EDC Utility Knife

M

Midgetje93

Joined
Jul 30, 2023
Messages
316
Love them or hate them. They have become so much more relevant. I actually enjoy sharpening my knives. And find it therapeutic. But have recently picked up a little EDC utility knife. Mainly for the small package/tape stuff. Gunk up the blade or dull it. 2 seconds and it’s like new.

I got the OKnife Otacle UI. It actually came in today. Haven’t gotten to play around with it much. But I’ll say, first impressions, for a $25 tool. I’m blown away.

Anyway. To the point. I’ve used Lenox Gold razor blades for years. Work, around the house, use when I build guitars. I love them. But what does everyone use for EDC Utility blades? What have you found work the best for you?
 
Daedric Panther said:
Milwaukee fastback. There’s a reason they became so popular among tradesmen. They’re very easy to use, they carry well, and onboard blade storage. If it gets lost or stolen you can pick another one up at nearly any hardware store.
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I actually have one in my tool box. I got a smaller more EDC minded one. I’m trying to look for blade recommendations
 
Carrying a boxcutter as a general purpose utility knife is something I am very familiar with, can't argue with the price, I see them covered in paint and other construction debris and work fine
 
Midgetje93 said:
Love them or hate them. They have become so much more relevant. I actually enjoy sharpening my knives. And find it therapeutic. But have recently picked up a little EDC utility knife. Mainly for the small package/tape stuff. Gunk up the blade or dull it. 2 seconds and it’s like new.

I got the OKnife Otacle UI. It actually came in today. Haven’t gotten to play around with it much. But I’ll say, first impressions, for a $25 tool. I’m blown away.

Anyway. To the point. I’ve used Lenox Gold razor blades for years. Work, around the house, use when I build guitars. I love them. But what does everyone use for EDC Utility blades? What have you found work the best for you?
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I'll catch some flak for this...

My favorite utility knife is the red 88 cent one at Walmart... It's probably closer to $1.60 now (Hyper Tough General Purpose Utility Knife with Blade).

It's thin and light, and holds a couple extra blades. The slide lock sticks out a lot but it works fine. I tried a bunch of different popular brands from the hardware store costing 20 times as much, but still generally reach for the cheap red one unless I'm cutting through something really hard.

That being said, the contractors that I've worked with often use the Husky folding utility knife. It has a pocket clip and is available locally at HD for pretty cheap.

Edit: If you want something small for light tasks, the Gerber EAB Lite is OK. I don't like the way it feels in hand. IMO, DO NOT get the Gerber Edge. The one I got, the blade pulls out on medium duty tasks.
 
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Midgetje93 said:
I actually have one in my tool box. I got a smaller more EDC minded one. I’m trying to look for blade recommendations
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Oops, missed the blade part...

I think it's going to depend on what you plan on doing with it. I've used the gold colored titanium plated ones (different brands depending on what hardware store you go to). They performed slightly better when cutting fiberglass insulation for me... but not by much.

You can also just resharpen the normal blades if you want to be frugal or put a special edge on. There's the hook blades if you want to do pull cuts or cut carpets. You can even find serrated utility blades at some hardware stores like HD.
 
I use one of these from exceed designs:

exceeddesigns.com

Exceed Designs Products

Say hello to a new revolution in everyday carry technology. Find the latest TiRant RAZOR knives and other 'TiRant' series titanium tools all at Exceed Designs. All Exceed Designs products are backed by our 30-day money back guarantee with features and quality that will exceed your expectations.
exceeddesigns.com exceeddesigns.com
 
jjg6319 said:
I use one of these from exceed designs:

exceeddesigns.com

Exceed Designs Products

Say hello to a new revolution in everyday carry technology. Find the latest TiRant RAZOR knives and other 'TiRant' series titanium tools all at Exceed Designs. All Exceed Designs products are backed by our 30-day money back guarantee with features and quality that will exceed your expectations.
exceeddesigns.com exceeddesigns.com
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I saw their blades. Not horrible pricing. Not great either. As for the utility knife. They look like it’s fantastic product, but I can’t imagine paying $140 for a utility knife. I got this Octacle to dip my toes into the smaller EDC utility knife thing. If I like it. I may get the Civivi one ($45-48).
 
Midgetje93 said:
I saw their blades. Not horrible pricing. Not great either. As for the utility knife. They look like it’s fantastic product, but I can’t imagine paying $140 for a utility knife. I got this Octacle to dip my toes into the smaller EDC utility knife thing. If I like it. I may get the Civivi one ($45-48).
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I’d probably avoid the civivi. I’ve seen a few videos of people having issues with the blade falling out. Possibly from user error but the set screw seems to back out with regular use. They supply a backup set screw which kinda makes me think they know losing or stripping one will happen.

I’ve been carrying the Reate Exo-U for a few weeks and really dig it.
 
Jdottinger said:
I’d probably avoid the civivi. I’ve seen a few videos of people having issues with the blade falling out. Possibly from user error but the set screw seems to back out with regular use. They supply a backup set screw which kinda makes me think they know losing or stripping one will happen.

I’ve been carrying the Reate Exo-U for a few weeks and really dig it.
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I hadn’t seen that! That’s sad. They look beautiful. Those Exo-u look pretty sweet.
 
I just got the Otacle U1 as my dirty work & loaner knife at my job. I got the doughnut version for that special flair.

I like it so far. It exposes almost the entire utility blade for use, not just half of it.

It is built to a similar level as the current crop of import folders. G10, crossbar lock, torx-removable thumbstud, deep-carry clip, single screw pivot tensioning.

The only marks I have against it are that the pocket clip can't be swapped to the other side, and I wish it had a button or slide to release the blade for changing instead of the screw. I guess you probably get a much more secure blade fixture with the screw though.

It is also quite short, even compared to the smaller Fastback.
 
eveled said:
I ordered one because of this thread, then cancelled the order after reading a review.

The OP is talking about the octacle U1. Which takes standard blades. I just looked at it, and it doesn’t appeal to me.
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Mine was an impulse buy and a bit of a novelty because of the low price. The blades are a little easier to find now and around 60¢ each.

For almost all of my utility knife work I use a full sized Stanley razor knife. I haven’t made the move to a replaceable utility blade EDC and probably won’t.
 
Rupestris said:
Mine was an impulse buy and a bit of a novelty because of the low price. The blades are a little easier to find now and around 60¢ each.

For almost all of my utility knife work I use a full sized Stanley razor knife. I haven’t made the move to a replaceable utility blade EDC and probably won’t.
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Same here I love my 199/299

view
 
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