What do you really do with your knives

apart from fondling/inspecting/cleaning/sharpening/maintenance/tinkering......:

-opening letters and packages
-thinning down stacks of paper and cardboard to save room in my garbage-bin
-peeling fruit
-cut loose clothing-threads
-clean under nails when busy with dirt, mud or grease
-prying stuff and hoping the blade doesn't break
-sizing up materials to smaller proportions if necessary
-scraping off stuff
-cutting rope
-trimming the hedge in my mom's garden
-whittling wood and creating vampire-woodstakes when i'm bored
-cut bread or other food when i'm too lazy to get a kitchen knife
-puncturing wood/leather/plastic to create holes when needed
-using it as impact tool, improvised hammer
-removing splinters and other skin-anomalies
-throwing at wood or trees when angry because fish won't bite
-chopping, slashing and whittling brush or branches during fishing when bored
-rounding off sides and corners when making something out of wood
-cut fishing-line
-lending out to other people who need a knife
-carry a folder in my pocket almost everyday
-cut tape and ducktape
-strap on a fixed blade occasionally when going fishing
-stab or whittle the table in my living room when bored

and probably a dozen other things i forgot to mention. often i simply find it more fun to use a knife, even when that job can easily be done with my bare hands, my teeth or a pair of scissors or boxcutter laying within reach............just as an excuse to handle the knife :-)

denn

PS. btw, did i mention i was bored often? :D
 
Bastid said:
Carried a Queen Dr. pattern to work today. On Fridays we alternate bringing in bagels (about 25 people in the dept.) The person who got them this morning forgot to have them cut.
I left the knife on the table (perfect size for bagels) during the morning and just got back from picking it up. From the looks of it before I cleaned it, it got quite a bit of use. :D.
Click to expand...
Is the second "blade" the spatula type on Queen's Dr. model? If so, I'll bet that was good for spreading the cream cheese. :)

As far as daily use, I carry whatever folder suits my needs (or mood) for that day. If I'll be doing a lot of cutting or need something that can get beat around, I'll carry a basic sodbuster or stockman. A small sunfish isn't very practical, but is fun to carry, and still useable for cutting string, tape, boxes, etc.
I have several khukuris as my outdoor knives. Great choppers and bushwhackers. Thinking about a mora knife for fishing.

Parry
 
I use a knife at work for a bunch of stuff. Mostly a SAK, that I use the screwdrivers on, and the saw for squaring the ends of PVC air lances with so they work better. Also cut paper and plastic that gets put on different products. I carry a larger folder or fixed blade for opening large cardboard containers, cutting hose, belts that have to be replaced, and occasionally metal seals that I can't tear off with my fingers or a pair of pliers.
Usual stuff in the kitchen, handled by kitchen knives.
A larger blade gets used trimming low hanging branches, and clearing briars that are always springing up out back.
Our garbage pickup uses a truck with an arm that picks up the supplied trash can and dumps it. Everything has to fit inside that can with the top closed, so all boxes, plastic jugs, things like that get cut up to make things more compact.
Camping, there's all the usual camp stuff, food prep, opening packages, splitting kindling and sometimes larger wood for the fire, plus the "just in case" factor that ensures I have a decent sized knife on me away from camp.
Then there's opening the mail, cleaing fingernails, and all the little things you don't think about much.
Seems like I use a knife constantly. I could still make do with a SAK, a small folder or fixed blade, and one medium-to-large sized fixed blade, but where's the fun in that?
 
A knife is my most important tool other than a pen. Cutting everything from thread tp PVC pipe. I don't hunt, so I don't need a knife to dress an animal. I do however camp and use knives for chopping and food and fire preparation.

There are some knives that I have that I do nothing more than take them out to look at and to fondle every once in awhile.
 
I just like to collect them, they are like art in metal, the sound they make, the way they feel and look, their history. I do carry a BM 705 most the time, it works great for cleaning finger nails, cutting string, opening boxes, cutting fruit.
 
Depends on the knife:
Gerber Easy Out: lunch, string and whatever emergency might arise.
Schrade Uncle Henery - construction site work as inspection cutting of vermiculite insulation, pulling up floor tiles or wood floor boards, punching holes in drywall, using it as an anchor for tape measure, prying plates off walls, poking into areas I don't want to stick a finger into.
Parker Liner lock - staple pulling, 'pinning' architectural drawings to walls, scraping soles of shoes and boots, letter opener.
 
