Do you use your knife for gardening chores and other household chores?

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blade_guy

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Jan 7, 2006
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Reading these threads piqued my curiosity:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=385088

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=385057

It never occurred to me to use my expensive knives for such mundane tasks. I have garden shears, small shovels, and other gardening tools that I use for these tasks.

I'm not sure what to make of the threads I read, other than that it may not be the best tool for the job??

Is it reasonable to expect to buy a knife, regardless of make, and use it for those duties?

Would a Sebenza hold up just as well as a garden shear and shovel when working around a yard?

Thoughts, please.
 
I do it. Adds a bit of fun to the task.

Best tool? No.

But sometimes I don't have the correct tool at hand. And, as long as it isn't too abusive, any good (or poor quality in some instances) knife should more than be up to the task.

After all, ever use a knife to open up your mail? Thats what letter openers are for.
 
I use midrange priced knives for "Everything" tasks. Being an electrician on a construction site all day, my work EDC gets worked HARD. Sure, I could use the right tool for every job, but that would cost the company way too much in wasted time walking back and forth, which leads to questioning my employment.

Speaking about digging, I used my CRKT today to dig for a grounding rod, I also used it to strip 500MCM wire, then I jabbed the point into the end of thick copper wire to move it over so it would come thru the connector. None of these tasks are pocket knife specific, but it's a hell of a lot easier and efficient than stopping what you are doing and getting something labelled for that task.

Just my opinion :)
 
That's what beaters are for:D Generally, for me, I agree - knives are for cutting. If I've got to do a bit digging/prying, whatever, and the correct tool isn't handy, yes, I will occasionally use one of my beaters. My yardwork beaters are usually a Gerber Gator or EZ-out and this fall I started to use my Bryd Meadowlark as well. I have an 01 fixed blade that get used a bunch as well. Interestingly, they have held up well. My Meadowlark and Ka-bar/dozier folding hunter get used a fair amount in scraping tasks.

- gord
 
I use what is at hand. In my case I had a bad experience with one knife. Not all knives will have this problem. I think it is a one knife problem, but my wife has used my Endura for the same task and had zero problems with it. I will try more tests with the 806 to see if I can figure out the problem. It is now shaving sharp. More tests will have to be done, but I feel that it may not have been out of the box sharp.
 
I live on a farm, and often don’t have the right tool for the job on/near me when something needs to be done, so I use whatever knife I have on me.

My Busse fixed blades regularly get used for trimming trees (to keep them off of the electric fencing), and for breaking down fallen branches.
 
I use my knives to CUT..... however if (when I'm lazy) a better tool is not near... I always have a vic farmer in my pocket. I will use it:o
 
blade_guy said:
It never occurred to me to use my expensive knives for such mundane tasks. I have garden shears, small shovels, and other gardening tools that I use for these tasks.
Click to expand...

That's kinda like asking if you should use a shovel to slice bread just because its there. Use the correct tool for the job. If you need to cut something, use the knife.

Knives are very specialized tools. You're not gonna dig a fox hole with your Sebenza, or your Busse despite what they tell you in Tactical Knives.
 
My hard use yard knife is a serrated Spyderco Native. It has endured years of pruning, cutting subterranian roots, etc. Used it as a can opener once when stranded in the woods, miles from nowhere (that did result in a slight chip.) Lost it while gardening one fall and found it covered with dirt the next spring. Rinsed it off and kept using it. It just keeps going, and going, and going. And the dang thing still has no discernable blade play.
 
I use my knives and other tools to do tasks around the house. I always carry a pair of Felco, Corona, or Fiskars pruners (whichever pair I feel like carrying that day) on my belt in a leather pouch I made. I also carry a hawkbill pruning knife and a medium to large fixed blade knife every day. I am usually carrying 8 to 10 knives at any given day. I admit to using my Emerson super commander to pruning plants on occasion, but I prefer to use tools that are designed for the particular purpose they are designed for whenever possible. Most of the time I just use what is immediatly at hand. Somtimes I'm also carrying around a shovel, pruning saw, tomahawk, or my favorite - a livesay RTAK (I live in a rural area). I have made several of the knives and tools I carry and those tools/knives I really use a lot. With that said I tend to be carrying around the "proper" tool to to do the many basic pruning tasks that are needed in the garden at any time. I also tend to have the needed gardening or other tools close at hand. I rarely endup using my expensive knives that are shorter than 18 inches long for mundane tasks.
 
Psychopomp said:
Knives are very specialized tools.
Click to expand...

Some knives are yes, some knives are not, it depends on the design. You don't make a knife out of 1/4" high shock steel simply for low stress cutting, that is what blades out of 0.50" thick M2 at 66 HRC are for. And yes if you want you can dig a hole with a Busse, it works as a small pick to loosen and break up the soil and pry out rocks.

There are also multi-purpose shovels as well. The Cold Steel survival shovel will work as a knife or axe due to its sharpened sides. Fred Perrin also discussed its use as a weapon, including being thrown like a Tomahawk in a review he did a long time back. There are many other versions of similar styles of shovels with similar intended uses.

-Cliff
 
I use my Busse Basic 9 as a weed wacker occasionally. And I occasionally hit something hard that was behind the weeds.:( It's still goin though.:thumbup: I've also thought seriously about trimming my bushes with my Paul Chen Katana but didn't want the cops called on me.(My in laws got me a real bush trimmer for xmas though so now I won't have to try the katana. AND... I won't have to order a Ninja outfit to do lawn chores.:thumbup: :D )

oil
 
If the knife is a khukuri, then yes - you can go ahead and pry stumps out of the ground without hurting it. Using a folder for garden tasks doesn't seem to add up in my opinion, however.
 
I use a folder to cut green onions. That's about the only gardening I do. My father is a retired professional gardener. I don't think he would use a folder. He uses a small Japanese hand sickle for most of his cutting.
 
I have a BM 730CFHS that gets a lot of hard chores, especially when I'm at my parents' helping with construction of their new house. It takes a beating, but keeps coming back for more. I used it in the past to do yard work, back when I couldn't afford to buy a weed whacker, and it cut down lots of weeds around the edges of the porch, and fence. I took a chip out of the edge a while back, but sharpening it has almost erased that. It even makes a decent knife for trimming wall-board, and sheet rock. Gypsum isn't all that hard on the blade, and a quick run with the ceramics, and it's shaving sharp again. I even used it to trim the edge of a 2x4 which needed just a bit of convincing to fit into it's designated spot. M2 is definitely a "tool" steel.

Daniel
 
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