What Do You Use Multiple Blades For?

I have several two-bladed knives where the secondary is a pen blade. For those I tend to use the main to do the majority of cutting tasks and hold the pen in reserve so that it is always sharp.
 
This will definitely vary depending on each person's lifestyle and needs.

I have three kids - all 11 and under, and I'm certain that my knife gets used more for opening packaging (toys, tags, snacks, etc). For this, I find a straight edge to be paramount. It doesn't have to be the main blade, but I prefer it NOT be a tiny little coping blade.

For most tasks that don't involve packaging, I do prefer a curved edge. This would be slicing food, cutting rope, making hot dog sticks, etc.

My #79 is just about perfect. The Churchills are amazing too.

That being said, any knife in the pocket with any # of blades (within reason) is always more useful than no knife at all.
 
Kind of a mix of what a lot on here have already said. Larger blades for heavier work, smaller blades for finer more delicate tasks. I don't use my pocket knives for any food related things around the house because I'll use kitchen knives. But in the field, at work, fishing or hunting I'll use whatever I'm carrying for slicing up some food if needed. With one exception, the Swiss Army Knife in my work bag gets only used for nasty tasks at work, nothing else. With the exception of a belt knife, I don't think I'd carry a single bladed pocket knife on a regular basis. Swiss Army Lumberjack would be the exception.
 
I use my main blade for most general tasks but will use the smaller secondary blade when the added control of a shorter blade is beneficial.
 
jmarston said:
Been carrying a Boker barlow with a sheepsfoot main for quite some time.

The main gets used for everything. Opening boxes or breaking them down, hitting a fish, whittling a point in a hot dog stick, cutting leather , stripping wire, slitting open a feed bag... the list goes on. The straight edge draw cuts very well. If it gets a little dull, a quick touch up on a coffee up or strop on a boot and I am back in business. I loves me a sharp edge but sometimes I can't get to re sharpening until the weekend.

The pen blade is kept hair popping sharp. Mostly it gets used for trimming fingernails and cuticles but also is used for splinter removal, trimming thread and finer whittling tasks. I strop it regularily to keep the edge polished.

Sometimes I try carrying a stockman just to see if I like it. To try and convince myself that three blades must be better than two. I really really try but the third blade (spey) just never gets used. I need me one of those punch stockmans I have seen from Case...
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Of all the responses this seems to be closest to my everyday needs. Thanks for sharing!

It’s been really interesting seeing how people strategize this.
 
Copperberry said:
Hey Folks,

I am finally biting the bullet and delving into the world of multiple-blade traditional pocket knives! I have both a Case Peanut and a GEC #14 two blade Boy's Knife on the way, and was hoping Y'all might have some recommendations for what tasks to do with each blade.

I understand that this is a personal thing tailored to each individuals cutting needs, but I thought it'd be interesting to see how everyone divides their cutting labor :)
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One of the main reasons I carry a traditional pocket knife is so that I can have multiple blades, each with a different shape that is optimized for a different chore.

I almost always carry a knife with a Wharncliffe or Sheepsfoot blade. Those shapes are unbeatable for starting a cut in the middle of a surface. boxes, blister packs, etc. The harder you press the blade point into the surface, the more you are forcing the blade to stay open. It physically cannot close on your hand.

The other blade is a blade with some belly to it, either a pen, drop point, or clip. A pen blade is my preference. That blade is used for general cutting and slicing. I like the pen blade because it is small and can fit into small areas so as to apply the sharp edge exactly where it will do the most good.

If I'm carrying a stockman with a spey blade, the spey serves as a reserve, very sharp blade. If the knife has a sheepsfoot, clip, and pen, then the clip is for general cutting and slicing with the pen held in reserve, or used for those small areas.
 
If I am pulling out my Boker carvers congress, It means I want a very sharp blade. For most stuff it probably doesn't matter which one. So I use whichever was easiest to open that time around. When I'm actually using the knife to whittle with I prefer the spey blade for most of the work. I have found the coping blade works well for cutting out leather projects. If I need a larger blade, or want to get one out quickly I use my buck 110. If I need tools, can opener, screw driver, saw, toothpick, ect. I pull out my Swiss Champ.

O.B.
 
I have very few multiple blade knives and rarely carry one except for my SAKs. The one thing I have noticed when browsing dealer sites for GEC is the recent single blades versions (14s, 56s, 78s) seem to fly off the shelves and the multiple blade knives are lingering. Perhaps I am overlooking the advantages to the multiple blade knives.

,,,Mike in Canada
 
Duper said:
I have very few multiple blade knives and rarely carry one except for my SAKs. The one thing I have noticed when browsing dealer sites for GEC is the recent single blades versions (14s, 56s, 78s) seem to fly off the shelves and the multiple blade knives are lingering. Perhaps I am overlooking the advantages to the multiple blade knives.

,,,Mike in Canada
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Or maybe not.

I know that from my own experience in the army engineers all over the world, the multi blade pocket knife seems to be an American thing. The blue collar class workers that we contracted locally all seemed to use the moderate cost single blade knife. The French have the Douk-ouk and Opinel, the Germans have the Mercator and F. Herder, the English have the Real Lambsfoot. In the U.S. I see a lotto sodbusters and modern one hand wonders on job sites.

While I was in service, the army issued the M-L-K knife aka 'demo' knife that was an all steel scout pattern knife. Blade, and tools. Yet once the PX started to sell the Buck 110, just about every troop on post had one in the familiar black belt sheath. These knives became the universal work/duty knife. They were put through horrible punishing use, as only a 20 year old PFC could dish out, knowing that a new one could be had for 12 dollars at the PX. They proved to b a very very rugged working knife on the construction sites we had had in the engineers.

One blade seemed enough for most working guys no matter if laying a pipeline or building a bridge over a creek.
 
I like to have 3 blades, one short and one long blade to use as needed and a 3rd blade to be kept sharp as the backup. An ideal configuration is a clip, sheepsfoot and pen. That is an ocd thing as just one or two blades is sufficient most of the time. More doesn’t hurt though. I can’t carry a single blade by itself, just can’t do it.
 
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