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Comment by jsolson | Hacker News Reader

For the briefest of moments I wanted one of these, but then I remembered what happened to my last pocket knife.

- Sent from seat 26D

Isn't it a shame?

I once regularly toted my Swiss Army knife on plane trips. I'd toss it into the basket with my keys and wallet and be waved through the metal detector (with shoes still on, mind you), and it was never given a second glance.

I've carried that same poor, battered knife daily for almost 25 years now. In fact, I was denied entrance to a New Year's venue this year because I admitted to having a pocket knife on my person and refused to part with it. $60 wasted. WTF?

Have we become a society of emasculated pansies that fears little pocket knives?

And worse toenail clippers.

"Direct the plane to fly into the building or I'll cut your nails a little too close to the skin"

I had a pair of nail clippers confiscated entering IAD a few years ago. Just inside the security terminal was the convenience store where i had purchased that set of nail clippers, so I purchased a new set and took them on the plane.

This can be taken one more notch up ridiculousness scale, if the confiscated nail clippers were just taken in the back, re-packed and then sold as you exit out of the security area. "Sir, if you wait half an hour you can come back and purchase your old clippers back"

The TSA removed the restriction on toenail clippers years ago. I've had a pair in my carryon since, never a problem.

They will apparently still on occasion confiscate fingernail clippers that have an attached file/nailcleaner, for whatever reason.

For a while their was a "no tools" restriction. That one really struck me as odd. Some high-school dropout is given broad powers to play mr. security guy at the airport. I didn't fly for about 2 years after someone made me miss my flight because I had to check a jewelers torx security bit screw driver I had accidentally left in my bag (this was some custom, "let's charge you bucketloads for this bit" style screw driver); as if I'm going to disassemble the plane with that thing. so I decided, fuck them; I was not going to give them my money.

I once lost a pair of needle nose pliers I had left in a bag and totally forgotten about. I have no idea why they thought those might be a problem.

>Have we become a society of emasculated pansies that fears little pocket knives?

I have a suspicion that we haven't, but the government keeps saying we have, and we all just assume they're talking about everyone else.

> Have we become a society of emasculated pansies that fears little pocket knives?

Some people are afraid of just about everything.

I make knives. (Some people immediately jump to the conclusion that I must be a nutty survivalist, when the reality is that I just like making things with my hands.) I almost always carry one, whether it's a small folding knife or fixed blade knife.

When I made the first knife, people at work were curious. They asked to see it in a meeting. My boss was very uncomfortable about it and asked me not to make it known I carry a knife to avoid problems with skittish folks.

This is in Montana, where a large number of people own at least one gun and it's incredibly easy to get a concealed weapon permit.

I carry a knife almost everywhere. I regularly carry a 3" lockback (Spyderco Caly 3) but don't usually let anyone know I have it. I was at a work conference a few years ago and that morning I decided not to carry it, partly because I would be around all the company executives and didn't want one of the more skittish ones noticing it. What happens? My CTO needs to open a box and asks me if I have a knife. Arrgh.

my pocket knife is pastel pink for this very reason. Back when I had a scary black knife I was once accused of THREATENING TO STAB SOMEONE after I pulled it out and cut open a box.

Perhaps you could've stashed it behind some plants and gone back without it?

"The device will come equipped with two knife bodies, between which the drive can easily be interchanged with one that is flight-friendly and the other includes traditional Swiss Army Knife implements of a blade, scissors, and screw driver."

Yes, and the flight-friendly knife body comes with ear plugs and special container for Xanax pills.

And TSA goons can be depended on to realize it's not an actual knife.

"But it says 'Swiss Army' on it."

"It's not a knife."

"Surrreee. Step this way, please."

Yeah, but you could still have pirated movies, or unlocked software on the drive, which would make you a pirate and a thought-criminal.

And you wouldn't let a pirate on a plane, would you?

Before 9/11 it was possible to purchase a swiss army knife from the duty free catalog on Swiss Flights. It would be given to you during the flight.

Before 9/11 it was legal (per the FAA) to fly with a knife with up to a 4" blade. Some airlines limited blade length to 3". I regularly flew with a 3" folding knife. I could often walk through the metal detectors without even taking the knife out of my pocket if I just put my hand over it and walked slowly. Other times I'd drop it in the basket with my keys and wallet and half the time nobody would even look at it.

I used to regularly fly through Portland, Maine (where some of the 9/11 hijackers boarded) and the security screening staff there were some of the few that always looked at my knife. I felt really horrible to see them on the security videos as the hijackers passed through. It wasn't their failure because boxcutters were allowed at the time.

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