Remind me, why do we pry with our knives, again?

Beyond my belief in the right tool for the job of just having some kind of semi disposable tool to use instead of my knife, a knife is for cutting and I like the best slicers I can get.
If it's up for prying it's not gonna be up for efficient cutting.
 
Because the Truckers Friend is not "pocket friendly".

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I don't pry often, but when I do.....it's usually because I don't feel there is a better option readily available. Mostly for tight spaces that require the thin-ness of a knife edge to start the process. Example may be plastic parts that snap together with a very tight fit. Needing a very fine edge to separate.

I have been carrying around a small Boker Pry tool for light jobs that don't need a razor edge. Actually use it more than I thought I would, so it stays on my work keychain.

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The Leatherman Ps4 is another mini tool that I never would have guessed how much I'd use it, before I started carrying it. So much that I now have over a half dozen of them scattered around and on different keybiners.

Now what about knives that have the word "PRY" right in their name. Like the Boker Pry Mate and Pry Mini. I'm guessing that it would be way too tempting for many owners to use them as such. I know I have. My Pry Mini often gets pocket carried. But the Mini is almost too pretty to even use as a knife, let alone a prybar. :D With the high polish, and THAT WOOD and all. I'ma sucker for little gimmicks and figured wood.

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Slot screwdrivers are for prying.

Using a Buck 110 and later a Puma 470 folder, I broke 3/16" off both knives using them as a small screwdriver working on my vehicles' audio systems (40 years ago when cars didn't come with decent radios :)

Never pried with a knife again, both of those were favourite knives (Still have them, reground to fix the tips)
 
jonnieb27 said:
Slot screwdrivers are for prying.

Using a Buck 110 and later a Puma 470 folder, I broke 3/16" off both knives using them as a small screwdriver working on my vehicles' audio systems (40 years ago when cars didn't come with decent radios :)

Never pried with a knife again, both of those were favourite knives (Still have them, reground to fix the tips)
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When you reground them, did you make a stouter tip than the original?
 
IMO, if you want to get a knife to pry with, get a knife that can handle it. Most people that pry with knives, that I know of, do just that. I don't do it myself unless I'm messing around but I like thin blades too. Different strokes for different folks and as far as I care if you get a knife that is strong enough to pry, and then pry with it, it was a tool built for the job.

Unless it's my knife they're using, do whatever you want with your tools, they're yours.

Like others have mentioned, I've found the flat screwdriver on a sak pretty handy when I needed to pry something up like an outlet cover that got painted into place by the previous owner, or pop up a small board or craft held with the little wall hanging nails. Whatever gets the job done to satisfaction.
 
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Interesting that not a single person needed to pry in the great outdoors; just those who need to in a industrial context.
 
dogstar said:
Interesting that not a single person needed to pry in the great outdoors; just those who need to in a industrial context.
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Are you referring to this thread specifically or before? Because the biggest reason I need to pry in nature is getting frozen wood off the ground, which I've done a lot. Usually, you find other frozen wood to free up more frozen wood, but occasionally you don't feel like finding that 1st piece of wood to use as a lever or just have some big hunk O' steel to do it with. I've done it a few times with my ratweiler, which is plenty stout.

Most of the time though, strong tips are for stabbing into trees to hold the knife while I'm taking pictures or working with a different tool and I don't have a belt sheath for it, like when I carry the big knife in the pack. I like big knives for limbing trees once you get to the thinner stuff and I usually only work on stuff that's fallen or blown over so I'm not up in the tree.
 
Hickory n steel said:
I've been asking myself the same question for years.

I think the insistence on prying with a knife is just plane idiotic, and I don't understand why so many people have the mindset that a knife has to be good for everything.
My grandfather and I'm sure many men of his generation carried a small slipjoint and freebie pocket or keychain driver as their everything else tool.

These things are still a common advertising giveaway and there's just no reason not to get one and abuse it instead of your knife.
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What you say is true. But I'll have to ask my wife about the prying question? If you pry much with a knife blade, you just accept the risks.

Screw drivers aren't made for prying either but are used to pry with all the time. I guess these new fangled bit drivers may change that.
 
The Boker Cop Tool, EOD Robotics Breacher Bar, and some Dive Knives are a few that come to mind as knives being designed to handle some light prying. Though I probably wouldn't use any of them to replace the Jaws of Life.

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Hickory n steel said:
And I carry some " lame pocket pry bar " because I don't want to bend break or loosen the blade on my knives and potentially injure myself, and I don't want to carry a knife that does not cut worth a crap just so I can do stupid things without worry.
Sure I have a few Band-Aids on me but I prefer not to need them.
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Sounds like you’re doing it wrong...
 
22-rimfire said:
What you say is true. But I'll have to ask my wife about the prying question? If you pry much with a knife blade, you just accept the risks.

Screw drivers aren't made for prying either but are used to pry with all the time. I guess these new fangled bit drivers may change that.
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Nope they're definitely not made for prying.
My regular screwdrivers I take good care of, but at one time I had a cup full of Alexander pocket screw drivers from the local farm show with various company logos on them.
Use them for all sorts of stuff, modify the tips and whatever else because they're free and plentiful.
 
I've never owned a knife that would be very effective at prying; I like my knives to have thin, pointy tips.

However there are knives designed with prying and general hard use in mind, so if someone likes to carry one of those then why not? Different strokes as they say.
 
I think we just want to use what we have on us and not have go get the proper tool.....and when we pry with the knife and it snaps, we realize how silly it was not to use the right tool in the first place.....usually a screwdriver. :D Sometimes circumstances dictate what you use, but maybe a second thought before using it would be wise. My dad was an engineer and was the typical measure twice cut once kind of person. He was good at making things too, so maybe there is something to using the right tool for the job.
Edited: Along with that, if someone asks to borrow my knife, I ask what they are planning to use it for, and sometimes I wish I had another beater knife to give them.
 
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cbach8tw said:
I think we just want to use what we have on us and not have go get the proper tool.....and when we pry with the knife and it snaps, we realize how silly it was not to use the right tool in the first place.....usually a screwdriver. :D Sometimes circumstances dictate what you use, but maybe a second thought before using it would be wise. My dad was an engineer and was the typical measure twice cut once kind of person. He was good at making things too, so maybe there is something to using the right tool for the job.
Edited: Along with that, if someone asks to borrow my knife, I ask what they are planning to use it for, and sometimes I wish I had another beater knife to give them.
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I have a cold steel pendleton hunter for "loaning." It's almost absurdly thick for how short it is but because of that, it should be pretty hard to break giving that you can't put a ton of leverage on it either. It cuts well enough for people who don't even know how to sharpen their knives too. It's kind of a fun little thing, but way away from my general flavor of knife. It hangs out in my pack that I EDC in case I need something stouter than a folder or short fixed blade, which is very rare.

Has anyone said, "because I can" yet? That's one reason to use a knife as a prying tool. Kind of like batoning, know its limits and it will be fine.
 
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Because mini pry bars have become pocket jewelry, and we don't want to scuff them up? And because the knife is longer & offers better leverage?
 
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