"Knife & Tool"

[ThinkOfTheChildren]

I don't know if this has ever come up before, so if it has just tell me to shutup.

Why are companies called "knife and tool?"
Becker Knife and Tool
Columbia River Knife and Tool
Chesapeake Knife and Tool
Etc, etc, etc...

We want people to realize that a knife is a tool and they shouldn't be afraid of it. Then we differentiate between a knife and a tool. Doesn't it hurt our PR to separate them? Even the organization that stands behind us is called "The American Knife and Tool Institute."

Why isn't it just Columbia River Knives? Or Columbia River Tools?

I know that I'm nitpicking here but it just puzzles me. It didn't even occur to me until a friend didn't want to shop around in Chesapeake Knife and Tool with me. They didn't like all the "weapons." "They're tools" I said.
Their reply, "then why does it say knife AND tool?"
I didn't know what to say.

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Karma is only justice without the satisfaction

 

[Charlie Mike]

It's all PC crap.

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Win if you can, lose if you must, but ALWAYS CHEAT.
ICQ# 117419996

 

[ThinkOfTheChildren]

What do you mean? I'm being too politically correct or the companies are? Or is someone else too PC? You lost me.

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Karma is only justice without the satisfaction

 

[stjames]

The manufacturer might specialize in knives but not want to exclude the possibility of developing tools, especially when you consider the lucrative multi-tool industry currently dominated by Wegner, Vcictorinox and Leatherman. Many products from these makers qualify as both knives and other specific tools, as does a product like Becker’s TacTool, a true “sharpened crowbar” if there ever was one.

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James Segura
San Francisco, CA

 

[Steelwolf]

It dices, it slices, it makes Julianned fries. It's a knife, it's a tool, it's both in one, and if you call within the next 45 minutes, we'll even throw in a nice presentation video that shows you how stupid it is to think of a knife as a weapon unless you have had years of extensive martial arts training.

I believe why they are called knife and tool is partly as St James said, because of the possibility of developing a multi-tool as part of their product line. I believe there might be a possibility that some actually grew out of a tool and die making background (though I don't remember if these companies actually call themselve "knife and tool").

Anyway, the minute someone starts talking about my knives as weapons, I point out ever so gently that that is the dumbest, most discriminatory, most un-PC and most unwarranted remark I had ever heard. Then I start to explain the history of knives first as tools and being Man's first real tool, later being pressed in to service as weapons. I then explain that knives in history have been used far longer as a tool then as a weapon, and how practically every man worth his salt used to carry one and know the proper care and upkeep of the knife. Of course I'd point out all the times when a knife would come in most handy as a tool and show the difficulties of using knives as weapons and the horrible injuries that can be inflicted on both parties in a knife fight and therefore the stupidity of brandishing a knife as a weapon without proper training. This brings about the discussion of a knife being an inanimate object and solely dependant on the intentions of the user as to whether it is abused or not, thus showing that knives are not evil, only humans are and therefore this fear of knives as weapons is totally without reason (except that humans are afraid of pain and a knife that is carelessly used can often slip and inflict cuts and therefore pain and that is why it is probably feared). Then if I like the person, I will point out how much easier it is to kill and maim with innocuous, every day items, starting with hands and feet and moving on to sticks, pencils/pens, chairs, chains, belts, tire irons, bats and racquets (baseball, cricket, badminton, tennis, etc.). Sometimes I also point out that unreasoning fear of an object marks the person as an unthinking animal and not much better than a cow, certainly not a human being.

By this time, either the person is unmoved, which makes him/her an unthinking herd animal and thus be treated as such (careful control by manipulation of instinctive behaviour), or else he/she would have warmed up to the idea that knives are not all that bad afterall and start thinking about his/her pre- or misconceptions, and even if they never become a knife knut, at least accept it as a tool and not be so afraid of a mere object.

PS. It helps when you catch them while they are tearing away at something with their teeth or car keys.

 

[Jeff/1911]

Steelwolf,

VERY well written. Thank you.

Jeff/1911.

 

[Bugs3x]

CRKT frequently refers to most of their knives as work oriented. Not sure how often they actually call their knives tools, but that is the clear implication in much of their writing about their products.

Without the "tool" in the name, then knives almost have to be talked of in terms of what they will cut. Much easier to make the sub-mental leap from cutting to weapon than a generic talk about work being done by the knives, I think.

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Asi es la vida

Bugs

 

[Cosmic Superchunk]

That reminds me of a funny story. I once called Brigade Quartermasters and asked the girl who answered, if they carried several knife brands, and when I mentioned Columbia River Knife & Tool, she said: "We carry Columbia River knives, but we don't have any of their tools in stock." I almost rolled on the floor laughing.