I don’t generally abuse knives. Though I do fish, camp, hike and ski whenever I get the chance, using knives hard and putting them away wet is pretty unusual for me. The hardest I ever used/abused a knife was out in the horse pasture, and I laugh about that.

It had been a long day. I’m also not the “horse person” in my family. That would be my wife, and I wasn’t thrilled to be replacing fence posts, a job I’ve since become accustomed to yearly. Anyway, I was tired. Did I mention I’m an editor and writer? And I needed to cut some high-tensile electric wire (the fence was unplugged at the time—at least I had that right). I didn’t have a wire cutter on me, and the garage had to be at least 50 yards away. I pulled out my serrated Spyderco folder. The model escapes me, but it was a good knife, pocket clip, one-hand opener, lockback, the works. I figured the serrated blade could cut the wire, and cut the wire it did. The thick wire also chipped a blade serration, but it was well worth saving a trip to the garage. I cut several more wires that day with the Spyderco, and by the time I was done for the day, the blade looked like a toothless mountain model rather than a big-city blade. Oh well, there were more knives in the drawer, and that Spyderco holds a place of honor among them, though missing a few teeth.

What’s the hardest you ever abused a knife? Need a new one, click here, or just share your story with BLADE and KnifeForums users.