Knife users and the dividing line.

Strider

Strider

Joined
Oct 3, 1998
Messages
2,337
After reading this and other knife related forums the past few years and all types of written material it seems that knife users are divided into two types.
Urban or City Users
Rural or Country Users
The city user rarely uses his knife for much more then opening mail,cutting food,opening boxes(usually new knives that have arrived)and cleaning their fingernails. The city user though never leaves home without 1 or 2 knives on their person.
The country user does all sorts of things depending on the type of work. ranching,farming,lumber,etc.The knife is a valuble tool being pressed into service many times a day for all sorts of heavy duty cutting chores.The country user also is better able to carry a fixed blade due to the nature of the work they are involved in. Now I realize that both city people and rural people hunt so I haven't included that in this scenario since city people only hunt certain times of the year as opposed to there rural cousins.Hunting and trapping aside I'm only talking normal daily usages of a knife. Now of course there will be other circumstances for knife usage but all in all I think the 2 types are pretty accurate. Now what type of user is more dominant on this forum City or Country? Are there more Walter Mitty's here then real users (Cliff are you listening?) What do others think
of this classification? Is it on the mark or at least near or am I just an old man with to much time on my hands.
Bob
 
You forgot to mention "picking your teeth"
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I live in the country, or Rural Area, a township to be exact! But, I work in a big city. So, I'm a cross of both! Ahhhhhh, now I know one of the reasons I have this knife addicton!
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Mark
 
Bob,

I don't think that you are too far off track with your classification. Though I would say that there are many urbanites that have moved to the country, but still work, shop, etc. in the city. The farming population would probably have more need to put a blade to hard everyday use than the average office worker. But lets not forget the construction workers that build our houses and shopping malls. These folks would probably rank right up there in giving their knives a good workout. Bags of cement, etc. are not kind to knife blades. The electricians that wire houses would fit in this category, as well. I guess it just boils down to how far you are from the actual end result of your profession that determines how you tend to use your knife on a daily basis. The guy that builds or wires the house will probably use his knife a bit harder than the guy that sells it. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't keep a William Henry or two for the after work hours.
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Dave
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Attention: Some assembly may be required. Batteries not included.
 

I disagree with your classification on several grounds. I am a City User; live there and work there.

You seem to imply that 'Country' folk deserve their knives, because they put them to 'Real' use.

I use my knifes (Emerson CQC7 and Leatherman Wave) for cutting boxes, containers, etc, of course. As well as a nail file, on occasion. But I also strip wire, slice tie wraps, unscrew covers, open cans, adjust tensions, pop off beer tops, and a million other little things. Self defense is a helpful side effect of these tools.

Is the Rural, Country person usage of a knife so much different? Aside perhaps from a few farmers, does the average person who does not live in a city run around skinning animals and fixing fences with his bowie knife? I hardly think so. I think he cuts the UPS box open on those DVD videos he ordered same as me.
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I bought a knife, carry it, use it appropriately, and treat it with the respect it deserves. So why is the 'City' usage of a knife worthy of derision, but the 'Country' is not?


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-Jon
http://www.22world.com
 
Jon
No insults intended more toungue in cheek. Go back and read my thread I am merely making an observation on the uses of knives by different groups of people. Of course this thread and a dollar just might get you a cup of coffee for all the relevences it has.
Bob
 
I didn't take it that Strider was putting down City Users, just differentiating between types of use the knives would get in town or in the country.

I was born and raised in New York City and lived there most of my life. About as Urban as you can get. But I also lived in the suburbs for awhile, like now, and the use I put my knives to is a cross between his City and Country. I get out in the woods and need a good knife just to cut my way through the underbrush.

One crossover use I recommend, especially to new users, is preparing food, from fruits and vegetables and bread to meat, and getting firewood and tinder is good, too. It's a great way to learn how to get used to handling your knives, especially since it requires some precision use, not like hacking at a sapling or popping out staples.

With all the country cousins on the Internet these days, and citykids running around the hillsides playing Rambo, I don't know if we can really tell us apart anymore.
 
I would say that the two types of users are white collar and blue collar. Both groups use knives for white collar chores like mail, boxes, food prep ect. Chances are the blue collar users pull theirs out more often depending on their job. Some of the most used (abused?) knives and multitools I've seen are on the belts of contruction workers. I went from blue collar to white collar in the same industry and I pull out my small sebenza much less now, and I've always been a city boy. Of coarse farmer types would obviously be in the blue collar group.

