多功能折刀、小工具刀、开箱刀，无论大家怎么称呼它们，本文今天将讨论为什么作者会随身带一把刀和为什么我将会停止将它们用来做一些类似开箱一样的活儿。

Utility Knife, Box Cutter, Razor Blade Knife, whatever you call them, today I’m going to discuss why I’ve started carrying one around with me daily and why I stopped using my EDC knife to open boxes.

多功能折刀、小工具刀、开箱刀，无论大家怎么称呼它们，本文今天将讨论为什么作者会随身带一把刀和为什么我将会停止将它们用来做一些类似开箱一样的活儿。

A few years back, I was in a class with Jeff Gonzales and something he said really hit home for me. He mentioned that the knife he carries is for defensive purposes only, he doesn’t use it to open mail, cut a piece of rope, or open a box. It stays sharp and unused so that he always knows he has a sharp knife at the ready.

几年前，我曾经在Jeff Gonzales（Trident  Concept教头，擅长贴身格斗教程）的课上听到了一些让我受益终身的话。他提到他所携带的刀时说它的目的只是为了自卫，并不是用来开包裹、切绳子或者划纸用的。它一直保持锋利的未使用状态，这样他就总是知道他身上有一把堪用的锋利的刀具。

This was pretty eye opening, as I’d been using my daily carry knife to open boxes for quite awhile. I knew I was using the blade and that was ok with me. It would have to be sharpened from time to time, but I didn’t care much about how I was dulling it with daily tasks. I admit when I got busy, a long time would go by in between sharpening sessions and I became complacent with how sharp my knife stayed.

听完这段话我如同醍醐灌顶一般——之前很长一段时间我都是用那玩意儿来做杂活儿。当时我认为我在使用刀而这是很OK的——隔段时间我就会把它磨一下，不过当时我确实很少考虑我在使用中会把它用的越来越钝这个问题。我必须得承认当我变得忙碌时我会很少磨它，这时我就会对刀具的锋利度这个问题无视起来。

While this might not seem like a big deal to you, it wasn’t for me either until Jeff opened my eyes. I had a serious conversation with myself and honestly answered the question “If I have to use my knife for its intended purpose, will it be sharp enough to do the job? " Until I started carrying a pocket sized box cutter, I couldn’t answer that question with anything other than a no. Granted, a knife can be a stabbing implement and even a dull pencil can work for that purpose. However, I don’t carry a knife to only be as good as a pencil.

或许读者们跟当初的我一样觉得这没什么，但是当Jeff告诉我一些事情的时候我改变了想法。我当时扪心自问了很久：“如果我拿我的刀做这些不是它设计用途的事情，它还会在我需要它时保持锋利么？”我很长时间内都找不到答案，直到我开始携带一个便携的多功能刀。老实说，一把刀的功能其实连一根钝头铅笔都能做到，不过我肯定不会携带一把比铅笔好不了多少的刀。

Pocket Utility Knives

便携多功能刀

In searching for a backup for my EDC Knife, I’ve been trying out a couple of different types of pocket utility knives over the past few months and I wanted to share my thoughts here with how they’ve been working for me. Again, the purpose here is to use a utility knife to open boxes and for other utility related tasks; not my knife.

为了寻找在EDC的格斗刀之外的一个备份品，我在前几个月试了几种不同的便携多功能刀，现在是时候分享下经验了。再强调一次，这里讨论的是一种能拿来做杂活儿的多用途刀，不是一把格斗刀。

A few features I’ve grown fond of with these pocket utility knives are ease of use, small form factor and easy blade replacement. I think first and foremost size and weight come into play. My requirements are that it has to easily slip into a pocket, it can’t weigh too much and it has to use a common utility razor blade available at any hardware store.

从这些刀上我能找到的特点包括使用便捷、小和简单的可替换刀片。我认为，对于这种用途的刀，大小和重量都是最重要的标准。我的要求是必须要能方便的从口袋里拿出来，它不能太重，替换刀片也必须能是在五金店都能找到的。

What really sold me on carrying one of these was traveling. You can simply remove the blade, carry this on a plane and then pick up a new blade when you get to your destination. Easy! Here’s a few different pocket utility knives I’ve been evaluating. I’m not sold on any one in particular and each has its positives and negatives.

在旅行途中这些刀片也确实不是个问题。你可以在上飞机前把刀片扔了，然后在下飞机后再买个刀片。蛤蛤。下面展示的几种是我评估过的多功能刀，我不是写软文广告来肥自己，它们也确实各有优缺点。

Gerber EAB Pocket Knife

戈博EAB口袋刀

The Gerber/Fiskars EAB (Exchange A Blade) Pocket Knife is my most recent acquisition. The sleek stainless steel industrial manufacturing and liner-lock folder design really sold me. That and the fact it’s only about $10 on Amazon. However, its downside is how slick it is. Meaning that when clipped into a pocket with the integrated clip, it’s so slick it can be tough to get a good purchase on. This is a testament to the clip though, it’s a good one and better than some pocket knives I own. It can also double as a money clip, but I haven’t used it like that.

戈博的EAB口袋刀是我最近拿到的。外部不锈钢的工业化圆滑处理和线锁设计确实很吸引我，而且在美亚上只要10美元。无论如何，这东西的缺点就是它太光滑了。当你需要用背夹把它固定在口袋里的时候，你会很难给它找个合适的位置。虽然有这些小缺点，它还是个很不错的刀，比我有的大部分都不错。它也适合拿来做钱夹，虽然我没这么用过。

Once you do get it out of your pocket, it also takes some practice to be able to open it one-handed. The setscrew that holds the blade in acts as a thumb stud to open it up and does a better job as a setscrew than a thumb stud. The weight is also over double of the other two pocket utility knives featured in this article. It weighs 2.4 oz. with the blade installed and is made in China.

