Hi Bruce,
Funny post! It brings to mind a situation I had many years ago while coming through customs, I think it was in Bangor, Maine. I had been training in furniture making in Japan and Great Britain for six years. I returned to the US with my tools in a large duffel bag, just packed in there solid. The customs guy unzipped the bag and had just plowed his hand into it when I said, "Oh, by the way, I should tell you that I have been training in woodworking abroad, and that bag you're checking holds at least a hundred or so razor sharp instruments". He looked at me quizzically, and then down at his arm disappearing into the newspaper and other packing, stopped cold, then very gingerly withdrew his hand and said, "You're cleared!" I guess he thought I had a honest face.
Dennis young Hotaka, Japan
> Bruce Schrader writes:
> I had the same incident in the San Diego airport about
> 4 months ago. It got ugly...I'll leave it at that.
> Funny thing about it was that I was able to fly from
> San Jose to San Diego with the tools without any
> problem. It only became a problem on the return trip
> from San Diego. The security folks were all curious
> and had to ask what it was. I should have told them it
> was for dental hygiene rather than a bicycle tool.
> Hmmmm. I still don't get it. Maybe they were afraid we
> were going to do some McGiver thing and begin
> disassembling the plane with our multipurpose gadgets.
> I wonder how long it'd take us to unbolt a wing with
> one of those? It probably wasn't so much the allen
> wrenches that frightened them, but I'll bet the chain
> breaker feature sent fear running through their veins.
> Anyway, I'm sure we're all glad that the sky's are
> safer now... <snicker>..
>
> Bruce Schrader
> San Francisco, CA