Using knife as prybar/screwdriver?

[Wolfjohn]

oops!

 

[Wolfjohn]

I saw a guy setting up at a trade show last year use his CR Sebenza to pry open the lid on a can of primer paint...he popped the front 1/4 inch off the tip. . He looked at the knife then made the comment, Dammit...You can't buy a decent knife anymore...my kid got that for me for Christmas....I'll have to send that in and get it re-ground."

Uhhhh....yyyyea sure....good luck on that. Yup...they're out there alright.

 

[Rick Marchand]

Often times when in the woods(especially when training with my skills mentor), my knife is used in chopping, prying, digging, hammering, chipping, batonning and sometimes even cutting From my own experience I have come to find the "fine cutting tasks" everyone seems to save their blade for, overrated. I completely understand that I overstep the bounds of acceptable knife use and would void most waranties. It's a good thing I'm a bladesmith.

My current user...

 

[Sep]

Do you actually carry all that on your person? I keep such things in my car (BOB) and in the home, but I can't picture ever needing a USB drive while I'm walking my dog or a flashlight for a lunch meeting.

Yes I do. It's a long list of tools, and it's actually longer because I forgot to Include a Victorinox Midnight Manager on my keychain and a short titanium spork. Carrying them is manageable and comfortable because I use a pocket holster and choose light (but decent) tools.

The nylon pocket holster weighs nothing. With all three compartments fully loaded it's only slightly thicker than my wallet. At 4.5" x 7" it fits easily into my right front trousers pocket without printing.

- SOG Pocket Powerplier : 5.5 oz
- Kershaw Skyline : 2.3 oz
- Pocketwrench II : 1.7 oz
- Mini bic lighter, Fenix L0D, Sandisk Cruzer titanium, titanium spork: ~ 2 oz
- Victorinox Midnight Manager : 1.2 oz

The 13 oz (slightly heavier than 12 oz Leatherman Surge) is carriable because the weight is distributed and the sheath prevents any jiggling.

Why do I carry them everywhere? The same reason everybody here carries a folder everywhere.

 

[redbike]

OP: Remind me never to lend you a kinife.

 

[T. Erdelyi]

There' a big difference between usin' a beefy fixed blade to remove a screw threaded into plastic to secure a battery comparment and usin' a thinly ground folder to remove a 1/4 x 20 machine screw or usin' the spine of a CS Trail Master to open a paint can.

There in lies the difference between abuse and simply thinkin' outside the box in uses for your knife within the limits of it's specs.

Once again don't complain when the tip of your knife breaks tryin' to turn a big screw with machine threads because you were to inconvienced to take a few extra steps for the right tool or wait to do what ever till your at a proper place with the proper tools.

It's America last I checked, no one's sayin' ya can't do it, it's just in most cases the proper tool for the job is considerably cheaper than wastin' a knife and if yer knife is cheaper than a prybar or screwdriver it's probably inherently dangerous and shouldn't be carried at all, by anyone.

 

[Sep]

Every one of you, at some point, has used a knife to pry, scrape, and screw.

Not me. I always have a multitool or other more suitable tools.

 

[Stelth]

I snapped the tip off my mini grip awhile back by prying with it. Yes I was abusing it but it was all I had at the time. I have broken numerous other tools by using and abusing them as well. Tools break. Just replace it and go on.

...or use them properly and they last a hell of a lot longer.

 

[Thalestin]

Often times when in the woods(especially when training with my skills mentor), my knife is used in chopping, prying, digging, hammering, chipping, batonning and sometimes even cutting From my own experience I have come to find the "fine cutting tasks" everyone seems to save their blade for, overrated. I completely understand that I overstep the bounds of acceptable knife use and would void most waranties. It's a good thing I'm a bladesmith.

My current user...

That has to be one of the most awesome knives ive seen for quite some time

 

[T. Erdelyi]

...or use them properly and they last a hell of a lot longer.

Agreed, some of my tools are near a hundred years old and work like new but they do all look their age but I've never had to replace them, I can't afford to replace 'em 'cause I always breakin' 'em.

 

[spydercomil]

I use and abuse my knives as hard as I need to. They are tools, and are more and more becoming, and being marketed as, multipurpose tools. They do whatever needs to be done, but I still use them as carefully as I can, but if a tip breaks off, I still have the rest of the knife to work with, and if the break completely, and I cant have them fixed under warranty, then I will just go to my knife drawer, and pull out one of my many other knives. I love knives, I just love using them more.

 

[KeithAM]

I carry a Vic Cadet a lot of the time. In addition to the obvious screwdrivers, I've found the tools are useful for prying, including the tip of the nail file. I think they're tempered to a lower RC than most blades, so they hold up to prying pretty well. A Cadet is fairly small, and thin, and takes up very little room in a pocket. They run about $20. And CountyComm sells small pocket/keychain prybars for less than $10, IIRC.

I'd be embarassed if I broke the tip off an expensive knife by prying with it, so I find it strange that one of the folks posting here seems proud that he broke the tip off his Griptilian. Grips run about $60, don't they? Dude--the tip is gone! And if you regrind it, it's not going to be as pointy. So your $60 knife is now less useful.

