Edc hard use knives used hard

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My former job in a factory wasn’t too hard on knives. It requires cutting plastic wrap, thick plastic straps, cardboard and the occasional plastic tier sheets. My Kershaw leek, link, Amp 3.25 and others got the job done but I had to sharpen them up every week or two. Then I moved on to ZT and used several...0900, 0566, 0350, 0450, 0770, 0801, 0808 and a couple others. I rotated them fairly frequently and barely ever had to sharpen those knives (some I never had to). And I did work there for about 5 years.
I know some people use them a lot harder than I did, but those Elmax and S30v/S35VN steels held up great for my usage, especially compared to the 8cr & 14c28 steels.

 

While I don't necessarily disagree, sometimes you have to make do with what you have on hand, and most of us always have a knife on hand.

If I deberred steel pipe regularly, I'd probably have a tool on hand to do the job. If I know in advance that I'm gonna be prying things, I'll take a pry bar with me. Digging up roots at the house, I'll go to the shed for a small spade. All of these, I know in advance I'm gonna be doing, and can plan for.

See, it's nice to imagine I'm always gonna have the right tool at my disposal, but let's face it, that's not always the case. Sometimes I'm gonna need to improvise. I might not pry too hard on something with a folder, because I know it's limitations, but a fixed blade will get by in a pinch if it has to. And the spine of a knife will turn a screw if need be. If I gotta scrape some corrosion off of a battery terminal to jump start a car, guess what I'm using if I'm in the middle of nowhere? I don't think any of us are out looking for ways to abuse our knives, but I'm not gonna shy away from using a good tool if it's all i have on hand.

We just disagree. If needed, I'll use a tool within what I feel it's working parameters are, not just it's design parameters. THAT to me is what hard use means.

 

You probably used the K.I.S.S. more on that single project than all the times I carried the thing. It never really got much love when I owned it.
It really looks better now than when I had it. What you have done to it is amazing.

I hope it brings a smile to your face every time you use it. Just consider it a sign of a long distance friendship.

-Sabre Cat

 

And yet you have stated that the way people use their knives makes them less "manly" than you.

If you feel abusing then breaking cheap knives makes one "manly," you are certainly entitled to that opinion.

I think you will find that the vast majority here, men and women, are here because they have "continually evolved" to where they appreciate knives, and the way they are designed by skilled makers for a specific task. And they are entitled to that opinion. I am among them.

 

I guess I was lucky to have grown up in the 1950's when there were still plenty of "real men" for a young boy to want to emulate. Most of the men I was around while in the formative stages were all vets of WW2. They had clawed and scraped their way through a Great Depression, and then a vicious world war the likes that had never been seen. Our scout master was a hard core Marine that had been up the beach at most of the islands in the Pacific theater, Uncle Charlie got his boots wet on a beach in Normandy and walked most the way to Berlin. Uncle Sonny was a young guy piloting a B17 on 8 to 10 hour missions taking out the German war industry. Uncle Mike had half his face disfigured when he got a PT boat blown out from under him in the English Channel. Uncle Paul was a mechanic working on the engines of the aircraft that flew out of England.

After the war, most of these men had blue collar jobs supporting families and partaking of the American dream of being a Harry homeowner, curtesy of the G.I. loans. Uncle Charlie was a printer, Uncle Paul was a machinist at the Curtis-Wright engine plant in Patterson New Jersey. Uncle Mike was a working waterman on the Chesapeake Bay crabbing and oystering. Uncle Sonny stayed in the Air Force as a career and Mr. Van, our scout master ex-Marine was a grounds keeper/plumber/carpenter/electrician/maintenace manager for the church that sponsored our Boy Scout troop. It seemed that there wasn't anything Mr. van couldn't fix.

