What is a Knife?

DavidZ

DavidZ

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Oct 30, 2004
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What is a Knife?

As aficionados of those things called knives, I thought that a thread defining what a knife is would be important.
Besides, creating definitions seems to be a thing today. My search of the forums did not find that this was a topic that was addressed, so it’s now time to do it.

According to Dictionary.com, here is their definition:
knife
[ nahyf ]

noun,plural knives [nahyvz].
  1. an instrument for cutting, consisting essentially of a thin, sharp-edged, metal blade fitted with a handle.

However the blade doesn’t have to be metal. Ceramic and obsidian are just some other options.

I prefer the definition attributed to Jerry Fisk -
A knife is simply a material separator.
Simple and to the point (pun Intended)

However, the soup can lid that cut me the other day, I wouldn’t call a knife, but it did the job.

However to those of us here on the forums a knife is certainly way more than that.
Otherwise we wouldn’t spend time discussing and obsessing over them.
For me as a steel junkie, I am on a quest for the proverbial best. Whatever that is - it is an elusive creature.
It can also be design art, a source of pride and joy, a fidget or comfort toy, a piece of history or even family memorabilia.

How would you define it?

So, I say to you, what is a knife?
 
DavidZ said:
What is a Knife?

As aficionados of those things called knives, I thought that a thread defining what a knife is would be important.
Besides, creating definitions seems to be a thing today. My search of the forums did not find that this was a topic that was addressed, so it’s now time to do it.

According to Dictionary.com, here is their definition:
knife
[ nahyf ]

noun,plural knives [nahyvz].
  1. an instrument for cutting, consisting essentially of a thin, sharp-edged, metal blade fitted with a handle.

However the blade doesn’t have to be metal. Ceramic and obsidian are just some other options.

I prefer the definition attributed to Jerry Fisk -
A knife is simply a material separator.
Simple and to the point (pun Intended)

However, the soup can lid that cut me the other day, I wouldn’t call a knife, but it did the job.

However to those of us here on the forums a knife is certainly way more than that.
Otherwise we wouldn’t spend time discussing and obsessing over them.
For me as a steel junkie, I am on a quest for the proverbial best. Whatever that is - it is an elusive creature.
It can also be design art, a source of pride and joy, a fidget or comfort toy, a piece of history or even family memorabilia.

How would you define it?

So, I say to you, what is a knife?
Click to expand...
I think intent is part of a knife. If you used that soup can lid to cut green beans for example, I would consider it a knife.
 
Now this is a knife…
6Un3XTt.jpg
 
A knife is man’s greatest invention. Young guys I work with will disagree however. They seem to think that their cell phone is 🤣 amateurs. I want to see them clean a fish with their phone while camping. Or better yet, slice tomatoes with it. Yes they can call for help provided they have service and enough battery, but guess who shows up, a guy with a knife 🤣. Okay I’m done, thanks for listening
 
Great thread idea!

Some of mine that were owned and well-loved by my uncle and grandpaw get fondled while I sit alone and get misty eyed with a glass of the hard stuff when nobody’s around, remembering the good times that are gone forever with those two that I miss terribly. The hunting trips and working on cars and them teaching me how to do things. Those are a link to the sunny slopes of long ago as Gus said in Lonesome Dove. I like to cut open my cans of Copenhagen with Grandpaw’s old Henckles congress and think back to him sharpening it early on a Sunday morning after using it all week. I like going into the woods after deer with my uncles hunting knife that I seen on his belt so many times when he was taking me hunting as a small boy and being amazed at its sharpness, and now it’s on my belt. No amount of money could get it away from me.

The KaBar my old SWAT commander carried as a Marine in Vietnam saved his life and the week he retired he gave it to me in the squad room of my first department. I asked him if his son didn’t want it and he snorted and said “Ah, well you deserve it if YOU want it”. Talk about being in shock. All he said was that it saved his life, he didn’t elaborate and nobody in the room was impolite enough to ask. I’d say it’s better off in the dust of history. It rests in my gun cabinet and gets used to cut hotdog sticks and stuff with my kids. The oldest boy asked for it but I told him it’s very special and that an awesome mentor and old school cop carried it through a Godawful war and come out alive. I’d say that knife was a life taker and a life saver at the same time.

The cheap “tactical” knife I saved a guys life with while on the job went from being an expendable blade to a lifesaving tool in a matter of seconds. It now holds a special place in the gun safe.

I reckon I took the long way around the barn of saying that to me a knife can be a soulless tool, it can be a trusted piece of gear, a link to people who are gone but not forgotten, a good luck charm, or all the above. One thing about it, a knife that doesn’t mean much to the original owner, when given to somebody who really looks up to that person, that knife takes on a status like king Arthur’s sword sometimes and it’s a very special thing.
 
Arathol said:
AH8oYI0.gif
Click to expand...

Not a tool that's a musical instrument, you are looking at an early xylophone prototype.

This is why the pentatonic scale sounds so natural. It's based on the resonant frequencies of a dry bovine rib cage being struck and is part of our evolution.
 
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