A Day In The... Knife? Daily, What Do You Actually Use Your EDC For?

...nice play on words...
I had expected a bit more blood and assassination of the wicked ruler...
 
It really depends on the day.

Some days, it's only opening a bill and cutting a piece of tape.
Other days, it might be scraping the rust off an old piece of spring steel so I can lay out a template before busting out the angle grinder.

Or it could be opening boxes and cutting food...like I said, it all depends on the day. :)
 
For the past two years I have installed computers, servers, docking stations, monitors and all of the associated equipment(keyboards, mice, power strips, ...). Most of the monitors were placed on stands with arms. We would open boxes for everything and sometimes devices were held fast with zip-ties and other strapping. All of it had to be cut, but I used a utility knife for all of that work.

My EDC was purely for my personal security. Most of the work was done in the Chicago metropolitan area and I often worked from 5PM to 2AM, so I needed to maintain the edge on the EDC.
 
The majority of the time I carry a SAK of some sort, the tasks it usually handles are changing batteries in kids toys because they all know Dad has his SAK handy, cutting tags, cardboard, and opening packages. The usual stuff, ya know.
 
Today: Cutting a steak, only to then use it as a diversion to fool guard dogs. Silently removing a security guard that was guarding a cache of diamonds I had to steal. It's OK, he was a bad guy. Sticking my knife into the hood of a car as it raced away so I could pin myself to the roof and hold on. Self defense during my diamond deal as they tried to jack me. I got the diamonds and the $$.

When I finally got home and hid the diamonds + cash in my uber secret safe that nobody can ever locate, I used it to open a beer. What a day...

K, so in reality, just opening the beer.
 
My knives got more of a workout when I was working retail - zip ties, thick plastics, shaving down non-metal surfaces, even superficial surgery.

Presently, it’s mostly opening packages of one variety or another. I have some knives I keep at a laser edge to trim cuticles, and I do occasionally find myself carrying this or that knife out of some misguided sense of self-preservation despite being fully aware that my best bet in a fight is to throw my knife and start running while they flinch or dodge the projectile.

I’ve used them around the house for various home-improvement as well - cutting carpet, reshaping things for better fitment (I used my 3V Master Tanto to plane the top of a door so it would close properly), stripping cables, etc. The first major use I had for the Warcraft Tanto I had years ago was to clear brush and hack up some wood into more portable chunks.

Primarily, though, it’s packages and plastic on products. That probably accounts for 90% of my typical knife usage.
 
Yesterday and today...broke down large cardboard boxes that some furniture pieces came in and cut the wide nylon straps attached to them.
 
Packages, mail, tags, boxes, etc. Never for hard duty. I bet many on here carry high end fancy knives as nothing more than jewelry to fondle, admire, and be proud of. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but I see too many knives go up for sale in mint condition that were supposedly edc blades. You know they did nothing with them. Hell, if I never cut a thing mine get dinged, scratches, rub marks, etc just from totin around. I swear some must keep them in the boxes and put the boxes in their pocket to carry them. Amazes me how they keep em like new. Guess I am just clumsy.
 
The most imperative use of a high quality knife in my average workday:

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That burrito ain’t gonna cut itself!

(Here’s the dirty truth...I usually end up eating both halves and then falling asleep in the afternoon.)
 
I am a photographer and use it often throughout the day. On a typical shoot day I cut set paper, foamcore boards, show cards, sash cords, open boxes of merchandise sent from client, tape and shrinkwrap holding moving blankets around the rented props. After that it varies day to day from cutting zip ties keeping cables together to helping with set construction. I have found a one hand opening and closing sharp wharncliffe/sheepsfoot works best for me because I am sometimes cutting something on a 10" ladder.
 
My main knife use is cutting thorn branches and other small limbs away from my hiking trails. I have found some knives are much better at this task. Don't like to stop and stand hacking at a branch so if a knife will cut in one swipe, so I can keep moving it gets carried. Thin blades of sharp hard steel like on my Spyderco lightweight Manix in S90V, or the same in S110V are what I am using daily.
 
Today, cut some thread, opened a couple of boxes, cut some rope, cut open a round bale of hay and sliced a hamburger. Todays pocket knife was a microtech stich.
 
jill jackson said:
My main knife use is cutting thorn branches and other small limbs away from my hiking trails. I have found some knives are much better at this task. Don't like to stop and stand hacking at a branch so if a knife will cut in one swipe, so I can keep moving it gets carried.
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Can't think of a better reason to carry a large fixed blade for hacking those persistent trail encroachers. Just about time for me to start my wild flower hikes and I often will have a larger knife with me for various trimming activities.
 
Some days, I cut things, some days I use it to open beer, some days I just look at it but I've always got one.
 
Lets see....
Yesterday I used my Inkozi to cut the stem on a banana, so it'd peel easier; opened a bag of coffee; cut up an apple; opened a plastic package that, I swear to God, was designed to prevent the light bulb it contained from ever being used; cut open a 40 lb bag of dog food; opened mail; cut tape on a box; cut open the top on a box of Ritz crackers; trimmed a couple twigs on the dogwood tree (just because!); and probably a bunch of other stuff that I forgot.
That's a fairly normal day in the life of whatever knife I'm carrying.
 
Yesterday used a Spyderco Domino and...
  • Opened a box from Amazon, and then the 'frustration free packaging' :cool: inside.
  • Opened 2 letters. Then when I saw they were medical bills from a Dr. office I'd already paid, tested my edge by slicing the letters into small strips and seeing if I could push-cut them. :rolleyes:
  • Sliced up an apple.
  • Cut some paracord I was using to bind a sheath to a pack.
So far this morning: nothing. All my knifes might as well be safe queens, up to this point in the morning. I'm being a total keyboard kommando. :D
 
I use my knives to open boxes containing more knives!

On a regular basis I use 'em to open mail, cut zip ties, open boxes/packages, trim frayed/loose threads, clean/pick fingers, fidget/play with (flippers/balisongs/otf's), food prep (cutting meats/cheeses/veggies). Occasionally use them as a steak knife (some restaurants have very dull knives).

Can't carry a knife where I work so most of my cutting tasks are on my off time or the few free hours I get after my shifts.
 
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