How useful is a knife?

Joined
Jun 2, 2000
Messages
16
Like most of you guys, I really like knives. However, when I'm not working I honestly can't find a reason for me to carry a knife with me except for self-defense.

Do you agree?

BTW, Having sharp knives lying around all the time I can't help stabbing and chopping up things around the house. Does anyone else have this problem?
 
With a knife you can do stuff like:
- scare everybody in the office
- peel an apple
- open your mail
- scare everybody in the office again
- play with it if you are bored
................................
smile.gif


So, I find knives usefull and fun.

Welcome aboard!

[This message has been edited by flava (edited 06-07-2000).]
 
Hello,

Devil's advocate here. ARGH! If I didn't have a knife I'd feel naked, and no, not because I need it for self defense. In reality, without training and a true belief that the blade will save your bacon, the knife may just blow adrenaline levels too high to be effective. Head and legs are ones best defense. No offence directed to anyone; that's just me. But having a blade to cut thistle from overtaking my hedge or reducing those cardboard boxes into acceptable size for recycling or trimming a thread from a jacket or cutting rope for xyz... that's why it's necessary. The second you accidentally find yourself without a blade is when you'll receive that package triple-wound in duct tape. Try it sometime -- walk naked (read: bladeless) and see how many times you reach for that most useful of tools and say ARGH!

Cheers and welcome,

RLR

[This message has been edited by RLR (edited 06-07-2000).]
 
come one..
I'll need my knife to put it to my hip each and every day.
smile.gif

Greetings
red
 
Good question. For an answer just sit back and watch. You will see people doing all kinds of weired things to do things that would have been far more easily accomplished with a knife.

You will see people wrestling with packages, sawing with letter openers, prying with pens, chewing on non-edible things, and generally they are not even conscious of what they are doing. There is a reason why the knife was one of our earliest tools. And, until the world comes pre-packaged in nice easy to open bite size pieces, we will continue to find our knives very useful.

Welcome to the forums.
 
The only time I DON'T use/need a knife is when I'm sleeping or in the shower. IMHO, the knife was the most useful tool ever invented. I can't imagine being without one and for almost as long as I can remember, I never have, except for a short stretch in boot camp.
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Hoodoo

The low, hoarse purr of the whirling stone—the light-press’d blade,
Diffusing, dropping, sideways-darting, in tiny showers of gold,
Sparkles from the wheel.

Walt Whitman
 
Knives have an enormous number of uses and I'm sure you'll get an earful here. But let me add two you probably won't hear from the others: 1. I admire the beauty, art and craftsmanship of my knives at least as much as others admire their rings, necklaces, bracelets and watches. Noone questions their right to those, even though cutting an apple with a necklace is pretty messy; 2. I find my knives are a surprising bellwether of peoples attitudes and the state of my own liberty. That tells me more about the times than any bloody watch.
 
Mine can core a apple!
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Welcome!

Brandon

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I've got the schizophrenic blues
No I don't
Yes I do...
 
Well, HJK, you aren't alone in either point. There's a good reason why damascus sells, even though it doesn't perform as well as ordinary steel. Damascus is a thing of beauty. Of course, my knives are not solely works of art, so I tend to want a 'regular' blade with damascus bolsters, or san-mai damascus.

And judging various people's reactions to a knife I carry is a very quick way of separating the humans from the sheep. Several times, I've found someone who never carries a knife due to an excessive need to be PC, but would sit there and play with one of mine until I asked for it back. Found several 'closet knife knuts' that way.

--JB

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e_utopia@hotmail.com
 
Some people just stare at me and ask me why I need a big knife and why don't I just use keys to open packages? I don't try to open a locked door with my knife. Same reason why you shouldn't use keys to cut something. Use the right tool for the right job. Reminded me of the time I was in a post office and some guy was trying to cut some big sheet of paper to use as package wrapping. He was sawing at it with his keys, taking 10 times the amount of time I would take with my knife, with much messier results. I pulled my knife and asked him if he wanted to use it. He said, "no, that is alright, I have keys."
rolleyes.gif
Some people just don't get it.

-Chang, Asian Janitorial Apparatus
 
Due to two absolutely legitimate uses of my knife in the workplace (opening things that needed to be opened- not with a samauri flourish or anything), I have been "spoken to" by management twice. Not everyone shares our enthusiasm for & appreciation of knives. Beware of "scaring people" in the workplace- it makes us all look bad & it can bite you on the a$$ professionally...

