What kind of knife is this?

David Mary

David Mary

pass the mustard - after you cut it
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Palette knife? Putty knife? Can it be both? Is there even such a thing as a palette knife? I've been calling it that for some reason. Whatever it is I'd be lost in the shop without it.

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That kind of knife has been used by Asian street cooks for years, they use it to scrap omelets, spread sauce, cut/dice/score sausages.

You can see it at the very beginning.

Not sure what it's called. But every street vendor usually has one for cooking. Let me ask my relatives lol
 
I actually used one often as a breakfast cook when I was younger
 
I just called it a scraper back then because we mostly just used it to clean the flat top... after the grill brick.
 
Wait I thought spackle and putty are the same thing... not ever been a home owner so I guess I dont really know these reno things.
 
Drywall tool / putty knife.

When hanging drywall, you use screws to hang the sections. When that's done, you apply three stages of joint compound, starting small and gradually getting bigger between coats. You don't want to get too much bigger than the width of the putty knife, as that means excessive sanding.

The knife also applies compound for taped seams, and helps spread a glob evenly.

The sharp edges can be used for scoring drywall to cut.

The knife can be used to push against and scrape off excessive globs of compound. I have used one for scraping paint off stuff.

The knife also needs some degree of flex.

Lanyard hole is helpful to hang dry after cleanup.

Its a darn useful tool, and honestly everyone's toolbox could benefit from one. I bet they are used for all sorts of things.
 
They come in different thicknesses which means different flexibility. Which changes the name. (IMHO)

Thin and flexible are spackle knives (drywall)
Thicker is a putty knife. (For windows)
Thicker still is a scraper.

Dexter Russel has a line of putty knives and this food safe grill scraper.
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MolokaiRider MolokaiRider nailed it. That’s a 4” drywall knife. Used for mudding over the first pass on nails/screws with compound. The metal butt let’s you quickly sink any nails that are sticking out too far to cover in mud/drywall compound, and keep on mudding without having to switch to a hammer.
 
MolokaiRider said:
Drywall tool / putty knife.

When hanging drywall, you use screws to hang the sections. When that's done, you apply three stages of joint compound, starting small and gradually getting bigger between coats. You don't want to get too much bigger than the width of the putty knife, as that means excessive sanding.

The knife also applies compound for taped seams, and helps spread a glob evenly.

The sharp edges can be used for scoring drywall to cut.

The knife can be used to push against and scrape off excessive globs of compound. I have used one for scraping paint off stuff.

The knife also needs some degree of flex.

Lanyard hole is helpful to hang dry after cleanup.

Its a darn useful tool, and honestly everyone's toolbox could benefit from one. I bet they are used for all sorts of things.
Click to expand...
All of this, and.......

The metal "pommel" (or butt) of the knife is used for tapping a drywall nail to the proper depth below the surface of the drywall (in case the sheetrock hangers didn't get it right). Or sometimes, when doing a repair on to fix "nail pop" on older drywall work.



Edit: Oh, and they come in various thicknesses, so some are more flexible than others.
 
In old catalogs, it usually goes like this -

1" - 3" wide - Putty Knife, can be Stiff or Elastic/Flexible
2-4" wide, sometimes 5" - Scraper, Semi Flexible to Stiff. Wider usually only available in stiff.
4"-6" wide - Joint Knife. Almost always Flexible.
6"+ wide - Joint and Tape knife.
 
puddy knife

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