UKC

Hi
hope you are doing well.
Can you tell me please what type of knives climber have in their luggage?

Small folding Swiss Army knife (only one blade, not millions of unnecessary weird things) within UK law so non locking blade less than 3 inches https://www.gov.uk/buying-carrying-knives

If kept very sharp, it's more than adequate to cut rope and webbing.

https://www.petzl.com/INT/en/Sport/Packs-and-accessories/SPATHA

https://palmequipmenteurope.com/product/folding-knife-0

4 years of daily carry and use on routes/ropes/peanut butter/cardboard and it's still in good shape and very sharp. Not bad for the 9€ paid! https://www.opinel.com/en/tradition/stainless-steel/n8-stainless-steel 

https://www.dicksclimbing.com/products/trango-piranha-knife?variant=3205469...

Just sits on a carabiner with prussiks etc

To repeat previous posters:

Actually on harness: Petzl Spatha. Serrated blade goes through rope like butter, carried on my tat crab if multi pitching where abs might need replacing.

General cheese and salami cutting duty: Opinel No. 8 (though mine is an oak handled one)

One of the above knives gets a lot of use, the other is very rarely required. 

Good, effective and simple are Opinel knives.

I have an illegal-to-carry-in-public-without-a-good-excuse Gerber.  Single blade, locking, substantial, winter glove-sized handle.  Only carry it in winter.  In summer, I'll have an old Opinel for sandwiches.  The most useful cutting device in summer is a pair of secateurs (which will cut old crusty tat). 

No one carry a bone saw then?

I've got the Gerber EZ out, which is more or less the same thing.

Also sometimes swapped for a Leatherman c33x, which is a slightly smaller version.

If I've got my rucksack, it'll have a Leatherman Wave in the lid pocket.

Swiss army knife, never carried on routes.  Used for cheese, salami, beer and wine boxes.  Oh, and the tweezers for splinter removal.

Leatherman Squirt PS4 on my keys - it gets used daily. In an office full of accounts, at first they laugh and then soon come to me with their tails between they're legs when photocopier needs fixing, staple need removing, tag needs cutting off etc...

For those (in the U.K.) with Opinels and Leathermans (Leathermen?) do you have non-locking versions, and if not are you aware it is illegal to carry them in the U.K. without a good reason?

The Leatherman Squirt is non-locking. I've taken one through airport security with no issues about twenty times.... and then got it confiscated. Not because of the blade length (it's less than 2 inches) but because it is a "tool which could be used to take apart the aeroplane"  

Needing to cut stuff is a good reason though. I was stop and searched and then arrested and charged under points and blades for having an opinel in London several years ago. They took it all the way to court, whereupon the judge threw it out because I'd given several good reasons, including making sandwiches, and the police failed to counter any of them. I subsequently sued the met and won a substantial settlement from them.

I carry one of my Swiss Army Knives. 
My lockdown collecting obsession….

(Mostly Pioneers, a Pioneer X and a custom Voyageur....... I'm a nerd)

Is cutting salami and cheese whilst out on the hill not good enough reason?

I've heard of the crag police but I thought they just arrested large groups top roping, people climbing grit with dirty shoes etc, I was unaware incorrect knife use was also within their remit.

If I really wanted to carry a pocket knife in general (I don't), I'd just get an Opinel No 5 or smaller.

For climbing, a Trango Piranha lives on a screwgate with my prusik loops. For more general outdoor cutting duties, an Opinel is just the ticket.

The Leatherman Juice tools are non-locking (and, in a very civilised manner, include a corkscrew) and a Juice C2 is my typical pocket knife.  However, the Trango Prianha that lives on my bail-out 'biner does have a locking blade (all 1.5 inches of it!), so could get me into trouble one day

Yes, I'm well aware of the law and yes, nearly all of the blades are locking - some of them are single-handed opening, too.

If I'm carrying them, it is because they are a "tool" and not as an offensive weapon.

The picnic bag has a kitchen knife in there for cutting cheese and bread and it's a far bigger fixed blade than any of my pocket tools!

I have an Opinel but I'm not sure what model it is.  It has a round tip to the blade which seems to be offered now only in the "My First Opinel" pack.  When I bought it it was just one of the Opinel inox models, it didn't come in a "pack".  The blade is 7.5cm long which I guess would be 8cm or 8.5cm if it were pointed so maybe equivalent to a #7 or #8.  I don't forsee any need for a pointy tip (maybe as an awl to make holes in things? not that I've ever had that need to date) and I think the round tip makes it less likely to be regarded as a potentially offensive weapon and more easy to justify as a utility knife for cutting rope & preparing food.

non locking blades are far more dangerous to the user, which would be one of the reasons for me carrying a locker, should I ever be stopped and searched in the Yorkshire Dales! May think twice about carrying one in London, but it would seem from the above post that carrying an Opinel is now protected by case law!

