choice for SD,and especially for a woman.If she doesn't have amazing skills,and the right mind set to use them,a knife will get her killed.
By the way,guys,stop buying knives your the ladies in your life,unless they specifically demands one.

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 3:26 am
by bigboned
After seeing knives appear thru the door for me, my wife asked me 'where's her's' so i set about going thru different lock types with her and sizes/ weights etc and after a while with each WE settled on an Urban - the ergo's fit her hand very well and allowed her multiple comfort grips. She loves the small pouch i presented it to her in ( makes it easier for her to retrieve from the bottom of the handbag- and keeps it in better condition for when it eventually becomes mine)
It is purely for non SD purposes, she understands that with no training it would more than likely be used against her if something happened.
The main point being she asked for it and then got involved with the choosing otherwise i dont think she would be carrying

Re: Best Handbag Folder for Wife?

Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 2:27 pm
by ZrowsN1s
I usually try to let the people I buy knives for pick which one they want. Which can occasionally cost you :D I have a friend who carried a CRKT M16 and a Kershaw Launch4 in her purse for about 5 years, I told her for her Birthday I was going to get her a nice knife, she could pick any knife she wanted and I'd get it for her. She looked through my entire collection and fell in love with the Microtech Socom Elite :eek: ... So now she EDC's a Turquoise Socom in her purse.