How do you use your knives?

S

Steve B.

Joined
May 25, 1999
Messages
668
I use my knives everyday at my job. I have been working in warehouses for the past 20 years now. I got very sick of using the typical Stanley matting knife to cut cardboard, so I got myself a Buck 110. (actually my wife bought it for me!) Shortly there after I discovered Spyderco and I`ve been collecting knives ever since.

These days I work for a violin shop in the Boston area. It`s a small shop, so I cut a lot of the cardboard inserts I use to ship instruments with myself, rather than buy them precut. I also end up cutting a lot of those plastic banding straps that binds corrugated. I find nothing eats up an edge faster than cardboard and banding straps.

Right now, I carry two knives at work; a Kershaw Random Task (or a Mini Task or a Whirlwind) and a Custon Buck 110 (from Pete`s Custom). The Random Task does 90% of my cutting all day and that 440v really does stand up to cardboard quite well. The Buck I keep razor sharp to cut foam rubber inserts for shipping violins and cellos. I also use it when I need a stout knife for the really heavy corrugated. (Those 110`s feel like fixed blade to me when they`re locked open! It`s a very secure feeling.)

I do a lot of kayaking on the rivers here and generally carry a Boye folder with me. I don`t worry about corrosion and it cuts like crazy!

I`d be interested in hearing how other people use their knives in their daily lives, and how they became interested in quality knives in the first place. So often I hear debates about lock strength and edge hardness that it makes me wonder what the heck people are doing with their knives! Here`s your chance to tell.
 
I cut boxes, foam pads, loose threads off of my clothing so they don't rip holes, tape of various kinds (mostly electrical and duct), wrappers, etc. Not much, just basic stuff, sometimes mail or something, whatever needs to be cut.

-Chang the Asian Janitorial Apparatus
 
My knives get used for anything and everything.I have horses and work on a farm,and my daily carry is a delica and a gerber multi tool. The delica is mainly used for opening packages, cutting open bales of hay, cutting bungee cord, rope,hoses,opening rolls of insulation and just basic every day stuff that needs to cut.I use the gerber for more abusive cutting, it doesn't take much of an edge so I don't worry about damaging or dulling the blades. Its been used as a scraper, wire stripper, saw,and stuff thats really hard on a knife's edge.And I carry it for the wire cutters, pliars and other tools. I also carry a good sized trapper knife alot of the time. I keep it scary sharp as a backup to my delica for if I ever dull it and need a sharp knife to finish the job, and to loan to anyone that asks to borrow a knife that I don't trust with the delica or I think will make a scene about it.I really hate when someone asks to borrow a knife then treats you like a serial killer when they see the knife your going to let them borrow.

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Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
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Mine are primarily letter openers.
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Some times I use them to open boxes with new knives in them...it's just a terrible cycle
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~Mitch
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I use them to make a living as a dealer. Thousands upon thousands of knives have passed through my hands briefly before continuing on to their new homes. All hail !, All Hail !! just kidding, but it is a great way to make a living.
 
I use my knife at college when I'm in a pinch for a wire stripper, and I use it at the restaurant I work at to cut boxes and slice lemons (Yes, I wash it before and after the lemons). On camping trips, I press the folders into service whittling wood, and preparing food. It's also great at the malls to cut off those plastic label tags that can be stronger than the product they're on (like sunglasses).

For a while, I was keeping my knives at a larger angle so the cardboard wouldn't dull them so fast, but now I just make sure to true it with a steel on a daily basis.
 
I don't have nearly enough stuff to cut. I mean what do I get to cut, a bagel, open a couple of letters, maybe a FedX package, a loose thread, I mean big Woop!

Some of you guys are soooo lucky. Like Greg (aka Kodiak) gets to run around Alaska with all these great knives, just praying some big old bear is dumb enough to mess with him. Wow!

I've never hunted anything with four legs (he he he) never killed anything, and then gut it skin it and whatever comes next...I feel deprived. Then you got the Tactical guys, where they get to carry guns and knives, and slashing at rolled up newspapers, preparing for Bad Guys that lurk around every corner. And then there's me, corcerned that I might alarm someone with my SAK. It's just not fair. Sometimes it gets so bad I have to go to the Park and just sit and whittle on a stick. I mean that's pitiful. isn't it?

