I’m an anomaly. I’m a girl with a leatherman.
I also have a cutie pink mini-mag lite.
They go in my purse with me everywhere.
An anomaly, perhaps, but hardly a rarity. Just yesterday I had a very small, fully normal looking female buy a Griffyn from me, for her personal collection.
I got all giddy. 
Nothing anomalous about that… Mrs. Tranq carries her Spiderco hanging off a belt-hook, out in the open. She also carries a handful of Exacto knives in her work purse. She’d carry a Leatherman if she had a need for one…
As for the Skean Dubh and kilts: Skean Dubh means, IIRC, “black knife”, and is the hidden knife that every Scotsman is expected to have on their person, somewhere. Placing it out in the open by putting it into your hose (socks) is a courtesy granted to your host. It means you trust the host, and have no ulterior motives. it’s kind of like the original handshake, which was meant to show you had no knife up your sleeve.
All right, now I have the irrepressible urge to go out and buy another knife, one that I can actually carry and use. The CRKT frame locks (S-2 and Mirage Titanium) look really appealing, or maybe another unintimidating folder like the Benchmade 330. Mm.
I’ve carried a Schrade “Old Timer” for years. People ask me two things when they see it:
“Why do you carry a pocket knife?”
“Can I borrow your pocket knife?”
I carried one pretty consistently from when I was 8 until my mid-twenties, when I found out the one I had been carrying was worth about $250 (my brother gave it to me and didn’t tell me how much it was worth). I immediately stopped carrying it out of fear of losing it, and never got around to getting a new one.
Why on earth would you think that you are an anomaly?
I am married to my little Swiss action, with the four basic functions. I don’t do anything outdoorsy so the knife and scissors (both of which I use constantly) suffice.
My wife, naturally, continues to make fun of my accessory–that is, until she needs something cut or opened and Ta Da! my knife comes to the rescue.
Paul knife with Micarta handles and hand made sheath(occasionally) and usually small Wenger and Swiss Army knives (key chain type) with lights and phillips heads and all manner of different blades and functions. I don’t use the two blade(s) and scissors ones. Too minimalist.
Sgian Dubh
just as a note…
I have never, in my 30 years, EVER met another woman that carries a Leatherman. Or Gerber. Or a pocket knife or a swiss army knife, or any other kind of knife. Lots and lots of men, though.
Pah…!
You’ve been hanging out with the wrong crowd. Mrs. Tranq’s been carrying one 'since she was 17. The knife she carries now is a gift I got her over a decade ago. Her sister carries the same knife she had at 12. Come to think of it, more than half the women I know normally carry sharp steel. If your friends and aquaintances aren’t holding, then it’s up to you to edu-ma-cate them. Have fun!
China Guy I just posted my recommendation on suit-knives in the other knife thread…oh heck- here it is:
“Benchmade has a few nice knives that suit-wearers can get away with. The Spike, the Leopard Cub, and the Mel Pardue. The mini versions (2.5 to 3 inch blades) of the Spike and Cub are around $120 retail, the last time I looked (3 years ago?). The Mel Pardue (if you can still get it, I haven’t seen one in awhile) is over $300 retail. I carry a Benchmade mini-AFCK that is an awesome knife, and I can get away with it when I wear a suit for a month out of every year.”
As for the OP, I have carried a clip-knife for about 7 years now. First a Gerber, and now a Benchmade AFCK. I am thinking about getting a new Axis-lock Benchmade, but I used a friend’s Spyderco Police model the other day and was seriously impressed…I am getting a normal Spyderco clippit for when I go out to clubs here- they confiscate your knife and stick it in a cabinet, but I’d hate to see my AFCK get ‘lost’ versus a $30 Spyderco.
I also have a Gerber multi- love that darn thing! The Leatherman Wave’s look cool too, but I can’t justify buying one when my Gerber works so well.
-Tcat
If you want some more info on the Battleth you could check Sword Forum International. The consensus seems to be that those things would make a dandy club when made from steel and a “not-weapon” when made from aluminum. (Most are)
I doubt I have a pair of pants that DON’T have a hole in the right rear pocket from a knife handle. Usually these days I carry a small (4 inch blade) no-name knife I picked up in Amsterdam. All-steel construction and a spear-point blade. Very handy. Previously I carried a damascus folder with stag scale handles until I loaned it to some fool that tried to use it for a screwdriver. Oh, the despair, the suffering THAT caused.
All the best.
Testy.
I’ve carried one now for about 5 years. I Used to have a fairly small Victorix, but then I got one as a giveaway from a conference I went to which was actually nicer so I have that now. I love the look on people’s faces when they ask “Have you got a knife” and you whip it out…the knife that is.