A lesson re-learned: "Oh, here, you can use my knife...."

H

Hallucinosis

Joined
Jun 5, 2006
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Last weekend there was a water leak in my office at work. The contractor came in and said he wanted to pull up the carpet, but he forgot his tools.

I immediately offered up my pocket knife. I snapped it open, he looked looked slightly bewildered, took it from my hand, stabbed it into the corner of the carpet, then used it to pry the carpet off the floor. I must have had a completely and utterly horrified look on my face, but he didn't notice. He picked up the edge of the carpet and took about 5 seconds to look at my knife, then he tried to close it (apparently he was not familiar with liner-locks). I said "I'll close it" and he gave it back to me.

It's some luck that it wasn't one of my more expensive knives. This was an Orange Kershaw Packrat blem. He managed to hit a floor staple near the end of the blade. It wasn't a horrible nick, but bad enough to really peeve me--it took me 30-45 minutes to sharpen it out last night. Fortunately, in spite of the fact that he used my knife to pry on the carpet, the blade did not appear to be bent. The packrat has a fairly thick blade. I hate to imagine how this would have gone if I had handed him my Spyderco Paramilitary 2, my Benchmade 943, or my Kershaw Hawk. *cringe*

Still, I would not have loaned this guy my knife if I knew it would be abused this way. That's the problem though, you can't really know how well other people will respect your tools. This is one of the reasons I tend to prefer carrying a nicer knife and a hard use or junker knife with me.
 
Never let anyone borrow your knife.

Ever.

Unless it's a UMSC Ka-Bar. He'll dull it bad on carpet, but I doubt he can break it. 30-45 minutes seems a bit long for 14C28N steel, it should sharpen up like butter. I don't think I took that long sharpening chips out of S110V.
 
i agree completely with noctis3880. never, EVER!!!! loan your knie to someone. personaly, i hae the same rules with knives as i do with money: if you let someone borrow money, dont expect it back. you give someoen a knife to open a pack of gum, thats one thing. a guy who has never used anything other then a box cutter his whole life who is doing heavy work around an ofice building? thats another. im fortuanite to have more then 2 friends who are more then decent when it comes to knife handeling. but the majority of people i know..... ide rather tell them "looks like your out of luck"
 
Yep, learned that well before when a "friend" pushed the liner lock of my then new orange millie the wrong way and caused the engagement to move from about 30 percent to 50 percent.
 
ouch signularity35. Yeah, I learned my lesson.

As far as the time spent sharpening it, I did 15 degrees back bevel, then 20 degrees micro, but try to make a slight recurve by hand (spyderco bench stones, about 60 strokes per side with ultra fine). Then I stropped it with coarse, medium, fine, and polish. A bit excessive for sure and probably a waste of time, but not really a waste of time since I enjoy sharpening. Although, I do not like unnecessary blade wear due to misuse. =P

I'm starting to think that the coarse and medium strop compounds actually lead to a less fine edge than the spyderco ultra fine bench stone. So I may be doing some unnecessary steps.
 
I aggree, never led your knife out
unless it is to a friend who is as much of a knife nut as you and they forgot theirs (or the TSA took it)
 
My boss took my loaner, CS Voyager tanto serrated blade and turned it in to a butter knife. Thankfully it was a "beater", none the less, i agreee with the above..........Say no and maybe offer to do it yourself.
 
Have learned that one as well.
Was always quite careful on who could borrow my stuff, once made a mistake and borrowed my "axe" to a friend when we were making a campfire. Next day I discovered he had been chopping trough nails in the wood and hit stones in the sand. Had quite some chips and rolls at the edge. So since then I'm not having any problems anymore to say "no, I'm sorry". And if they ask why I explain that lending someone a knife is the fastest way to lose a friend.

Sometime I still lend a knife to a very good friend (or my girlfriend) if I know what they need it for, but I'm always scared then... not for receiving a damaged knife, but 7 out of 10 they cut themselves because they're not used to very sharp knives ;)

I don't know the proper English word for this type of "axe", anyone? (sorry for the off topic question, but was the actual "axe" my friend abused. So it made me wonder.)
 
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Hallucinosis said:
Last weekend there was a water leak in my office at work. The contractor came in and said he wanted to pull up the carpet, but he forgot his tools.

I immediately offered up my pocket knife. I snapped it open, he looked looked slightly bewildered, took it from my hand, stabbed it into the corner of the carpet, then used it to pry the carpet off the floor. I must have had a completely and utterly horrified look on my face, but he didn't notice. He picked up the edge of the carpet and took about 5 seconds to look at my knife, then he tried to close it (apparently he was not familiar with liner-locks). I said "I'll close it" and he gave it back to me.

