Hey everyone, David C Andersen here coming at you from the KnifeCenter and welcome to KniFAQ
number 50. The knife series where I answer all your questions whether they're sharp or adult.
This week, we're talking about name changes for classic Steel's, what's the difference between a
tactical and a military or combat knife, and are scissors really better than knives?
Let's get into it. (KniFAQ)
Alright, so big fun news today actually, even though this there are 52 weeks in a year, it's
actually been right now with our 50th episode one year since we started doing these FAQ
segments missed two weekends in there, I think due to shows and other things. But Thomas has
been back there cracking wise, while I'm up here, answering your questions for a whole year
now. Apparently, you guys liked the format. And we really appreciate that I do. Anyway, I have a lot of fun doing
these videos. And as always, make sure to leave your questions down below. So we've got a
continuing continually filling Bank of questions to ask. I know I say that and you know, I'm
definitely underwater on the questions. I've got over 100 pages right now. But keep them coming.
Also to everyone out there who wished me a happy birthday a couple of weeks ago, when we had our
good friend Shirley (Cheryl) up here. Talking about me rather rather tongue in cheek-ily.
Really appreciate that, too. I've been on vacation a little bit. So this is actually the
first thing we've first FAQ we filmed since my birthday. So appreciate that as well. Thank you,
everyone. Let's get into the questions for this week, though. First one comes from Ben Rogers.
It says hey, DC a quick question. The knives I use the most have larger sheepsfoot or
wharncliffe like blades, can you recommend something in the two inch blade length range,
because I have a co worker that loves to use my knives but they're not knife people. So I'd love
to give them something smaller and simple to open and close. Because I haven't quite figured
out the frame lock yet. Sure thing that's gotten Mini Tuff-Lite from Cold Steel written all over
it. Very, very useful little design, and they come in about 30 bucks. So they're not all that
expensive either. You've got, yeah, we'll call this one a wharncliffe. In this case, about two
inches long 4116 stainless steel, a little bit less than two inches on the actual sharpened
edge there. I mean, it's most close to inch and a half. Maybe because you've got the large
choice here. That still allows you to get a full grip on that knife. So it's pretty safe. In
addition to that finger guard, you've got the triad lock there at the back. And it's very
effective, nice sharp edge hollow grind, it's going to cut very nicely. Very easy to use with
that triad lock. No, no frame lock frippery here, little bit harder to open for me with my
slightly larger than average hand size due to the small size of this knife. If that's a
concern to you the the regular tough light as about a half inch longer blades, it's still not
a large knife, but it's also a really good choice. The other nice thing about them is
you've got a couple different color options, which in certain work scenarios, obviously,
you've got your work friend who loves to use your knives and he doesn't care. But sometimes a
more brightly colored handle can help, shall we say De-stigmatize a knife in certain ways, with
certain people anyway, so something to keep in mind, really cool knives whether you go with the
mini or the full size. Alright, next question comes from a narrow frontier. Do you see any
difference between tactical and combat knives? And if yes, what differs both of them from each
other? So for me when I'm talking about or when I think about the difference between a combat
and a tactical knife, it's a little bit, they're all kind of designed to do similar things, and
that's, you know, be an offensive device. But it's about the connotations behind the words.
And for me, tactical is a little bit more of a kind of a broader term and can kind of encompass
a lot of different kind of offensive knives out there. But when I think of a combat knife, it's
got more associations with actual military or battlefield use. So you know, things like this
Gerber LMF right here, solid solid, USA made option designed for use by troops. I think that
that actually might be even more the differentiator if these are like like infantry
or troop carried pieces. It's more of a quote unquote, combat knife, as opposed to the
tactical things that can encompass Special Operations law enforcement needs, to a certain
extent rescue personnel, and even certain sort of kind of martial disciplines. You get blades
like a karambit here like this Cold Steel tigerclaw great knife. I wouldn't exactly call
this a combat knife, but it's definitely a tactical knife. So maybe it's like the awl all
squares are all squares or rectangles, but not all rectangles or squares type of thing. We're
getting into that kind of geometry. Clearly I was a math major Don't you know, that's why I
can't measure what my hand size actually is. But I'd say all combat knives are tactical knives,
even though we, they kind of have their own sub genre. That's what it all is really. But in
terms of some recommendations, you know, LMF, solid, proven combat knife, the the Ka-Bar mark
two the USMC fighter. But then we get into the tactical things. That's another point actually,
a lot of EDC stuff nowadays can be considered kind of a tactical folder, because of what it
is. But it doesn't even necessarily have to be something that's always intended for law
enforcement or special operations or anything like that
just has to have some self defensive capabilities. Think of like the Spyderco
Yojimbo, great knife, self defense oriented, definitely tactical, I wouldn't say it's a
combat knife. So hope that helps kind of clarify at least there's no industry recognized
definition where it's it's cut and dried. But that's the way I kind of understand things. So
thanks for the question. Next one comes from john nh 123. Hey, DCA, I've been admiring the
recent work from work tough gear. That said I'm a little mystified with their preferred steel of
sk 85, which I've never heard of before and can't seem to find a lot about on the internet.
