Why a knife instead of scissors?

"What happened to HYOH?"

Okay, I suck at those acronyms. What's HYOH?

Hike your own hike.

> As far as the OT, I find that I use the knife blade way
> more often than the scissors, even when they will both
> do the job. For me the knife blade is faster and easier.

Yes, but WHAT/WHY are you using it? The whole point of the thread is so that I can understand WHAT people are using their UL knives for (outside of woodcraft), and why they prefer them.

I don't care WHAT your preferences are, what I DO care about, is WHY…

I've sharpened a razor before but it's very hard to get it "razor" sharp again. The metal is paper thin and wears down quickly. And dulls quickly with use.
Most people do not resharpen razor blades it's to easy to just buy a pack of them and dispose of them. Even if you resharpened it I doubt it will last long especially since they are prone to snapping and breaking if you are not very careful. An UL knife will easily outlast it and be far easier to hand sharpen.

Brian: I'm with you on that. I don't resharpen razor blades to save weight or money. But in a pinch, if it has gotten dull, you can touch it up. Not to factory-new, but noticeably better.

…

The cheap version of Daniel's most excellent $11.15 blade-angle guide above is to masking tape a dime/penny/nickel/washer (depends on blade width) to each side of the blade at the back. You then maintain a constant angle on both sides of the blade.

"James that will NEVER happen to him. he already stated his gear will never fail."

Who stated that? Not the OP.

James didn't say his gear failed. He forgot to fix something before he left. Big difference. I don't carry tent poles but if I had run into that situation, some Gorilla tape from my repair kit would have worked fine. Nothing wrong with the way James did it, but a knife wasn't the only way.

Quite true. There are many ways to improvise. A knife isn't the only one. As the saying goes, when you have a hammer, a lot of things look like nails ;)

Why? Because it is easier and faster for me. Opening a meal pouch, one quick swipe of the blade and its open. With scissors its cut, cut, cut, etc. Basically, most cutting requires one cut with a blade and several cuts with the scissors. Additionally the blade is easier and faster to "deploy". By the time I can get the scissors out and ready to use I could have already finished with the blade. There certainly are things that are easier with scissors. Nail trimming comes to mind.

Thanks Larry. What other tasks have you found easier and faster with a knife?

I assume a knife is faster to deploy because you carry it on your belt, or in a pocket? I would think you could open scissors about as fast as you could flip a knife open?

"Now just how are you going to blaze a tree, split firewood,
cut stout tent pegs, kill and skin a pig, make stretcher poles, fell a tree to cross a deep chasm, fight off a
griz, or peel a potato, with just a razor blade?" (or scissors).

Old thread

What knife do you carry backpacking?

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=16134&skip_to_post=127324

Its hard to think of all the things that come up. When its more like camping much more comes up. The scissors I carry are part of a multitool that is carried on my belt. So it takes two hands to pull the scissors out and then you have to move one lever back to use them. With the blade I can open the blade with one hand. Also simply opening a meal package is many cuts with little scissors and one with any size blade.

But a lot of this is just what one is used to. Never had scissors when camping so I got used to using a knife blade for my cutting tasks. So that is what I am comfortable with.

…

Instructors around ropes courses and climbing sites often use EMT snips instead of a knife for rigging and emergencies.
A sharp knife will cut a loaded rope in a moment, maybe the wrong rope, while you have to be more deliberate with the EMT scissors.

Daniel: Yeah, I think of the masking tape and coins as a quick-n-dirty, touch-up technique.

For a lot of blades or a lot of work on one blade, that DMT aligner would be much better.

I just wanted to put a improvisational tip into people's heads.

But practice, practice, practice. Eventually, you can hold a constant angle without any aids. Rather like someone who burns 7 cords of wood every winter for a few decades can sharp a chainsaw by eye better than I can with a jig.