The first field test against a non-soft target: destroying some old furniture boxes that have been piling up, waiting for me to grumble-grumble break these down into smaller pieces that will actually fit in my recycling bin.
Now, none of these are particularly challenging targets for a sharp knife. Even a decent dull knife could do the job given enough size/weight, if you don’t care about safety, in which case please go sharpen your shit and learn better. One can also do it with scissors, if you’re truly a glutton for finger and wrist punishment or just want to take an hour for a 5-10 minute job.
Test candidates: the Squid XM, the Praxis, and the Paraframe I.
Results? I’d score them in that order.
The Squid is “Holy crap, are you sure this is a knife?” level affective. I don’t know if its thanks more to whoever designed the blade, or who designed the factory machines sharpening and going them in production. But it’s a clear success. This is what I imagine a katana would be like if you shrunk it down to the size of a finger length. Whether slicing or stabbing, it murders harder grade cardboard like a champion. Perhaps the most expensive (~$60) but worth it.
The Praxis while not quite as impressive, is exactly what I would expect out of a sharp knife. What it doesn’t cut as smoothly as the Squid, the Praxis’s larger, more spade like blade helps work through. It greatly solves the equation where I need more heft or leverage not just cutting efficiency, something that the smaller knives in my collection just can’t offer whether or not they’re good at slicing stuff. That’s especially a negative of my weatherman, where it’s a surprisingly good blade but not a good form factor. The Praxis is also a very comfortable deep carry and decently priced ($50, and I got it for $42).
Using the Paraframe is also what I would expect out of a sharp knife, but its smaller size betrays while I chose the Praxis over a Praxis Mini for my first flipper. Whichever holds its edge better over time, the Paraframe’s smaller size is a handicap. For murdering breaking down things like a coffee table box where the unfolded box is practically a bed size, I would worry about a dull blade that size becoming a liability. But being brand knew, that’s not a problem and it was quite effective. My main complaint is that it’s still very compact to the point that it’s almost a two-hand open, but it’s quite effective. Considering it’s a $35 blade I got for $22, I can’t really complain.
Me thinks the remaining backlog of boxes will disappear quite nicely 😆