Is a knife a tool with an edge or a weapon?

fixer27

fixer27

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Nov 17, 2004
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Knives are being carried on a much more frequent basis by many working people. I see literally hundreds of people a day, and people who actually do the work (they still exist) can often be found with a pocket clip attached to a unknown knife placed in their right hand pocket, or indeed in a back right hand pocket.

Admittedly, LEO's are the ones who carry most often, but there are many construction workers and chefs and various other people who carry knives in the course of daily commerce. Then there are others who carry just because they like to carry a knife.

So should a knife be viewed as a tool with a sharp edge? Or a tool that has more uses than just work related? the difference being the "legitimacy" of actually carrying what one would like for whatever reason.
 
Its a tool to me, I work construction and use my knife everyday for cutting bands, tie straps, opening bags and boxes.
When I'm off work I still carry a knife, heck just about every thing you buy in a store nowadays comes in a bubble pack that you can't tear into. ( try telling your kids they can't play with the new toy because daddy can't open it, wait till we get home....yea rite ) I get out my knife and open it.

also I carry a Benchmade 806D2 with a 4'' blade, and I do get funny looks when I pull it out. I am a Pipefitter by trade, anyone ever cut through 3'' of fiberglass insulation with a small knife? Its not fun.
 
IMHO the knife is a tool, it's a matter seperator, you cut things with it. The material you cut with it isn't important to classify it's intended use.
So,my kids ranging from 6 to 9 see daddy's knives ONLY as tools. Because they grow up in a household where the knife is an normal fact of life they don't see it as a weapon at all.
Some international motorcycle "brotherhoods" use the ball peen hammer as their intended "force transmitter", does it mean that we now look at the ball-peen hammer as a weapon?
I don't think so. Even if the media now portraits the knife as an evil weapon i don't think we as responsable parents should go with it. We should teach our children that a knife is just a cutting tool that in state of extreme emergency can second as a deadly weapon. But my car could also be used for that reason with better results.;)
 
Me...a tool that 'could' be a weapon

The wife...a weapon that 'could' be a tool

Regardless of her view, and and a good chunk of societies' views, my kids are learning the value of a good sharp blade-as a tool. Edged implements are an inheritence from our evolutionary forefathers. So is the ability to start a fire. Wonder if my Zippo's days are numbered?
 
fixer27 said:
So should a knife be viewed as a tool with a sharp edge? Or a tool that has more uses than just work related? the difference being the "legitimacy" of actually carrying what one would like for whatever reason.
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It should be viewed as the private property of the owner. There is no need for "legitimacy" to own or carry your own property. The government has no place making laws against knives. There is nothing in the Constitution giving them that power.
 
Just a novel take on this question, but what did the first knives start out as being? From an anthropological perspective, the first knives were likely to have been pure weapons.
 
Eagle Shaman said:
Just a novel take on this question, but what did the first knives start out as being? From an anthropological perspective, the first knives were likely to have been pure weapons.
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The first knives were stone flakes, probably used for skinning and cutting fiber. I've knapped some from obsidian and used them in the kitchen and they cut better than some modern knives.
 
You might want to rethink that position. I have done the same also. But that doesn't mean that early knives were tools. A terrified ancestor used the first "knife" more than likely as a weapon to defend himself. Only much later did the stone tool come to be applied to work. It just makes sense. First need is survival from attack then later chores.
 
I don't like where this thread is going...some eagle-eyed lawyer may use this thread as evidence that knife users admit the primacy of knife as 'weapon'. Then again, I could be paranoid.

BTW, katanas make excellent steak knives...as was their original intention...
 
The answer is quit simple, collect all your knives and cutting objects in your house and pile them up. Then take out the one's you have been using as a weapon. put, if any, next to the pile.
Look at it. Is it a tool or a weapon?

;)
 
Eagle Shaman said:
You might want to rethink that position. I have done the same also. But that doesn't mean that early knives were tools. A terrified ancestor used the first "knife" more than likely as a weapon to defend himself. Only much later did the stone tool come to be applied to work. It just makes sense. First need is survival from attack then later chores.
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A flake is good for cutting but a lousy weapon. You would cut yourself almost as much as your attacker, and a small 1" or so blade would be almost useless as a weapon. A rock or a stick would be eaiser to find and more effective to fight with.
 
Eagle Shaman said:
You might want to rethink that position. I have done the same also. But that doesn't mean that early knives were tools. A terrified ancestor used the first "knife" more than likely as a weapon to defend himself. Only much later did the stone tool come to be applied to work. It just makes sense. First need is survival from attack then later chores.
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Just a question...not a flame or attack....Given a choice between a two foot long stick and an obsidian flake knife, which would you pick to defend yourself? Throughout history tools have been modified to be weapons or used in their modified form...not the other way around.:D
 
Isn't this tool first/weapon first debate well, moot? I mean, chicken or the egg...there is really no definitive answer is there?

Also, is a 'blade' used to hunt a weapon or tool? That answer varies depending on which end of the point you're on.

A knife is a tool, unless used against another human. Until it is plunged into a person's chest, I fell it should always be called a tool. "Widowmaker" monikers should have no bearing on it. An individuals' intent and a marketing device (name) shouldn't be linked. My $.02
 
A knife is a tool. Nothing more, nothing less. Just as any tool can be used for many things, so can a knife. If and when a knife is used as a weapon it becomes one, but so does a hammer, a saw or a screwdriver.

But if you really think about it, you have to realise that "Weapon" is a sub-category of "Tool". A weapon is a tool that we use to defend ourselves.
 
Aren't some knives better suited to self defense than others? And why would one give up the umbrella of the second amendment concering blades for the shallow harbor of "tool"?
 
fixer27 said:
Aren't some knives better suited to self defense than others?
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Yes. Daggers such as the Applegate-Fairbairn are designed as weapons. It is also true that many knives that appear to be designed as utility knives are often sold as "fighting," "combat," or "tactical" knives.

Both tools and weapons (and as already pointed out, weapons are a type of tool) are the private property of the owner.
 
It is strange that a over 3 inch blade is outlawed and yet a claw hammer is just fine.

for myself the difference between a classic Shcrade and a claw hammer is huge, yet one is banned and the other just another tool.
 
A knife is a tool. That's what it's intended use is. Yes it could be used as a weapon but so could a claw hammer, chain saw or a pry bar. And the powers that be know that. The whole idea of these moronic laws is to simply disarm the public period and turn our rights into priviledges>> and you guessed it ~~~ then eventually revoke our priviledges. Join the AKTI and let's work together to stop this insanity ;)
 
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