Unless I'm going as light as I can, I have a Spyderco Rescue 76 on my harness. It has an oversize thumbhole for one hand opening (with gloves) and a sheepsfoot (non pointy) 76mm serrated backlock blade. If you show it to a rope the rope just surrenders and parts immediately without any resistance. 

Otherwise I'll have a SAK mini-champ or mini-manager, with the utility blade particularly well honed to make up for its lack of length.

A machete. No, really, we had a machete to clear out vegetation when climbing in West Africa. :-P

In 30 years of climbing of all types I've never needed to carry a knife other than for bread, cheese and tomatoes and usually I just use my nut key.

Once I had some crap finger tape that need to be cut rather than torn and it was a faff to chew through it so I borrowed a penknife from a passer-by.

The one place I tend to carry a knife is Font because your baguette ends up looking a little more elegant and sophisticated when cut rather than savaged but this is mainly a style thing.

Unfortunately there's no case law because the judge threw it out (and gave the PC a bollocking) because they turned up in court with literally no evidence to suggest that any of the reasons I'd given were invalid. We were in the courtroom for less than ten minutes. The cop then gave me my knife back in the corridor outside the courtroom along with a signed note to say I was permitted to carry it home.

The whole experience was pretty terrible though. I was arrested on a Friday night and spent the whole weekend in a cell before being released at a bail hearing on the Monday and then spent the next 8 months trekking up and down the country to London and back home with a probable 3 month prison sentence hanging over me if I was convicted. The thing that annoyed me most was how inconvenient (to say the least) it was for me while they didn't even attempt to build a case.

The payout bought me a campervan though 🤷‍♂️

😀

"...baguette ends up looking a little more elegant and sophisticated when cut rather than savaged..." Though the locals look down on those who cut their baguette: tearing asunder is the approved method.

I carry a Leatherman on hikes and a locking-blade knife when climbing; it hangs on my harness. A Boker, it opens one handed; good for cheese and if necessary, letting a whining, gibbering partner drop in "The Void"... 😜

Sounds like a truly horrible experience, glad the outcome was in your favour, can easily imagine these things going the other way. 

You've never come across tat that wanted removing, replacing or backing up?

Opinel are great - good for picnics as well as tat!

Also  Victorinox Spartan - not heavy or expensive- more of a pocket tool kit

https://www.swisstool.co.uk/st/spartan-red-swiss-army-knife.html

Also you can cut rope with a thinner piece of cord- had this demonstrated to me once..

In my case a really nice Spyderco in my hand luggage after Mrs Ridge decided to have a bit of a re-pack before we flew back from the USA.

Fortunately the security staff at Heathrow were too busy waving it about and congratulating themselves on finding something that the TSA at San Francisco missed to stop me making my excuses and legging it so I didn't miss my connection to Manchester.

That's the bit that lets my juice down

...compared to the Swiss army knife, the corkscrew is flimsy and bent out on mine.

A tiny locking Gerber from the Bear Gryll's collection. Good for cutting cord and once I sliced some cheese with it.

Have you no self respect man? 🤣

Depends on the scenario.

Truth be told I found it and thankfully Bear's signature is barely visible on the blade as I'm not much of a fan of the guy either.

An entire thread on this topic, and no-one's quoted Crocodile Dundee? UKC, you disappoint me.

I used a Leatherman Juice for years but the non-locking blade was too scary.  Now, if I'm carrying a knife at all in the hills, it's a Leatherman Skeletool which includes a handy carrying clip / bottle-opener.

Just a small single bladed penknife, which I use mainly for cutting food. Never had the need for anything else.

I used to smuggle a very sharp kitchen knife into Mum's care home.

However instead of waging holy war on the inhabitants, I used it to trim the ends off the cut flowers I brought her, as nothing in the home was any use. Would probably have been banned for life if caught. It still lives in the car for picnics.

Years ago, I managed to get through both Heathrow and Athens airports with a German army knife in my hand luggage. Heathrow didn't spot it at all, the burly security guy at Athens looked at it, looked at the large goup of us in Venture Scout uniform, handed it back and told me not to take it out of my pocket on the flight to Nairobi!

