That depends a great deal on what the local police are like. They may help. They may just let the family know about the complaint. Generations of abused women provide an unfortunate history of these issues.

And even if the police do help, they will not be able to provide protection. Their job is to arrest and prosecute the brother after he commits the murder. It’s sad and wrong, but that is the way the system works.

I’m pretty sure he realizes it. What he doesn’t want is for everyone else to realize it too.

I’ve been a Washington Post subscriber for almost a decade. I just cancelled.

Now I need to figure out which independent news organizations that money should go to instead.

Possibly, but life is full of risks.

What you really need is a carbon fiber shoehorn. If you do manage to deform it the thing will go right back to its original shape.

You’ve gotten a lot of good advice, but let me throw in a few random suggestions…

I use Tuf-Glide on all my knives. You can spray it on or wipe it on with with a cloth. The stuff dries and bonds with the surface layer of the metal. It’s a great lubricant, but it also prevents rust and provides some physical protection.

There is nothing inherently wrong with pull-through sharpeners, but avoid any sharpener that uses carbide as the abrasive. There are some excellent and easy-to-use sharpeners with ceramic and diamond rods. My field sharpener is the AccuSharp Diamond Pro. It’s easy to use, compact, and produces a surprisingly good edge. I’ve given the to all my friends and they’ve stopped bringing me all their knives to sharpen. :-)

There is some decent damascus out there, but most of what you get in lower-end knives is really terrible. Materials science keeps uping the game of knife steels, but 440C was considered one of the best maybe thirty years ago. It is still a solid performer with a good balance of edge holding, toughness, rust resistance, and ease of sharpening.

Don’t use your knife for things it wasn’t designed to do. Get yourself a small cheap prybar to pair with it. Something like 3" prybar will save your blade and do a better job of prying anyway. I prefer mine a little longer than that, so here’s a 3.8" prybar.

Have fun!

Thank you for bringing another of these gems to my attention. And for writing the great review. Otherwise my cupboards would be filling up these things.

I understand the desire to get even, but it isn’t likely to happen and it isn’t likely to be satisfying, even if you succeed. You should focus on things that will make your life better and not things that will make someone else’s life worse, even if they richly deserve it.

You are going to have to make some compromises. You are currently putting up with a situation you don’t like, in exchange for the salary, side benefits, and location. That’s isn’t necessarily a bad tradeoff, but it is not likely to be a good long-term situation. Once management decides they have a problem with you, things are going to get worse sooner or later. It will be better for you if you leave rather than being forced out.

You need to make some decisions about which of the things you like about your situation you would be willing to give up for a better job. That will tell you what to do next. Maybe the answer is to hold out for a better position within your current organization, although the chances don’t sound good. You may need to take a salary cut to find a local position that’s better for you. You may need to move. You may even need to change careers entirely.

The key is to make your own decisions and not allow others to force them on you. There are a lot of factors you can’t control. Focus on the ones you can. And don’t stay in a bad situation with the hope that everything will work out the way you want it to.

I once stood maybe 40 feet from a moose, in the wild. It was fairly heavy forest and there was no sign of it until it stepped out onto the trail. Moose are not normal animals. They’re more like small kaiju.

I suggest you try some other kind of sharpener. One of the inexpensive pocket sharpeners with crossed abrasive rods would work. Just make sure you get one with diamond and ceramic, not carbide. This is my favorite of those: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AU6CM2I/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1