What do you use your hard use folders for?

L

Luis G.

Joined
Jan 18, 2011
Messages
1,855
I've been wondering what you people do with your folding knives that you consider hard use.

This isn't meant to be a discussion of theoretical or comparisons but simply tell me what you have actually used your knife for that you would consider hard use.

Reason I ask is because I've permanently ruined approximately 3 knives out of over 15 knives that I've "hard" tested, 2 of those 3 knives I knew they would fail due to being very thin questionable quality Coast liner locks. So far I have seen an overwhelming sense of caution when using folding knives in this forum yet what I have seen seems to indicate they are not as fragile as some may think, which is good!
Take the Manix 2 which was batoned WHILE the lock was engaged. The knife had blade play, but after assembly/reassembly had gone back to good old solid lock up.
 
For hard use things. :D

(but really for cutting cardboard because I'm no survivor man)
 
Various tacticool maneuvers that are unfortunately top secret. But mostly cutting cardboard, tape, zip ties, plastic packaging, steak, apples, bread. I don't hard use my hard use knives. I just like them because they are awesome. It's also cool to know that you could probably do some stupid stuff with your knife if you had to.
 
These days it's use in the garden or while landscaping....ripping open bags of compost, dividing and separating tangled plant roots, trimming small branches, harvesting....and such.
 
I use a Delica at work as a mechanic. I've used it to cut most everything. Once I used a Tenacious serrated to cut through a truck tire sidewall.
It went through steel belts and all. Made about a 4 in. slash. The other workers were duly impressed.

I think one of them stole it a couple of months later. :mad:
 
I have a 3.25" edge Estwing hatchet for hard use applications.
 
I wouldn't say my knives see only hard use, they just get used lol
I use mine to cut paper, plastic, and tape while masking cars for paint..open supply boxes, shave sloppy filler edges,notch 2x4s if needed to hold panels open and whatever else I throw at them daily at work
 
My knives cut raw meat, cardboard, paper, plastic packaging, tape, apples, watermelons, pineapple and to separate tough frozen meat. Just EDC tasks, nothing outdoorsy.
 
My to-go Hard Work Knife is my waved Endura-4.
Ugly is as Ugly does.

Yard work, a lot of it. It does everything from popping an occasional weed out of the ground to opening bags of dirt.
It gets a few swipes on a mouse pad with sandpaper, perhaps a coarse diamond stone first, and it is good to go.
I don't need it razor sharp, and i'm not sure why you would want the rather obtuse saber grind that way. That being said, it has held up to several years of use.


I've also got a Byrd Rescue (the larger Endura sized Byrd Rescue) that I waved via Zip-tie not long ago. I also did the reverse tanto mod to it as I found I needed something more pointy. It is currently being beat on pretty well with the same duties as the Waved Endura above.
I wanted to test how a $28 knife would hold up. Turns out it has done very well. It sharpens easy, much easier than VG10, and it's nice to know that if it is lost or stolen I'm not going to cry about it.
 
Cutting cardboard, plastic zip ties, rubber surgical hose/tubing, plastic packaging, some light prying, and occasionally fruit and some light gardening tasks.
 
Here's an interesting thought. If you aren't rich as hell, wouldn't a cheaper knife make a better hard use knife? I'm not sure I'd be comfortable cutting up bags of soil or digging in rocky soil with a $400 hard use knife. Sure it would probably be more dependable, but if I blunt the tip or put a big nick in the edge, I'd feel it. Right in the wallet. But if I did that to a cheap knife, I wouldn't worry about sharpening out the damage.
 
I use mine to cut things, separating single items into two or more pieces. Because I find ways to do this with minimal lateral force, my preferred hard use folders are thinner grinds.

It seems that hard prying and chopping are the principal criteria for choosing an overbuilt, thick folder. If one must perform such tasks with their folder, then something like the Tuff or the ZT line are indicated.
 
Depends on the knife. Hard use for a small, light-weight pen knife would be light use for heavier duty knife, say a Buck 110. "The right tool for the right job" makes the most sense to me, and I never use any of my knives as pry-bars or screwdrivers.
 
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