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

Tools. I have yet to use any knife as a weapon. In fact any tool can be used as a weapon and vice versa. Maybe you should ask your mother what kind of weapons she uses in the kitchen. :)
 
A knife is a knife. Period.

I think you were asking about applications, but your wording seeks a factual definition. As a salesman, I have to get people to buy into ideas, behaviours, services and products. To do my job it is useful to undertsand the difference between features and benefits; simply put, features are and benefits do. Most people buy benefits to aid them in a task (application).

Its features (ie. what it is) are: a flat piece of material (usually a hard one) with some kind of thin edge; sometimes a point; and usually a comfortable place to hold it. The result of these features is that a knife can be used to concentrate force over a VERY small area.

If it has these features it is a knife, regardless of what it is used for (its application), sometimes they're just ornamental or educational.

These features usually mean that a force is concentrated over a very small area of another solid material (wood, paper, skin, muscle, hair, plastic, vegetation, metal, ice) and can cause the chemical bonds under that area to break, thus separating the matter in that area in a controlled way with maximum energy efficiency.

Thus the benefit of a knife (ie. what it does) is usually that it separates matter in a controlled and efficient way. It enables you to cut. For specific knives there will be other benefits, too, each related to specific features of that knife.

The application (ie. what we use them for) of a knife is limited only by your education and imagination, and sometimes by its specific features (grind, materials, shape, saw back, bell & whistles, handle shape, etc). Knives are usually used as tools to make objects or resources more useful, manageable, attractive or edible. Sometimes, making something more 'manageable', means cutting the weapon bearing, load bearing or life supporting structures of another animal, in order to disable them - in this case we may characterise the knife as a 'weapon', yet in this regard it is also still a tool.

So, what a thing 'is' can be looked at on several different levels:

1. Feature - it is a knife. Fact.
2. Benefit - it can cut. Subjective benefit (ie. a person may not agree that being able to cut something is beneficial to them). [So is a trainer a knife? What are the benefits of a trainer?]
3. Application - what it can be used for. Imagination and education will make this a really rich list, while ignorance or lack of experience will focus on the most easily understood/commonly communicated/emotive - ie. weapon. People who look at knives purely as weapons either have a fear of weapons/crime stemming from a lack of empowerment, or, driven by fear, have seek to empower themselves by delegating their fears to an object which they want to believe will give them the protection they crave. The former delegate their protection to authority, the latter to an object. Neither takes responsibility for their protection and neither get true protection. These people lack the vision to see the benefit in (2) and the imagination to understand the breadth of application in (3). This is not always their fault. In these cases the knife is a tool, whose application is weapon. The lid from a tuna can can be used to skin a rabbit, does that make it a knife? A knife can cause harm, does that make it a weapon? A car can cause harm, does that make it a weapon, also? Surely the answer to the last two questions must be consistent. If 'yes', does that make the tuna can a weapon?

Anyway, the short answer is 'tool'.
 
My knives are tools, not weapons. My hammer could be used in self defense as well but it doesn't make it a "weapon" either.
 
"Weapon" is a good, descriptive term. The fact that the word carries strong connotations for many people, both positive and negative, doesn't mean it's a word that should be avoided.

When I'm out camping or hiking, I carry a handgun openly; typically a .45 auto. If I should happen upon someone of less-than-friendly intent, I don't want them thinking "tool," or that I carry it for shooting paper targets or ground squirrels. It's a weapon, pure and simple. And IMO that's a good thing.

Same thing with carrying a tactical folder. If I ever have to deploy one for self-defense, I want my adversary to think "big, nasty cuts to my person." I don't want them thinking letter opener, fruit slicer, or anything benign like that. The fact that I open more letters and boxes with my EDC blades than I ever will make use of it to defend myself doesn't change the fact that I choose to carry this particular kind of knife because of its qualities as a weapon.

Perhaps it's the region of the country where I live, or something about my personality, but I've never had any real problem with other people when it comes to my being armed. I've had no small number of friends who themselves would never carry a weapon, but who expressed to me the fact that they felt very comfortable with my being armed, and actually feel safer when they're out with me as a result.

It's kind of like Alan Ladd said in the movie "Shane": "A gun is a tool, Marian, no better, no worse than any other tool, an ax, a shovel, or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it, remember that."

Ditto a knife, or any other weapon. I see no reason to hide the fact that you own or carry one (or more :)) for any other reason. Perhaps when people react negatively, it's because they sense that you're a little uncomfortable with it yourself ... ?

Dave
 
A knife - any knife - is primarily a tool. Now, it may be a tool for defending your life, but it is a tool none the less. I have had this discussion many times. Here in WA the law defines a "weapon" as any item that, when used in a certain way, puts another person in fear of their life. Pretty wide open? I have shown classes I've taught how an ordinary pencil can be a weapon. If questioned about your choice of EDC cutlery ALWAYS refer to it as a tool.

