My husband has had nail clippers confiscated there, so I personally wouldn't risk a carving gouge in a carry-on...but that's me.

Immediately after 9/11, nail clippers were no longer allowed. They relaxed the restrictions in December of 2005, however, and nail clippers are now allowed. Rules about what you can and cannot take through security change relatively frequently, so it's understandable that there can be confusion on the subject.

As of today, a carving gouge should not be a problem getting through security. Immediately after 9/11, you probably wouldn't have gotten it through, but today, pretty much most tools than are less than 7 inches in length are okay to carry. I can't count the number of times I've carried carving tools through security, and they've never questioned it. Of course, now that I've said that, I'll probably find a guy on a power trip who wants to confiscate them the next time I go through security. =)

-- Ryan

"Of course, now that I've said that, I'll probably find a guy on a power trip who wants to confiscate them the next time I go through security. =) "

Sure, I think we've just ended up with bad lucky when it comes to security. The lines for security at Logan are longer than most airports I've seen, and the employees seem excessively grumpy, maybe overworked, and seem to have forgotten all their manners. I mean, I personally expect a "please remove the machete from the bag ma'am" or "you may use that bench to put your shoes back on, let me know if you need any help" (oh you poor whale-like pregnant women toting 2 kids who can't see her toes anymore, much less tie her own shoes without deserving an Olympic medal), LOL.
Also, a call to the airline to ask about carrying on questionable items has always worked for us in the past.

And on a final note about KIDS' food & drink:
"Declare larger liquids. Medications, baby formula and food, and breast milk are allowed in reasonable quantities exceeding three ounces and are not required to be in the zip-top bag. Declare these items for inspection at the checkpoint."
http://www.tsa.gov/311/index.shtm
The problem with this is it varies depending what each person, or each individual security personnel on duty at that moment deems to be a "reasonable quantity". So obviously we've gotten unlucky.

Definitely avoid craft knives/exacto blades in carry-ons, but you can check them:
"Razor-Type Blades - such as box cutters, utility knives, razor blades not in a cartridge, but excluding safety razors."
"NOTE: Any sharp objects in checked baggage should be sheathed or securely wrapped to prevent injury to baggage handlers and inspectors."
http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm
So I guess if you're going to check them, wrap them, but label them clearly what's inside so baggage handlers don't impale themselves and confiscate them.

And be careful if you're traveling out of Boston, LOL, since we travel a lot, my husband 1-2 times per month, and it's the only place we've repeatedly run into problems personally.

Enjoy your trips, Disney is a blast. I'm very curious if the boxes are still there in such a well-groomed and observed area!

Immediately after 9/11, nail clippers were no longer allowed. They relaxed the restrictions in December of 2005, however, and nail clippers are now allowed.

A couple from my church went through airport security immediately after 9/11, . They confisgated her eyeglass screwdriver stuck in a cork. Do you know how small an eyeglass screwdriver is?

They asked her if she wanted her cork back!

KuKu

They confisgated her eyeglass screwdriver

Shortly after that I had a pretty heavy travel job so regularly downloaded the updated TSA Permitted/Prohibited list. For a while, all 'pointy things' (basically) were banned, including eyeglass screwdrivers. Yet interestingly enough a couple of items that were NOT ever banned were corkscrews and 12 inch metal knitting needles. My thoughts are 1. who NEEDS a corkscrew on an airplane? 2. I find both items much more threatening than a pocket knife or box cutter. But then again, who ever said reactionary safety rules were logical...

Honestly, in my opinion they might as well allow knives and all that other stuff on planes now. For 40+ years people were taught to sit by and wait while the nut with the knife held the plane hostage and you would get to go home eventually after their demands were met. Now that people fear they might NOT go home, no one with a knife or box cutter could actually take over a plane since people would not just sit by any more. So those "safety rules" are serving no purpose anymore.

Now that people fear they might NOT go home, no one with a knife or box cutter could actually take over a plane since people would not just sit by any more.

Not to mention that a knife or box cutter still wouldn't get them into the cockpit, even if the rest of the passengers did stand idly by.

-- Ryan

I'd be surprised if Mickey Rat is gone. The location in Tarzan's Treehouse is most excellent. Just be thorough in checking! That has been one of my most favorite finds.

GJ

items that were NOT ever banned were corkscrews and 12 inch metal knitting needles

As one who worked for them awhile I will say.

Corkscrews were prohibited for awhile then the list was changed to prohibit only those with attached foil cutters. You are correct about knitting needles.
Other items permitted without exception which I think would make great weapons are canes or walking sticks even those with very heavy metal handles.
Several times I found heavy metal chains in carry on which I wanted to confiscate. However they are not specifically prohibited so it was a supervisors call. The supervisors permitted them because they were personal use items not tools i.e, they were fitted with leather cuffs. Restraints such as hand cuffs are also not on the prohibited list for similar reasons.
I will not go into more details here except to say that the women who were carrying these items as well as some other personal pleasure items were very embarrassed by the possibility that their coworkers who were waiting might catch on to what she was carrying.
One of these instances involved an off duty airline hostess during a random gate check. I suspect that most people who chose to carry such items put them in there checked luggage.

On the flip side is an instance that I saw in which a 15 lb frozen turkey in a mash bag was not allowed because it could be used as a weapon.
The individual screeners (now know as Security Officers) are encouraged to use their own judgment in selecting items to ban, but are supposed to call a supervisor or lead officer to make the final call. In customary practice the supervisor will in most instances back the officer's call even though it is a questionable or even outright wrong then correct the officer privately.

