Utility knife

Today, the term "utility knife" also includes small folding-, retractable- and/or replaceable-blade knives suited for use in the general workplace or in the construction industry.

The fixed-blade utility knife was developed some 500,000 years ago, when human ancestors began to make stone knives.

[1] These knives were general-purpose tools, designed for cutting and shaping wooden implements, scraping hides, preparing food, and for other utilitarian purposes.

Designed to be lightweight and easy to carry and use, utility knives are commonly used in factories, warehouses, construction projects, and other situations where a tool is routinely needed to mark cut lines, trim plastic or wood materials, or to cut tape, cord, strapping, cardboard, or other packaging material.

[7] In general Spanish, they are known as cortaplumas (penknife, when it comes to folding blades);[citation needed] in Spain, Mexico, and Costa Rica, they are colloquially known as cutters; in Argentina and Uruguay the segmented fixed-blade knives are known as "Trinchetas".

Utility knives may use fixed, folding, or retractable or replaceable blades, and come in a wide variety of lengths and styles suited to the particular set of tasks they are designed to perform.

Outdoor utility knives typically feature sturdy blades from 100 to 150 millimetres (4–6 in) in length, with edge geometry designed to resist chipping and breakage.

The small, thin blade and specialized handle permit cuts requiring a high degree of precision and control.

The largest construction or workplace utility knives typically feature retractable and replaceable blades, and are made of either die-cast metal or molded plastic.

The snapping is best accomplished with a blade snapper that is often built-in, or a pair of pliers, and the break occurs at the score lines, where the metal is thinnest.

This design was introduced by Japanese manufacturer OLFA in 1956 as the world's first snap-off blade and was inspired from analyzing the sharp cutting edge produced when glass is broken and how pieces of a chocolate bar break into segments.

The blade holder is designed to expose just enough edge to cut through one layer of corrugated fibreboard, to minimize chances of damaging contents of cardboard boxes.