Are people too soft on their knives

E

el_emery

Joined
Apr 14, 2013
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6
I hear people saying they dont want to ruin the edge on their knife by putting it through some rough wood or they wouldnt dare think about using it as a prybar etc. the first knife i baught i used it for everything while i was camping, hiking etc. i grew to love that knife because of it.

I think alot of us forget that the knife is a tool and especially a multi task one these days, like the great bk2 that thing was made to work, do you think people treat there knife too soft? i myself beleive in putting the knife to work. cheers
 
el_emery said:
I hear people saying they dont want to ruin the edge on their knife by putting it through some rough wood or they wouldnt dare think about using it as a prybar etc. the first knife i baught i used it for everything while i was camping, hiking etc. i grew to love that knife because of it.

I think alot of us forget that the knife is a tool and especially a multi task one these days, like the great bk2 that thing was made to work, do you think people treat there knife too soft? i myself beleive in putting the knife to work. cheers
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Welcome to the forums! I hope you enjoy your stay.

As for your question, my personal answer would be Yes and No.

I'm a collector, but I also thoroughly enjoy using my knives as well. So when I find a knife I really like and want to use in most cases I'll actually purchase a duplicate. One for my collection and one to just go to town with. Obviously it wouldn't be practical to do this with every knife I use, but I do it with the ones I really like.

So I suppose I'm soft in the sense that I want to have some pristine knives, but I also want to have some great knives to use as well.
 
I usually treat my most recently acquired knives like a baby. But when I get a new one, I add the last one to the user circle
 
I think we all are a little cautious when using a new knife just purchased, but I think the knives I buy are meant to be used by their makers. I think the OP was correct, use them, but I also think he was careful not to say abuse them. It also depends on the design of the knife and its intended purpose. No problem using my BK2, it is a tank and meant for hard work, but I will not baton with a 4 inch hunting knife because that is designed for different work. Although, it could stand up to some harder work, I know other knives are made for such work rather than the hunter. But go ahead and chop with those big bad boys, like my BK9.
 
Welcome to the forums

Interesting thinking about usage, I'm also a collector as such and have a lot of knives that will never cut anything. It is almost sad to think that such wonderful tools will never be used. Then again, they bring me great pleasure so they get a different type of use. I have three that are my EDC's a Blood Wood Sebenza, a Snakewood Mnandi and a XM18 Hinderer, and they get used. Have cut snakes and birds from nets, seed bags, boxes, tie straps, bike tires, cut tree limbs, food prep, anything needed and I do not think about it. It is what they were made for and I enjoy how well they work. They are shaving sharp and when they are not, i'll setup the Wicked Edge and touch them up. So mine fall into two groups, my enjoyment as a collector, or use and enjoy that sucker.
 
I tend to baby my edc but I totally abuse my fixed blades. My reasoning is that my edc is probly what ill have when I need a knife for something really important and I want it to be ready. When I carry 2 knives, 1 is usually a beater that I will beat the bell out of.
 
Just the opposite. There's too much "unnecessary" knife abuse.
Welcome.
rolf
 
I won't use any of my knives for prying. That's why God made screwdrivers :)

Welcome from Downunder. Seeing a lot of Aussies lately. Excellent. You guys invented Aus 8 steel, right? But I won't hold that against you :)
 
Lycosa said:
lol! Beat me to it.^
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haha first thing I think of when threads like these come up

Actually I was thinking about how overbuilt some folders are nowadays, and looking at my widgy bar, it has got steel stock of maybe 2 or 2.5mm?

Makes me wonder if we really need our blades 0.2" thick
 
Do you think that using a hand planer to drive in nails is cool?
So why do you think prying or batoning with a knife is cool? Why not to use right tools for right jobs? Using a knife for doing cutting job will not damage it.
It is cool to have good tools, to use them properly and to take care of them. That was what our grandfathers did, they did not live in today's consumerism culture and did not know about life-time no questions asked warranty: and they were doing fine! You can call that being soft on their tools: I call it cool!

P.S. In the survival situation, if you happen not to have anything else on hand, you have to be double-careful about not risking the only and the most critical tool you have got. So if you need to split some wood: make a wedge with your knife and use it, or find a suitable piece to minimize the risk; if you need to dig: sharpen a stick with your knife and dig with that stick and your own hands; if you need to cut some moss: again, make a wooden knife and cut the moss with it. That way you will not break or ruin the tool which is instrumental for your survival. But if you "survive" in the area of about 100 feet from your car: of course there are so many ways to abuse you knife and feel good about it...
 
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i guess it boils down to personal preference, i seem to buy knives that are complete work horses and ima man that likes a multi use tool and wat better than a thick peice of sharp steel, if your into survival type stuff doing more with less is a valuable skill.
 
i agree with part of the OP and disagree with the other part.

I agree that many knife users these days have lost sight of what a knife can do. Most well made knives can handle very hard use CUTTING chores. You will see people mention things like being scared to carve into hard wood, or fear of damaging a thin tip doing mundane chores, things any good knife can handle.

I disagree about prying, but I guess if you like knives like the bk2 then you might be okay.

It seems like people jump from one extreme to another, they go from cutting packing tape on boxes all day, very light work. Then they snap the tip from trying to pry apart a pallet of wood... whereas someone who knows how to use a knife can use it extremely hard all day with no damage other than some dulling. Recently I made a comment about most cops near me not using their knives for anything really hard use, so they can last a long time. Another user countered with cops in his area snapping tips all the time... This is generally not a sign of hard use, but of stupid use. I can snap a tip doing the most mundane of chores if I wanted to, but I know how to treat a knife.
 
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