How often do you cut things with your EDC knife?

I would assume that a lot of us carry daily and look for every excuse to use it. Like palonej palonej said, what fun is using a disposable razor when you can cut in style?
 
In response to the question I'd say "just about daily." Today my wife and I went to Subway and got a foot-long sandwich. When we sat down we found that they forgot to cut it in half. Rather than going back to the counter I just got out my Case stockman and did the job. Then this evening I cut the tamper-indicating seal off a bottle of nasal spray.
As far as scissors go, long ago I found that a sharp knife could be used to carefully cut a single sheet of paper without penetrating through to the sheet(s) below it, so it's faster to use my knife than to go find the scissors. Plus, if you want to cut a page out of a magazine a knife works much better than scissors. I have scissors on my Vic Rambler, but geeperz it takes a long time to cut something out with those little things and with a knife it's just zip zip zip (like the Mark of Zorro :p ).
 
Mostly about two to three times a week, and in the office when packages come in for testing.

Or when I'm deployed to the customer's datacentre for installation of new hardware.
 
In the home I never use a pocket or outdoor knife to cut anything because I am a miniature modeller and there are dozens of #11 X-acto blades (with no handle) everywhere: They lie flat so are completely safe, they are easier to reach for and cut far better and more precisely than just about any knife: For instance they can cut the coffee seal without folding the edge of the material at all, which any kind of stouter blade would do a mess of. Because they are so thin, pointy and sharp, they can even cut heavier material with less effort, despite having no handle, especially once the initial bite is started.

They can split pills in twos or even fours without making a powdery mess of them: Try that with a fancy folder anytime...

The only downside is they rust if water is allowed to stagnate on them.

I tend nowadays to use large fixed blades outdoors. Outdoors I find blades under ten inches marginal, even for small precise tasks, so my pocket knife use has diminished from the near zero it was before. I see folders mainly as defensive items that have few other uses, hence I tend to favour the Spyderco Civilian or a re-profiled Fatcat.

Gaston
 
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Depends. Sometimes not all all for days. Then dozens of times in a single day...
 
Korean chop sticks aside....:rolleyes:
I use mine intermittently most of the day during the work week M-F. I work a trade so there's always boxes and packages to open, tape, straps and tie wraps to cut, rubber hose, debur pipe, cut rope, etc. Etc. I'd estimate 20-50 times a day depending on the day
 
Gaston444 said:
In the home I never use a pocket or outdoor knife to cut anything because I am a miniature modeller and there are dozens of #11 X-acto blades (with no handle) everywhere: They lie flat so are completely safe, they are easier to reach for and cut far better and more precisely than just about any knife: For instance they can cut the coffee seal without folding the edge of the material at all, which any kind of stouter blade would do a mess of. Because they are so thin, pointy and sharp, they can even cut heavier material with less effort, despite having no handle, especially once the initial bite is started.

They can split pills in twos or even fours without making a powdery mess of them: Try that with a fancy folder anytime...

The only downside is they rust if water is allowed to stagnate on them.

I tend nowadays to use large fixed blades outdoors. Outdoors I find blades under ten inches marginal, even for small precise tasks, so my pocket knife use has diminished from the near zero it was before. I see folders mainly as defensive items that have few other uses, hence I tend to favour the Spyderco Civilian or a re-profiled Fatcat.

Gaston
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Interesting.
 
Gaston444 said:
In the home I never use a pocket or outdoor knife to cut anything because I am a miniature modeller and there are dozens of #11 X-acto blades (with no handle) everywhere: They lie flat so are completely safe, they are easier to reach for and cut far better and more precisely than just about any knife: For instance they can cut the coffee seal without folding the edge of the material at all, which any kind of stouter blade would do a mess of. Because they are so thin, pointy and sharp, they can even cut heavier material with less effort, despite having no handle, especially once the initial bite is started.

Gaston
Click to expand...

I've never had any problems cutting seals on products without folding the edge of the material being cut using my stouter-than-an-X-acto blade SAK. Most likely it was user error or lack of sharpening skills on your part that made a mess of it.

As to the original question, I use a knife every day, without having to think up reasons to use it. Simply because it's needed every day for SOMEthing. I'm also using other tools on my SAK for various non-knife-related tasks. Seriously, there would be a lot of inconvenience and wasted time in my typical day without one of my EDC knives at hand.

Jim
 
Gaston444 said:
In the home I never use a pocket or outdoor knife to cut anything because I am a miniature modeller and there are dozens of #11 X-acto blades (with no handle) everywhere: They lie flat so are completely safe, they are easier to reach for and cut far better and more precisely than just about any knife: For instance they can cut the coffee seal without folding the edge of the material at all, which any kind of stouter blade would do a mess of. Because they are so thin, pointy and sharp, they can even cut heavier material with less effort, despite having no handle, especially once the initial bite is started.

They can split pills in twos or even fours without making a powdery mess of them: Try that with a fancy folder anytime...

The only downside is they rust if water is allowed to stagnate on them.

I tend nowadays to use large fixed blades outdoors. Outdoors I find blades under ten inches marginal, even for small precise tasks, so my pocket knife use has diminished from the near zero it was before. I see folders mainly as defensive items that have few other uses, hence I tend to favour the Spyderco Civilian or a re-profiled Fatcat.

Gaston
Click to expand...
I cut pills with a folder every day. No issues. Sure don't reach for a Medford. But spydie. Sure thing. I would say your high praise of xacto blades is simply due to you being more comfortable with them and having more experience with their use. Experience with a tool doesn't make it a better tool, it just makes it better for you.
 
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To me this post is meant for true knife nuts where you're going to carry a nicer knife in an edc roll because you just really like knives/ the knife you carry regardless of how much you use it, but out of curiosity the post asks how much do you use it and what for. I don't think it's asking what is the tool you happen to cut a lot with for certain functions and tasks you find yourself doing all the time. For example, a surgeon probably does the majority of their cutting with a scalpel, an arborist a chainsaw, an electrician dykes or sidecutters, a carpet and flooring guy a utility razor, BUT that's not what being a knife geek is about. Knife people choose their edc knife for more than just plain function most times and get at least a bit giddy when they get to use it.
And when it comes to self defense I would like to think most on this forum know that their first line of defense is keeping a cool head and having an escape plan. Concealed carry if possible, because if it comes down to defending yourself with a knife, the situation has taken a serious turn against you to the point that it probably won't make much difference whether you're carrying a tactical/ defensive folder like an Emerson or a utility blade like a spyderco delica.
 
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Several times a day I cut something with a knife: open a package, cut an apple, peel an orange, cut a zip tie, etc. If I need scissors, I have them on my Micra. I pity the fool who carries a knife for self-defense.
 
In addition to my earlier report: Today at lunch at my service club meeting the salad had some big pieces of lettuce so out came my Case stockman to cut them up. (Much better than the plastic "knife" that was available.) Then after the meeting I wanted to take some of the leftover tomato tart home and I used the knife to slice off a couple of pieces so I could wrap them in foil.

Frankly, I never used to think about doing that sort of thing with my carry knife, but thanks to BF I'm learning!
 
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