Snap Off a Utility Blade Safely
Using the slot in a snap-off knife's end cap to break the blade back to a fresh edge without pliers or flying shards.
Score Rips and Cut String One-Handed With a Utility Knife's Notches
Work knives in the folding utility class carry two features most owners never use: a string notch that cuts a stretched line without opening the blade, and a tape-hook notch beside the blade — hook your tape's end in it, hold the tape at the width you want, and score a rip line down the whole board.
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The Problem
A $300 pocket knife is too precious to use — the creator's words, having bought several — and dull blades stay in service because sharpening is a chore. The folding work knife solves the economics (replaceable blades run pennies each), and its body carries task features a plain blade doesn't have.
The Techniques
Cut string without opening the knife. The body has a notch that shears a stretched string line on contact — twice over on some models, one notch closed and another revealed when flipped open. String lines get cut dozens of times a day on a framing site; this is the one-second version.
Score a rip with the tape-hook notch. Beside the blade sits a small notch sized for a tape measure's hook:
- Hook the tape's end blade into the notch.
- Hold the tape body at your rip width — say 6".
- Pull both down the board together: the tape rides the edge as the fence, and the blade scores a parallel line the full length.
For drywall that scored line is the cut; for sheet goods it's a dead- straight layout line with no chalk involved.
Pro tip: The knife-and-tape rip is
the same move as the tape-measure
rip gauge done with pinched fingers — the notch just replaces the
pinch with positive registration, which matters most on long rips where
a slipping grip walks the line.
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