Can & bottle openers on knives in 2020, purposeless

Houlahound said:
Had to use the word "purposeless" because "pointless" on a blade forum...

Anyhoo I do not eat a lot of food out of a can but I feed my dogs a can of sardines each twice per week (BCAA source). I honestly mostly see canned food having pull open lids.

Every drink I buy in a sealed container has a screw cap or a pull cap.

This brings me to the question of why waste space on a knife or multi tool with can and bottle openers. Seems the most obsolete thing in all of knifedom. A complete waste of space & materials.

Even when can & bottle openers were a thing my peers always showed off by not using them, eg to open a beer you would show your arrogance and dominance by using the spine of your knife. If you couldn't do it you didn't rate as a human. Same with opening a can, you used a fix blade intentionally just because you could.

So who actually uses a can or bottle opener in 2020 and who thinks it's an obsolete waste of space on a knife?
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As someone who's big into the craft beer scene, you could not be more objectively incorrect. On most weekend outings, I end up using my bottle opener far more than the actual knife blade. I mean, this sure does seem like a "I don't personally see a need for XYZ, so let's just get rid of it, because obviously no one anywhere needs it." situation.

That's not a great outlook.
 
Hickory n steel said:
I just do not like idea of every damn thing possible having a cap lifter incorporated because I do not drink.
On a multitool, or scout style slipjoint it folds away and often affords me the flat blade driver so I can live with it, but if a genie granted me 3 knife wishes one of them would be that no knife , keychain tool, or multitool had a cap lifter incorporated into it.

I think they are still useful to people who do drink, but I think a dedicated cap lifter is best so a cap lifter is not forced on those who don't want them.


Can openers on the other hand can be useful for many things, and I have actually needed to open cans with them too.

A few months back at work they were celebrating a birthday and my leatherman PST was the only can opener available to open the large can of cheese sauce.
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A genie? What? Also, can you explain the logic in wishing that an innocuous tool like a bottle opener shouldn't be on any knife, multi-tool, or keychain? It almost seemed like you were attempting to tie a judgement call on people who enjoy alcohol into this idea that bottle openers are somehow enablers for them. Not really sure what you're attempting to say, and hoping you'll shed some light on it for us.
 
I guess that depends on what kind of beer you drink; cans, twist offs or pop off bottle tops? Pop offs here! So useful.
 
I could actually see some sense in this complaint of sorts if it was about incorporating a cap lifter / can opener / gut hook (god forbid) in every and any knife (fixed or folder single / multi bladed). It is just not what is happening.
Fixed blades with gut hooks are not in my scope of interest (but many people like them, go figure, and that's why they are still offered)... Same goes for can openers, cap lifters, awls, drills, corkscrews....
I am just a very small niche market that may or may not match with the current offering. I will take what suits me best. However, the offer has never been so diverse. So.... I will be the last to bitch about today's offerings (even if I hate some of them...).
 
I haven't carried a knife with a can opener in a long while. The Victorinox executive I've been carrying since summer of 2018 doesn't have one. But I still carry a can opener everyday. My old P-38 has been in my wallet for decades now, and has opened cans when needed. I have a can opener on my SAK that is in my daypack, and its been used for all kinds of things, from pulling the safety pin from the trailer hitch on the truck, to dealing with Phillips screws. The SAK can opener does a hell of a lot more than open cans. It makes a great staple puller, as mentioned Phillips driver, pot hook for getting that pot of beef stew off the campfire, and more.

The wonderful thing about the tools of the SAK's is, those odd shaped bits of metal can be used for all kinds of weird uses the designers at Victorinox never dreamed of. All it takes is some imagination and application.

But then, some people lack imagination.

Pity. :(
 
I’ve often thought I could live without the cork screw on a SAK, but never ever thought I didn’t need a can opener.
 
Quiet said:
As someone who's big into the craft beer scene, you could not be more objectively incorrect. On most weekend outings, I end up using my bottle opener far more than the actual knife blade. I mean, this sure does seem like a "I don't personally see a need for XYZ, so let's just get rid of it, because obviously no one anywhere needs it." situation.

That's not a great outlook.
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That's the old "I am the world" logical fallacy.

I don't drive on road X why should I pay taxes. I don't like guns why should anyone have one. I don't drink beer why should anyone else have a bottle opener.
 
I have never needed the can opener. If I had to, I'd just use the knife. I use a bottle opener frequently and it's handy. Especially when no one else has one and everybody is lined up for me to help them. The bottle opener on my leatherman skeletool is integrated pretty well and I don't find to be wasted space.
 
Personally, I have never needed or used the knife or multi tool bottle opener. I have used/seen people use lighters, knife handles, table tops and even their own teeth to defeat that beastly pop off.

I have used the basic SAK style can opener a few times. The most often was when moving into a new place and not having the regular can opener yet. Have also used it a few times while camping, but not regularly.

tldr; prefer can opener option to bottle option.
 
After seeing James Reeves open a beer bottle with his wedding ring on an episode of tfbtv I stopped wearing silicone rings and went back to my metal one. It took a little practice but it's pretty handy once you get the hang of it.
 
