Knife sucks, doesn't work

J

JWBirch

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2002
Messages
1,167
I've been reading more and more posts by people who aren't able to appreciate a knife and feel the need to publicly criticize it or its maker for being unfit. In most cases it becomes immediately apparent that the critic is simply unable to make a knife work. Amazingly, people who will try to impress you with knife knowledge in one post will practically admit to failing to understand a knife's purpose or a maker's intent in another. I myself have recently criticized some knives that were intended for occasional use. I failed to use them occasionally and wore them out. Were they bad knives, or did I use them in a capacity they weren't designed for? A $37 knife is useful to a limited degree, and it's my dumb@$$ fault for not getting a knife up to my tasks. Critisizing a heavy chopping knife for not being a good fighter, a thick combat knife for not being a good slicer, a custom knifemaker for using a powertool, rather points inward than out. Check your headspace and timing before saying something's broke, it helps keep the criticism constructive. I'd rather learn something than get bogged down in a firestorm.

That said, I'm still pissed off by companies who blatently advertise junk knives as combat worthy! Most young troops don't know better.
 
I agree. Knives must be bought and used for a specific purpose. There isn't any knife that can do everything!
 
You simply need balance. Hyping the positives about a knife and ignoring its limitations is just as bad as picking out every weakness and ignoring the strengths. However when making judegements, the knife should be weighted by mainly intended use, though again large reductions in overall scope of work, or the opposite could be of consideration for merit. The problem is muddied when you have knives of very similar, almost identical design, but with radically different scopes of work as defined by the makers. Judged by one makers criteria another can badly fail. Again balance is key. There are few knives foe example that can pass Fowlers requirement of extreme flexibility - does this mean that this perspective should be ignored. Or consider makers like Ralph who build knives which can stand flicking, do you ignore that when a maker says not to flick their knives - which can be of an identical class. Of course not.

-Cliff
 
Originally posted by JWBirch


That said, I'm still pissed off by companies who blatently advertise junk knives as combat worthy! Most young troops don't know better.
Click to expand...

Yeah, those guys got me more than a few times. :( :grumpy:
 
If a company or a maker sells a knife for a specific purpose or if its design expresses an intent to fullfill that purpose, then it's reasonable to expect it to be worthy of that purpose and to criticize it and them if, in fact, the knife proves not suitable for that task.

It is not, however, reasonable to criticize a knife for falling short of some task that it was not sold or intended for.

Don't criticize Florsheim because their Tuxedo shoes don't perform well on your next hunting trip.

01.jpg


Those shoes are not made for hunting, they were not sold for hunting. Their design does not suggest otherwise. If you choose to wear them into the woods hunting, it is you who are incompetent and should be criticized.
 
Knives must be bought and used for a specific purpose.
Click to expand...

Which purpose would that be?

It would be great if the knife makers could come out and express in clear language what they intended the knife to be used for. But, that depends on each user, and how each person chooses to address the problem, and on the level of skill they posses. Each of us must pick the right knife, for the right task, for us.

One guy is going to methodically perform surgery to disassemble a joint, while another is going to simply chop through the bone. One guy can whittle out a log cabin with a machete, and another will break an axe or two while trying to start a camp fire. If you know your knife, which angle to swing it at, how hard to use it, when to sharpen it, and how to identify and deal with the material you are cutting, then your knife is going to perform for you. Otherwise, you are just going to get frustrated, no matter which knife you are using.

Aboriginals have done more with a cheap machete, then most of us can accomplish with a truck load of knives.

Experience counts.

n2s
 
You choose a knife for your purposes. Those may range from hunting to combat to slicing tomatos to whittling to.....you get the picture. I have several "special purpose" knives. They perform adequately for their intended uses. The major conflict seems to be in EDC type knives, the one you carry for "general" purpose. Everyone's got their own ideas as to what they look for in an EDC knife. Just because it works for me does not mean it will work for you. This type of knife is called on to perform many varied tasks. Some work better than others. The perfect knife may never come to pass. If it did, we wouldn't have much to discuss here.

Paul
 
I agree with you 100-percent, but it's the internet and it's not going to stop. :D
 
Everyone's got their own ideas as to what they look for in an EDC knife.
Click to expand...

That's because everyone's got their own lives with different demands.

Go back to the example of shoes. If you're a waiter in a three-star establishment, your EDW (everyday wear) shoes might be those Florsheim Tuxedo shoes. But, if you're a lumberjack, then you probably have different everyday footwear.

My everyday knife requirements rarely include performing surgery to disassemble a joint, chopping through a bone, whittling out a log cabin, or even starting a camp fire. Yesterday, it was unwrapping new storage cabinets. Today, I've opened several boxes. My EDC knife doesn't need to be capable of whittling out log cabins.
 
My everyday knife requirements rarely include performing surgery to disassemble a joint
Click to expand...

Rarely!? Haha :D

Personally I think that reviews are good to keep the makers on their toes so they continue improving their knives, but complaining because a knife broke due to your own mis-use is stupid

And if a knifemaker publicly advertised what it was designed for and it somehow breaks or doesn't serve its purpose well enough, its just more trouble for the maker and the reviews will be all the more brutal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top