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Runs With Scissors
AKTI# A000107
 
Self defense is the last thing I would use my knife for. A nice bat, stout stick, or .45 would do a lot better. I carry a knife every where, every day, and it is used a lot. Some of the uses are: finger nail cleaning, cutting string, opening the mail, making shorts from long pants, reducing the size of a piece of rag for cleaning, cutting a tooth pick from a branch, scarping paint from something small, digging out splinters, peeling fruit, and a host of many other things. Last of which is to loan for an acceptable cutting job (not wire or cans).
For me, it is really hard to think of a knife as a weapon. I know it can be, as a whole multitude of other pointy edged thigs can be also.
As long as our law makers think they can blame inanimate objects for behaviorial problems, WE are in deep dodo.

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Ray Kirk
http://www.tah-usa.net/raker
 
I always carry an Adventurer model Swiss Army Knife with a 3.25" locking blade. This can also be purchased with a Boys Scouts insignia. The Scout moto is to "be prepared". I most frequently use the knife blade to open packages, cut cardboard, cut string and cloth, cut paper, cut meat, cut wood, and cut plastic (this is rarely at my regular job). With the other tools I fix things, build things, and take things apart. Nine times out of ten when I run across something that needs fixing I just do it with my SAK. I would wager that people who use keys for a task when offered a knife, don't build or fix things much. Ever since I got my first Scout knife as a kid, I've been the member of my family that takes care of anything technical.
 
It wouldn't even occur to me to carry a knife as a weapon. I carry one all the time to open packages, spread things, cut things and I use a pocket knife every day. Perhaps you should consider getting a multitool. Not good for self defense but you may find more utility in it than you do a pocket knife.


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Fred
Knife Outlet
http://www.knifeoutlet.com
 
Just wanted to add that my knives are both tools and weapons. For that matter, my shoes are both tools and weapons. Nearly any tool can also be a weapon, some more effectively than others. If needed, I would not hesitate to use a knife for self-defense, but until that time, I use knives as tools. I use 'expensive' knives because of the 'art' factor already discussed, and because I believe in having high-quality tools, rather than cheap POS tools.

As for knives vs. guns, sticks, etc. for self defense, I have several reasons to often prefer knives:

I can take a knife many more places than a gun, and leave it in the car when I can't go somewhere with it, whereas I can't legally leave a handgun in a car where I live.

Also, I can't own a handgun for another fourteen months or so, making it impractical.

In close combat, a nice fixed-blade can often be more useful than a gun. For example, refer to the reviews of Jerry Hossom's fighting knives; if you cut off your attacker's arm, he has trouble aiming his gun.
rolleyes.gif


Anyway, on the origninal topic, I don't think a day has gone by that haven't used a knife. And, it greatly reduces my stress level when I hook my hands on my pockets and feel the butt-ends of a couple of Benchmades, since I know they will be there if I need them.

--JB

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e_utopia@hotmail.com
 
You want to know how many times a day you look at your watch? Leave it at home one day. I did once. Real awakening.

Came to work one day and left my knife at the house. I never really realized just how many times I used it in a day until I reached for it and remembered it wasn't there.

It's one of those things you start to take for granted after awhile, not exactly a necessity, but boy does it make life easy when it's there.
 
I just witnessed this: a friend of mine had never tought to carry a knife until this Christmas, when a girl gave him a Swiss Army knife as a present (gosh...i think he should marry her....
biggrin.gif
).He started to carry it lackadaysically at first,but after a month or two i was sure that he had his knife in his pocket (not that i need it, i always have mine..
wink.gif
).
Yesterday , becoming aware of the shortcomings of a SAK , he bought his first one handed folder (crkt l.u.s.). I swear that i have never told him to buy another knife.
As you can see,when you start to carry a knife you become so dependent on it that you silmply can't do without.
 
Unfortunately for most of us here, it is as close to having to breath as you can get!

If I had to work where I couldn't carry a knife, I don't know what I'd do!

G2

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"The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions!"
Take the time to read your Bible Now, don't be left behind...

G2 LeatherWorks



[This message has been edited by Gary W. Graley (edited 06-11-2000).]
 
I've never used a knife for self-defense and I doubt I ever will. However, I do use a knife everyday, even though I don't need a knife for work and I live in an urban area.

Most people don't even realize that many small tasks they perform on a daily basis could be done better with the use of a knife. Opening a bag of potato chips, taking the wrapping off a CD jewel box, cutting unraveled threads off a shirt... this is all stuff that people try to do without a knife, but a knife makes these tasks much easier.
 
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