[This message has been edited by Root (edited 04-17-2000).]
 
Well, I'm definately a "city user". I saved a stranger's life on public transportation once, he was being kicked, stomped and smashed with hammers. I wouldn't have been able to stop the attack without serious cutlery on my belt.

That's not "Walter Mitty", that's reality. I have two friends who've stopped muggings (against them) with knives I gave them.

A "street defense knife" doesn't need to have an absolute top-notch steel, good ol' ATS34, AUS8 or 440C is fine. Even 440A with a *good* heat-treat a' la' SOG or Myerchin will do. Such a piece needs good ergonomics and design and a fast presentation system.

The cities are where the strongest gun control tends to be, but in many cases defensive knives aren't yet totally outlawed. We face higher crime rates and are much more likely to need a blade's defensive properties.

Jim
 
Jim
You make some excellent points regarding city use steel. Us city folk aren't out to build a log cabin and cut down trees for fire wood.I'm sure an AUS8 folder would cut flesh just as well as a good forged tool steel knife in a bind.
Root
I like your simplification of the titles. Blue and white.
Mark
For the moment Armed Forces is its own catogory.Unless your a career serviceman then you would most likely fall under heavy use user.
Bob




[This message has been edited by Strider (edited 04-17-2000).]
 
Well, I get to be both. I attend college in a city, but my home is in a vaguely rural area, and I can drive a few hours into the 'middle of nowhere.' I look for knives that will be useful in both situations, but I definitely have a knife out far more in the woods than in the city. Part of that is the 'PC' issue; I can walk along whittling a stick miles from anywhere, but if I did the same thing walking down the street, I would have police accosting me left-and-right. Also, I just don't have as many uses for a knife in the city. Cutting mail is 90% of it, and the rest is pretty light duty. In the woods, I will tend to carry nothing but fixed blades, since folders jam up too easily, and the tasks I put them to are more intense. The point is that I find myself using significantly different knives for each location, so I don't call one 'better' than the other.

--JB

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e_utopia@hotmail.com
 
...what about a career military person that lives off post in the city, but works in the country opening boxes of C-rations?


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I think the lines are definitely more blurred. I'm a town and country user. Suburbanites such as myself use them around the yard; my M2 AFCK is a mean tree branch trimmer. It also serves double duty when I'm in the city for aforementioned purposes. Classifications may be more difficult to determine than one might think; maybe each classification has subclassifications!

Professor.
 
AAHH Professor.that would make you a rural user though because there are no yards in the city
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You do have a point regarding classifications that is why I am only painting this as a broad genralization.As long as that seviceman used a MD to open the c-rats he would fall under city
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Bob
 
Well.... I live about an hour/hour and a half drive from Melbourne proper, and i am in the middle of nowhere. Well, not quite, but i'm surrounded by bush and my nearest neighbour is about 2 km away. I use my knives for all kinds of things, from chopping limbs, collecting firewood, preparing food, opening mail, trimming loose threads, improvised pry bars (only once...), etc... I would class myself as a knife user/collector... i think that's the only group we really need to worry about.

James

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All knives are created equal, then i get my dirty big hands on them and the real fun begins.
 
Bob,

I carry two knives in the city and mostly use them as you described. Also, on several occaisons as Jim March described. I would use them more were it not for the "stares" one gets from urban dwellers. Any use of a edge has to be done discretely unless one is an electrician like my brother or a carpenter like a friend I gave a knife to.

I also have a camp in Maine that I go to quite often. There too, I carry two knives but a fixed blade and a folder. The knives there see much more usage not only because of more tasks but because it's not a social problem to have a knife and to whip it out when a task calls for a sharp edge.

sing

AKTI #A000356
 
Pure country here. I used to live in the middle of nowhere, but things have been growing up around me.I'm still out in the counrty though, just not as far as I'd like to be. I keep 8 horses at my house and work on a farm not to far from my house. I also do alot of construction type stuff. In the last 4 years my dad and I have resided and re roofed our house. Built an 8 stall barn with an indoor riding arena, and put up lots of fence. So I use knives a lot.


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We got a five dollar fine for whining
We tell you before you come in
So if it ain't on your mind to have a good time
Y'all come back and see us again.- Chris LeDoux
 
I like the blue/white collar classification. The military of course is an organization that has both types of jobs (most organizations offer both types of jobs).

 
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