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Knife screwdrivers

For cutting -and- screwing
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You know when you need a screwdriver to open some kid's toy and you don't remember where it was last and the kitchen drawer is right there so heck why don't you just try a knife?

Invariably the tip of the knife is too big, too small, too pointy, too round, too sharp, or just plain too something. Or worse, you wedge the tip of a steak knife into a plus-head (Philips) screw, twist, and -- ping! -- the razor-sharp knife tip rockets right into your precious eyeball!

This idea is to make knife tips in the shapes of common screwdriver heads. For flatheads all you do is trim the tip nicely. For plus-head you might need a quick drop forge on the tip. For other shapes, the technology exists. A set of knives could have several different shapes and sizes to fit common household screws. Stores could offer a Pokemon grab-bag type approach, where you buy a knife and only see what screw head it has after you open the package. Collect them all!

the porpoise, Mar 25 2014

Holes in knife blade http://image.shutte...-white-84850738.jpg
[bs0u0155, Mar 25 2014]

[link]






       This sounds bakable to me, but maybe that's just the little rush of oxygen to the lungs at the moment of reconnection.   

       As long as you could somehow convince the average householder to ease off a bit on the uniformity most demand of their cutlery (as well as of their Royal Doultons with the handpainted periwinkles), the handles of those snazzy single piece knives people receive as wedding gifts, and then store for "one day" could be formed into useful things like screwdrivers, awls, and bloodstained icepicks.
skoomphemph, Mar 25 2014
  

       I think multitools are for all those thing you can't force with a vicegrip, or revive with a few taps of a hammer?   

       (ie: They're for performing what the Inanimate refer to in their journals as "revenge surgery" - eg the disembowelling of the clock that wouldn't stand still for vice grip, and didn't respond to the hammer. You can only properly disembowel things with a multitool.)
skoomphemph, Mar 25 2014
  

       You can use a specially designed flathead screwdriver to turn a Phillips head screw. I've seen a keychain made out of a single flat piece of stamped metal that has three or four different drivers around the edges, one of which specifically indicates that it's for use with Phillips screws. It's not ideal, but if you're using a kitchen knife to turn your screws you're probably not too concerned about making sure you have precisely the right tool for the job.
ytk, Mar 25 2014
  

       I would think that the sharp tip would be most suited to flat head and also those funny ones that have a nob in the middle of the flat head, while the butt end could be made for phillips, tork, allen and other deviant shapes.
pocmloc, Mar 25 2014
  

       With a bit of work on the grinder etc, you could probably turn your dinner service into a passable small spanner/wrench set. The carving knife could be bored out into quite a handy plug spanner if there was already enough metal to mill this out of the handle.   

       If you don't have metal handles, it's even easier. Just weld the necessary portions of the tools required on as replacement handles.   

       Why do people use knives as screwdrivers? They put their multitools in safe places, and maybe there's rain falling between them and the outbuilding where all the tools are rusting. There really is a need for a cutlery-based alternative to the right-tool-for-the-job.
skoomphemph, Mar 25 2014
  

       See those holes in hat knife? <link> well, they should be hexagonal, and progressively increase in size. Who needs a real wrench when you could be applying huge torque to a thin, brittle blade? I can't see anything going wrong.
bs0u0155, Mar 25 2014
  

       // They put their multitools in safe places //   

       The safest place is in a pocket, clipped to a belt, or (for showering or in bed) on a lanyard round the neck.   

       There's a reason that Leatherman multitools are made from high-grade stainless …
8th of 7, Mar 25 2014
  

       Not that high grade. They still rust a little bit unless oiled, especially the blades and driver bits.   

       The material properties desirable for a knife blade are not the same as those desirable for a screwdriver bit. In fact, they don't have much in common at all.   

       Please don't use knives as screwdrivers. I perform knife sharpening services for friends and family, and I just *hate* having to do regrinding because someone is using it for purposes other than cutting.
Custardguts, Mar 26 2014
  

       Surely it would be more logical to buy screws that have slots that fit knife blades...and then you could just carry around a mini-set of knives.
not_morrison_rm, Mar 26 2014
  

       The trouble with a Leatherman is that they never include a proper hammer or vicegrip. If they did, I would always wear one.   

       As for the knife blade brittleness problem, this would be yet another reason (apart from the obvious aesthetic ones) to use the handles of the cutlery, rather than the blades. Perhaps dinner services could double as socket spannerwrenches? All the maker needs to add would be a torsion bar (perhaps doubling as a nice enough hammer.)   

       Just imagine how emphatic you could be in your more impassioned dinner table debates if, when you slammed your knife handle down on the table, it not only made a new dent in this, but also dug down a bit or threw up some wood chips?
skoomphemph, Mar 26 2014
  
      
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