What do you use your knife for?

P

Plinthman

Joined
Mar 30, 2008
Messages
25
Hello everybody, I'm new here. I'm just starting to get into knife collecting, I have bought a few "movie" knives but these are only really for looking at and will probably never get used. After reading the excellent discussions here I have decided to get some more "serious" knives that I can actually use. Trouble is, I don't actually know what to use them for.
I know I might appear a bit dumb, but I just wondered what other people used thier knives for.
 
I use mine for different things. For work, I carry a benchmade folder, it is overly large, for cutting tarps and bags and plastic over palets, and cardboard boxes enclosing pumps and motors. If I am working on the steel, i am tied off to beams and girders at any height up to 300 feet or so. If i fall, I have a meyerco dive knife, wharncliff blade partially serrated, to cut my harness if the need arises. I would be scared to cut my harness, but I could do it if things were toppling. I carry and use an 18 inch machete for cutting firewood, rod rests, and if I cant find the right sticks, a rod rest itself when fishing. I Do alot of walking along creaks and canals, I once encountered a rabid coyote, the machete is a good tool, and makes me feel "safer." I carry 2 fillet knives, a cold steel and a buck, both 12 inch blades, for making cutbait, and for making fillets for eating. I also carry the benchmade and an old timer skinning knife for utility chores along the water. There is a blade on my all purpose cutlery set, but I dont count it, you cant use it and the fork at the same time.
 
My daily folder gets used from everything from a scraper, cutter, screw driver and every thing else.
 
Just general cutting chores, opening boxes, cutting string, cutting my steak instead of using that oversized joke that most restaurants give you. To me it is simply a tool. I do appreciate good looking knives but mine are all users so I shy away from the 400 dollar plus customs.
 
I DELIver beer and use a benchmade dejavoo to cut shrink wrap off pallets. thats pretty much all i do with my edc, its light duty stuff but its pretty much every 1/2 hour. ive got a couple of spyderco militarys on the way to maybee take the edc role away from the BM. ive been using a 4" bladesfor a weeks or so now with the dejavoo and i really like the size.
 
I use my knives for lots of stuff. For marking wood, cutting rope, tie downs, hoses, and shink wrap. Striping really small wire. Removeing splinters, cutting rags, making openings in sheet rock, cutting insulation and fome. And to entertain my self every now and then.
 
My little opinel #8 EDC cuts up a grapefruit every day at lunch, goes through packing tape on boxes and sharpens pencils (makes the grapefruit taste even better :))

My woods knives are typically of the 4" - 6" variety. They are used for whittling, splitting wood, cutting rope and line, cleaning fish, learning how to make natural ropes and other odd jobs. My SAK mostly stays in the pack, but comes out for the saw or can opener.

I carry a dive knife on my PFD. It is used for cutting rope and line and as an emergency tool.

Kitchen knives are used for food prep. I use 10" European chef and 3" paring knife the most.

My one custom knife gets a lot of time on the sharpmaker and cutting sheets of paper, but doesn't see too much heavy use.
 
I use my knives to open up boxes that new knives come in. Needless to say my knives get a lot of use.
 
Welcome to Bladeforums!

I am a homeowner in the suburbs.
I use an EDC to
- trim washers prior to inserting in a garden hose or toilet
- cut a garden hose so I can put on a new connector
- cut twine that I am using to bunch branches together
- cut the trim off of plastic parts so they fit where I need them
- cut threads hanging from fabric
- open blister packs containing batteries, etc
- cut up cardboard so it fits in the trash

A slipjoint worked just fine for these chores for years, and still does sometimes. These days I usually prefer a knife I can open one handed so I can use the free hand to hold what I'm going to cut. Usually a 3" blade does just fine, giving me the robustness to cut large things and the control to make fine cuts.

By the same token, I love steel and like to try different alloys to see how they perform. So sometimes I buy a knife just because it's made of an alloy I've not yet tried.

Hope that helps.
 
Open boxes, break down cardboard boxes, trim fingernails, open plastic packages, food prep (Everything from peeling apples to slicing bread), cut out newspaper articles, touch up spots I missed while shaving and I'm not at home, cutting plastic wrap off of things, cut drywall, cutting rope and string, helping with shelter and fire creation when I go to some woods, loan to people who don't have a knife, cutting off shoelaces, cutting grip tape for my skateboards, opening mail, used at meals where no sharp knife is provided etc. I use them at work a lot when stocking the beer and drink coolers, opening boxes of food for the grill, breaking down boxes to take out to the dumpster, stocking cigarettes etc.

This is just for a regular knife. Swiss Army Knives get used for much more. The Classic on my keychain has been used to do everything from taking out hard drives in computers to trimming facial hair with the scissors. I carry a Soldier in addition most days.

I buy certain knives to try out different steels as well. I like to test and compare their edge holding, see how well they work at really thin angles, how easy they sharpen etc.
 
I generally use my knife to cut whatever needs cuttin' whenever it needs cuttin'. I keep a SAK classic on me for doing things like cleaning & trimming fingernails and it's my "sheeple" knife. My larger knives are used for heavy duty work mostly on weekends. I work in a Govt. facility and the people with the guns don't want us to bring in the large knives for some reason. The SAK is OK though.
 
I usually use a knife for opening stuff. At work I often have to open sturdy cardboard boxes filled with fragile items in a -20F freezer.

I also use all of my knives for culinary work from time to time. I'm thinking of getting a knife with an American tanto blade for cutting cheese and removing the skin from chicken quarters. My last year in college I didn't have a can opener so I used a crappy gerber paraframe to stab/cut cans open.
 
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