Somehow, these men, and they were men in any definition of the word, kept the same pocket knife for may years that turned into decades. Uncle Charlie had his old army issue TL-29 that he had since Utah Beach, Mr. Van had the same well worn but not abused Remington scout knife that had all through the war in the Pacific, Uncle Mike had the same Camillus stockman that the Navy had issued him in 1943 with the Property U.S. Government etched on the main blade. All the knives were very well worn, with blades that were sometimes half the width of when they were new. But no blades were broken, no handle scales were missing or broken, and they were used for cutting. My own father had the same Case peanut from the year before the war to the late 1970's. It was treated with respect and he was a teacher of the right tool for the job. One time when I was prying off the lid of a can with my pocket knife, he was waling by and head slapped me a good one and told me, "It's a knife, bonehead. Not a crow bar." By the time he retired that little Case, it was worn down to blades that were half of what they had been.

They all did real world work, but they used the right tools for the job. In my own profession as a machinist, there was all kinds of deburring to be used on all kinds of metal. We used a deburring tool that worked better than any knife. It was made for the job. Also a 8 inch file could be ground to have a chisel tip and knock off burrs and then file smooth with one tool. All the guys I worked with had pocket knives, but they weren't about to wreck them on a dirty job when there was other and better tools for the job, if maybe less macho. I guess they were too busy doing the job right and then going home and raising a family and going about the business of life to worry about such things.

In the end, some people have a warped idea of what it means to be a real man.

 

Use the right tool for the job. I was taught to use my linemans and a beater screwdriver to do some things as an electrician. I felt that was wrong and lazy. I have a hammer to use as a hammer. I have a demo screwdriver to use as my beater (steel shaft all the way through). These tools work 100% better than linemans and a plastic handled beater that's going to disintegrate when you beat on it.

Reaming conduit... They make reamers and files for that job, and they work better than a knife. Threaded rod does work in a pinch however!

I just feel it is easier and more professional to do the job right with the correct tool. You say spydercos are nice but don't have a strong enough tip? That's because they are designed to cut (as a knife is designed to do) not pry, or turn a screw. Hell, was at my mom's the other day and we had to replace batteries in one of my kids toys. I needed a screwdriver, and she said "use your knife!" and I flat out told her it's not a screwdriver, and proceeded to get the screwdriver that was in the other room.

Cut with a knife, pry with a pry bar, deburr pipe with a reamer or file. If you're in a situation you have to use your knife for something it's not designed for I can understand that. But if you are on a job and need to do something you knife was never designed to do? Take a minute and get the correct tool. If you don't have it or it's not provided? Tell the boss to pound sand and get the correct tool.

Just my opinion.

 

One thing I did notice as a kid, every single man carried some sort of small pocketknife, had one of those little Sears 4-way keychain screw drivers on their keyring. It had four different size driver bits, and the smaller one would work well on Phillips screws. A good many of them still had the P-38 on their keyring or in their wallet. That gave both flat and Phillips screw capability, as well as can opening, and bottle opening, scraping and light prying of putty can lids.

So many times I saw them use that keychain screw drier to unscrew or tighten a screw and leave their knife for cutting jobs.

 

Wow! I think most of you would be appalled at what a real, hard working knife looks like and gets used for....

As 'knife-nuts' you all collect, admire, and covet knives for they're design, or materials, collectability, or whatever, and expect that everyone is going to use them solely as cutting implements. But that's just not how it works out in the real world, where the majority of the people who own and carry knives just see them as a fairly universal tool. Hell most of them aren't even that sharp, and when they are sharpened it's on a pull through or electric sharpener.

The average knife owner isn't going out and buying a $500 CRK to abuse on the job site. Hell, they They think Chris Reeves is the guy who played Superman in the 80's, and think Spyderco and Benchmade are the most expensive knives available. Yep, they're gonna use their knives to pry, scrape, twist, dig, any another job you can think of, when they don't have time to go find the proper tool. Maybe one out of every hundred of these guys and girls have any idea about knives other than that they can get a pretty decent one in Cabela's for $50 to $100.

Walk in/on to any job sight, shop floor, military base, firehall, or garage, pull the knife out of the pocket of someone at random and look at it. Chances are, it's not gonna be some pristine piece of pocket jewelry whose toughest challenge was cutting an overcooked piece of leftover steak the guy had for lunch. Most likely it's gonna be fairly worn, and been used for tasks some of you wouldn't dream of putting a knife through.

