Talk:Utility knife

message: I thought that a box cutter is just like a pair of scissors: An office tool that can be purchased by anyone who has enough age to go to a store alone and be considered "normal". Around here, in Chile, at least, it isn't considered "special". The view presented in this article (of the box cutter as a weapon) reflects more or less all the rest of the world? Or just USA and some other countries affected by terrorism? Of course it is used for crime sometimes, but so could be a scissor or a kitchen knife, yet I guess any 14-year old could purchase a scissor, no?
--user:guruclef
:In the US, anyone can purchase a boxcutter, but their use as weapons hits close to home due to (false, I think) rumors that they were used on the September 11 attacks.  The EU is more cautious; I think even kitchen knives have a minimum age.  It's much sharper than scissors, though, or even kitchen knives, and lends itself much better to use on flesh.  Twin Bird (talk) 05:04, 22 April 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rest of the world? 

message: September 11 notwithstanding, AFAIK box-cutter knife isn't a commonly used term. In Britain the term box-cutter knife was unknown before Sept 11 and they are commonly called Stanley knives (after one of the most common manufacturers) and if not then craft knives. I don't know whether craft knife or utility knife is more common elsewhere, but I am assuming that utility knife is more common in the USA given that it is mentioned on the page. Jooler 13:11, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  Stanley knives are made in the USA :http://www.contractorstools.com/stanley1.html — Perhapse "Retractable knife" would be better? In the UK "stanley knife" is used for a knife with the blade as shown in the link (and described in the article requested to be moved). The lighter ones with segmented blades that can be snap off as the leading edge gets blunt are called craft or modelling knives. "Stanley knife" like hover is a brand name which has become a generic name in the UK. Here is another use for such a knife which has been around since the 70s or before in Britian (note the dule blade upgrade) http://www.twochapstalking.com/dictarchive/000153.html because in court it is a GBH offence not attempted murder to have been nicked (arrested) while using one on a person. --PBS
* Support  To me a craft knife or hobby knife is the generic term for an X-acto knife, the pencil-shaped metal handle with small replacable blades.  Utility knife is the right name for the heavy-duty, plastic-handled, break-off blade knife.  Although colloquially, here in Canada, it's just as often called by the brand name Olfa knife.  —Michael Z. 16:43, 2005 Jan 14 (UTC)
* Support a move to utility knife.  There IS something that is specifically a box-cutter knife, but what is described on this page is a utility knife, not that.  A box cutter, as I've seen them, is a thin, flat knife back designed to hold single-edged razor blades.  The handle part of it slides down to cover the blade when not in use.  I used them as a teenage supermarket employee. —Morven 17:00, Jan 14, 2005 (UTC)
*Oppose.  It looks as if I am a bit late in the day to come in with an oppose vote, but I think there may be room for separate articles. Like Morven, I used them on my Saturday job at Sainsburys and – although box-cutter is new terminology to me – I can see that there might be a distinction.  It seems there's quite a lot to say about knives, and there may be room for separate articles in the fullness of time.  I would have thought that a box-cutter knife would be a Stanley knife with a hooked blade, but there doesn't seem to be a clear opinion in the minimal research I've done so far.  Noisy | Talk 20:11, Jan 14, 2005 (UTC)
* Either move it to Stanley knife or leave it where it is.  The most famous reference to this kind of knife was its conjectured use as an offensive weapon in some fairly recent hijacking incidents. The phrase used was "box-cutter knife". A Brit who needs to know what that phrase means needs to be able to find out that it's just a Stanley knife.  So leave it where it is. -Tony Sidaway|Talk 00:38, 15 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: [[Box-cutter knife]] &rarr; [[utility knife]] or [[craft knife]]

message: The move has happened, but in eliminating the term box cutter from the text we violate the principle of least astonishment. So I've put it back as an alternative name.
If this isn't what is meant by a box cutter, then we should change the redirect. Andrewa 03:02, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Reinstated "box cutter" in the text

message: Anybody think we should put in a paragraph how it is commonly used (and very succesfully might I add) for self injuring?  I personally use it all the time and I know many others who love using it too. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 209.244.187.65 (talk) 00:00, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Self Injury 

message: In 1956 Mr.Y.Okada, the founder of OLFA CORPORATION, invented the world's first SNAP-OFF BLADE CUTTER.
The inspiration for this incredible idea came from breaking off segments of chocolate bars and analyzing the snap edges of broken glass. 
This unique invention has since become a worldwide best seller and is commonly referred to as an OLFA CUTTER. read More  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.97.117.164 (talk) 21:52, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Who invented this in the first place? 

