Around the net in 'EDC' (EveryDay Carry) communities there seems to be an focus on keeping a folding knife on one's person, sometimes multiple (or at giving that impression via photos). However I wondered how useful they really are for daily tasks.
Benchmade Bugout. A lightweight and attractive knife, if tricky to re-assemble consistently based on reviews.I went searching for answers and looked at hundreds of responses by those who carry them daily and the list of typical uses comes down primarily to the following:
- Opening packages/cutting cardboard. Far and away the most common reason even if not necessarily a daily occurrence.
- Food prep.
- Light grooming (under fingernails, beards?).
Then on the more questionable/rarer side of usefulness are things like:
- Gardening (pruning). I saw this in a video by well-known online knife store Blade HQ in their top ~5 reasons for carrying a folding knife.
- Camping tasks.
- Self-defense.
- Emergency situations (cutting a seat belt that won't open, etc).
The thing is for most common tasks there are more suitable knives for the purpose, like box cutters for cutting cardboard (far thinner blade, more acute angle and blade disposability for avoiding residue build up make it more ideal according to even knife forums when I researched it), kitchen knives for food prep, gardening tools for gardening (kind of self-explanatory), fixed blades for camping/outdoor scenarios (stronger for tasks like batoning wood, also easier to clean).
Perhaps though it's the appeal of an 'all uses' type knife in a folding form factor.
Spyderco SpydieChef. A unique knife with a santoku-esque blade shape in highly corrosion-resistant LC200N steel. Photo by Glaca (knives.pl).There are of course some who mention they simply enjoy owning well-made pieces of hardware, fidgeting with them and showing them off to others but it is curious to me the seemingly large market around folding knives given the tasks I commonly read them used for and the greater suitability of other tools for some of the tasks.
Do you carry one and find them worthwhile on a regular basis?
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Not gonna lie that SpydieChef tempts me despite knowing I won't use it for anything. It's pulling me in, halp :p