pocket knife

Carpet is HELL on blades. Follow a professional carpet layer around, they leave a TRAIL of razor blades in their wake.

Jon

There are so many variables that I could not even begin to cover them all. Your best bet is to either ask on rec.knives or search for the rec.knives FAQ. They cover all kinds of stuff from material to sharpening methods to blade geometry. Ken

There are some other issues. Like is it legal, and is it any use as a weapon if you need one. If you're sure you'll never need a weapon, and you cannot conceive of a policeman looking at your knife in a hostile manner, then by all means get anything you want.

I carry > Hi All,

I second that. For anyone who hasn't clicked on the link yet, it's a folding pocket knife that uses Stanley utility knife blades, so no matter how much you abuse it, you can have a new razor-sharp edge immediately afterward. I carry one in my toolbox, although I often end up using a regular box cutter instead.

There's a cheap knockoff that shows up in hardware stores, it uses a metal clip instead of a setscrew to hold the blade in place ("Tool Shop" or "Husky" brands).

I also carry a pair of "pocket scissors"-- they have rounded tips like the ones they use in Kindergarten, but these are stainless steel and much stronger. They're better than a knife for things like cutting the plastic wrap off a pallet, or cutting anything that flexes (rubber gasket material, string, tape). Mine came from MSC (catalog #40605206, made in USA)

Ah, memories... my dad installed carpet for about 25 years, guess how I made money in the summers?

The advent of quick-change replaceable razor knife blades changed the lives of many installers...

Mike Patterson Please remove the spamtrap to email me. "I always wanted to be somebody. I should have been more specific..."

subscribe to rec.knives there are some really sharp folks over there.

I prefer carbon steel for razor edge stuff....A2, D2 etc. For normal utility stuff, I like alloys like AST 34 or even the old standby 440C. I dont own a "stainless steel" knife as most of them (low end) will not sharpen, only round. This of course is an over generalization as there are a number of good stainless alloys...but unless you spend some money..they are not so easy to find.

What sort of duty will your pocket knife be used for? Fingernails? Box cutting? Rope? Give us your general uses and some folks can give you some really good ideas. Btw..carpet is hell on knives, particularly used carpet that is full or grit.

Got some Stellite? Gunner

"This device is provided without warranty of any kind as to reliability, accuracy, existence or otherwise or fitness for any particular purpose and Bioalchemic Products specifically does not warrant, guarantee, imply or make any representations as to its merchantability for any particular purpose and furthermore shall have no liability for or responsibility to you or any other person, entity or deity with respect to any loss or damage whatsoever caused by this device or object or by any attempts to destroy it by hammering it against a wall or dropping it into a deep well or any other means whatsoever and moreover asserts that you indicate your acceptance of this agreement or any other agreement that may he substituted at any time by coming within five miles of the product or observing it through large telescopes or by any other means because you are such an easily cowed moron who will happily accept arrogant and unilateral conditions on a piece of highly priced garbage that you would not dream of accepting on a bag of dog biscuits and is used solely at your own risk.'

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 20:06:51 -0500, Jon Elson calmly ranted:

Pocket knives shouldn't be used on carpeting, with the embedded dirt and grime. Keep a hook knife around for that.

I prefer high-carbon steel for working edges and stainless for maintenance-free pocket/backpack/truck knives. I have to sharpen my little Swiss army knife blade (stainless) after every 3rd use, but I keep it for the fingernail file, scissors, and tooth pick more than the blade.

Or they'll tote their long, thin "fine" stone around with 'em and use it for 30 seconds (every 10 minutes or so) to sharpen their hooked carpet knife. My buddy left me one after laying my carpet in the last house and I use the thing far more often than I thought I would. Box cutting, pencil sharpening on the fly, paring, carving, drip irrigation line and other gardening work, cutting the twine for recycling newspapers, cutting speaker wiring holes in the LR carpet, fitting/trimming bathroom carpeting/padding, etc.

--------------------------------------------------- I drive way too fast to worry about my cholesterol. ---------------------------------------------------

I never owned a bad Shrade or a bad Camillus.

I carry a Schrade Old Timer that my Dad gave me 35 years ago. It is carbon. I can sharpen all three blades in 15 minutes to shave. (Carborundum and Arkansas stones, then a stroke down the shaft of my boot.) It will castrate 200 hogs without resharpening. I've used it for about everything from stripping wire to cutting a little carpet.

Just this year the brass pivot pin wore through. Schrade will replace it but I couldn't let it go. Sentimental value. I bought another just like it. It is a model 80T.

There's Swiss army knives and then there's Swiss army knives. I've had my made in Switzerland Victorinox one for about 20 years. It holds an edge _very_ well. Not quite as good as my Buck 110, Haida or BaliSong but pretty good.

I need to say that my family was in the cutlery business for many, many years and for quite a few of those I did the sharpening. The satisfies customers included chefs, tailors and barbers who still used straight razors.

While it is true that years ago stainless cutlery was good for butter and soft cheese, the modern 410C ss is, IMO, better at edge holding than carbon steels. For sharpening, I rough 'em out with a diamond hone then finish on Arkansas stones. The final stone is an old black hard from before they started to run out of the material. Since I have those, I haven't really checked out any of the new ceramics.