message: Given that Stanley knife is the name used in the UK and Ireland, and on the other side of the planet in Australia and New Zealand, it shoudl be mentioned in the first sentence of the lead "A utility knife or Stanley knife ... " as at the moment the only way a native of those countries knows what the article is about is by the picture. -- PBS (talk) 09:12, 11 December 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Take another look at the opening sentence, and click on "names"—it jumps you down to the section that covers various synonyms in various global regions. This is fine, and it's best left as-is. If you don't handle it this way, it becomes a listcruft-adding pissing contest in the lede. Other examples that evolved in this direction are hex key and RTFM. Before they evolved to this pattern, their ledes were stuffed full of distraction. — ¾-10 22:43, 12 December 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I would support the above suggestion: the wording of the lead sentence is important as it is what is seen in search results, so this key alternative name ought to be in the opening line. A link is not the same. Also consider accessibility issues. Also perhaps "boxcutter", as used in news reports but previously unknown to me and probably many people this side of the Atlantic (OK, there's a "redirect" hatnote, but we can't rely on that for the content of the article).  The "names" section covers names in many other languages: "Stanley knife" is the name in British and other variants of English. There's a difference. PamD (talk) 09:48, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Looking at your Hex key example, yes, I'm surprised not to see "Allen key" in the lead sentence because that is the British English name for the item. RTFM isn't the same sort of issue. PamD (talk) 09:52, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
replies: text:  Hmm. Good points about various functional reasons why a jump-link down to the nomenclature section is not ideal in all respects (search, emphasis/weight, etc). This also came up at Talk:Punched card#Discussion recently, where it was pointed out that when one synonym is hotly prized or guarded by one community of speakers (regional or otherwise), it may represent a perceived slight to have it not be in the lede (like it's a "less-valuable" variant maybe). So in light of those considerations, let me modify my comments here to say that whatever y'all want to do here with this lede is fine with me. I would just add a caveat that only the top 2 or 3 "most important" synonyms should occur in the opening sentence, with the "whole long list of other, less common ones" still being handled via a jump-down link to a nomenclature section. (I realize that "most important" can depend on the person judging, but a reasonable consensus may emerge nevertheless.) It keeps the lede unclunky with a high layperson-readability value. Regards, — ¾-10 17:58, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Punched card is a bit different again, in that the terms are recognisably similar. The problem is for someone who searches on "Stanley knife", the most common UK term for this kind of knife, and is silently redirected to an article "Utility knife" which doesn't mention "Stanley knife" in the first paragraph. Targets of redirects are bolded to explain to the redirected person why they've got where they've got to, but this is less effective if the term isn't used near the top of the article. I'd like to put "or Stanley knife" in the lead sentence: should we make that ", Stanley knife or Box-cutter"? PamD (talk) 19:26, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Ah, I was watching the talk page more than the article: I see you've already done the edit, 3/4-10: thanks. PamD (talk) 19:28, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Stanley knife in the lead 

message: "They are also commonly used as jean distressers." (cut after copyediting).  This surely does not belong in the lead, if in the article at all. Huw Powell (talk) 21:19, 12 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Odd line in lead (not any more) 

message: (Diff): This is not a carpet cutter. This is a carpet knife. __ Just plain Bill (talk) 20:44, 21 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Carpet cutter" inaccurate 

message: The Hebrew/Israeli term for "Japanese knife" refers specifically to a retractable blade knife, and not just to any utility knife. I suppose it's also named after Olfa but I have no reliable source for that. Tzafrir (talk) 11:14, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Japanese Knife 

message: Footnotes 5 and 6 srem now to be dead links (at least to a mobile browser).  Rags (talk) 08:42, 10 February 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dead links 

message: The age restriction was changed by Section 43(2) of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, which amended Section 141A(1) of The Criminal Justice Act 1988, and was brought into force 8th November 2006
Here's a reference from the UK government website https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/38/section/43
I've never edited before so I thought it best to leave it to someone who knows what they're doing 86.29.114.192 (talk) 19:28, 29 December 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reference for "In the United Kingdom, the law was changed[when?]" 

message: Re recent anon edit, much like the word hoover is more common then vacuum cleaner stanley knife is the common name for a utility knife in the UK and many of it's ex colonies http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5143947/Schoolgirl-finds-Stanley-KNIFE-Zoella-advent-calendar.htmlhttp://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/south-shields-knife-gran-kaier-14070329 Unibond (talk) 15:41, 30 December 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Generic Name