Can you assist by breaking it down for us? How does it perform and what does it compare to? So
the reason you probably haven't heard of sk 85 is because it's just a new name. sk 85 used to
be known as SK five, which has been around for a long time. very dependable steel. And
essentially, the it's a Japanese standard. They're they're they're standardizing agency, I
should say is what gives the names to some of their grades of steel, sk five, they've just
decided to rename not entirely sure why honestly, on it definitely makes you know, your
job as a knife consumer and my job as a knife explainer a little more difficult, but sk 85 is
SK five simple, dependable carbon steel, not metallurgically identical to something like 1095
or 1075. But we tend to kind of think of it as being in sort of the same tear as some things
like that. Not an insane degree of edge retention, but it's going to be very tough,
especially on a larger knife like this Nomad camp knife, which at least while we're filming,
we've got a small restock in of these right now they might be gone by the time this video posts
so I do apologize for that. But it's the only thing I have from them right now in sk 85. So I
gotta show it to you. super tough, especially at the quarter inch thickness on this excellent
blade. And we're just really thrilled to be the first US dealer to be carrying these blades
because they are quite awesome. All right, next question comes from Vic Fredette. Hey guys, my
son and I were just discussing that I do not have a pair of scissors in the house other than
small moustache scissors, I explained as a knife fan, there's seldom a situation where a knife
can't do as good, or a better job. thoughts. I have some for a lot of like general purpose
utility stuff, if we're talking about a knife versus scissors there, I would agree knife
usually takes the win. But the scissors are a more specialized tool and as such, and kind of
do some more specialized tasks with them and sometimes more safely than a knife. Let's go.
Let's talk about the general utility stuff. First, I do have a pair of kitchen shears here,
which, you know, that's gonna give you a clue about what we're going to talk about in a
minute. But if we're talking general utility if you're opening a box from your online shopping
knife all day, but certain things like sometimes zip ties or even like have your pallet straps.
If they're tough to get your blade under. There's usually a way to do it, but scissors can
have a better usage. They're certainly more safe usage. We're talking about things like you know,
certain crafting projects, you're going to want scissors and a knife in this case, you know,
several Exacto blades. In fact, one area though, where I think scissors are underutilized by a
lot of home cooks anyway is in the kitchen. There's a lot of things you can do with a pair
of scissors that are safer and cleaner and easier than using a knife. I mean, have you ever
tried to spatchcock chicken using a cleaver I have, it's pretty messy. So it's a much better
thing to actually get in and cut through the bones. They're very easy to break down a lot of
joints in small foul like that. You can cut things straight into a pan I've done like I've
had a sausage and you can just pull out a pair of scissors don't have to dirty cutting board
you can cut something right into your cast iron pan or whatever pan you're using. Of course,
herbs works really well for cutting up herbs off a stalk or off of whatever bunch you have right
into something sometimes just a lot of good uses there. One thing you know I mentioned the
cutting board. I don't do this, but I know some people that actually swear by cutting pizza with
a pair of scissors. They've got, you know, pizza scissors. So, a few reasons there, you might
want to use them. This one right here, this particular device, this is the wuesthoff icon.
It's a set of forged kitchen shears from their icon line, which is a great fixed blade, fixed
blade, kitchen line. Standard kitchen knife line. These guys run about 50 bucks, they are
super solid, as you can see that forged construction gives it a lot of strength. It's
comfortable in the hand because it's all nice and rounded over where you want it to be. It
even comes apart for cleaning, which
you know, let's be honest scissors are specialized knives. It's two knives in one and
we all know that Simpsons meme. It's to be pretty terrific having two knives so maybe that
maybe that can help you out a little bit. Do you need a pair of scissors for your general
utility? Not necessarily, but there's certainly a lot more you can do with a pair of scissors in
a different way than you could with your standard knife. All right, now we come to the
lightning round for today. First is from Bryce Pang. Hi DCA. Is there an OTF knife that is non
automatic or assisted opening? I like the looks. But my state laws don't allow for automatics.
