What exactly does a hard use high end ($200+) knife look like?

HwangJino said:
I think 'hard use' is a marketing thing used to sell knives to people who use them recreationally.
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As a marketing term, yep, just like SUV.
Or survival, tactical, traditional, etc.
You're trying to entice the customer to view the product as bringing elements of a certain lifestyle to the table.

For hard use as a use term, I'd say just actually using it to do stuff. :)
If your arm is tired and your hand as well, if you feel more beat than after a heavy weightlifting session at the gym, then maybe what you did was hard use. ;)
 
But as this is the internet, someone will be by in a moment to tell me how wrong I am. :D
 
Shown this a million times but cut this 8" tree down with Benchmade 275. Also my HoldOut 3 can cut threw a 3lb package of frozen bacon like butter. DPX HEST Half a$$ attempt to cut threw tree( could have finished if stays another 5 minutes). For me hard use is being able to beat the "F" out of it and not have it break, being able to do unnatural things that the average folder can't withstand(like cut down tree's,chop threw bones,throw at somebody defensively cause it weighs so much.:p),and still have a good working edge after your done doing that. All these under $200 but 275 and HEST are close.

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I can't remember the last time I had a "hard use" need while only carrying a pocket knife. I have fixed blades for outdoor activities, and while they see batoning, chopping, and prying, my normal day to day life doesn't present me with "hard use" tasks. This is as close to hard use as I get with folders on a regular basis, whether I'm carrying a "hard use" knife or not. I like a well used blade, so I'm looking forward to seeing some of the hard use things people use their folders for.


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BenchCo Spydermade said:
Man, so let me know if anyone else notices this... People often talk of how they're not afraid to hard use their high end knives. But op asked for pics and I see none. I personally would edc an expensive knife, but would be careful never to abuse it. So where are all the folks who say they hard use their expensive knives and a knife is a knife, etc? Unless I see some pics I'm gonna have to chalk it up to a lot of hot air.
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Sorry, I don't EDC a camera, nor do I have time to take pictures when I'm in need of my knife for actual work. The other day I used my spyderco gayle bradley to cut some vines. The very next day, I used it to cut vinyl siding for my house, trim fiberglass insulation, baton wood to make shims, and cut through some old hardened caulk. At the end of the day, I had a nice chip on the edge from cutting into a screw on accident and the edge couldnt even cut butter.

Pics you say?


Well, it still cuts don't it?

where are your pics?
 
Blues Bender said:
Sorry, I don't EDC a camera, nor do I have time to take pictures when I'm in need of my knife for actual work. The other day I used my spyderco gayle bradley to cut some vines. The very next day, I used it to cut vinyl siding for my house, trim fiberglass insulation, baton wood to make shims, and cut through some old hardened caulk. At the end of the day, I had a nice chip on the edge from cutting into a screw on accident and the edge couldnt even cut butter.

Pics you say?


Well, it still cuts don't it?

where are your pics?
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Nice. Damn, well I don't have any knives over $200 yet and I do baby my more expensive ones, but if I've been called out, damnit I gotta give a pic...if I don't get it to n this post give me a sec. I'm on my phone and may take a bit to figure out.
Luis G. said:
I do believe he called you out, BenchCo Spydermade.
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The_Knife_Man said:
Can anyone tell my why folding knifes are being sold as 'hard use'?
Marketing gimmick or testament to abuse?

While we're at it; what exactly is 'hard use'?

Just get a descent fixed blade if you want to bang it around...
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Anymore, a hard use knife would be something that would be able to survive MISUSE without failing or breaking. Doesn't mean that it will come out on the other end with full functionality. Reference the Nutnfancy DPx HEST video. As much as he wailed on that bugger and called it a POS, the blade never failed (if i'm not mistaken).

I can't tell you the last time that I had to really abuse a folder of mine, because I like to have the right tool around to use it instead. In the woods, I leave the folders at home and bring the fixed.
 
Ok not really high end, close considering Benchmade's price increase :grumpy: I'd have no problem actually using a $200 knife just don't have one yet, my collection seems to be filled with $100-$200 knives with the exception of some balisongs.

Don't needlessly abuse it but it gets quite a bit of use at work cutting things like thick plastic straps, corrugated card board, vynl coated foam board, etc...as well as some light prying from time to time when working on things. I like the more robust build and thicker blade as I can use a lot of force when cutting and not worry about damaging the blade, pivot, lock etc...


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Here's my overly thick edge, obtuse edge angle, titanium frame lock, modern wonder steel knife that I love. It doesn't do anything better than an opinel #8, and a lot of things worse, but I like it. Speaking of, an opinel #8 should have absolutely embarrassed that zt in the OP on the wood cutting test, yikes.

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No action shots, rarely find the time to pose with a knife when I'm doing rough work.
 
And using a cheap knife hard... ;)

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You'll notice my only hard use shots are posting with alcohol because while I'm too busy actually working to take faux hard use glamour shots, I usually unwind afterwards with a nice craft beer or cabernet. I use this time to reflect on the beauty of edged tools and might snap a photo.

I think my new hypothesis of people thinking thin knives with acute edge angles are incapable of hard use isn't just that they are incompetent (that used to be my main theory, and it's still in the running tbh), it's that knives that are actually efficient cutting tools make any hard use actually seem easy. So every time they use it, they just can't imagine it being used hard. Meanwhile, your super jimped, ZT five million and two with a fat edge and forty degree inclusive edge needs to be flailed wildly into a piece of soft wood just to achieve a shallow cut where the opinel would have effortlessly sliced through.

So "hard use" knives basically make any cutting chore hard, and "light use" knives make the effort required to do even the most demanding tasks much easier, and that is my new definition of these terms. It's not referencing what they're capable of, but the effort required to be efficient.
 
goodeyesniper said:
Meanwhile, your super jimped, ZT five million and two with a fat edge and forty degree inclusive edge needs to be flailed wildly into a piece of soft wood just to achieve a shallow cut where the opinel would have effortlessly sliced through.

So "hard use" knives basically make any cutting chore hard, and "light use" knives make the effort required to do even the most demanding tasks much easier, and that is my new definition of these terms. It's not referencing what they're capable of, but the effort required to be efficient.
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Wait ill you see the pictures of the couch dismantling, for which the ZT 0561 did almost all the cutting. :)
It was very easy, despite cutting through all sorts of things, including 3/8" thick felt and stuff.
A few steel staples were encountered by the edge, but a quick touch up on the white stones of the Sharpmaker fixed that right up.

Just waiting on the pics to get e-mailed this way (convoluted trail of crappy cell phone pics messaged to someone else to e-mail them here...stupid old phone which driver software doesn't seem available for :().

Just a few pics though, as when actually doing the work, as you mentioned, pictures are a pain to take.
I figured the demise of the couch deserved to be commemorated though. ;)
 
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