Pen Blade on a Dink, Really?

[black mamba]

I must preface this thread with some info about myself. I'll be 59 in a few months, and have been a hunter and outdoorsman for over 50 years. Most of the knives I've used, both fixed and folding, have been on the larger side, say over a 3" main blade. For decades I carried nothing but single blade locking folders of at least 3¾" closed. Gradually I got the stockman bug, and have really come to appreciate a good sheepfoot secondary. Two-blade jacks also now get carried a good deal, because on a 3¾ - 4 inch folder the smaller pen blade is quite useful. Only very recently have I started to use and appreciate smaller knives in the under 3¼" sizes.

Now to me, a "dink" is any folder of 3" or less. These feel REALLY small to me, coming from decades of using much larger knives. Most of these are either peanuts and the like, or pen knives. Practically all of them come with a clip and pen or a spear and pen. Here is one such knife, a 3" Boker USA pen gifted to me by willgoy, which I carry around the house.

It is pretty, and lightweight, and the thin little spear main gets murderously sharp but . . . I never, ever, use the secondary pen blade. It is just too darn small. I simply can't conceive of a job where the spear main is too big to use.

SO . . . you users of peanuts and other "dinks"-- if you do use the tiny pen secondaries, what do you use them for? And if you don't use them, like I don't, then fess up so I won't feel like a pariah!

 

[Sjostygg]

Pretty much fingernail maintenance!

 

[jackknife]

Well, I gotta go on record as being a dink pen blade user. In fact, I love dink pen blades like on the peanut. To me, and this is just my own feeling, they make a great plastic blister package opener. The very small blade feels loike it gives me more control when trying to neatly slice down the edge of a package. There's a lot of times I end up using the blade of my Victorinox classic on stuff, and that's smaller than the pen blade of a peanut. And they don't do a bad job of clueing fingernails either, or opening the mail.

Yes, my name is Carl, and I use dink pen blades.

 

[leghog]

Now to me, a "dink" is any folder of 3" or less.

To me the best pen knives are 3" or less. Wouldn't be a pen knife without a pen blade. Consider the genesis of the pen blade/the purpose for which it was developed.

I'm one who prefers and only carries "dinks" in my pocket, and each of mine must have a pen blade as I use it often, especially when I need optimal control like I'd get from an exacto type knife.

 

[VCM3]

My grandfather taught me how to clean small game using nothing but the secondary coping blade on his Buck 305 Lancer . Tiny,but effective. Maybe he really wanted to be a surgeon rather a bricklayer/mason. But learning with a tiny blade like this, I do believe,was an important lesson, not planned out but just unfolded . We had many choices of knives to use at that time , but this is how it went.

 

[quattromori]

Jeff,
I get your point. I grew up with single bladed knives, and when I discovered multibladed slipjoints, I learned to appreciate having a smaller secondary blade. Yet, on smaller knives (peanuts and such), the difference in length between the two blades isn't something I can appreciate in use. So, I see little point in having (basically) two small blades on a knife (or two equally large blades, for that matter). Small blades have their reasons. Multiple small blades (on the same knife) not much so.

Fausto

 

[jone]

I love dinks and their pen knives. When I'm working around the house on various projects, I like carrying a larger SAK or stockman, but normally when I'm out and about (on the town so to speak) I only carry a peanut or other small pen knife in my pocket. I have a larger blade stashed in my purse or the diaper bag, should I need it, but with my small pockets a peanut or pen knife fit well and accomplish all I need to do. I love the pen blades and use them almost as much as the larger clip blades. Typically the tasks are small - cutting an "x" in the top of a bottle of chocolate milk, opening snacks for the kids, cutting strings, opening small packages from the post, even opening boxes. I can use the clip for these as well, but the pen knife suits me just fine and can do the job just as well. I save the clip blades for larger jobs. Now, that being said, I do have small hands and can open and close a pen knife easily. My father, on the other hand, is stricken with arthritic hands, and it would be nearly impossible for him to open the pen knife on a smaller peanut. I suppose all those things, along with old habits, play a role in whether or not you use one or even can use one. I personally would be lost without mine and am always looking for 3" knives to carry.

 

[Woodrow F Call]

I use the big blade for food stuff. The small blade is reserved for non food tasks. If it's sharp, it'll do most anything I need a knife to do...... cut open a 50lb bag of cat litter, cut open blister packs, cut rope...... it's just got to be sharp. A sharp little blade can do quite a bit.