Conversely, my Dad nearly had his tiny keyring Victorinox confiscated at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. So he went back outside, buried it in a flower bed and dug it up when we left.

I only found out last night, while searching for a penknife suitable for taking cuttings, that Ebay bans the sale of knives. 

Opinel, for all your gardening needs:

https://www.opinel.com/en/garden

Superb!. No8. is exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks. 

I don't know, it might be, but a non-locking blade can also do that with very little increased risk to the user.

As long as you don't wander round with your bail-out 'biner if you are not out climbing then I would hope that you could successfully argue you have a specific reason for having a locking blade, which is within the requirements of the law.

Pretty much any knife can be used in either way, the law says you can't carry a fixed blade knife, or folding knife with a blade of more than three inches, or a knife with a locking blade without a good reason.  Carrying any of those types of knife without a specific reason, because you might want to use it as a tool is unlikely to provide an effective legal defence.

Yes, I believe if you have a specific task you are going to use it to do.

That sounds like you got a judge with a bit of common sense and the CPS, or whoever turned up in court, wasn't prepared when you put up a defence.  I don't think everybody could count on being so fortunate.

I've carried a larger locking version of a simple Swiss army in the past and as part of a bag of rescue kit, but I not sure I *need* that for cutting rope/slings compared to a smaller folding (and so legal by default) and very sharp blade. In 30 years of scrambling about hills and what not, I've only ever once had to whip out a knife cut a rope and "fun like ruck" (because a proportion of the hillside was coming down towards me) - and that wasn't in the UK.

Maybe I'm dull and your lives are more dramatic, but being able to impromptu produce a large locking blade (rather than smaller folding one) just doesn't seem to factor that heavily into my days out.

I carry a simple pen knife in my emergency kit at the bottom of my daysack.  Seldom gets used.  2019 I flew to NZ to climb with my son. I carried my day sack as hand luggage.  After Flying out from Bristol via Schiphol and Singapore a young lady in Auckland, at the departure check for our flight to South Island, finally spotted it and asked me to put it in my main suit case.

Just in case you thought you were safe flying.

Couple of years ago we were travelling to Europe in our campervan via Harwich. At the queue for boarding the customs officer politely asked me if I had any bladed or sharp items with us. Before I answered I asked why, she replied that I would not be able to board the ferry if we were carrying weapons. I then told her Our camper had a cutlery drawer with knives, forks and spoons, a couple of vegetable prep knives and a bread knife. I think I may have been a bit sarcastic in my tone but I did mention we also had pots & pans and crockery too as it was our home on wheels. She didn’t flinch, just waved me through.  

Most annoying thing about that trip was the fact that we had spent the night before the ferry in a travelodge rather than ‘wildcamping’ on someone’s street and I left my rucksack with our waterproofs walking kit and cameras in the blooming room when we checked out. Fortunately the nice travelodge people kept it safe for us until our return..... 6 weeks later. 

My school had its own scout troop and once a week I went to school wearing scout uniform, which in my case included a 6" razor sharp sheath knife worn openly on my belt.  Someone else had a hand axe on theirs.  No one at the school batted an eye or thought there was anything to be concerned about.

When I came back from Nepal airport security were too busy going through my film canisters to notice the large kukri in my luggage.

For climbing, my standby is a Swiss Army Knife although it's main use is cutting cheese and fruit.  Although now we're all working from home maybe this is model to go for:

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/158118636893093629/

To quote the move, "Now THAT's a knife".

This happened to me with a Squirt as well!

I used to run a Cub pack and when we did a weekend camp, one of the parents sent his lad with an enormous penknife - which he was promptly relieved of until home time.

Pah! The whole point of the Scouts was to be able to wield big knives and axes, light fires, and get lost in the great outdoors.  Mind you, they did manage to kill an alarming number of boys in those days, but it was character-forming.

Scouts and Ventures, absolutely - still got my sheath knife from those days.

Cubs - not such a good idea.

My 15:16 post got a high proportion of dislikes, is that because my statement of the facts is wrong?  Perhaps the dislikers would like to explain where I am incorrect.

My school had a shooting club and a couple of them brought their own gun. 

“Open carry” as they say over there..?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/mar/07/stan-shaw-obituary

Surely one of Stan's should be used in the peak, anybody got one?

I have the same knife, the rounded tip makes it far easier for spreading butter on bread, brilliant knife that goes everywhere with me. 

Wish I had!

Rifles in a bag/case so covered but pretty obvious.

That’s glorious - I’ve got a TW Ablett, alas I see he has passed away as well.