Thanks for listening I feel a lot better now.
 
what got me into knives was my job in high school. i worked at a christmas tree farm and a greenhouse, cutting lots of rope, baling twine, plastic trays, light pruning when i didn't have a pair of shears or a specialized pruning knife. i started with a cheap united knife, moved to a s&w swat and then i got a pair of spydercos, a native and a rescue. since i got the spydercos, i've never gone back to cheap knives. now i have a whole assortment of neat toys, but i'm at college so i don't get to do much work with them. most of their work now consists of food preparation and letter opening. hopefully my job this summer will allow me to do more in depth testing.
 
Tuff, don't even think about it, TAKE THE KNIFE AWAY FROM YOUR FACE!
What's the matter with you, did you run out of fingers to mutilate?
Don't do it, please I beg you don't do it!
 
At my office daly routine I always carry (and use) the Victorinox SAK "Climber" (or "Camper" - it depents on my mood), Spyderco "CalypsoJr." and Leatherman "Wave" and feel quite convenient during any cutting or "tooling" work: from opening a letter, uncorking a wine or beer botle up to small furniture fixing (it is usual in our country rather to try the best by own hands then to use expensive and unreliable service)
IMO: the SAKs are the best pocket bladed tools due to their small but sufficient dimension and multiusage possibilities (I remember that "Climber" is in my pocket only when I need it).
When I'm going to my "outdoor" - yacting - I carry (and use) the SAK, CalypsoJr., Wave, Buck "CrossLock DoubleBlade" and Victorinox "Skipper" spike of which IMO much better then tradition. These "tools" are almost all tools aboard and I use them for everything: from small boat repair up to sandwiches preparing.
Since I lost Spyderco "Dragonfly" I always use the lanyards in such situations and sometimes look like Christmas-tree
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Regards,
MIKLE
 
The times I'm most glad I have my knife is in Chinese restraunts, which we frequent. The food is always prepared in pieces too big for my 2 year old son to eat. Have you ever tried to cut orange chicken and eggrolls with chopsticks?
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It's fun to watch other parents with small children try to do it!

Ryan

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For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:23


 
Other than opening packaging material, I use some of my knives for carving.
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Brandon

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"You should never never doubt what nobody is sure about..."
 
As a (sometime) musician, I'm always using my SAK or Leatherman Wave to splice mic cables, open speaker enclosures, cut duct tape, fix moody microphone connections, open beer and wine bottles :-), etc. Plus I find myself loaning 'em to other folks around who have the same needs but are too damn [insert your own derogatory adjective for knifeless sheeple here] to carry the basic tools needed to do most jobs.
My usual weekend carry varies greatly depending on my mood. Sometimes a Bucklite or Delicia, sometimes a SAK, sometimes a Schrade UH stockman or two-blade Old Timer.
At my day job I carry a small single-blade folder that opens letters, cuts string, etc. It's a desk job so I don't need much.
 
I carry a 532 Bucklock with mastodon scales and use it daily to cut a little bit of everything. My kids are always asking me to sharpen their pencils during homework. Everyone I know realizes that I carry a knife and they know who to come to when something needs cutting.



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John
Lifetime member Buck collectors club
Member NKCA
Member AKTI
 
Day to day I am afraid to say that I am with UW Mitch - Even though I am in a knife friendly office as an accountant I don't cut much except expenses and envelopes. I recently bought a shop vac and have begun whittling in my apt living room making knife stands and a tobacco pipe. My grandfather used to make walking sticks where he would carve out a ball inside the middle that was caged in - this could be next. I am lucky enough to go camping and hunting very frequently (over 60 nights out in the woods in '99) and get to go knutty out there
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Everything from hacking woods and brush to food prep. Just started hunting three years ago and find carving up the animals brings out the greatest appreciation in me for a fine, sharp knife. Scary how easy it is to cut them open to, I hope to never be attacked with a knife! Or attacked at all for that matter.
David
 
I use a knife every day at work and I have for decades.Knives are either useful or essential depending on your trade and hobbies.Lately I have found myself buying more of my knives for the pure hell pleasure of possessing them.This could get expensive.
 
I once ate a raw potato just because I wanted to peel something, and we were out of apples.

David Rock

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AKTI Member # A000846
Stop when you get to bone.
 
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