The acronym EDC is becoming as overused as the word cool was when I was in high school. Folks clean out their pockets and take a photo of the contents to brag about the stuff they claim to carry every day. It’s even trending to the point that gen y or lumbersexuals carry enough manly stuff in their pockets they could play Red Button’s character in Howard Hawk’s Hatari.
Though today you might think it, EDC is not about Instagram posts or bettering your buddy on a pocket-emptying contest. It’s not about proving you masculinity or showing off the gear you’ve spent your kid’s college money on. And, I’m sorry, EDC is not about guns.
Everyday of my grandfather’s life he carried a knife in his pocket. He didn’t carry it so he could whip it out in some testosterone display. He didn’t carry it because the pop culture at the time insisted. Grandpa carried a knife because he was a real man and real men need a knife.
A real man needs a real knife for peeling an apple while sitting under a shade tree. For sharpening a stick to pick the pork barbecue out of his teeth. To turn a screw on a kid’s toy. To cut a steak when its been cooked to long or the restaurant knife is too dull. Real men carry a knife to peel the insulation off a copper wire, skin squirrels, dig out thorns, trim fingernails, cut out a fishhook, and to open oil cans. Yes, Mr. Modernman, at one time motor oil came in cans, not plastic bottles.
I still have grandpa’s knife. The scales are worn smooth, the blades are narrow from sharpening, and every time I pick it up it makes him feel, not all that long gone.
EDC – every day carry – is about the thing you have with you every day, no matter what. I carry my Nighthawk Custom Commander with XS Sights and Crimsons Trace laser grips often but there are days it never finds my hip. What I cannot remember is a day when I did not have a knife. And, an EDC knife should be just as special, sharp, comfortable, and rugged as a properly equipped carry gun like my Nighthawk…or Grandpa.
My everyday knife is a Southern Grind Spider Monkey. A compact, four-inch folder, with contoured carbon fiber scales, titanium liners and lock, and a 3.25-inch S35VN drop point blade with dual thumb studs. I’ve used it to do all the usual knife things to include digging a bullet jacket out of my forehead. And, its skinned two deer and gutted a greater kudu on a rocky mountainside in the Northern Cape, while hunting with Fort Richmond Safaris.
I don’t know if our relationship is as solid or as sacred as my grandfather’s was with his Case, but someday one of my descendants will pick up this knife and will know a man carried it, used it, and trusted it.
EDC is not about how cool the tactical pile of crap in your pocket on any given day might make you seem. It’s about the truth and some modern men just can’t handle the truth. If you’re still confused, find a mechanic, hunting guide, rancher, plumber, carpenter, soldier, cowboy, or any real hillbilly, and ask them what EDC means. Likely, they’ll not know what the hell you’re talking about but they’ll have a well-worn knife in their pocket they’ll let you use…If you’re the kind of man who needs one.
