Mild abuse

J

jasonbroni

Joined
Dec 10, 2009
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325
So what do you guys use your EDC's for besides cutting stuff? (things that knife snobs would frown upon)..
I use mine for:
Prying off beer bottle caps (with the handle).
Poking holes in beer cans opposite the mouth for a better pour.
Prying off those little safety things on Bic lighters.

(I've never damaged any knife doing these things) (except for marks on the handles from the bottle opening)

*And I always flick (or flip) them open whether it compromises the lock up or not.

*** side note - what's with everyone (on reviews/YouTube) saying that flipping open a Sebenza is difficult? Got mine a few days ago and I just don't get it - seems normal/easy enough for me...)

And as I always say... Rip me if you want - just want to hear some of your responses...
 
My work knife edge comes in contact with other steels and metals almost every day, just the nature of the job.
The blade has to be a tool steel made for cutting other metals, I've found no others that hold up.
I can't have every tool on me I might need, but always have a knife.
 
Nothing. I am pretty easy on my knives. If I need to split wood I bring an axe. If I need to buck a log I bring a saw. I carry a multitool just for prying and turning screws.

Last night I dropped my trusty ol Mora no 1 on my tile bathroom floor. Landed, of course, right on the belly of the blade and chipped and/or rolled about a centimeter long section of the blade. I tried to straighten it out with a sharpening steel, but the damage was too severe. The remaining rolled portion chipped out when I straightened it out.

I was not happy to have to spend the next thirty minutes sharpening it out and repolishing the bevel.

I tend to buy affordable knives, and don't own any super steels except for a knife in M4. As such I have to treat my knives like knives and use them as cutting instruments only, which is how I was brought up.
 
I'll attack some aluminum cans or bottle caps on occasion too. No real damage, just scuff marks. Depends on the knife too of course. But I've never batoned with a knife or anything else that would typically be considered abuse.

I have a chisel ground Emerson that I actually used as a chisel the other day. Soft wood and a rubber mallet. It's still shaving sharp.
 
jasonbroni said:
So what do you guys use your EDC's for besides cutting stuff? (things that knife snobs would frown upon)..
I use mine for:
Prying off beer bottle caps (with the handle).
Poking holes in beer cans opposite the mouth for a better pour.
Prying off those little safety things on Bic lighters.

(I've never damaged any knife doing these things) (except for marks on the handles from the bottle opening)

*And I always flick (or flip) them open whether it compromises the lock up or not.

*** side note - what's with everyone (on reviews/YouTube) saying that flipping open a Sebenza is difficult? Got mine a few days ago and I just don't get it - seems normal/easy enough for me...)

And as I always say... Rip me if you want - just want to hear some of your responses...
Click to expand...

What you're describing is not "mild abuse", it's "misuse". The difference being "abuse" is anything within the knife's job description but beyond its capabilities, while "misuse" is things that won't necessarily harm the knife but aren't what it was designed to do.

Oh and by the way, saying "knife snobs" when referring to people who simply understand knives shouldn't be able to take the place of every other tool imaginable won't get you much love around here:rolleyes:
 
People do what they want with their stuff. Leave it in a box for 15 years, looking at it occasionally or using it everyday until it breaks. Whatever you do with your stuff is no exception and all your business. You are just another one that falls somewhere between the spectrum. If you are looking for someone to scold you, not interested. Your stuff, your money, do whatever you want with it. Not trying to be rude, but I hardly think anyone really cares enough to get butt hurt, either by what you claim to be abuse or the fact that you waltz in painting people as "knife snobs" (I don't think that term means what you think it does). There you have it, my response.
 
Everything you have described is something a decent piece of tempered steel should be able to do, & sustain only cosmetic damage.
You could use those things as tests for knife reviews.
 
When I was young I used to cut just about anything with my knives.

Aluminium cans, plastic, wood, roots, wire, shotgun sheels, 22 bullets ect...

I even had a stainless butterfly knife that I would take backpacking just open cans of soup and beans. I probably opened hundreds of cans with it. I even sharpened it with a stone wheel. That was 30 years ago and I still have the knife lol.

Today I'm a LOT more careful and respectful to my knives.

Probably the worst thing that I have been guilty of has been losing my knives. I don't know how many I've lost over the years, more than I care to remember.
 
I wasn't saying this was a forum of 'knife snobs'. I love this forum - tons of info! What I meant by that term is the people that will only cut a string or the occasional package with their 'baby'...
 
I flick open my knives. Sometimes when I'm bored I just keep opening and closing them. As for my Sebenza I flicked it open once just to see if I could but I just regularly open it now.
 
I use my EDC for much of the same, OP, and I wouldn't call it abuse, mild or otherwise... ;)

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-Brett
 
Depends on the knife. I have some that I'll put through anything to get the job done and others that I use for proper cutting.
 
I recently had to use one of my knives to cut sod from around a grave stone. The old, dilapidated cemetery is full of tipped over stones and overgrowth. One of my great uncles from WWII had his nearly covered over. It was only a cold steel ak47 though, not anything high end.
 
People have different definitions for "normal use". Some people will actually only use their knife for string and packages. Some people will cut sod, and others will baton, spine whack, and throw their folders. Cutting sod probably won't permanently damage a knife, although it will cause some aesthetic damage and some reparable edge wear. The other things mentioned can cause catastrophic failure and are DANGEROUS. I would call the latter things abuse. But popping a beer cap or cutting sod is not abuse. That's just harder use than cutting string.

I enjoy using my knives as tools and don't mind some scratches in the process, others would go crazy from a scratch, and enjoy keeping their knives pristine. Neither one of those priorities is wrong, they're just different. Not sure what else there is to say about it.
 
jasonbroni said:
And as I always say... Rip me if you want - just want to hear some of your responses...
Click to expand...

And thank you for allowing us to disagree with you! How gracious! :thumbup:

Your knives...do what you want with them. Get a SAK and you will have tools on it that will handle those tasks easily. Mine do.
 
I'm a high school English teacher, so the opportunities to abuse my SAK don't come around often. I find a myriad of uses for it every day, but am not likely to do much damage to it opening up a package of college-ruled paper.
 
I've got a cheap ass 20 some dollar maxpedition liner lock that I keep in my car glove box between my seats. Six months ago there was discussion of how bad it was to flip your knives open and how some knife makers recommended against it. I decided to put that knife to the test. I flip it whenever I'm in the car. Every day to and from work, (40 min each way) and every other trip I make in the car. The knife is a flipper but also has thumbstuds. I don't baby it a bit and bang it out there with max velocity. I use both the flipper and thumbstuds and full wrist action. I'm really trying to beat it hard. After six months of hard flipping I can see no change in the knife. It's tight as the day I bought it and the liner lock hasn't moved at all that I can see. I can't even guess how many times it's been flipped hard but it has to have 5-10 life times of flipping on it. Your results may vary.
Mike
 
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