THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

I have a ceramic kitchen knife too, bought as a little pressie for me by a family member. So sharp it comes with a plastic sheath for the blade, I kid you not.

My sons grew up with knives - steel blades, given to each aged 5, in a sheath with some Very Clear House Rules & a small cuts kit.
A lot of relatives squalked, but years later the lads carry, hold, use, clean, sharpen and store knives sensibly. (Alongside being able to start & usually control fires, cook for a given value of hunger, iron better than I can and sundry other life skills we reckoned were worth teaching plus individuals have learned to fish, sew a shirt, embroider [oddly relaxing for the stressed mind, no games, drugs, booze etc needed - we grin crafters are onto something]).

We still get the odd squalk, but if I don't remember the knives have been sharpened I'm the one complaining the kitchen cuts kit has run out of plasters & the lads are arriving with an "Oh, Mother!" expression & a handful of plasters. (Just as well I'm not fazed if my green soup has a splash of red in it from time to time.)

They also appear to have passed on the "do not prat about" teaching, at school when some young lunk was "playing" with a scalpel (got immobilised & denied a scalpel all class by his classmates, but got worked clear examples of the correct 'how to' shown) & at scouts when a lad misunderstood the tool & needed a sticky plaster swiftly. Got the plaster, a demonstration of sensible handling & was quietly watched by both son & scoutleader for the rest of the session. Leader did the paperwork & checked the facts with the son.

We're still devoted to good steel though, ceramics (whilst effective) evade metal detectors & that has implications we just disapprove of.

When all the bodies are counted (may all those healing recover, in body & mind) a knife, like a car, is a tool. Use it in accordance with agreed rules, it's a tool. Deliberately misuse it, it's a weapon, no matter what the motivation.

I have managed to set off an airport scanner with tiny metal bits in my feet after surgery. I was quite proud of that.

Travel agent pal of mine gets pulled Every Single Time too - we reckon her name & date of birth must match someone on a Known list.
She now has a fine old time imagining what her alter-ego has done while happily cooperating with searches etc. Her local airport staff think she's a honey, as how many folk would put up with what to them is a pointless search at least once a month with such grace (and on two occasions scolding the [trainee] search officer for forgetting some of the words!)?!