Users and abusers?

I agree, abuse is a wide term. But I generally try to use the right tool for the job. And I like to keep my knives nice. I do play mumblety-peg with the guys I ride with, but we use our club knives for that. The other problem with using a knife for a job it was not made for is you up your chances of a trip to the ER dramatically.
 
Scraping is abuse?
Oh!!
I thought that is why there is the spey blade on my stockmans

That aside
My dedicated knife for scraping, prying and poking is the SAK Alox Pioneer
The bottle opener/screwdriver is excellent for prying
And the awl is excellent for piercing and scrapeing
 
I definitely don't abuse mine, simply because my day to day life very rarely has me doing anything that could be considered abuse. About the only thing I ever run into is the occasional need to pry something in which case I use a key. Life in a cubical could easily be managed with a Vic classic. If I led the kind of life that required me to do heavier/ abusive tasks, I would carry a Case CV sod buster and beat the crap out of it. I'd also keep a peanut or something of similar size in my pocket for everything else.
 
LKJW said:
I agree, abuse is a wide term. But I generally try to use the right tool for the job. And I like to keep my knives nice. I do play mumblety-peg with the guys I ride with, but we use our club knives for that. The other problem with using a knife for a job it was not made for is you up your chances of a trip to the ER dramatically.
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Yah, I was gonna say that the only "abuse" is unsafe use. As much as I will deburr metal and such at work I actually try real hard not to pry since pocket knife blades break so easily and that can get you hurt.

I have a Rough Rider Barlow which has seen lottsa hard use, and at $7 I'm not worried about it. I have a Queen Canoe which I paid $50 for (and which I know ain't all that much) and I won't take it to work. So you definitely have "work" and "home" use.

At work, a knife in my back pocket saves me from going and getting the right tool if I only have a quick thing to do.
 
Put me in the camp of not being able to use my knives for much more than cutting. On occasion one is called to do work beyond that for different reasons. But for 99% of the time, all my traditionals that I carry only do cutting work.

In construction, we learn to use the right tool for the right job. So I consider some of the second knives I carry clipped to my pocket more of a utility tool than a knife. They do all the nasty stuff like scraping, hole punching, cutting shingles, trimming sheetrock, etc., that I won't use my favorite traditional patterns to do.

I put a fine edge on my traditional knives, down to stropping a couple. The problem is that a very fine edge is easily damaged. But on my "utility" knife, I wash it off with lighter fluid to make sure it has no gunk on it, then hit it with a 600gr diamond rod. Plenty fine enough for the work it does, and since it only takes a couple of minutes to do that I can easily do it a couple of times a week with no problems.

To the OP, there is another great thread on this subforum about pairing traditionals and moderns. A good read.

Robert
 
There is nothing I enjoy more, than using the right tool for a job. I believe "abuse" in some of its definitions, only occurs in ignorance. If it is an emergency, life or limb threatening, then the knife gets sacrificed, but otherwise, why would you waste a good blade??
 
Javelin said:
Good evening!

So I have a question for yall, are you a user and abuser? Does the knife you carry reflect this in its design or wear? I only ask this because over the past 3 months or so I find that I've tilted more and more to the abuser side of things and my knife reflects it! My most carried knife now is a Rough Rider camping knife.
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"All skis are rock skis." [1]

This was the saying of the gang of hard chargers I used to ski with. Usually it was said just before pointing the ski tips down a slope with particularly thin cover. Sort of the skiers version of, "This is going to leave a mark."

As somebody who grew up babying his precious skis, this was a very freeing mindset. I've carried it over to knives and pretty much everything else I own. I'm at the point now that if I don't feel OK about scuffing up something, it's a sign to me that I've become too attached and that thing now owns me instead of the other way around.

I was cutting out some dead plants from my wife's garden the other day. I grabbed the dead stalks, pulled them tight and plunged my Opinel into the mix to do the dirty work. As the blade went down and through the dirt, a voice in the back of my mind reminded me, "All skis are rock skis."

