Lost Art Press

2024 Anarchist’s Gift Guide: Day 11

Posted on by fitz

Day 11: Milwaukee 50-piece General Purpose Utility Blades

We use utility knives all the time around here, and they get dull quickly. There is little more frustrating than trying to cut with a dull blade – plus it’s dangerous. But it’s a pain to go searching for that pack of blades you know is in the shop somewhere. Or fighting with a blade dispenser that is bockety (we’re looking at you, Stanley). That’s why we default to the Milwaukee blade pack. It’s easy to get a new one out of the dispenser, and the dispenser is large enough to hang on the wall. Also, it’s red, so it’s fairly easy to spot even if it’s in the bottom of your tool chest.

– Fitz

7 thoughts on “2024 Anarchist’s Gift Guide: Day 11”

  1. Okay, Fitz, I guessed it might be another invented word from The Bard, but nooooo–

    Bockety means wobbly, rickety or unsteady. Here it is in a sentence: “No wonder that table’s bockety. Sure, isn’t one leg shorter?” Bockety is derived from the Irish word “bacach,” which means lame.

    How common is the adjective bockety?
    Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English.

    Where does the adjective bockety come from?
    The earliest known use of the adjective bockety is in the 1840s.
    OED’s earliest evidence for bockety is from 1842, in M.D.’s Daughter.

    bockety is probably a borrowing from Irish, combined with an English element. Or perhaps a borrowing from Irish.

    Etymons: Irish bacach, ‑ety suffix.

    Etymons-another new word-I’m down the rabbit-hole again.

  2. You just used bockety 8 times. Between you, me, and Fitz the statistics are now WAY higher than you quoted.

  3. One great feature of these is you can safely discard old blades into the top portion. No more shredded garbage bags.

    1. I always wrap discarded blades in several layers of masking/painter’s tape before discarding, although I use the package containers for the utility blades when they fit properly. But I also use a number of the break-off blades types and sizes as well, so tape works well for those, assuming I’m trying to avoid cutting anybody with those discards (which I am!)

  4. I use an old altoids tin for dead blades. It keeps the edges safe and it’s just as recyclable—tape it shut and throw it in the recycling bin so it al becomes new steel stuff later.

  5. Are there situations you’ve found where a traditional razor blade is more useful than a quality snap-off blade (like an Olfa 18mm)?

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