But hey, this is a thread wanting to see hard used EDC blades, so let's go ahead and bitch about when someones apple slicer gets a little dull. You want to baby your safe queens, it's your money, go for it. To each there own. I'm still gonna use my hard use knives pretty hard.

 

Here's my hard use knife. Sexy, ain't it?

 

Oooh, I've got that.






I don't have any modern knives that are as scuffed up, I tend to favor the old stuff in use.

 

And I've been laughed at for taking care of my tools. I clean them, maintain them, so they will perform when I need them to. I also replace them when they are no longer in good working condition. It's amazing how many people I've seen try to cut a small cable with worn out linemans. They have to gnaw at it, and it takes them so much effort and time to do it, when they could sharpen the cutters or get a new pair of linemans and be more efficient.

Same difference with knives. They can look beaten and used, and still function for their intended purpose. And many people do buy cheap knives and use them for all sorts of things they're not intended for. That's fine. I prefer to maintain and respect my tools. Not everyone does.

 

Again
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/how-to-post-pictures-using-imgur-comprehensive.1504241/

And just for the hell of it...

Not mine, but my dad's knife. He found it on a fishing trip ~25 years ago and it has been with him since.


It saw maybe too much use.


And this was my one and only attempt to baton.
Now I bring an axe.

But the thing is, and I suspect this is true for a lot of the people on this site, I have too many knives, and rotate too much for any of them to pick up a lot of wear.

 

I broke a lot of knives as a -irresponsible- kid. Along the way I learned the limitations of what I can and can't do with knives. Now my knives last much longer.
I also learnt how to add pics to forums.

 

Pic was from last summer, but my work ZTs usually get thumped on regularly...

620 is my favorite flange scraper...

 

I have no problem with someone maintaining and taking care of their tools. I respect it, and actually do it myself.
I'm just also aware that, on occasion, a tool is going to get used for something other than it's intended purpose. Doesn't mean it's getting abused, or someone doesn't respect their tools, just means they're willing to 'lean' on them a bit if need be. This being a 'hard-use' thread, I'd assume people would expect that some of these knives would have done a bit more than just cutting, without insinuating that those of us who do 'lean' on them a bit at times don't respect our tools.

Sometimes it comes off as a bit preachy.

This line right here - "Along the way I learned the limitations of what I can and can't do with knives." - this sums it up perfectly.

I know what the limitations of my tools are.
- If I need to pry something with a knife, it'll be a stout fixed blade not a Leek.
- If I need to twist a screw, I'm using the spine not the edge.
I'm not going to put more force into something than the tool can handle. I'll use the right tool if available, but in a pinch, I expect something considered "hard use" to see just that - hard use.

 

I am very familiar with that class of knife users. I have known and worked with lots of them over the years. I've seen guys whip out traditional slip-joints or lock-backs with a nasty butter-knife edge and use them to turn a screw or scrape gunk off their boot. They keep the same knife forever and might get it sharpened if someone else offers or insists. Then there are guys who just buy new knives when they old ones start to get that way.

I've abused knives a few times in a pinch but I always hated it. I think I started out ahead due to strong family guidance. I was specifically taught not to use a knife for prying, turning screws, etc. The first knife I actually owned was an early SAK Spartan I got as a kid. So my first knife had some other tool options to limit temptation.

 

Hey, as long as people are using their knives, I'm happy.
I'm cool if people end up snapping parts of their blade off even.

Just don't go snapping parts off of my knife.
(If I break bits off my own knife, that's my own fault, and therefore okay)

 

It's your knife , but if you push beyond it's limits you may see catastrophic failure , with no warning :

 

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If MacGyver used everything for it's intended purpose (I maybe going out on a limb here) I suspect his employer would have called after the first episode to inform him that the show had been cancelled. The inability to adapt to your situation when a crisis calls will leave you in the dustbin of underachievers when you discover the dime you've kept in your pocket to make that emergency telephone call doesn't do you any good because most all the pay phones have been removed thanks to the evolution of the telephone.