In your opinion, is a knife a tool first or a weapon?

patrickb

patrickb

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Dec 29, 2003
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My parents were visiting us recently and my mother noticed a knife magazine or catalog in the house. The first thing she thought was, "it's a bunch of pictures of weapons."

It just got me thinking that I look at my knives as tools first while the term weapon doesn't really come to mind. Many of the pieces in my collection may fall under the 'tactical' folders classification (or may not, depending on the person doing the classifying), but I favor utility, hunting, skinning type blade styles as opposed to the fighter styles. For instance, I tend to like drop point blades like Mike Obenauf's portly drop point. His, IMO is the perfect blade shape taking into consideration aesthetics and function.

So for you, are your knives tools or weapons first? Obviously they serve many purposes, but what comes to mind first?

-pb
 
For me it's definitely tool first. Not like a hammer though since they are'nt interesting to me. I guess I see it as a tool with alot of possibilities.
 
I remember one day I had just finished cutting brush with my kukri( that's what it was designed for) when friends came in. When they saw the kukri they said 'what a vicious weapon that is '. I didn't comment but wondered where their minds were. Knives are tools first weapons only after I've run my gun dry.
 
I guess that it really depends on what style and colour the blade is.....to me a black, camo or bead blasted blade has negative connotations.

Handle colour also comes into the evaluation, coloured handles like the Case line of jigged bone handles set off few alarms with the public.
 
Isn't a tool something you employ for _constructive_ work and a weapon something you use for _defence or destructive_ purposes? So, it ends up being the image in one's mind of which purpose the knife will be put too (popularized by the media). Afterall, a hammer is mostly considered to be a useful tool but, when used to kill, it becomes a weapon.
 
I don't carry weapons. I carry tools - well, except for firearms while hunting. Even my "hunting knives" are tools. I don't use them as weapons. The weapon thing is already done!

For me the concept of "weapon" lies in the mind - how an object is applied in use. Almost any common object *could* be used as a weapon.

I recently heard an account where a woman used a pot of boiling water to defend herself against her abusive husband. Good thinking there......... He never abused her again!
 
As some others have said, a knife is a weapon if the carrier intends for it to be a weapon. I remember being in Nigeria and seeing people walk around with two foot machetes and no one even blinked because it was so obvious that people carried these knives for work. Contrast that with going through a a typical security check where even a Ladybug or tiny SAK is suspect. It is a case of different cultures and different attitudes. The problem with our attitude is that when taken to it's extreme, it would mean that people should only be allowed in public without anything because there is nothing that a human cannot make into a weapon if so inclined. :rolleyes:
 
A knife is for me a tool and I intend to use my knives not as a weapon, even not for self defence.

But foremost a knife is for me some sort of a jewel. It's something to take out of my pocket and admire the beauty, craftsmanship and design.

I am the only one I know in my immediate surroundings who collects and carries knives. Most people know I carry a knife and in that way it has become some part of me as a person, a part of my identity.
Maybe that is the most important for me.

Shiden
 
Tools...guns, knives, cars...etc.

All are tools that can be used for good or bad.

I remember just a few weeks after 9-11, I used my Spyderco Chinook to cut open something and a friend saw it and the first thing out of his mouth was "wow that looks like something the Taliban would carry"......

How do you reply to this kind of stupid stuff?

The "sheeple" are baaaaaaaing!
 
IMO, a weapon is just another tool.

...according to Webster:
1a: a handheld device that aids in accomplishing a task
 
the only weapons i carry are a guitar and a bible. words are more powerful than steel anyway. i just use my knives at work to cut things.
 
Mindset determines how the object is used and that use will dictate whether it is a weapon or tool.

We personally may think of them as tools, yet the states have them regulated under the "dangerous weapons" statutes here in the US.

You can call it a tool but it falls under a weapon where the state is concerned. That should make a difference to us as the state will and has pre-determined for us whether it is a tool or weapon based on their particular local restrictions.

Brownie
 
To us it's a tool. But to the uneducated extremists around us, it's a weapon.
Doesn't matter if I've got my little 705 or the Griptillian, same reaction. "OOOh, is that knife legal?"
So I avoid letting the ignorant liberals see my knife. There are some racists out there too that may hate your race. If they see it you may be getting a visit as a result of his/hers 911 call. ("Man with a knife threatened us!!")
Be careful who sees your knife if the blade is over an inch.
og
 
I live in Ohio, where the law is (as far as I can tell) that it is illegal to carry (conceal) a knife that is specially designed to be a weapon, or that is not designed as a weapon but is nevertheless carried for the purpose of using it as a weapon, even in SD. Therefore, I do not carry a knife as a weapon.
 
I have never used a knife as a weapon, only as a tool...even when hunting. ;)
 
to me, they are both a tool and a weapon. yin and yang. night and day.

but in today's pc world, I would say, yes....it's a tool first and foremost. but at the back of my mind, I wouldn't hesitate to employ it as a weapon, if I have to.

thus far, I've never had to use a knife as a weapon, only as a tool. and that's fine with me ;)
 
Ignoring some legal definitions (some knives are understood legally to be weapons in certain jurisdictions), knives are metal/ceramic sticks with handles. I can jam a knife under a door to prop it open (doorstop), I can cut my lunch with it (cutting tool), I can put it on a stack of papers to keep them from blowing away (paperweight), or I can use it to defend my life if the time arises (weapon).

Remember a couple of things: the hijackers on 9/11 took the planes with.... UTILITY KNIVES! Not tactical folders, not khukuris.... small razor blades inside metal handles. Secondly, more folks die by screwdrivers and kitchen knives than by daggers or khukuris in North America. Are screwdrivers weapons? Are chef's knives? Point is, as Mick Strider says,(I am paraphrasing here) "anything in your hand can be a tool; anything in your head can be a weapon."
 
Considering the thousands of times I've used my knives as a tool, and never once as a weapon (Well, unless you count the machete incident with a ground hog when I was a dumb kid), all my knives are tools.
 
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