EDC limits

W

Will Estes

Joined
Apr 25, 2022
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What is the most you’ll do with your edc folder? Also, which one do you prefer for heavy use? My beater is a Paraframe, but what other recommendations do you have?
 
I have a hard time defining "beater". Some years ago I bought a franken-Manix- a G10 Manix 2 with black scales and M4 blade. It had a lot of patina and looked like an old tool so I use it as a tool. About the hardest use I've come up for it in my workshop is in scraping wood, pvc or aluminum, which hardly taxes it. Since then I've bought a LW Manix 2 in Rex45 and that is the knife that I carry and use in my workshop the most. But again I hardly do anything very taxing with it. I have a couple of old cheap knives in my workshop that I use if I need to beat on a knife or cut things really questionable.
 
My primary EDC is always a quality fixed blade, but my folder is always only decent, and relatively inexpensive. Never saw any reason to carry a really good one, but I won't carry crap, either. Cheap and inexpensive are not the same thing. Besides a Kershaw Launch 8 auto, the most I've paid for a folder in the last 25 years is $80.

I carry a knife to cut stuff. I don't give a rat's ass about anything else.

EDIT: Almost forgot, I carry a White River Sendero Classic, my folder for the last couple of years has been a Ruike P108, $35. The 14C28N blade has been great on boxes, poly bands, and fiberglass packing tape at work. Not as good as the Sendero, thank God, but impressive, nonetheless. Also becoming something of a fan of Civivi's D2.
 
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I don't really have "beater" knives. I have dozens of quality knives that all get EDC time, and they are all used to cut whatever needs cutting. I don't abuse my knives, and if my EDC knife isn't suitable for a given task, I find the right tool that is.
 
When I think of the term "beater", I think of people using knives to do something they weren't designed for. I don't use any of my knives for any purpose like that. I'll use the right tool for the job, and if that job is anything other than cutting, then I use something else. Now, I do tend to take Cold Steels along when camping or doing yardwork, because they might get dirty, or dull through repeated cutting or whittling, and that's fine. However, my EDC knife choices tend to be a large nice folder, and a small one. Sometimes a third knife, a SAK or slipjoint that goes in my offhand pocket just in case I need to cut something while in the office. Is it too many knives? I'm sure it is, but I like knives, so I carry what I like.
 
I'll use my EDC for just about any cutting task. I really don't have beaters. I just have knives.

If I had to draw a line somewhere it would be, handing my knife to someone that says "does anyone have a knife?"

As an upgrade from the Paraframe, I'd recommend an Ontario Rat 1.
 
Utx85. Scraping slime off the tile floor. I did try to keep a good angle so as not to ruin the grind.
 
My knives only do knife stuff, nothing considered to be abuse. I don’t beat on them or try to cut stupid things. I consider hard use as something possibly messy and that may have some torque or something that I wouldn’t trust a locking knife to do. For me, I carry a SAK and an Izula daily, regardless of what I’m doing, and depending on what I’m doing that day I may have another folder or bigger fixed blade. I carry folders for quick cuts and to use when I’m at work or in the public’s view. I carry a fixed blade mainly because there are no moving parts, locks, etc. to fail, and I trust them more. Also, I carry the fixed blade to do dirty jobs that I wouldn’t want to clean out of a folder, or for something that’s better suited to a fixed blade. Truthfully, I don’t need what I carry, but I like it and I’m always prepared, just in case.
 
I'll cut stuff with it. I might occasionally use the tip to dig out a splinter or something. That's generally it.

"Beater" might imply other tasks but I usually take it to mean dirtier types of cutting. There are definitely tasks where I might be happier using a cheap utilitarian knife versus something fancier. For instance, I wouldn't want to be cutting through roots or something like that with my regular EDC knife. There is also a difference in what types of knife I'd choose for a day at the office versus a day at the cabin or a day in the woods.

When it comes to batoning, prying, turning screws with a knife, etc.; you've got to ask the questions of whether something is an appropriate task for a knife, let alone a folding knife. Yes, emergencies happen and sometimes, you've got to do what you've got to do. I like to have a multi-tool of some kind and a small pry tool as part of my EDC.
 
Quiet said:
When I think of the term "beater", I think of people using knives to do something they weren't designed for. I don't use any of my knives for any purpose like that. I'll use the right tool for the job, and if that job is anything other than cutting, then I use something else. Now, I do tend to take Cold Steels along when camping or doing yardwork, because they might get dirty, or dull through repeated cutting or whittling, and that's fine. However, my EDC knife choices tend to be a large nice folder, and a small one. Sometimes a third knife, a SAK or slipjoint that goes in my offhand pocket just in case I need to cut something while in the office. Is it too many knives? I'm sure it is, but I like knives, so I carry what I like.
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I think you have the correct usage of beater there. You use the beater for tasks that can severely hurt the resale value of the more expensive knives. Even beaters though should be used correctly (no prying, stabbing steel, etc.) lest the user hurts himself.

I usually carry a Para 3 around because it’s light and pretty dang convenient. Beaters are a couple of pre-GSM Cold Steels too.
 