Not to mention that a knife or box cutter still wouldn't get them into the cockpit, even if the rest of the passengers did stand idly by.

And on some flights -- and you don't know which ones -- the guys in the cockpit are armed.

There was some story, shortly after they added those armored doors to the cockpits but before they started arming the pilots, of some nutcase who went berzerk and tried to break into the cockpit. IIRC, he eventually did get in, but was subdued before he could interfere with the operation of the plane. My brother, the pilot, says that one thing they generally do have in the cockpit is a fire axe, which is an axe on one side and a pick on the other. He said that if he was in that cockpit, they would have had to pry that axe out of the floor to get that nutjob's cold dead body out of there so they could mop up.

My brother, the pilot,

So....your brother is an irritable, naked-hiking, law-protesting pilot?

So....your brother is an irritable, naked-hiking, law-protesting pilot?

Different brothers. One is an irritable pilot. Another is an irritating law protester. Yet a third is an irritable hiker. A fourth is an irritating doctor. And I'm the one that's irritable.

my sympathies to your mother.

romana

Yet interestingly enough a couple of items that were NOT ever banned were corkscrews and 12 inch metal knitting needles. My thoughts are 1. who NEEDS a corkscrew on an airplane? 2. I find both items much more threatening than a pocket knife or box cutter. But then again, who ever said reactionary safety rules were logical...

Flight attendants need corkscrews to open the fancy wines in First Class (no little screw top bottles up there!! :-) However, when flying in and out of the UK, they will constantly question us about carrying our corkscrews --and then they will only allow it if you tell them you are working the First Class cabin! So you just have to be aware of that and tell them you are working first class.
I will say that no matter what the "rules" say on the TSA website or wherever, if you get an agent who has a bug up his butt, it won't matter, they will take anything away from you that they please and say it is in the name of security. And don't argue with them, it gets you no where and might even delay you further when they send you for the pat down!!

I go thru security almost every other day of my life and in many different cities around the world, big and small. I can say that I have NEVER had anyone question carving material/rubber. You must be carrying a BRICK if they even notice it. As for the gouges and exacto knives. I have them disassembled and the blades are in the handle (so it becomes a sort of "rattle") of the gouge. I have never had a problem taking that thru security. I usually carry a pair of scissors, childrens, rounded end to cut paper and to use cutting thread for my needlework. 90% of the time, these are not a problem (we were told as long as the blades are shorter than 3 inches)--however, that said, the agents want them in the bowl with your ziplock of approved liquids, not rolling around in the bottom of your bag. They like to look at them, feel the rounded tip and then they give them back to me. again, 90% of the time, the other 10% they say, OH NO! YOU CAN"T have THESE!!! Even when it is an airport that I just flew into and out of the day prior! Once it was even the exact same girl who I had dealt with the morning before, but all of a sudden. NO SCISSORS EVER!!
Go figure.

-Amanda from Seattle

NO SCISSORS EVER!!

That is the only one that almost got taken from me. Technically the 'official' criteria is/was something like 3 inches or less and blunt tips. Obviously they are thinking child safety scissors. Well, I left my industrial wire cutting scissors in my backpack (they are also great for cutting stuff like moleskin so I usually carry them when out of town). They did fit the length issue and did have rounded tips. I actually proceeded to show the TSA screeners (all three levels I talked to) how "safe" they were by repeatedly stabbing myself in the palm of the hand and saying something like 'see, rounded tips so they are safe'. Man that hurt like hell but luckily no blood. I do love those scissors and still have them to this day. :>

if you get an agent who has a bug up his butt, it won't matter

I had an agent open my travel sewing kit and remove the needle.

I just flew out of Pearson (in Toronto) yesterday, and I walked straight through with a full juice box in my carry-on. I had forgotten about it, but no one even batted an eye. I don't think they even looked at my ID for more than 1 second either.

It was a domestic flight, but they do have the same fluid regulations that the US has.

Isn't that interesting.... We recently flew from Las Vegas to Wichita Kansas. We had more problems coming home (security) from Wichita than we did leaving from Las Vegas. I guess the volume of travelers are so great that they don't spend as much time in the bigger airports than they do in the smaller...

In late September of 2001 (!), my brother and I were flying from Manila to Tokyo to Texas. We show up at the airport in Manila and are told to empty our pockets. My brother smokes, so he has two cigarette lighters in his pockets. The guy says you can only have one, so he takes the Bic and throws it away, allowing my brother to keep the fancy silver lighter. We then move on to the next table -- ten feet away -- and that guy says we can't have any lighters at all and confiscates the silver one. But he makes some vague promise that we'll get it back when we get where we're going. Brother figures, yeah, right, it's gone.

So we get to Tokyo for a couple hour layover, and of course brother needs a cig after the coupla hours of being unable to smoke on board the plane. So he goes to the gift shop and buys a Bic. Keep in mind that he has *not* left the secured area; he'll be getting on a plane without any further inspections. In fact, he could have purchased about 30 of these Bic lighters and filled his pockets with them.

So he's smoking away in the little smoking area when an announcement comes over the airport PA system telling him to go to some desk. He goes, and they hand him his silver lighter. He's *still* in the secured area, and we still have many thousands of miles to fly back to the US.

As far as I'm concerned, they haven't started making much more sense since. They are obviously working in reactionary mode -- trying to prevent the last attack from happening again -- rather than any sort of anticipatory mode. In fact, my brother and I had airplanes largely to ourselves since most people were afraid to fly when it was perfectly obvious to anyone with half a brain that we wouldn't be seeing that same type of attack again any time soon -- it's the kind of thing that only works once, which is exactly why the plan involved several airplanes at the same time.