PS - I'll bet you've already come across many people who don't carry a tool and are always asking to use yours! :p
 
I see my knife as a tool that could be pressed in to service as a weapon if need arise.
I don't even practice using my knife as a weapon these days (although I did in my younger days).
I have never stabbed or sliced anyone but I use my knife nearly everyday, often many times per day.
It's definitely a tool.

BTW, I see my firearms as weapons first and foremost. I practice and shoot so that I can be accurate in case I might have to defend myself or my family and home. I can think of no task that I would use my firearms for except shooting a human or another dangerous animal.
It's definitely a weapon.

Allen.
 
I consider my knives tools. The ultimate definition of whether it is a tool or weapon depends on how the person using it...uses it. :rolleyes:
 
I think it depends on the knife....While I consider most of my knives tools rather than weapons, there a couple that I would consider to be a weapon before being a tool. There is this Kriss blade stilletto, that I suppose if I had nothing else but my teeth, I would use as a tool. Also, some otf autos...MT Halo's and most double edged knives come to mind as a something I would consider a weapon before being a tool. However, a Scarab, I think of as a tool first.....

But I really like the comment made earlier, that weapons are just another tool anyway.
 
A weapon is a TOOL.

BTW of the 100 or so stabbings I've gone to the number one knife by FAR is a cheap pos wood handle steak knife.I think its safe to say they were not made sold or produced to be "weapons" but "tools" .
 
They are tools, but then again my duty sidearm, Glock 22, is also a tool. My PR-24 baton is also a tool.
 
"A knife is a tool....period."

If you were to make that comment to a judge in court, he'd say you were wrong.

In the final analysis, it's what the courts adjudicate, the lawmakers sign into law relative restrictions on knives and not your opinion on what is or isn't when you have been arrested for carrying a "knife" thats violates the current statute in some way.

This has been hashed and rehashed forever. Try telling the cop who pulls you over that the k-bar under the seat is a tool and as such can not be considered withion the realm of the dangerous weapons statutes.

You'll go far with that I'm sure----------not.

Better yet, ask yourselves how many of you violate the local restrictions pertaining to knives as it isa tool to you and not a knife. Most here will obey the laws relative knives. Those laws are "dangerous weapons" laws, not tool laws.

The mere fact you obey the law shows you understand the knife is considered a weapon by those who have the authority to take your freedom from you.

Brownie
 
I think that, like a lot of people, I consider knives to be *more* tools than weapons.

I don't have much of a problem with folks classifying knives as weapons except when that classification becomes negative (which it often is). To a point I do agree. Some people do not buy kerambits for opening letters or skinning game, and extra aesthetic additions to make them look more "nasty" serve a psychological role in promoting the knife, and therefore its owner, as "badass". If our "sheeple" wouldn't react so negatively to this "style", I'm sure the "cool" factor would be toned down a little bit.

I can open up my Rainbow Leek in public or even during class and I don't hear negative comments at all ("OMG it's a switchblade!!! everybody herd into the corner!!").

A good amount of knife photography is done alongside guns and glorifies the "combat" aspect of knives, which IMO is weapon-oriented.

I think failing to acknowledge the visual effects of that photography is a mistake, just like over-emphasizing the idea of *all* knives as tools. However, we need to understand that a weapon isn't necessarily a bad thing. If "weapon" automatically means something *bad*, then I think we should redefine the term:

A gun/knife/hammer/computer/flashlight/curtain/anal plug/dremel/etc. is a tool, intent becomes the weapon.

Tell that to the next person who points at a knife picture and says "weapon".

guns don't kill people, apes with guns kill people
 
Since I have used my knives thousands of times as tools and never as a weapon, I guess my answer would be that i look upon a knife as a tool first and as a weapon as a last resort.
 
I think Brownie brings up a very important point here. One thing is what we as knife nuts think - another is what "the law" says.
Personally, I carry knives as tools and have never used them for anything else than that.
But I'd rather have a go at convincing a cop that my small Ansø Sheepsfoot is a tool than try the same with my Camillus CQB-1!
As others have said, anything can be used as a weapon and may be considered a weapon.
If carrying a weapon is within the law, no problem! If not, well..... I try to make sure I can justify the "tool" label! :rolleyes:

Bo Hansen
 
I have never had to use my knife as a weapon, only as a tool,but would never hesitate to use as a weapon if necessary. That being said ,I also wouldnt hesitate to use the chair Im sitting on ,the broom Im sweeping with,
or the fork Im eating with, and so on. their isnt much I can think of that you
could not improvise into a weapon.
 
I must admit that I purchased my old AFCK as a weapon. I bought the new one mainly as an update, because it is a good knife for use as a backup weapon in a bad situation. The fact that I used (and use) each of them regularly as tools was, and is, secondary. This is also the reason I own a Camillus Boot Knife and will soon own a Greco Whisper.

As Robert Marotz points out, the intent is what makes the difference. Most of my knives are simple tools, and nothing more - not because they see more use as a tools (the AFCK sees the most), but because that is the intent behind them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top