Quiet said:
A genie? What? Also, can you explain the logic in wishing that an innocuous tool like a bottle opener shouldn't be on any knife, multi-tool, or keychain? It almost seemed like you were attempting to tie a judgement call on people who enjoy alcohol into this idea that bottle openers are somehow enablers for them. Not really sure what you're attempting to say, and hoping you'll shed some light on it for us.
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Oh I meant on any that I buy but accidentally forgot that part, like when I buy it the cap lifter magically disappears.
I do not judge those who drink, I just witnessed some things as a kid that led to my decision to absolutely never do so myself.

For people who use them it's fine, I simply don't like the fact that I have zero need yet often have no choice.

How would many people feel if every single knife multitool or keychain tool had to incorporate a tobacco pipe tamper ?
 
Hickory n steel said:
Oh I meant on any that I buy but accidentally forgot that part, like when I buy it the cap lifter magically disappears.
I do not judge those who drink, I just witnessed some things as a kid that led to my decision to absolutely never do so myself.

For people who use them it's fine, I simply don't like the fact that I have zero need yet often have no choice.

How would many people feel if every single knife multitool or keychain tool had to incorporate a tobacco pipe tamper ?
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I don't know, because they don't put tobacco pipe tampers on every single knife, multitool, or keychain. Just like not every knife incorporates a bottle opener. Many multi-tools and keychains do, because many, many people use that feature on them.
 
Quiet said:
I don't know, because they don't put tobacco pipe tampers on every single knife, multitool, or keychain. Just like not every knife incorporates a bottle opener. Many multi-tools and keychains do, because many, many people use that feature on them.
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Not every knife, but theres no multiplier that I've seen ( besides a Sebertool m2, m3, or those crappy swisstool offerings) that doesn't have a cap lifter and I dont know of a single Vic model 84mm or larger without one.
Honestly if just once I had the option of a multitool or Vic model I wanted without a cap lifter I'd be happy, I'd just like the option at least once.
 
i have zero knifes with bottle or can openers.

I do carry a bottle opener on my keychain b/c I do find them handy fairly regularly. I could manage with something else, but when they are handing out free bottle openers at every conference, trade show, and meet and greet, why not carry a few.

nothing is being forced on anybody, there are literally threads of people looking for knife options with bottle openers specifically. There is a want out there and its not readily available on every knife
 
Hickory n steel said:
Not every knife, but theres no multiplier that I've seen ( besides a Sebertool m2, m3, or those crappy swisstool offerings) that doesn't have a cap lifter and I dont know of a single Vic model 84mm or larger without one.
Honestly if just once I had the option of a multitool or Vic model I wanted without a cap lifter I'd be happy, I'd just like the option at least once.
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Right, multitools and SAKs have always had bottle openers because most owners of those tools use them, either to open bottles or for whatever other purposes they can devise for the tool.

This is what I don't understand about this whole thread. The can opener, sure, ok, many folks probably aren't opening cans that often. But a bottle opener? People use those every day in some places, they're commonly offered on multitools and SAKs for a reason. As for knives, well very few models have bottle openers (and none that I'm aware of have can openers).
 
I use the can opener on my SAK all the time. I do all my own cooking, and there are plenty of canned goods that don’t come with a pull ring. Depending on what I’m cooking, I could end up using that SAK can opener several times a day. It’s the only one I use, and I feel it’s much more hygienic than one of those mechanical can openers. It also works well as a makeshift staple remover, and the small screwdriver tip also works well for some Phillips screws. It certainly beats using the tip of a knife blade to open cans (which I’ve seen in YouTube videos of “survival use of a knife” to show how durable the tip and edge of a knife are at opening cans). The SAK’s can opener will do it faster, better and cleaner than any knife blade.

Admittedly, I don’t use the SAK’s bottle opener much for opening bottles, but it works great as a makeshift light-duty pry tool (especially if you pinch the base of the tool while using it as such to take possible strain off the pivot), and the large screwdriver on it sees use. I still like having the bottle opener there. Sure, opening bottles can be accomplished in other ways, but the feature doesn’t get in the way on my SAK, and it works very well for what it was designed for.

Jim
 
Quiet said:
Right, multitools and SAKs have always had bottle openers because most owners of those tools use them, either to open bottles or for whatever other purposes they can devise for the tool.

This is what I don't understand about this whole thread. The can opener, sure, ok, many folks probably aren't opening cans that often. But a bottle opener? People use those every day in some places, they're commonly offered on multitools and SAKs for a reason. As for knives, well very few models have bottle openers (and none that I'm aware of have can openers).
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But a " SAK " is a knife, and in many cases more so than the overbuilt beasts that try to pass as a knife these days.
So yes a lot of knives have can openers and cap lifters.

I'd wager that if there wasn't a flat blade driver involved a lot of people would be much less happy about the inclusion of a cap lifter, more people than you realize do not use cap lifters.

I bet there's almost as many who don't use them as there are who do.
 
I don't drink wine, but I'm not complaining that some SAKs come with a corkscrew. As long as it doesn't stick out and create a hotspot it's no big deal. I'm sure at some point I could find a use for it.

There's an old adage: Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.
 
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