Yeah, I got one right here from this year. This is the Kershaw capsule, a yen's Anso designs
about 32 bucks. And it's got kind of a push button slider here. Sorry, works pretty well.
Even though I fumbled it there for a second, you just push it in, or push the button and you can
slide it in the blade in or out, locks into place. Pretty cool little blade. There's a few
things out there that have this kind of slider style lock. But this is certainly one of the
most recent, you don't really see it on too many, like super expensive things tends to
concentrate on the budget end of things, but definitely a cool option to check out if you're
looking for that kind of vibe. All right, next question comes from blue sky. What is it now
with everybody uploading shorts? That's quite annoying frowny face.
I get it. I do. You're referring to some of the blooper reel things we've been posting occasionally, but
once a week right now on YouTube's shorts feature, which is kind of their Tik Tok
competitor. And I'm not a big tic Tok guy, so I get it. But from our perspective, as you know,
people with a channel, we're trying to reach more people. What winds up happening is as any
kind of platform social media platform like YouTube introduces a new feature, they really
want us as creators to use it. And as such, what they all inevitably start to do is they start
waiting their algorithm, or they start using their algorithm to see whether we're using that
feature. And if we're not fewer people are actually going to see our regular videos. So
we're trying to reach as many people as we can. So we kind of have to use it, whether we like it
or not. And what we're trying to do is we're trying to keep it fun, you know, if you don't
want to watch him, that's great. These Bigger, Longer pieces of regular content aren't going
anywhere. We're not doing any fewer of these. But like I said, we're trying to add a little
bit of fun. See some of the behind the scenes stuff. See some of the blooper reels that people
were asking for? We used to put them at the end of some of the videos, but we decided to clean
it up there a little bit. I think they're a little they're a little bit of a fun thing, a
little bit of a smile, but if you don't want them, leave them in the dustbin. No problem
already got footage anyway. Yeah, it's not like Thomas is doing any extra work. You know, you
guys see the polished, finished product here. I mess up. I'm only human after all. But as he
said, said earlier, when I did mess up answering this question the first time we got to adapt or
die. So that's what we're doing. Next question here comes from drew Ryan, I have some young
kids in the house ages six to 10. At what age do you think it is good to train them in safe knife
use so that they can begin use to begin to use a knife for whittling and carving? That's one of
the things where there's no standard answer. every kid's different only you know, your kids
only you really know when it's going to be safe to you know, to introduce them to these things.
And there's nothing to say that, you know, a super young kid can't use a knife safely. I
mean, we've all seen videos of people in more developing nations with you know, little four
and five year olds wielding machetes to make dinner, you know, you just got to start them
young, as young as you feel comfortable as young as they're comfortable with. But get them
familiar with it. do things the right way. I can't give you a specific age range. We did do a
nice video I thought on some first knife recommendations, we'll make sure to point to
that. But I always like to recommend the medium sized book Bantam. This is the book 285 Bantam
it's an appropriate size. Not too big, not too little. You Either you don't want you do want
them to have enough to hang on to you got a finger guard here but your fingers still far
enough away from the edge in case of slippage nice back lock two handed closing which I think
is important when when starting kids out Made in USA and it's only 20 bucks to so it's a quality
pieces are going to be able to use far longer if they still have it going on, but it's not going
to be a heartbreak if they lose it. Alright, john West now asks, hey DCA, have you ever used
a serrated blade to make feather sticks? And does it work? I have not. I know some people who
have, but you do have have to kind of have the right serrations for instance, these Cold Steel
serrations where they have the little triple teeth serrations in between the larger one,
you're gonna have a harder time using that to make smooth feather sticks. Me personally, I
stick with a plain edge. Alright, now for the most serious question of the day, which comes
from void vids does the KnifeCenter force its employees to shave their heads. Knife cult must
be referring to Seth who shaved his head recently to match mine. But I really answer read
that question to lead into the next one. Which comes from La Grande badger. Hey, DCA, I want to
follow yours and Seth strand and shave my head. What knife would you recommend for that?
Clearly, it's got to be a scalper right.
Probably probably.
Is it clear that this is a joke yet?
I don't know.
That's all the time we've got for today. Make sure to leave your questions down below so that
we cannot pick through them and pick out some good ones to answer for a future video. If you
want to get your hands on any of these knives, we'll send you over to the KnifeCenter with
links in the description. And make sure you sign up for our knife rewards program so that you can
earn some free money to spend on your next knife when you buy one of these knives today. I'm
David C Andersen from the KnifeCenter signing off. See you next time.
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