As for tools, I'll point to my postings in the traditional/modern pairing thread. My standard EDC combo:


Every Day Carry Pairing by Pinnah, on Flickr


[1] - a rock ski is an older beater set of skis that you don't mind using when conditions are rocky and likely to damage or destroy the ski. Expendable. Won't cry when you bust 'em.
 
Abuse? No, Hard Use, I have an EK Model 5 Combat Bowie that is my go to camp knife and I do have a Cold Steel Twist Lok, similar to an Opinel on steroids, this knife is one tough folder, even still I never abuse, I guess that's why I still have knives that I've carried for 40 years and knives a lot older that are still usable examples of the Cutlers Art Form.
 
I use my SAK Tinker daily. It does whatever needs doing. Some of those tasks are inspired by the archived tales on this forum. Jackknife certainly tells stories that encourage me to use my knife whenever possible. Cutting up styrofoam, cardboard, or other materials for projects, opening cans of food, and whatever else needs doing are just part of the daily life of my knives. Abuse? Well, I am not trying to break my tools and I proceed with caution in the "think twice, cut once" fashion. My feelings are that if you use your tools as intended for most of their life, they will be just fine. There are times when "use as intended" is tossed aside for "use as can be applied". All just part of the adventure really.
 
I'd like to think that I don't abuse any of my knives too much, but I know I do. I tend to err on the cheap side of things with a beater knife. For example, the most expensive beater I have is a Case sodbuster. I use an Old Hickory eight inch butcher knife as my main beater, because it's roughly finished, cheap, and replaceable. I paid around $8 for it a while back. After making a duct tape blade cover for it, it's ready to go to work clearing brush, digging, prying, etc. It's easily sharpened, holds a decent edge, is comfortable in hand and has a good slightly blade heavy balance for chopping.
 
I only wail on my fixed blades and my heaviest used folder is a small SAK on my keys. My main blade is kept ready for work but I also like to take care of it.
 
Using a knife in the bush to batton chop etc is the only "abuse" a knife will get from me.

- Using the tip to lever
- using the tip for a screw driver
- Using the blade to lever

These will never be a part of my use. I hate when people stuff up the tip of a knife. My flat mate did it to my chef knives opening milo jars etc.

Wanna do that crap, buy a multi tool IMO..

I do enjoy the destructive tests on blades though as I probably tend to be overly protective of mine. They often open my eyes.

I have been very surprised at how far metal and heat treats have come and I find the Becker/busse tests very enjoyable (and amazing)..
 
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pap11y said:
Using a knife in the bush to batton chop etc is the only "abuse" a knife will get from me.

- Using the tip to lever
- using the tip for a screw driver
- Using the blade to lever

These will never be a part of my use. I hate when people stuff up the tip of a knife. My flat mate did it to my chef knives opening milo jars etc.

Wanna do that crap, buy a multi tool IMO..

I do enjoy the destructive tests on blades though as I probably tend to be overly protective of mine. They often open my eyes.

I have been very surprised at how far metal and heat treats have come and I find the Becker/busse tests very enjoyable (and amazing)..
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Using the tip as a screwdriver will mess it up so commonly that I would almost just call it planned destruction, not abuse.
'Course I get a lot of knives with a broken tip used really cheaply and it's not so hard to fix so it ain't all bad.
 
My traditional knives are never abused in any way shape or form, they cut and that is it. However I have a number of knives, from before I found this fine forum and in particular the traditional area, that were obtained cheaply and are used for everything and anything I don't want to use my nice knives for.

But even when I use the term abuse I don't think of prying with a knife or using it as a screwdriver. To me that's not abuse but rather misuse, a knife isn't a screwdriver or a pry-bar. Abuse it more of cutting things that I know are going to do above normal damage to the blade or knife itself.

Anyway that is just my .10.

-Andrew
 
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