Just another lesson on lending knives to people

Slim to None

Slim to None

Joined
Nov 11, 2004
Messages
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So i'm at a beach party for work, which was terribly boring, and a previously unknown workmate asks if he can borrow my knife. I agree, and he proceeds to reasonably cut a red disposable cup into a smaller cup.

Later in the day however, he asks again to borrow my prized EDC, a grey caly jr. I agree, but then about a minute later i glance over in his direction and i'm horrified!

This j*ckass is holding my baby in an icepick grip, using full overhead swings, AS AN ICEPICK! I calmy collect myself, walk over, and ask him if he would please stop that. After a query from him, I explain that this behavior is bad for the knife. I gave the blade a cursory exam and it seemed to be ok, but I suspect significant dulling at the least.

Lesson- DON'T LEND PEOPLE YOUR KNIFE!:mad:
 
Until they buy a knife that costs more than $20 bucks most people have no clue about different blade steels, strengths, etc. I was the same way at one time, but after that first $50.00 knife, you learn pretty quick.
 
As a hard rule, I insist on knowing what someone needs the knife for before letting them borrow it now. Usually they simply ask me to use it for them instead of doing it themselves though, which suits me just fine.
 
Actually, VG-10 holds up wonderfully as an ice pick. For a while, the freezers at work used to ice over constantly, and we had to chip the ice off the fans or they'd stop working. I used an Endura as my ice pick, worked like a charm, and didn't harm the knife at all.

Granted I wasn't doing full overhead swings, I was chipping the ice, not hacking it.

But the fact remains that it was MY knife to do that too, if someone else did it, I'd be more than a little irritated.
 
Carry a cheap second knife and keep them away from your Caly. I had a guy use my knife for a can opener once. When he brought it back the edge was wavy.
 
redhawk44p said:
Carry a cheap second knife and keep them away from your Caly. I had a guy use my knife for a can opener once. When he brought it back the edge was wavy.
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Whats wrong with that.I regularly use any knife I carry as can openers.If it can't open a can without damage I won't use it.And isn't if fun to use a mates knife to do something a little bit wrong?If they do break they're up for the replacement and therein lies the lesson.
 
I tend to carry a second blade for occasions like that. I'll use my knife for hard jobs, but I'll decide the jobs, not someone else.
 
I have used my ol' Endura as an icepick, but it was my decision, not someone who doesn't even carry a knife. :)
Be careful.



Blades
 
Ice is pretty soft and brittle. Since I've chewed ice for years I have never worried about using a knife as an icepick. I do it without giving it any thought and I've never seen a knife damaged that way. You might be able to damage a lock if you were clumsy or you could cut yourself if an unlocked blade close on your fingers.
 
When I lend my knife to anyone they usually end up cutting themselves. If I am working on a kill with someone that is different, we often swap a knife while working on moose carcass or slaughtering pigs. On camping trips or in wilderness situations where medical help is a long way off I now never lend a knife, instead I do the cutting for them. I learned this once on a canoe trip where a friend cut himself real good and I (he learned) that its a long way back to the hospital.:mad:
 
i ask every time and usually just do it for them. i got caught last friday at the post office. i heard a elderly women say to an elderly man "you need a pocket knife, to open that package" i look over and sure enough he's struggling mightly to open the box. i reach in my pocket and flip open my edc terzola c-19, and hand it to him. to my surprise, horror, he appreciatively took my blade, but had a palsy, that made his hands shake badly, now with my razor sharp blade in them.( like Ali) his condition was previously masked, by his all out struuggle to force open the cardboard box. as luck would have it, he accomplished his task and i was able to grab the shaking blade from his hand
without incident. for a minute there, my heart was in my throat. it feels good to help folks but in the future i'll just do it for them.
 
I would lend my knives only to couple people and these people have their own knives.
R
 
that lesson should come from your daddy...this guy was old enough to be my daddy. i'm a busy man, not a paramedic. thanks for the humor!!!
 