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Quiet said:
When I think of the term "beater", I think of people using knives to do something they weren't designed for. I don't use any of my knives for any purpose like that. I'll use the right tool for the job, and if that job is anything other than cutting, then I use something else. Now, I do tend to take Cold Steels along when camping or doing yardwork, because they might get dirty, or dull through repeated cutting or whittling, and that's fine. However, my EDC knife choices tend to be a large nice folder, and a small one. Sometimes a third knife, a SAK or slipjoint that goes in my offhand pocket just in case I need to cut something while in the office. Is it too many knives? I'm sure it is, but I like knives, so I carry what I like.
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That is absolutely also the definition of beater, to some people, what you described taking your CS out for. Might get dirty, dull, that's okay. But, you're still doing knife stuff and it's still a "beater", comparatively. A less-valued knife that still works well.
 
When I think ‘beater’, I think of a knife that I don’t mind using for doing things like cutting tape (not a fan of tape residue on a fresh edge on an expensive knife), opening bags of bird seed (getting dust in the action if it has bearings), dog/cat food (inside of the bags are kind of greasy or waxy or something and need to be thoroughly wiped), opening bags of rocks/gravel (obvious), prying off zip ties that are really tight on a metal railing or something (happens often when taking down seasonal decorations), etc. etc. For these tasks I use my Byrds and Moras—even though the Hinderer or whatever else is in my pocket could easily do any of these tasks. I guess my limit for actually using any of my nice knives is pretty low, so I use a ‘house’ or ‘garage’ knife…:/
 
I try to use the right steel and geometry for the right job.
If I'm going to know I am cutting hardcore zip-ties all day, I will not bring my Maxamet blade, until I know the steel better, nor will I bring my hollow-ground Yojimbo jumbo. I'll use a Cruwear PM2, or an M4 Sage. Something stouter.
 
7east said:
When I think ‘beater’, I think of a knife that I don’t mind using for doing things like cutting tape (not a fan of tape residue on a fresh edge on an expensive knife), opening bags of bird seed (getting dust in the action if it has bearings), dog/cat food (inside of the bags are kind of greasy or waxy or something and need to be thoroughly wiped), opening bags of rocks/gravel (obvious), prying off zip ties that are really tight on a metal railing or something (happens often when taking down seasonal decorations), etc. etc. For these tasks I use my Byrds and Moras—even though the Hinderer or whatever else is in my pocket could easily do any of these tasks. I guess my limit for actually using any of my nice knives is pretty low, so I use a ‘house’ or ‘garage’ knife…:/
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I haven't cut tape or opened packages with my knife in a while, genuinely love the sharpened package opener on the Leatherman Wingman.

I got it! My Wingman! Ultimate "beater"! I never don't have it on me, always always carry it. Always don't hesitate to use it for gross jobs like cutting open bags of recycling at the center, always use it for a million things, and it is not pretty, half serrated blade, but it's all tool, and a quality one. I just want to replace those scissors with a 154CM blade... Someone should do a crazy S110V reblade for the LM knives. Working edge last ya forever.
 
Will Estes said:
What is the most you’ll do with your edc folder? Also, which one do you prefer for heavy use? My beater is a Paraframe, but what other recommendations do you have?
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The most I'll do? Rewire a fusebox, carve a slingshot, make kindling, start a fire, repair tack and saddle, open a bottle of wine, pick out hooves, skin and prep game, remove a splinter, sharpen a machete and an axe, sight in a rifle, change choke tubes, open boxes and bags, repair a faucet, replace a doorknob and locks, fix my glasses.

I've done all these and much more with a Victorinox SAK. My usual EDC is an Opinel N°10, though, and I can do a fair number of these things with it, too.

Zieg
 
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I use a Tasman Salt 2 SE, a Native LC200N SE, a Caribbean SF SE, a DF2 H1 SE for garden and yard work and a Steel Will 3" CutJack in the workshop. So I don't really EDC them, but these are the areas most of my hard use happens.

There is no limit for the Ruike 14C28N Hornet fixed blade I carry in my backpack.

The CRK Inkosi is probably my most robust folder, and under normal circumstances I would not apply lateral force or baton with it.
 
Chronovore said:
I'll cut stuff with it. I might occasionally use the tip to dig out a splinter or something. That's generally it.

"Beater" might imply other tasks but I usually take it to mean dirtier types of cutting. There are definitely tasks where I might be happier using a cheap utilitarian knife versus something fancier. For instance, I wouldn't want to be cutting through roots or something like that with my regular EDC knife. There is also a difference in what types of knife I'd choose for a day at the office versus a day at the cabin or a day in the woods.

When it comes to batoning, prying, turning screws with a knife, etc.; you've got to ask the questions of whether something is an appropriate task for a knife, let alone a folding knife. Yes, emergencies happen and sometimes, you've got to do what you've got to do. I like to have a multi-tool of some kind and a small pry tool as part of my EDC.
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I think that is definitely what I mean by “beater knife”. After posting this discussion I saw the ambiguity in that term! I definitely have others that would work, but I don’t mind scratching that one up or getting it dirty/muddy, etc. My regular edc is a Leek, but I wouldn’t really want to use that to open boxes of sandpaper or anything where I would scrape the edge on hard stuff.
 
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