The disposable knife.

jackknife said:
Yeah, I do see that a lot these days. The guys who I had remodel the kitchen all used the disposable blade folding utility knife. I see them at Lowes, Home Depot, and other hardware stores. I guess it's easy to just pop out the old dull blade, pop in a new one and keep on trucking. With replaceable blades who needs to sharpen?

But I too am amazed at how few men carry any kind of knife these days.:confused:
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What amazes me is the inane safety regulations a lot of companies here in Canada have concerning knives. Some of our larger (international even) upstream oil and gas companies and pipeline companies have a no knife policy. There are guys hand grinding bevels on 36" pipes, prior to welding, that are not allowed to carry even a small pocket knife while at work? Some places the folding replaceable blade utility knives are also not allowed.
Dan
 
The times have changed. A lot of the packaging which required tools to open are now twist-off or have pull tabs. Knives are simply not used as they once were.

n2s
 
My 2 cents on this interesting topic: First off, the guys/gals on this forum probably appreciate their knives more than the average buyer. I'd bet if you looked into the toolboxes of BFers, you'd see a lot of well-used Crafstman, Snap-on, Husky, Mac...etc, quality tools, that show they get used. It only takes about one rounded off bolt (or worse, an "easy-out" job on a sheared head) to know to start buying quality tools. Got a set of t-handled, ball-end-milled allen wrenches? You probably learned from your dad about quality. Same for knives, at least for me. Buy good ones and use them. Other than Swiss Army, here is not a single knife at my local hardware store, that I would buy (maybe a utility knife or a specialty knife, roofing for cutting shingles, etc, but I already own them). They honestly have a case full of junk! And there's no knife shops left. So for the "average" guy, he has to buy what they have to offer. If we the consumer don't tell the retailer what we want, we get cheap crap at a cheap price that they sell to the unaware.

Secondly, as the 2-year lifespan thing, I think a lot of that had to do with kids. Darn near every kid had a knife, and they got to play w/o parental supervision in the neighborhood. So they goofed around a lot and busted their knives, and bought a new one. Today, if a kid has a knife, it's at home or for camping, fishing, hunting, scouting, typically with adults around. Instead of kids going to the 5-and-dime, buying a barlow, busting it, and getting another, they go to Toys-r-us, buy the cheap plastic toy, bust it, throw it away, and buy another.

All complete speculation on my part of course:D, based only on my own tiny set of data!
 
Buzzbait said:
More to the point, I think we live in an age where sharpening is no longer common knowledge. People don't actually know how to sharpen a knife, or even know that knives need to be periodically sharpened. We stopped passing down this knowledge a generation or two ago. So now we buy knives that don't need to be sharpened, hence disposable blades.
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At the same time it's never been easier to learn how to do it, with all the forums and even YouTube videos out there. No one ever taught me to sharpen. I figured out the basics myself (not all that hard IMO), but also picked up invaluable pointers here. It's a matter of motivation, if people find it important they'll learn to do it. Most don't, hence the trend of throwaway knives.

The good thing is that the internet has made it easier to find better knives for those of us who want them. Fifteen years ago the only place I could buy slipjoints was at Home Depot, Ace Hardware, and such. No thanks. I was not a fan of the stuff they offered. I wanted more and thanks to folks like Mike and Derrick I can now get them.
 