 

[Joe58]

I know I've used the two small blades on a Vic Minichamp for all kinds if things. As mentioned, they'll get very sharp and will tackle jobs where a larger blade might be used. Breaking down boxes, opening packages and mail, little tasks in a area where there may be non knife people. Quite useful when you start to use them more.

 

[InTheSticks]

I find that shorter blades tend to give more control. As a result I usually open the shortest blade that will easily handle the task not the largest. As others have noted its amazing what can done just as well or better with a short blade. I prefer a little longer knife (3 1/4 to 3 1/2) but normally the main blade is the least used blade on the knife for me.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I find tiny pen blades to be perfect for small-radius probing cuts into thicker material. A few years ago, I was present when my Dad was having an inspection done on the roof of his house. He lives in an adobe-style house, with a flat roof. Periodically, the company that installed the roof comes back to check for deterioration, leaks or other wear or weather damage. Penetrations through the roof, such as for skylights, vents and swamp coolers are more heavily insulated around the seams with a material that resembles closed-cell foam when it's cured. Bugs are known to burrow holes into this stuff, for laying eggs & hatching larvae; sometimes the 'holes' at the surface hide a larger network of tunnelling underneath. The inspectors checking for this know to probe into the insulation around these holes, looking to see how extensive the tunnelling has become. In watching them work, I used the pen blade on a Peanut (1970 '10-dot' in stag, seen below, next to my Case 5344 SS stockman) to do some checking of my own, and found it to be perfect for taking small 'cores' of the insulating material out. Very similar to how a larger, longer-bladed fruit or melon knife might be used to check for ripeness inside. Prior to this, I'd not found an ideal use for such a small pen blade, aside from fingernail cleaning or small-scale scraping tasks. Even then, I still didn't use mine as such, as I still preferred to keep the tips on these blades as sharp & pointy as possible (not comfortable for cleaning under the fingernails).

I carry stockman knives as my favorite EDC, and usually use a sheepsfoot blade for opening boxes and plastic clamshell packaging; so, my pen blades don't even get used for those tasks.


David

 

[B.F.U]

I have the very same thoughts on my GEC 22 magnum. On a larger knife the pen blade is very useful; it is shorter so naturally sturdier, it is more friendly looking, and can do intricate stuff. On a 2 5/8" knife though, I have not found a use for the pen blade other than serving as a perpetual "always sharp" back up. I'm even thinking of having Glennbad mod it to remove the pen blade, as it would be considerably more comfortable to use if it were a single blade.

 

[Modoc ED]

Ahhhh, the Swamp Cooler. I just put new pads in ours, oiled the fan shaft, and did a thorough cleaning of the vent panels, and water pan Friday. I used the spey blade on a Case 3318 stockman to trim the pads. Not a pen blade but a small blade none-the-less. Small blades/pen blades come in very handy for clam shell packages, fingernails, splinter removal, etc..

 

[Rhinoknives1]

The term Pen knife goes all the way back to when we wrote with feather quill pens and you needed a small blade to put a new point on your writing pen.

I like those little dirk blades for digging out splinters and and the like.

 

[dma1965]

Being someone who likes to whittle I have to say the tiny pen blades and the like are great for whittling. You have more control and can really get into some detail with a little pen blade, or little coping blade.

 

[Will Power]

Glad to see you like and use the small Böker, Jeff.

I find a very tiny blade useful for getting splinters out of my hands, seem to get them a lot, as a keen gardener a small blade is very handy for taking cuttings as well, even in the kitchen it can get use as an ultra slicer of garlic.

Many thanks, Will

 

[dpowers311]

Letter opener

 

[jone]

Being someone who likes to whittle I have to say the tiny pen blades and the like are great for whittling. You have more control and can really get into some detail with a little pen blade, or little coping blade.

That knife is a beauty.

 

[dma1965]

That knife is a beauty.

Thanks! I really love this knife. It is a GEC Northfield Easy Pocket Congress (3 blade). I searched high and low for one of these for about a year, and found this one on eBay. I honed it specifically for whittling, and found another one almost identical to it a few weeks later and got it as well, to store away in the safe. It is perhaps the most perfect whittler I have ever used in my life.

 

[meako]

Whilst I find all of your positives on the small secondary pen blade very compelling I must admit that I would prefer a single bladed version of the TB Teardrop jack for instance over the 2 bladed one because its small enough already.