当你把它从口袋里拿出来之后，你也需要些时间来联系单手开刀。固定刀片的那个螺丝也是用作推刀钮存在的，比快开孔确实好很多。这把刀的重量是剩下两把刀的差不多一倍，重2.4磅（67.92克）。这把刀预装了一个刀片，是中国制造的。

Screwpop Utility Knife

Screwpop多功能刀

I also have a Screwpop Utility Knife and it takes the prize for the noisiest of the three. The blade in the closed position rattles quite a bit due to more space than necessary. I may be wrong, but from what I can find, utility knife blades are a universal length and I feel that this design could have avoided the rattling by altering the design by 1/16th of an inch. It certainly wouldn’t take much. I hate to start out my thoughts on this with a negative, but there it is. I do like that’s it’s also around $10 though.

我还有把Screwpop做的多功能刀，也是这三把里面用着最蛋疼的一把。这把刀在收起来的时候空余的地方太多了。没准我错了，不过就我目前的观察来看，这些刀片的长度倒是都一样，不过我觉得这个设计应该再短点儿。这点儿事儿当然不怎么减分，我也很讨厌在一开始就很主观地说这把刀，不过这把刀确实有点儿糟糕。不过鉴于只要了10美元，我觉得还确实是把好东西。

The Screwpop Utility Knife is made from stainless steel and adjusted by a lever mechanism that’s lifted and set into the groves at the top of a utility knife blade. With some practice this can be done one-handed and is easier to manipulate in this way than the Gerber EAB is. The front of the device also features a bottle opener that works pretty well for that purpose.

刀片是不锈钢制作的，由一个背锁控制。练习几次之后这把刀可以比戈博更轻松的单手操作，而且可以比戈博更好调节刀片的长度。刀片收起来后前边还可以拿来当做开罐器，还挺方便的。

A large brass eyelet at the back of the knife can be used to attach the knife to a keychain if desired and the entire unit with a blade weighs just 0.8 oz. While it’s not available on the Screwpop website, I believe this is made overseas.

刀的后部有一个孔可以拿来跟钥匙挂在一起，鉴于只有0.8磅，这个刀片也不会很累赘。因为Screwpop官网上没有这东西，我觉得应该是海外代工的。

Rexford Knives RUT

Rexford RUT刀

To round out my acquired pocket utility knives, I also picked up a Rexford Knives RUT. This is by far my favorite of the three, but significantly more expensive due to being made from titanium by a reputable custom knife maker. They run about $135 at Blade HQ, but I’ve found it to be the most versatile pocket utility knife. It weight 1 oz. and is super simple to operate one-handed, but allow me to explain. You press a tab on the spine of the RUT to the side, which releases the mechanism that locks in the utility knife blade.

为了寻找一款适用的多功能刀，我也买了一个Rexford的RUT。目前这是我最喜欢的一把刀，但是因为是由某著名手工匠人（译者注：此人待查）用钛合金打造，所以这把刀在Blade HQ（美国知名刀具网站）上卖出了135美元一把的天价，但是我发现这是目前最灵活的一把多功能刀。它重一盎司，而且单手操作极其方便，但是这个操作逻辑得先让我解释清楚。你得先按下刀背上的一个按钮，这样就可以触发机关来解除刀片的锁定状态。

This action is the same to move the blade out to use it and to replace it, meaning that if you let gravity carry the blade too far it will fall out when you’re pressing this tab. I’ve found it easy to hold the RUT directly above what I’m wanting to cut and then pressing the tab. If the blade is close enough to the cutting surface you can use it to get the blade to the right length to allow the liner-lock tab to catch the utility knife blade in the right spot to lock it open. When you’re finished, just point it towards the sky, press the tab and the blade falls back into the closed position.

这个机关也可以弹出和更换刀片，这意味着如果你把刀头重下然后按下按钮，那地球与刀片的万有引力就会让刀片克服摩擦力从刀身中滑落出来，然后做自由落体运动。当我准备用它来干些活儿时RUT确实很好用，按下按钮，刀自己就出来了。如果刀片离物体足够近，你可以很容易地控制需要弹出的刀片长度。当你使用完了，只需要把它举起来然后按下按钮，这样刀片就会自己滑落回原来的位置。

There’s also a bottle opener and a flat head screwdriver that doubles as a pry bar (probably not officially though) I’ve found it very useful for a lot of things, including a flat head screwdriver. There is a slight rattle of the utility knife blade inside the titanium RUT housing, but nothing compared to the Screwpop. I don’t hear it at all rattling around in my pocket like I do the other.

它的尾部也有一个开罐器，并且还有一个螺丝起子，能做很多活儿。在RUT的尾部也有一个小的孔可以挂在钥匙链上，不过没有Screwpop的那么大。挂在钥匙链上时我没听到那么多的像别的刀一样的噪音。

Wrap Up

总结

In typical fashion, the more expensive device outperformed the less expensive ones, but that’s not to say it's just because of price. There were also more features and better craftsmanship on the Rexford RUT. I’m not 100% sold on any of these yet; my search continues.

似乎这个帖子走进了一个俗套，那就是一分钱一分货，贵的总归比便宜好。不过这可不仅仅是钱的问题，Rexford RUT在外观和做工上就是更好些。我现在手里这三把刀都不准备出手，而且我也在寻觅一把更好的备份工具刀。