kamagong said:
Right on. Ebay/Amazon is the new "gas station". One can buy any number of several different brands, that are waaay better than any of those old gas station knives.....in the sub $10.00 range. Some of them are damn decent too, using 440C, and similar steels. Since I'm never without a least two knives, there's never any reason to use a good knife for crappy, potentially destructive jobs.
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I'm still in college so growing up happened pretty recently for me. When I was growing up my Buck 110 was on my belt or in my pocket 24-7 besides school and sleeping, ever since the day I got it at around eight. As you can imagine I wore it out pretty good, and its got so many memories from hunting to scout campouts that I don't even want to send it in to be tightened up and restored. Once I got into middle school I stated carrying cheap Gerbers that definitely got used to destruction, saving the 110 and my SAK from things that would have surely destroyed them. Ever since then I've carried at least one nice knife that stays sharp, and one "beater" that has to be sharpened quite regularly. Its been years since I wore out a knife but when I did it usually was from use and not mis-use. Disposable knives are not what they used to be, but knives like the Gerber Paraframe and the Buck Bantam fit the bill perfectly for today's working men. Buy it cheap, use it up, buy another.
For me though, I like using new Chinese Schrade/Old Timers for this. The 34OT is less than $20 so I'm fine with stripping wires and scraping battery corrosion with it. The sme goes for modern Buck traditionals. They're cheap and built tough, so for me they are perfect work knives. Pretty or not a $15 knife is getting used, not displayed.

For me the so-called disposable knives are not a thing of the past nor do they look much different. But even for others I personally think that "throw away" knives are still alive and well, in the low-end lines from the likes of Gerber and Buck. For people too lazy to sharpen, both the Husky and Craftsman folding utility knives are surprisingly good knives, and I have used both on occasion when a box cutter blade was appropriate for the task.
This being said, almost every man around here still carries a knife, because of the former and active duty military personnel in the area and because of all the farming and industrial businesses in the area.
 
Actually, I blame the disposable razor blade for causing the lack of sharpening knowledge. Anyone who wanted to shave at all before WWI needed to know how to sharpen. And of course a lot more people were on farms and needed sharp tools in those days too. Even many woodworkers today, who use carbide tipped power tools for their work don't know how to sharpen.

I teach sharpening courses through a variety of venues. People want to learn this, as evidenced by the fact that I have a steady stream of students, but it always surprises me when some of my students are chefs or woodworkers who one would assume would have to know how to sharpen their tools. Some can get them close, but not REALLY sharp.

Well, in my class they get them hair popping sharp - and the participants are almost embarrassingly grateful that someone has taken the time to teach them this skill that once was almost universally considered essential. I still consider it so.
 
This is my favorite knife. I have been carrying it a few years now, and this is what it looks like today.
IMG_0470_zps3ggerjaq.jpg


This is what it looked like when I first got it.
IMG_3673_zpsaf370f03.jpg


This is the knife I rotate in most often, and has gotten the most EDC time since I first got it. Many would have made it a safe queen, but I decided I wanted to use this one up. Despite having sharpened the clip many times now (using a Sharpmaker and stropping more often than sharpening) it seems like it is going to take a long time to use this one up. I have heavily reprofiled the pen blade to make it a great whittling blade, and the spey blade is kept razor sharp and very thin for when I need a razor (not used much).

What I am coming to realize is that, in my modern world, it is not likely I will every use this one up. I use it daily (when I am carrying it), but I slice cheese with it, or my evening fruit, or open the occasional package. Couple that with the fact that I am a knife junkie who likes to rotate other knives into the mix, and what I have is something likely to be passed down for a very long line of ancestors.

The pen blade gets the most use, when I whittle, but I almost never sharpen that, since I always whittle with a strop by my side, and strop often. The thin and flat grind never seems to get dull this way.

Contrast this with someone from the mid 1900's and before that, where knives were used to harvest, cut twine, rope, leather, clean animal hooves, skin game...the list goes on. It is much like the years I spent as a chef. We used out knives in a professional kitchen at least 50 to 100 times more than the average home user does. When new chefs would come into the restaurant, with their $20 knife sets they purchased from a TV commercial, they were dumbfounded that their knives would not last a week in heavy use. That was when they understood why a chef would pay $100 for a single kitchen knife, that would last for decades.