But then there's a faction of the knife community that seems to emphasize "hard use" and "abuse" of knives over using them to cut things. There are definitely knives out there that will hold up to almost anything--Bussekin would be one example--but not the average pocket knife.

 

[mat_890]

...or use them properly and they last a hell of a lot longer.

To what ends?

I throw out more knives then I could ever realistically break, assuming I don't set out to do so.

I'm not pro-waste or anything, and I offer knives up to friends before they go in the trash but would anyone really want a well used aus-8 Spyderco with a worn lock that could be replaced in vg10 for under 50 dollars? I just don't have the desire or space to own dust collectors. If I break a knife after 3 years of hard use then so what, it was trash bound soon anyhow. Plus it makes room for new knives

I would certainly feel differently with a 200 dollar folder but as now I don't own any.

 

[A.P.F.]

Every one of you, at some point, has used a knife to pry, scrape, and screw.

The above statement is not even close to being accurate. I have never done any of those things with a knife. I was taught from a young age to respect my tools and to use the appropriate one for the job.

As for the OP, I believe a case for diminished capacity could be made for a Sebenza owner who has such a disregard for knives. Some people just don't deserve what they have.

 

[Tony8179]

I'd like to know where people are and what they are doing when they have just a folder as their only tool? I'm an electrician and no matter where I go on a job I have my basics on my tool belt. Lineman pliers, flat and phillips head screw drivers, channel locks, folding razor knife, tape measure, and a tester. These go where I go so that I don't have to use my knife to do tasks that it was not made to do. When I need a different tool for a different job such as a hacksaw, a drill, or a hammer I walk on over to my tool bag and get what I need.

Now I do have a tanto blade Buck Nighthawk in my toolbag that has been used for all kinds of different work including prying, but we're no longer talking about a thin folder. Now we're talking about a thick fixed blade that can take one hell of a beating.

 

[Ankerson]

Personally I believe there are knives for different uses, some are going to be better at some things than others due to various reasons.

That's not to say one should really make it a habit to pry with a knife or use it as a screwdriver, but it's nice to know there are blades that can take it and not snap.

 

[mat_890]

I'd like to know where people are and what they are doing when they have just a folder as their only tool?

No problem I'm a student traveling between campus building and home. I most recently stopped to get gas but the cover was frozen shut, took out my folder (Ontario rat1 I think) and pryed it open. I had tools in the trunk of my car, but it was -25 C and I had class.

 

[guitarSteve]

Does anyone else here use their knife as a screwdriver or a prybar?...

This is exactly why I carried an "Electrician's Knife" pattern as my EDC for around ten years, after carrying a Stockman with the spey ground to a screwdriver tip (which still broke: being tempered for something else, originally) for about 20 years previously.

Yes, a knife is a tool: the most basic of all tools: and likely to be ready to hand for those who frequent this forum, having learned to always have one in a pocket somewhere.

But if limiting the knife to cutting chores (a good idea) then I require another tool for the things I'm tempted to do with a blade "in a pinch."

After giving every chance to SAK's, etc., my EDC is now a Leatherman "Squirt" on my keyring, supplemented often with a stockman pattern in some pocket or pouch, now that I'm retired and can carry "nicer" tools, with bone handles etc.

I will admit that back when I was working, I did mis-use several 300 series Buck Wranglers over the years, beating on stuff when in a hurry, etc.

They're pretty tough!

Nowadays though, I hope to cultivate a more gentlemanly image, so carry slightly fancier stuff...

 

[yablanowitz]

yablanowitz, you should take care to craft your analogies before calling someone post dumb.

A knife to a mini-prybar is not the same as a hammer to a socket. Also the only thing at risk by prying is breaking is a 50 dollar knife, or if your analogy was correct, the mechanics hammer (rather then the spark plug threads). A better analogy would be whether or not you trusted a mechanic who used a gas pipe (cheater bar) over a ratchet rather then a breaker bar or strong arm. My answer... sure its his tools on the line not mine and its not going to destroy the project the tools are being used on, why should I care?

Nobody said something called a tool is = to all things called tools. The OP suggested in a pinch, you use your knife for something that it can probably handle although not specifically designed to do.

The hostility is unwarranted as well.

Do you think the OP will volunteer to pay people for all the knives they damage following his advice? How about the medical bills for the injuries they sustain? I somehow doubt it, myself. As many posts as I've read here where people are whining about damage to their knives and blaming it on manufacturers when the problem was their misuse of the knife, I think the OP advising people to use their knives as screwdrivers and prybars qualifies as dumb and warrants hostility. You disagree. So be it.

Just because a prybar is made from a flat piece of steel and a knife is made from a flat piece of steel doesn't make either the process or the end result the same. It doesn't even make the material the same, since the last time I checked there were a few different kinds of steel out there. Yes, tools wear out. Yes, tools break. I've broken a couple of crowbars prying with them. I've broken many screwdrivers turning screws with them. Even using the right tool for the job doesn't guarantee a desireable result, but it does increase the odds of getting one. Using the wrong tool shifts the odds the other way. When that wrong tool has a razor sharp edge, it can become dangerous in a hurry. Maybe you've never seen a knife blade shatter and send pieces flying everywhere, but I have.

 

[Sithus1966]

Bad things happen when you pry.