Pain-in-the-butt thing to cut?

fulloflead

fulloflead

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May 3, 2002
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What's the biggest pain-in-the-but thing to cut with a knife?

I dreampt up this thread as I opened a plastic clam-shell package of a computer flashdrive. I'm a city-kid and I use my knives for urban use.

The ONE thing I HATE to open are those darn plastic clam-shell packaging plastic pieces of crap that they package things like electronics in.

You can't pull them apart and you can't strategically cut them in a few places to get them apart. They're heat-welded all the way around so you have to CUT the darn things open to get at the product within! You gotta be real careful because they so strangely shaped. You have to really cut with control or you'll cut yourself or cut the product within.

Anyway, as good as I think I am with a knife, whenever I have to cut open one of those clamshell packages I feel like I'm practically retarded; nearly cutting myself with my knife in the process.

Can you think of anything more cumbersome to cut open with a knife?
 
You are not alone. After 2 minutes of playing with the blasted things, I am just about ready to get out my khukuri and give it one good chop...

Andrew Lim
 
I agree 100%...Those damn plastic clamshell packages are tougher to cut open than a steel safe!...Sometimes I want to take it back to the clerk who sold the item to me and watch him/her try to open it, just for the entertainment value!.:D. I always wonder how a 75 year-old frail woman would get one of those damn things open...Maybe with a chainsaw, or run over it a few times with a car?

Theft-proof???...Hell, they're bomb-proof!.:eek:.
 
I usually open those with a combination of knife and scissors. Best if I have a small utility knife like an olfa touch knife since I can controll the cut much better.

Although I sometimes just cut one end completely off and yank the stuff out the hard way.

N2
 
The best way to cut those is with a pair of scissors or shears. The best type of knife to cut those is with a very short-bladed hawk-billed type blade, like with a 1 or 1-1/2inch blade.

The other pain in the a$$ things to cut include rubber hosing (garden hose material) esp the ones with some sort of belting to toughen it. I've learnt that folding the hose to cut it makes it worse, and its easier to "chop" it.

The most difficult thing to cut well in the kitchen is a big fat juicy carrot. If the blade geometry is not perfect, it wedges and the bit of carrot cracks off - not very satisfying at all.

I am a picky ba$$tard. Jason.
 
glockman99 said:
I always wonder how a 75 year-old frail woman would get one of those damn things open...
Click to expand...

75 year-old women don't usually buy electronics in plastic clamshell packages ;)

But yes, those are really difficult to open.
A week ago I bought a Compactflash-card for my digital camera and it took 5 minutes to open the damn thing. Not very consumer-friendly.

Shiden


Audentis Fortuna Iuvat
 
I've found that many of them actually can be pulled or popped apart, but you have to play around the edges a bit to find where the snap-open edge is.

Next best is a sharp knife slicing down the face of the pack, not right next to the contents, and not trying to cut the edges, which are usually raised and tend to make the knife slip off dangerously.

Once the face is sliced open, reach in and remove the item.
 
definitely the best way to deal with those packages is with a small hawkbill(i use my spyderco dodo) or else a pair of stout scissors
 
fulloflead said:
What's the biggest pain-in-the-but thing to cut with a knife?

I dreampt up this thread as I opened a plastic clam-shell package of a computer flashdrive. I'm a city-kid and I use my knives for urban use.

The ONE thing I HATE to open are those darn plastic clam-shell packaging plastic pieces of crap that they package things like electronics in.
Click to expand...

Those used to be quite cumbersome for me as well, until I bought a Spyderco Dodo. The radically dropped point makes it a breeze to cut an outline around the goodies within and extract with ease :)

Matthew
 
nice one, Greg...:D


Heavy-duty straw tape....the white/cream colored sticky stuff that is super-fibrous. Can't remember who uses it, but whenever I get one of those packages I groan....takes forever to cut because you have to saw through it and then it gums up the knife bad....:barf:
 
Fiberglass cloth..........

My bro-in-law and I were attempting a quick fix on a plastic tub/shower unit and he had gotten a sheet of fiberglass cloth along with some type of latex/silicone kinda paste to seal the crack. He turns to me and says cut this for me, I get halfway through the 2' piece and my knife is dull as can be. I have never had anything take an edge off quicker than that.
 
Those plastics suck !!!

I have always thought if everybody have the same problem, and there you are !!! Thanks guys !!! :)

A machete would be nice...

Regards,

Andre Tiba - Brazil
 
i usually find the heat sealed edge and insert my knife in between the 2 halves, twist away and pop the rest manually
 
In regards to the clamshell packaging, use a smaller blade it makes it eaiser to turn while cutting,(the small spearpoint on an SAK works great).


The ultimate worst thing to cut that is guaranteed to dull a blade quicker than anything else,.............DIRTY CARPET.
 
Yeah, those plastic shell things suck. Accident waiting to happen. My problem is that I always want to do a neat job on it (in case I have to return it or something), but always fail. A sheepsfoot or wharncliffe works best for me. Drop/clip points always slip, cutting where I don't want to (occasionally myself).
 
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