what things would you not hesitate to cut with a knife?

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flivver

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See http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1066114-What-are-the-BAD-things-to-cut-with-a-knife.

Didn't want to hijack that thread, so I thought I'd start another. That thread thread got me to thinking, though.

What things are generally/mostly/always appropriate to cut with a knife, without unwarranted fear about undue dulling/breaking/chipping?

I would have thought that fabric (in general) would be a natural thing to cut, but the proscriptions against cutting denim (in that thread) make me wonder.

So, in all seriousness, what would you pretty much never hesitate to cut with a knife?

For me, I'm a desk jockey so I don't run into a lot of heavy-duty cutting needs. I'd pretty much never hesitate to cut string, paracord, rope, tape (normal stuff, not the aluminum stuff mentioned in the other thread), and that sort of thing, though.
 
Honestly, I dont care what I cut. Ill cut denim, sandpaper, aluminum, whatever. I don't like scraping with it though. It's a knife. They're going to get dull and that's just the way it goes. I don't understand why people hesitate to get their knives dull.
It's like being scared to drive your car because it uses gas...
 
One guy says denim is rough and another guy agrees.....in the other "bad" thread
So we have 2! This could be the new BF knife myth...
Pretty soon we'll hear about the ravages of jeans on steel, if we can get some parroting!


"In b4 Niner ;-)"
 
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A friend of mine told me not to use my good knife to cut up old carpet that had been removed. The fiber backing is pretty rough - but the real issue according to him is all the grit and debris trapped in the fibers.

I just laughed and whipped out my Spyderco Gayle Bradley. The M4 made short work of that stuff...

TedP
 
I enjoy sharpening knives so I don't care about dulling them. Chips and dings are a different story. I avoid things that I know will do damage.
 
Zombies.

Air.

:D I dunno! :D An apple, I guess. I'ts always safe (and healthy) to cut up and eat an apple.
 
always avoid anything harder than the steel. i pay attention to what is behind my knife, not just what its cutting. cutting a veggie wont dull it, but if youre using a glass cutting board, well, saygoodbye to your edge.
I use my knives for twine, plastic, cardboard, rope, para cord, fabric, tape, wood, meat, fruits and veggies, hair, paper, tires of people who cant drive anyways...
 
Depends on what knife I have. If I have my ZT, I'll cut pretty much anything that won't destroy it (ie: a rock or cinder block), I won't hesitate to cut wire aluminum flashing, etc... If I don't have a better tool for it.
 
bladeboss said:
Honestly, I dont care what I cut. Ill cut denim, sandpaper, aluminum, whatever. I don't like scraping with it though. It's a knife. They're going to get dull and that's just the way it goes. I don't understand why people hesitate to get their knives dull.
It's like being scared to drive your car because it uses gas...
Click to expand...

This ↑ is exactly right. I could care less if my knife goes dull, sharpening is fun to me.
 
Anything that doesn't create that "nails on a blackboard" sensation. ;) I can't stand that.
 
Jastab said:
This ↑ is exactly right. I could care less if my knife goes dull, sharpening is fun to me.
Click to expand...

This makes a lot of sense -- and totally explains my hesitation. I'm still bad at sharpening, and so I tend to avoid dulling at all costs. Which, really, is stupid because the whole point of having a tool is to *use* it.
 
I became interested in steel mostly because I cut a lot of cardboard and I couldn't believe how fast my carbon steel knives were getting dull, so I thought I'd find a knife that held up better.
Now I have many many knives that hold up better, and I still cut up cardboard on a daily basis.
So, cardboard dulls the knives but is still the "best" thing to cut since I enjoy both cutting and sharpening.
 
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