ArfinGreebly
Moderator Emeritus
I was thinking. Always a bad way to start things off.
Knives.
Weapons.
Really?
I have a lot of knives. No, I'm NOT going to count them. Yes, it's probably more than a hundred. And your point?
I'm not a knife collector. Yes, I have many. No, I didn't set out to have many. I set out to discover what works well for me. Unfortunately, no one of my acquaintance will offer to LEND you a knife for six or eight months while you try it out. To try, you have to buy. Meh.
So I have a bunch.
I had a reasonably specific list of tasks I wanted a knife to perform. I wanted it to cut stuff. I wanted it to be sharp enough for shaving, though I never intended to shave with it, I just wanted to have razor-like capabilities. I wanted it to be durable enough for camp work, like shaving or even chopping kindling, cutting up fruit and veggies, carving meat and -- as needed -- skinning, cutting bread, whittling, cutting cloth without tearing, cutting canvas, cutting heavy cardboard or thin board, cutting rope & wire (or seat belts), digging splinters out of fingers, punching holes in leather/cloth/canvas, drilling holes in wood, hacking off slices of salami, and so on, and so on, up to, and including if needed, amputating my own arm.
Is that so much to ask?
However, you may notice, on reviewing that list, that one task is conspicuously absent. Self defense is missing.
You see, I was researching and shopping for . . . a TOOL, rather than a WEAPON.
Why does this distinction matter?
Well, it didn't, at first. In fact, I didn't give it a lot of thought until recently, when I set out to post a description of an exceptional bargain I found on a folding hunter.
Yes, a "hunting" knife.
While I was posting that report, I noticed a lot of mention of "tactical" knives and "knives as backup" to a gun, and other WEAPONS applications of knives.
Which set me to thinking. I may have mentioned that.
Out of the perhaps hundred knives I have, very few of them would be worth a damn as a weapon. Most of them were crafted to be useful as tools.
Now, the Bowies and the combat knives (one's actually called a "fighter") could be reasonably used as weapons, but what makes them effective as weapons makes them next to useless for much other work.
Could I prepare a meal with my Ka-Bar or my Camillus or my Spec Plus? Sure. But then I've had lots of practice making tools do things beyond their design criteria. I CAN chop veggies with a bowie knife, but frankly I'd rather not. I can cut up fruit with a machete, but it's messy and somewhat risky. I can open boxes with my Spec Plus Fighter, but why would I WANT to?
I also have some knives that muddy the water somewhat, being right on the edge of usefulness as a weapon, while being almost too big or clumsy to use for normal work.
As I pondered this, I realized that the vast majority of knives, now and historically, are tools and are made with that in mind. They are unique in the tool kingdom, in that they are more broadly useful than just about any other kind of tool.
If you stranded me in some forest or jungle, stripped me of my weapons, but left me a knife, within the hour I'd HAVE a weapon, made using my knife as a tool. I would use the knife to make other tools, weapons, shelter, traps & snares, and use it to prepare food and clothing. Would I ever use the knife, itself, as a weapon? Possibly, but it would be at the ragged edge of desperation.
I considered the constant characterization of knives as "weapons" and found myself laughing aloud. It's ignorant and dishonest and childish. The VAST majority of knives are tools. WAY more than "most" of them were meant -- designed in fact -- for tasks of labor -- jobs -- and for actual work.
Recent fads have led to making knives more "weapony" and "tactical" and you can find knives with 2½-inch blades that look like they were designed for mayhem.
Uh, right.
My conclusion from all this random thinking, is that knives are properly characterized as tools. Sure, there are fighting knives. But that's not MOST knives.
My favorite characterization is of the hunting knife. Well, obviously, if you're going to HUNT with a knife, that pretty much defines it as a weapon, right? Seriously. Go hunting. Take the meanest hunting knife you have or can get. When you bag your deer or your coyote or your rabbit, let me know how you deployed the knife to make that kill. (Inevitably, someone will raise the business of hunting wild boar with dogs and knives, and I know that there are people who never use a knife for anything else but that, so you always see them with a ten-inch blade at their side, but I daresay that particular application is way down in single digits.)
I'm nearly sixty. I've never once in my entire life killed any form of animal life with a knife. An axe, yes, but not a knife. I've cleaned fish with a knife, trimmed, cut, and boned meat with a knife, and put some cool holes in myself with knives, but never killed anything with one. Never tried. Never needed to: I always had a better tool for that.
So, for those of you who care, may I recommend that you promote the proper characterization of knives.
Sure, some are made to be weapons. If all of yours are made for that purpose, then good on yer. Most of you, I suspect, are like me, in that the only thing ever slain by your knife is a lump of cheese.
I'm done thinking for now.
Knives.
Weapons.
Really?
I have a lot of knives. No, I'm NOT going to count them. Yes, it's probably more than a hundred. And your point?