Ted

Sorry for the late input, but I had you wade in. The first time I changed the blade on my Superknife, I lost the small screw. I used the spare screw that came with the knife and went on their web site to order another. The website lists an $11.00 minimum order, so I threw in some other stuff (blades [much thicker than Stanley], small stuff, etc.) and gave them the credit info. Three days later, the stuff came in with a letter explaining that "they didn't think I should have to pay so much for such a small order" and, therefore, they were sending it for free. Could have knocked me over with a feather, but I tell this story every chance I get. Please give them a try!

Done! Rick

When I cut carpet for my 4 x 6 1/2 foot office space here at Teri's I ruined a knife. Yes, use disposable blades. Carpet is saturated with fine sand that won't vacuum.

And fine sand is one of the things you can sharpen, or dull a knife with.

Then came the underlayment. Foam. 12 year old dog piss and rusty staples. Ugh. Finally got 'em all out and it peeled all off. Nice little work space at $20 per month and I chip in for the high speed internet and fax line.

Staples looked like they'd been put in by a drunken monkey. Floor underneat was sound, dark, shrunken, with minor gaps, and they sprayed the walls without masking the floor properly. It'll be a chore some day but we both want hardwood floors, not wall to wall. Respiratory health, you know, as one grows older.

Yours,

Doug Goncz ( ftp://users.aol.com/DGoncz/ ) Student member SAE for one year. Loves in my life: Dona, Jeff, Kim, Mom, Neelix, Tasha, and Teri, alphabetically. So that is who I spend my time with.

First, as others have said, the disposable blade utility knife is the way to go for carpeting. Lenox sells bi-metal blades that outlast any of the other brands. There's been a lot of developments in the last few years, pushbutton blade changing is only one of them.

You can get high-performance blades from either stainless or non-rust resistant alloys, you won't find them for $5 out of the hardware store checkout fishbowl, though. Most of the really good stuff is custom made using expensive steels. Most of your off-the-shelf folding pocket knives will use 440 stainless. This can be good stuff, depending on how its treated. A lot of your satisfaction is going to depend on how you treat your folding knives. A thin blade that holds a good edge isn't likely to stand up to using it for a prybar or scraper. I usually have at least two knives, one that's a cheapie for rough work and one that's been honed to a razor edge for surgery. A couple of brands I've had good luck with in the past have been Schrade and Kershaw. I haven't needed to buy any recently, so I've no idea how good the current crop is. The non-stainless ones I've got are Case, Western and Camillus, at least a couple of these outfits are long gone. A lot of pocket knives have somewhat soft blades because the makers know that they're going to be abused. Most users can't sharpen them properly, so the makers figure that a somewhat dull blade is better than one that will break off.

For sharpening, you're going to get a lot of opinions. I like the EZ-Lap diamond honing plates, usually a couple of licks on the extra-fine is enough to bring back a good edge, we use them a lot during deer season because they're fast and not messy. One of the cutlery-challenged relatives complained that the knife I sharpened for him was too sharp when we were boning out deer. They also work well on HSS lathe bits for the final honing. For extra-fine edges, I've got black Arkansas and ceramic hones, I usually reserve those for woodworking tools.

Stan

Came in at the middle but trying to avoid work so decided to spit out a couple of points.

I prefer a large stainless steel folding lock blade knife made by Kershaw in Japan. Being stainless, it doesn't take a perfect edge but I have rusted so many carbon steel blades over the years that I've decided to trade sharp for clean. The large blade comes in handy for day to day stuff and is even strong enough for light prying.

Beyond that I use carbon steel specialty blades for other work. I have a set of cheap carving tools that have various tip shapes and take a good edge for specific odds and ends. The replacable blade knives work great for the other odds and ends.

Koz

Which "stainless" is it? I have quite a number of both carbon steel and stainless steel knives (family was in the business) and have found that the properly hardened 410C stainless take and hold just as good an edge as the carbon steels. There are a lot of knock-offs that don't.

Ted

Hey Ted, Who sells knives with with this stainless steel? Rick

All three are still in business Or their names are still being used (Western) Gunner "In my humble opinion, the petty carping levied against Bush by the Democrats proves again, it is better to have your eye plucked out by an eagle than to be nibbled to death by ducks." - Norman Liebmann

A.G. Russell doesn't seem to offer any knives made of 410C, but they have a steel guide you might find of interest. I have blades made of AUS-8 and ATS-34 that take edges I find satisfactory. They also have

410C is a fairly low-carbon stainless, maybe about 0.2% according to the website I checked. .

I think AUS8 is good for general utility in a blade that will tolerate a fair amount of abuse and doesn't take a week to sharpen when it gets bonked up from use and abuse. My pocketknife is AUS8. ATS34 takes a scary-sharp edge but I wouldn't regard it as a "toolbox" all-purpose blade. For situations where Levi's aren't appropriate, I carry a flat lightweight pocketknife made of ATS-34. .Both blades can be opened with one hand and lock open. Lock open is an absolutely essential safety feature with a sharp folding blade.