Utility Knives (Milwaukee Fastback and Tool Shop)

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 They go by various names: utility knife, box cutter, Stanley knife (after the popular brand), blade knife, carpet knife, etc.  They are, as the primary name indicates, utilitarian.  Unlike other knives that specialize in woodwork and bushcraft work, or military and first responder needs, among other demands, this knife is the simple workhorse of the carpenter, carpet layer, and factory and warehouse employee.  Nothing fancy, just a razor blade with a sturdy handle, usually purchased at cut rates compared to other well-known fixed blades and folders that often feature high-end metals and decorative exteriors. 

Today I decided to stop in my local Ace Hardware store to see what knives they offered, and found not only the familiar utility knife, but what I would call an upgraded utility knife.  Most of us are probably familiar with the usual retractable-blade-in-the-nondescript-metal-handle like the one below, where you often had the added feature of being able to store an additional blade inside the handle. You can usually pick them up at most department/hardware stores for a few dollars.


But at Ace I saw the Milwaukee brand called the FASTBACK, something that clearly was much more like the fancy folders one finds with regular blades.  One video I looked at in the store featured a man just raving about this model, especially the easy open and close feature that nigh near resembles a utility knife acting like a switchblade.  The included blade loaded easily without having to find a screwdriver and open the handle like the one above. 

   

The FASTBACK, like the other utility knife I had in my humble collection from TOOL SHOP (shown below), both possess a much nicer handle than the cheap ones, the TOOL SHOP one seeming to be of aluminum, I suspect, the FASTBACK of some synthetic/plastic.  But unlike the FASTBACK this model is not a one-handed opening.  As you can see from the pictures both also sport a belt clip, again something a cheaper cutter does not. 


   

In the New York Times the Milwaukee FASTBACK brand seems to be a favored one in their own comparison/ research under "The Best Utility Knife for 2025" (https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-utility-knife/).  Note that there are more than one in this model category, the one I purchased being the simplest and smallest.  They rated it as their "top pick" and "runner up".  A Stanley model came in third as "also great".  The "top pick", which is their model 48-22-1502 ranges in price from $15 to $20.  The model I bought is in the $11 range. 

Utility knives are not fancy and one probably does not think of them as items in a knife collection.  Yet, manufacturers are clearly making models that possess some of the features one would expect to find in a typical folder, thus making them worthy of attention.  I read somewhere that cardboard can be hard on a knife, and I know that a lot of videos that feature tests of knives often include cutting cardboard as a way to see how well the knife retains its edge.  A utility knife would be a good knife for anyone to have for those routine chores (like breaking down boxes, for example) that do not require a nicer blade and would spare the wear and tear on those other knives. 

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