Am I Too Careful With My Knives?

After a couple of years of knifesturbation (kudos to the poster who coined that term) I finally stopped worrying about damaging my knives and I just started using them. Nothing I'm likely to do has any real chance of damaging them. I will say that I'm pretty anal retentive about maintenance, though.
 
This is why I like SAK knives, the tools that typically come with a 2 or 3 layer SAK are meant to be used, and abuse of a SAK perhaps entails batoning (which in my mind means you were not prepared, and are abusing a knife because you don't have the proper tools). Everything else you do with it is "normal"...opening cans, prying, sawing, screwing, punching holes, slicing and dicing, popping bottle caps, stripping wire, etc; all perfectly normal activities. Dare I say a SAK is the most perfect EDC knife/tool? :)
 
A knife has the purpose of function of making a cut. It is a tool and is meant to be used. However abuse increases necessary maintenance and replacement, so it needs to be balanced with other options. Why use a knife as a screwdriver when you have a screwdriver? Ultimately all things pass from form. I recommend using your brain and creating a balance between necessity and preservation of form. Ultimately, all things fall within the mind so to quote an eskimo proverb, "yesterday is ashes, tomorrow is wood, only today does the fire burn bright." Use the dang thing and make fond memories. Time is a solvent that dissolves all things to pass into new forms, use it and move forward in time.
 
I agree with everyone that says to just use them. I don't have any kids or even friends with kids that would want to inherit any knives, so there is no reason to save them for that.

I only buy good users, knives that have great utility value but aren't collectors. So I buy them with use in mind. I am in construction and work on a job site about half the time of my working hours, and a sturdy knife is part of my kit. I see them as tools, some nicer than others, but tools. Different knives are subjected to different tasks, so I don't tear them up. For instance, I don't use a "peanut" to cut fiberglass load strapping when equipment come so the site, but don't hesitate to pull out a larger knife like a JYDII or a Kershaw Tremor.

A few years ago I got out the knives I had been saving and asked myself what I was saving them for... after all, I bought them because I liked them. Then I relegated them to the top of the closet in a box where they rarely saw the light of day. What was the point of that? That really wasn't the reason I purchased any of my knives.

Now I want to make sure that << I >> get the best use out of the blades I buy and not someone else. So off to work the go, along with camping, hiking, hunting and anything else I think they need to do.

Robert
 
I aspire for all my knives to be users. Admittedly, I baby the ones over ~$150. I'm so ashamed.
 
If by light, normal, and heavy use you mean the types of materials cut and not so much the frequency here's my criteria. It can vary from knife to knife but this is a good general idea.

Light use for me is cutting tape, thread, mail (letters/envelopes) very thin cardboard (the kind you find in clamshell packaging), kitchen duty (fruits/vegetables) etc.

Normal use would be more like thick tape, paracord, cardboard boxes, fabric, etc

Heavy use would be thick corrugated cardboard (heavy duty boxes),fibrous tapes, plastic or vinyl tape, cord straps (pretty bad on an edge tbh), dense cardboard (not necessary thick just insanely abrasive), hard woods, or thick plastics.

The Cord straps are kinda funny. The workers are the warehouse I work in try to use box cutters, sometimes with a new blade and have issues cutting them. When I use my knives, they're cut very easily. But I must confess, those straps are surprisingly damaging to an edge. They will take the razor hair whittling sharpness down to working edge in a few cuts, anyone know what the hell this stuff is made of?
 
Cordstrap, or similar products, are made from high-tenacity polyester yarns bonded/woven/composite polymerized. Also known as synthetic steel, it is pretty darn tough to cut. A thin edge with a microbevel in a wear-resistant steel sharpened to about 400 grit works well. Blade has to be stiff too, with no play/flex whatsoever.

Course, some decent ER or heavy shears just eat them up, sometimes a knife isn't the best soltuion ;).
 
senoBDEC said:
Cordstrap, or similar products, are made from high-tenacity polyester yarns bonded/woven/composite polymerized. Also known as synthetic steel, it is pretty darn tough to cut. A thin edge with a microbevel in a wear-resistant steel sharpened to about 400 grit works well. Blade has to be stiff too, with no play/flex whatsoever.

Course, some decent ER or heavy shears just eat them up, sometimes a knife isn't the best soltuion ;).
Click to expand...

I'll second that. Most of my vendors and material delivery folks quit using metal strap many, many years ago. That poly strapping material comes in huge rolls and is absolutely nasty cheap, so it caught on immediately. When I have a material truck pull up to the job with that kind of banding it makes me hurry over to my truck to get my shears out to cut the strapping to get the materials off the pallets.

I use my sheet metal shears and they work like a champ. Not so much with my work knives.

Robert
 
I use to be like that......now i just use my knives hard. I still chop into concrete when i get a new blade to check edge stability. Just something i prefer to do. I have many expensive blades but recently started enjoying scrapyard knives. No more safe queens..... i just use them all and enjoy it.
 
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