Jeff Clark said:
Ice is pretty soft and brittle. Since I've chewed ice for years I have never worried about using a knife as an icepick. I do it without giving it any thought and I've never seen a knife damaged that way. You might be able to damage a lock if you were clumsy or you could cut yourself if an unlocked blade close on your fingers.
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Next time then instead of using a knife as a icepick on a 8lb bag of ice, use your fist instead. You will quickly realize ice is a bit tougher than you might think. I have used my old Benchmade/Emerson CQC-7 as an icepick many times, and it shows, the tip is pretty beat up and there are more than a few marks in the BT coating.
 
Simon Yu said:
As a hard rule, I insist on knowing what someone needs the knife for before letting them borrow it now. Usually they simply ask me to use it for them instead of doing it themselves though, which suits me just fine.
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^^^ Best course of action (short of simply informing them where the nearest store that sells knives is located).



Of my knives, I have happily used my CRKT Neck PECK as an ice pick. It's a beat-on-me blade for sure, cheap and simple, and I have no reservations about putting it through some rough tasks. It's a pretty good ice pick, actually, since it's so slim and stabby. :)


-Jeffrey
 
I will use any of my edc's as an ice pick. I will cut things that dull my knife fast if I have to. When I'm working, if using my knife gets it done faster, I'm going to use it. A less pointy tip or a few minutes on a stone do not deter me.

I let my friend borrow and endura 4 as an enduance test. It's been 3 weeks, no breaks, and it's still sharp. I'll probably give it to him. I like my Mili a lot more and I just bought a waved endura 4 so it'd be fine. I already broke it in before he got it.

I have dropped both the endura 4 and the military tip first into concrete. Both times it took chunks out of the concrete and caused minor damage to the knives. That'll teach me to keep a better grip. I should have learned a long time ago when the mili tried to take my leg off when I dropped it.

Like bufford said, I am more afraid of what someone will do to themselves with my knife then what they will do to my knife. A razor sharp knife is rare to most folks. I've never ran into anyone that had a knife more than a year old that could even be considered sharp or maintained. I'm the only person I know that can put a razor edge on a blade and I work as a mechanic, you'd figure a bunch of guys that use wrenches all day could sharpen a knife.
 
I have learned the very hard way that there are 2 tools that you just don't loan to anyone except your best and BRIGHTEST friends who you know would replace something or repair something if they broke it. Those tools are a top notch pocket knife and a chain saw.

It totally amazes me how utterly stupid people are with knives and most of all how incredibly stupid people are with chain saws. I loaned a Stihl 028 Chain saw that I had for years to a good buddy. I had it razor sharp where it would just float through hardwood. I specifically told him DO NOT RUN IT in the DIRT!!! I looked at him 5 minutes later and you guessed it>> every tree limb he was cutting he was going at least 2 inches in the ground :mad: . I approached him angry enough to take on Mike Tyson and asked him why he was doing that. He claimed he wasn't running the bar & chain in the dirt even with the obvious cuts in the ground sticking out like a silver dollar in a mudhole :mad: . The cutters on the chain were really dull and took me over an hour to bring back with a good edge.

Almost the same thing applies to people with knives. Until I got totally immersed in this hobby I didn't realize how sickening-ly, moronically stupid most people are with any tool with a cutting edge. It seems like a lot of people use a knife for everything except what they are supposed to be used for. I bet there isn't one person out of 200 who knows how to adequately sharpen a knife>> much less the proper use of one. I'm not being totally self-righteous here because until I had to sharpen chain saws and my own knives ( back in my teenage days when I was still learning) I didn't respect what all was invovled with them either. But I had a grizzly redneck dad who made me sharpen everything I dulled. Very quick education I got :eek: But for people to deliberately abuse good quality tools is just disgusting at best :( .

Knive & chain saws>> don't loan them out :D
 
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