Buying a nice, high quality traditional today means buying something that is going to outlive all of us, even with what most of us would consider "heavy use". For those of you who truly do use a knife for "heavy use", I tip my hat to you. You are doing what a well made traditional was made for.
 
but then you have the dang anti-theft plastic packaging which pocket knives are perfect for. I just bought one of those folding utility knives at home depot. It'll be pretty useful in the garage and backyard.

not2sharp said:
The times have changed. A lot of the packaging which required tools to open are now twist-off or have pull tabs. Knives are simply not used as they once were.

n2s
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I recently tallied up all the pocket knives I have acquired, and divided into my (optimistic) remaining life expectancy. If I carry each knife for 3 months and then put it away forever and get out a fresh one, I will never run out of knives for the rest of my life. My solution - I carry several at a time now. :D

So I guess all of mine are disposable, when it comes down to it.
 
It's funny I recently found a bunch of my grand fathers and great grandfathers knives. My great grandfathers knives were all in decent shape I could tell he had sharpened them himself but did take time to oil them. My grandfathers knives were in terrible shape sharpened by an electric sharpener with all the tips broken off. It was interesting to see the change from one generation to the next just within my family. My grandfather was meticulous with his tools but a knife was disposable. (Even though he never through them away)
 
TheWook said:
It's funny I recently found a bunch of my grand fathers and great grandfathers knives. My great grandfathers knives were all in decent shape I could tell he had sharpened them himself but did take time to oil them. My grandfathers knives were in terrible shape sharpened by an electric sharpener with all the tips broken off. It was interesting to see the change from one generation to the next just within my family. My grandfather was meticulous with his tools but a knife was disposable. (Even though he never through them away)
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Makes sense, especially if your Great Grandfather bought knives during one of the great wars. Steel, brass, copper, and nickel were precious commodities in wartime, so knives were not easy to come by (some manufacturers ceased production), and very expensive if you could find one. Postwar extravagance was what created the disposable age.
 
Hello super postin friends! I prefer the case slipjoint peanut for my disposable knife! It has that nice traditional handle but at that price I don't feel so bad when I drop it in the toilet ;). God bless America!

---cinna
 
cinnamochoil said:
Hello super postin friends! I prefer the case slipjoint peanut for my disposable knife! It has that nice traditional handle but at that price I don't feel so bad when I drop it in the toilet ;). God bless America!

---cinna
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Hello cinna! Lay off the crack pipe!
 
Mr. Chips said:
Actually, I blame the disposable razor blade for causing the lack of sharpening knowledge. Anyone who wanted to shave at all before WWI needed to know how to sharpen. And of course a lot more people were on farms and needed sharp tools in those days too. Even many woodworkers today, who use carbide tipped power tools for their work don't know how to sharpen.

I teach sharpening courses through a variety of venues. People want to learn this, as evidenced by the fact that I have a steady stream of students, but it always surprises me when some of my students are chefs or woodworkers who one would assume would have to know how to sharpen their tools. Some can get them close, but not REALLY sharp.

Well, in my class they get them hair popping sharp - and the participants are almost embarrassingly grateful that someone has taken the time to teach them this skill that once was almost universally considered essential. I still consider it so.
Click to expand...

Where do you teach, Chips?

Zieg
 
Buzzbait said:
More to the point, I think we live in an age where sharpening is no longer common knowledge. People don't actually know how to sharpen a knife, or even know that knives need to be periodically sharpened. We stopped passing down this knowledge a generation or two ago. So now we buy knives that don't need to be sharpened, hence disposable blades.
Click to expand...

This is quite true.

I read an Amazon review of the Victorinox Santoku kitchen knife, and one reviewer rated it poorly because he said that after several months of use, the blade was no longer as sharp as before. I use one of these as my main kitchen knife, and it holds an edge well for its purposes, and is easy to touch up. But this individual obviously thinks a knife should never need resharpening.

My dad never threw away his used-up pocketknives, but he never had any sentimental attachment to them, either. When they became too worn down from abuse and resharpenings, he simply dropped them into an old toolbox or a drawer.

Jim
 
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