A friend of mine in the SCA tells a story about going to the grocery store in garb (when he was younger...) and having some of the local toughs sniggering about drama queens and what not. He and his buddies flipped back their cloaks to show their steel. The locals backed off pretty fast, to hear him tell it.

For some reason that "Brave Sir Robin" tune is now stuck in my head...

I think now a days they would still laugh and haul out there guns, how does that saying go again?

Yeah, Jay; "Don't bring a knife to a gunfight" is obviously sound advice and has become idiomatic for going into any situation poorly prepared.

terzaghi

i was going to recommend benchmade, i have one that i got about 6 years ago, and its a wonderful knife, i got a limited edition as well, titanium ect. ect... the steel that they use for the blade is Freaking awesome, it holds it's edge forever when using it for regular around the house stuff... and they have free repair.