A utility knife is any type of knife used for general manual work purposes. Such knives were originally fixed-blade knives with durable cutting edges suitable for rough work such as cutting cordage, cutting/scraping hides, butchering animals, cleaning fish scales, reshaping timber, and other tasks. Craft knives are small utility knives used as precision-oriented tools for finer, more delicate tasks such as carving and papercutting.
Retractable blade knife with replaceable utility blade
A Stanley 99E utility knife, fully retracted
A modern safety cutter at top, with blunted tip blade and cutting guide/tape hook. At bottom, an older style simple plastic box cutter using standard straight edged blades.
Segmented blade or "snap-off blade" utility knife
A knife is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools. Originally made of wood, bone, and stone, over the centuries, in step with improvements in both metallurgy and manufacturing, knife blades have been made from copper, bronze, iron, steel, ceramic, and titanium. Most modern knives have either fixed or folding blades; blade patterns and styles vary by maker and country of origin.
A Bowie knife of pattern-welded steel
Characteristic parts of a knife
Morakniv carbon steel knife
Knife blade mass production