I'm not a knife collector. Yes, I have many. No, I didn't set out to have many. I set out to discover what works well for me. Unfortunately, no one of my acquaintance will offer to LEND you a knife for six or eight months while you try it out. To try, you have to buy. Meh.
So I have a bunch.
I had a reasonably specific list of tasks I wanted a knife to perform. I wanted it to cut stuff. I wanted it to be sharp enough for shaving, though I never intended to shave with it, I just wanted to have razor-like capabilities. I wanted it to be durable enough for camp work, like shaving or even chopping kindling, cutting up fruit and veggies, carving meat and -- as needed -- skinning, cutting bread, whittling, cutting cloth without tearing, cutting canvas, cutting heavy cardboard or thin board, cutting rope & wire (or seat belts), digging splinters out of fingers, punching holes in leather/cloth/canvas, drilling holes in wood, hacking off slices of salami, and so on, and so on, up to, and including if needed, amputating my own arm.
Is that so much to ask?
However, you may notice, on reviewing that list, that one task is conspicuously absent. Self defense is missing.
You see, I was researching and shopping for . . . a TOOL, rather than a WEAPON.
Why does this distinction matter?
Well, it didn't, at first. In fact, I didn't give it a lot of thought until recently, when I set out to post a description of an exceptional bargain I found on a folding hunter.
Yes, a "hunting" knife.
While I was posting that report, I noticed a lot of mention of "tactical" knives and "knives as backup" to a gun, and other WEAPONS applications of knives.
Which set me to thinking. I may have mentioned that.
Out of the perhaps hundred knives I have, very few of them would be worth a damn as a weapon. Most of them were crafted to be useful as tools.
- I have skinning knives. Well, skinning is a JOB, not a battle.
- I have "hunting" knives. You'd be daft to try hunting anything with them.
- I have fishing knives that you can't fish with.
- I have survival knives that look aggressive, but are designed for surviving through use as a TOOL.
- I have small and large knives. I have some rather odd ones as well.
- I have a Bowie knife or two. And I have some "combat" knives.
Now, the Bowies and the combat knives (one's actually called a "fighter") could be reasonably used as weapons, but what makes them effective as weapons makes them next to useless for much other work.
Could I prepare a meal with my Ka-Bar or my Camillus or my Spec Plus? Sure. But then I've had lots of practice making tools do things beyond their design criteria. I CAN chop veggies with a bowie knife, but frankly I'd rather not. I can cut up fruit with a machete, but it's messy and somewhat risky. I can open boxes with my Spec Plus Fighter, but why would I WANT to?
I also have some knives that muddy the water somewhat, being right on the edge of usefulness as a weapon, while being almost too big or clumsy to use for normal work.
As I pondered this, I realized that the vast majority of knives, now and historically, are tools and are made with that in mind. They are unique in the tool kingdom, in that they are more broadly useful than just about any other kind of tool.
If you stranded me in some forest or jungle, stripped me of my weapons, but left me a knife, within the hour I'd HAVE a weapon, made using my knife as a tool. I would use the knife to make other tools, weapons, shelter, traps & snares, and use it to prepare food and clothing. Would I ever use the knife, itself, as a weapon? Possibly, but it would be at the ragged edge of desperation.
I considered the constant characterization of knives as "weapons" and found myself laughing aloud. It's ignorant and dishonest and childish. The VAST majority of knives are tools. WAY more than "most" of them were meant -- designed in fact -- for tasks of labor -- jobs -- and for actual work.
Recent fads have led to making knives more "weapony" and "tactical" and you can find knives with 2½-inch blades that look like they were designed for mayhem.
Uh, right.
My conclusion from all this random thinking, is that knives are properly characterized as tools. Sure, there are fighting knives. But that's not MOST knives.
My favorite characterization is of the hunting knife. Well, obviously, if you're going to HUNT with a knife, that pretty much defines it as a weapon, right? Seriously. Go hunting. Take the meanest hunting knife you have or can get. When you bag your deer or your coyote or your rabbit, let me know how you deployed the knife to make that kill. (Inevitably, someone will raise the business of hunting wild boar with dogs and knives, and I know that there are people who never use a knife for anything else but that, so you always see them with a ten-inch blade at their side, but I daresay that particular application is way down in single digits.)
I'm nearly sixty. I've never once in my entire life killed any form of animal life with a knife. An axe, yes, but not a knife. I've cleaned fish with a knife, trimmed, cut, and boned meat with a knife, and put some cool holes in myself with knives, but never killed anything with one. Never tried. Never needed to: I always had a better tool for that.
So, for those of you who care, may I recommend that you promote the proper characterization of knives.
Sure, some are made to be weapons. If all of yours are made for that purpose, then good on yer. Most of you, I suspect, are like me, in that the only thing ever slain by your knife is a lump of cheese.
I'm done thinking for now.
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if i were to try and say stab something with any of my (only two) knifes i might find myself short of a few fingers.