Well maybe not. Ok I use mine to open boxes, cut rags, slice my fingers, clean my nails. I also make walking sticks and other things out of wood so I really do "use" my knives. I also take them out with me hiking and camping so we all know that they will get used there as well to do all sorts of things. The knife is the most basic and useful "tool" out there and they have been used for like a billion years or so. Why mess up a good thing? :D

http://home.earthlink.net/~bishop_85gt/
 
About the hardest task I use mine for is stripping off cable jacketing. Something like a 50-pair burial cable will have a thick plastic outer covering like a garden hose, then under that is thinner plastic and metal foil, then under that are the wires with disgusting waterproof goop on 'em. Grounding wire is hard on an edge too if you go across that thick copper. Otherwise it's just standard box/rope/string cutting kind of stuff.
 
Many of the above things.

But,I view a knife a little like a lifejacket.I may not use it but I'm not going out without one.

Think the rare jammed seltbelt,clothes caught in a machine,hair in a drillpress(shop class many years ago),ever seen what one of those thin cord dog leashes do to a bare leg once wrapped around a persons leg with a excited dog still at one end? Thats why even in swim trunks I have a folder,you never know. :)
 
Lone Hunter said:
Many of the above things.

But,I view a knife a little like a lifejacket.I may not use it but I'm not going out without one.

Think the rare jammed seltbelt,clothes caught in a machine,hair in a drillpress(shop class many years ago),ever seen what one of those thin cord dog leashes do to a bare leg once wrapped around a persons leg with a excited dog still at one end? Thats why even in swim trunks I have a folder,you never know. :)
Click to expand...

Really good points. Let alone being in a car wreck and having to extricate yourself, or extricate someone else. More and more I am seeing a knife in this light, at least for my lifestyle.
 
Lone Hunter said:
Many of the above things.

But,I view a knife a little like a lifejacket.I may not use it but I'm not going out without one.

Think the rare jammed seltbelt,clothes caught in a machine,hair in a drillpress(shop class many years ago),ever seen what one of those thin cord dog leashes do to a bare leg once wrapped around a persons leg with a excited dog still at one end? Thats why even in swim trunks I have a folder,you never know. :)
Click to expand...

I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it!!
 
I've been a "professional temp" for three years, with a liberal dose of short order cook thrown in for good measure. I can't think of a single day in the past 10 years that I haven't needed a knife. Whether it's my spyderco ripping carpet apart in a burnt out building or my 10" Henckels dicing tomatoes I've been using knives on a daily basis for as long as I can remember. Frankly I don't have enough knives, I've got those two I mentioned, a spyderco delica and a stamped Henckels... thats it. I've gone through plenty of SAKs and turned most of them into icepicks through extreme use followed by extreme sharpening. I abuse my knives, I can't deny that... but I'd rather abuse a knife than abuse my fingernails and teeth :)
 
You got to play with them. I practice opening them and stuff when I'm here on the boards. I also use them with probably all the things listed above when the situation arises. I am usually the first person my mom comes to when something needs to be cut.
 
Like most I own far more than I can use. However I carry and use a knife every day, from daily work chores to days spent afield deer hunting. I have finally come to peace with owning knives that I will never use but will simply enjoy playing with. I own the first Damascus knife that MS Joe Flournoy ever made, I own a knife from Jerry Fisk with no JS or MS stamp, I own a knife from MS Charlie Ochs that I have beaten the crap out of , I sold a knife that was made by Harvey McBurnette and will regret it for the rest of my life, I lost one that was made by MS Wayne Valchovic. Every knife I own or have ever owned has been special and I have enjoyed. If I had it to do over again, I would have never have sold one and would have used every one I ever bought, YMMV.
 
I do all kinds of stuff with my knives. Like open letters, cutting tape off of boxes, and you never know when you might get stuff in those evil plastic packages.
 
I use my knives as follows:

. in the kitchen;
. cutting string, opening parcels, cutting up cardboard boxes;
. as a leather worker I am always using a knife for slicing, skiving, cutting;
. on the farm for cutting baling twine, cutting rope, branches, paring goats hooves, putting down sick/injured animals, butchering;
. when I'm fishing;
. in the bush;
. gutting and skinning game; and
. when I've got nothing else to do whittling, sharpening, cleaning and admiring.
 
I believe that, even though one may not need a knife every day, it is still necessary to carry one.

The question we should be asking is not "what do you really do with your knives?", but rather "will you have the right knife when the time comes to use it?"

Even if I knew I only used a knife a couple of times a year, I would still carry one in order to be prepared for the unexpected.

TheSurvivalist
 
I feel out of place if I don't have at least 1 knife with me all the time. I use all my knives. I am carefull not to abuse tips. Take more chances with my cheeper ones than my higher end models.
 
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