Uses of an EDC Knife

[22-rimfire]

The uses are nearly infinite. That's why I carry a knife. I go into withdrawl if I notice I don't have a knife in my pocket.

 

[jackknife]

Unfortunately, living in a modern suburban society, there is a decreasing need for much of a pocket knife. Fortunately, we live in a very very prepackaged society, and that means a sharp knife is needed pretty often if you do any kind of shopping at all. The inventor of the cursed plastic blister package must have been a knife knut, because that's the easiest way to open one of those d--m things. Camping and hiking, and fishing certainly call for a knife, but modern life in suburbia also needs one. There's UPS and FEDEX boxes that get dropped at the door, especially if your better half likes to shop via Amazon and other online outlets.

Then there's grilling. If I've got something on the grill for dinner, and I want to make sure it's done, I could walk back in the house for a knife, but it's far easier to just take out my pocket knife and make a slit to check to see if it's done just right.

I don't like gardening or landscaping, but being a home owner it's a necessary evil. Lugging a couple of 50 pound bags of mulch from the back of the pickup around the house, I don't feel like going to look for a cutting tool. Easy to just reach in pocket, open knife, cut bag open, close and drop knife back in pocket.

And then there's father time. He gets us all in the end, and he will rob you of the youth and strength. As a senior citizen, I found that with some arthritis in my fingers, it's way way easier to just cut something open that try to twist, tear, rip it open like a young man can. I've finally reached an age where opening a package can be a major PITA, so I just take out my nice sharp knife and cut the darn thing open.

But all this is aside from the fact that sometimes, not very often, you may be confronted with an emergency. No, I'm not talking about Chinese paratroopers or zombi hordes. No, a real world emergency where you, or maybe someone you don't even know, needs help right now, with no time to spare. It happens. Twice in my life, I needed a shape knife desperately to help someone in trouble. Because of a life long habit, I had a sharp knife in my pocket, and was able to help. It felt rewarding.

But most of all, you carry a knife because you can, and you never really know what you will encounter in the course of your day before you make it home that night. And sometimes, maybe just once or twice in a lifetime, yours or someone you may not even know, will have a life hanging on someone having a sharp knife on hand. It doesn't have to be very big to cut a seat belt, or a scarf caught in an escalator that is chocking someone. But it does have to be sharp.

 

[powernoodle]

because . . . you never really know what you will encounter in the course of your day

This. Its the sense of peace that comes from knowing that in some small way, you will manipulate your world today rather than allowing the world to manipulate you. The same holds true for lights, guns, keychain tools, MTs, bug out bags, water storage, survivalist prep and all the rest.

So its not so much what you cut, but just knowing that you can cut.

 

[Cryptyc]

Have a couple young kids and you'll use that freaking knife all the time. I am constantly asked by my wife to open this, cut off this, fix this, etc for some other random item the kids acquired. One of the more fun (recent) ones was a build your own truck balsa wood thingy my son got. The pieces needed some shaving to fit and I love using my knife. I'd say I haven't gone more than 2 days without using my EDC. I've even been asked to use my knife at a soccer game when another child's mom had a chair tangle with some random twine. Really it's just good to have....and use.

 

[Jeru]

Option1
Sit in front of the TV, open your knife, admire it, close it repeat this until you are:
A:done watching tv
B:your significant other throws a shoe at you
Cress pause and get a new knife from your collection to play with

Option 2
Open some boxes

Option 3
Go outside and find a project that requires cutting, the more ridiculous excuse to cut something the better.
Her: "honey...where is my rose bush?" You: "ummm....it needed cutting?"

LOL funny because it's true

To the OP, the answer is simple: food and cardboard. I encounter enough of that in my life to be satisfied with the "uses of [my] EDC knife".

 

[RevDevil]

Toothbrush

 

[eschwebach]

T.O.M.C. - Tactical Opening of Macaroni and Cheese (39 years old and still love Kraft M&C :thumbup

I don't use that silly perforated thumb hole, I cut the entire top of the box off in one swipe (sometimes with hilarious consequences). Shock & Awe Baby!!!

 

[grownstar]

Have a couple young kids and you'll use that freaking knife all the time.

Haha this! Opening fruit snacks, cutting the straps off new dolls, etc!

Also, I use mine to open bags of dog food, cut through zip ties, plastic wrap, packing tape, boxes and so on. I work in the receiving area of a college so we get pallets full of stuff every day.

My wife has been losing a little weight, so just the other day she asked if I could add another hole to her belt. Imagine the smile on my face when I busted out my Knockout and went to town on that leather

And of course opening mail, food prep or even cutting food when we're out on the town. I can't even begin to tell you how many dull steak knives I've come across.

 

[csisland]

I went a long time without an edc knife and got by just fine, but it feels cool to carry one.

 

[Bob6794]

Watch Macgyver, Burn Notice, NCIS, and come back here and ask use why we follow Rule #9.

Chances are our members here have used our knives for more things than they did on their shows a million times over. For me it's random slaying of cardboard boxes, plastic containers, zip ties, anything else that needs cutting, close enough measurements in a pinch (helps knowing your blade/handle length and width and seconds of it), fixing my car, etc. The list goes on for quite awhile, it's my favorite tool for a reason and the only thing superior than duct tape.

 

[B.F.U]

@jackknife @powernoodle

Great posts! Very well summarized.

 

[blame it on god]

Anything that could be ripped open with hands or scissors, use a knife.)

Ever seen someone struggling with a stubborn bag of potato chips and offer to cut it open for them? And they say nah I got it. Then next thing you know the bag rips open and chips fly everywhere.

Humans invented knives for a reason. One of them is to not look like an idiot.

 

[Moander]

Past week:

Cutting twine
Removing staples
Ditto on opening blister packs
Cutting radiator hose
Removing a shingle
And opening those blasted wrappers on my string cheese

 

[Chris_S]

Toothbrush

Well that didn't go as I expect. Now I have severe tongue lacerations.

I use mine for opening mail, cutting up cardboard boxes especially the really heavy ones, cutting the plastic bands around boxes, picking my teeth(not really suggested) food prep, home projects, cutting loose ends off clothing, and many other things.

 

[Noah2A]

I have thoroughly enjoyed this thread.

Let's see... opening packages, opening boxes, breaking down boxes, cutting apples, opening food bags, cutting zip ties, cutting tags of glasses for my customers, cutting tags off of clothes, cutting stray fibers off of clothes, opening salt bags, shaving arm hair, hours of fondling while watching Netflix and Youtube, working on gun projects of all sorts... just everything. My Spyderco is one of my favorite objects in existence haha.

OH opening mail, opening my mom's mail, making gerbil toys, cleaning and cutting fingernails...

 

[link2derek]

Here's one I forgot about (until I just had to do it again) - freeing retarded kitty stuck on comforter!

 

[Phydeaux]

Removing splinters
peeling labels
trimming cable ties
sharpening a pencil
stripping wire insulation
scraping bird stuff and sap off the windshield
scribe for wood (makes a more precise line than a pencil)
scoring plastic
deburring plastic
iPhone support/stand
paperweight
bug poker

 

[Quillan]

To open another bag of Doritos.

Sincerely,

Couch Blob.

 

[sunandsteel]

T.O.M.C. - Tactical Opening of Macaroni and Cheese (39 years old and still love Kraft M&C :thumbup

:thumbup:

 

[Daddyo16]

Ending conversations with people you didn't want to talk to anyway.