It's some luck that it wasn't one of my more expensive knives. This was an Orange Kershaw Packrat blem. He managed to hit a floor staple near the end of the blade. It wasn't a horrible nick, but bad enough to really peeve me--it took me 30-45 minutes to sharpen it out last night. Fortunately, in spite of the fact that he used my knife to pry on the carpet, the blade did not appear to be bent. The packrat has a fairly thick blade. I hate to imagine how this would have gone if I had handed him my Spyderco Paramilitary 2, my Benchmade 943, or my Kershaw Hawk. *cringe*

Still, I would not have loaned this guy my knife if I knew it would be abused this way. That's the problem though, you can't really know how well other people will respect your tools. This is one of the reasons I tend to prefer carrying a nicer knife and a hard use or junker knife with me.
Click to expand...

I agree, do not lend your knife out. However, I like to look at things from all perspectives. From my point of view - get the right tool for the job. In defense of this guy (who is obviously not a knife guy) he doesn't know that a knife has a limitation of not stabbing into carpet and pulling it up. From the point of view of a non-knife guy, what the heck is the point of carrying a knife if you can't use it to do the things you need it to do?
 
You should be embarrassed to even post this here...:foot:
First - You don't know him
Second - He's a contractor WITHOUT TOOLS??!!!
Third - Cutting carpet will certainly involve contacting the floor - including whatever nails and staples are there.

I think somebody else here said it best:
If he has a knife, he doesn't need yours
If he doesn't have a knife, he won't know how to use yours
 
I think the issue (and lesson) here is that we here should remember that not everyone else has the same respect for tools as we do. Some people use them (abuse them), some people appreciate them (use them properly). And no amount of looking at someone will tell you which type they are. Sad as it may be, most people out there treat others' tools and knives like trash. I believe it is because they didn't pay for it and don't maintain it that they are inclined to be lazy and inconsiderate toward other people's possessions. I personally try to instruct these people (as patiently as my temper will allow) :) in the proper use of the tool at hand provided that they're willing; it educates one more person in how to be decent. And who knows, they may even pass it on.
 
crafty said:
Have learned that one as well.
Was always quite careful on who could borrow my stuff, once made a mistake and borrowed my "axe" to a friend when we were making a campfire. Next day I discovered he had been chopping trough nails in the wood and hit stones in the sand. Had quite some chips and rolls at the edge. So since then I'm not having any problems anymore to say "no, I'm sorry". And if they ask why I explain that lending someone a knife is the fastest way to loose a friend.

Sometime I still lend a knife to a very good friend (or my girlfriend) if I know what they need it for, but I'm always scared then... not for receiving a damaged knife, but 7 out of 10 they cut themselves because they're not used to very sharp knives ;)

I don't know the proper English word for this type of "axe", anyone? (sorry for the off topic question, but was the actual "axe" my friend abused. So it made me wonder.)
Click to expand...
if it was a shorter handle, i would say it was a hatchet, but then doesnt really matter we get the idea of what happened :)
 
Hallucinousis, you are a better man than I am. If a contractor came up to me and said he had no tools, that would have sent alarm bells off that this guy is a tool. I probablly would have said "That sucks, how do you expect to do your job with no tools?" Then causally gone about my business. Of course I can be an A-hole like that, but this wasn't a buddy, or a co-worker, and it wasn't something that unexpectedly came up (or was it?). This guy is supposed to be a proffesional, athough your story makes me have my doubts.
 
It doesn't matter who has the knife, cutting carpet is hard on a knife and will lead to a butter knife dull blade at the minimum.

On a side note, do computers not come with spell check installed and turned on anymore?
 
I ALWAYS ask "what do you need it for?" And if its for something other than opening some package or envelope or something similar to that ill just tell them ill do it for you.

That is a rule I would never break.
 
Wow, it sounds like some of you should be carrying better knives! I doubt he would have even come close to breaking the Kershaw on carpet. I have a Skyline and Salvo and use the crap out of both with only routine sharpening. I've cut everything from drywall to carpet to whittling down lumber with them. They're not the best looking knives, but they work. Unless you're carrying a knife as a fashion accessory rather than a tool, then you shouldn't worry about having someone use it. (yes, there are times a knife makes a good fashion accessory rather than a cutting tool :) )
 
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