Types of Knives (from Wikipedia):
Knives as weapons:
As a weapon, the knife is universally adopted as an essential tool. It is the essential element of a knife fight. For example:
Ballistic knife: A specialized combat knife with a detachable gas or spring-propelled blade that can be fired to a distance of several feet or meters by pressing a trigger or switch on the handle.
Bayonet: A knife-shaped close-quarters fighting weapon designed to attach to the muzzle of a rifle or similar weapon.
Combat knife: Any knife intended to be used by soldiers in the field, as a general-use tool, but also for fighting.
Dagger: A double-edged combat knife with a central spine and edges sharpened their full length, used primarily for stabbing. Variations include the Stiletto and Push dagger.
Fighting knife: A knife with a blade designed to inflict a lethal injury in a physical confrontation between two or more individuals at very short range (grappling distance). Well known examples include the Bowie knife and the Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife.
Rampuri: An Indian gravity knife of formidable reputation having a single edged blade roughly 9 to 12 inches long.
Shiv: A crudely made homemade knife out of everyday materials, especially prevalent in prisons among inmates. An alternate name in some prisons is Shank.
Trench knife: Purpose-made or improvised knives, intended for close-quarter fighting, particularly in trench warfare, some having a d-shaped integral hand guard.
Butterfly knife: A folding pocket knife also known as a "balisong" or "batangas" with two counter-rotating handles where the blade is concealed within grooves in the handles.
Knives as sports equipment:
Throwing knife: A knife designed and weighted for throwing
Knives as utensils:
A primary aspect of the knife as a tool includes dining, used either in food preparation or as cutlery. Examples of this include:
Bread knife: A knife with a serrated blade for cutting bread.
Boning knife: A knife used for removing the bones of poultry, meat, and fish.
Carving knife: A knife for carving large cooked meats such as poultry, roasts, hams, etc.
Chef's knife: Also known as a French knife, a cutting tool used in preparing food.
Cleaver: A large knife that varies in its shape but usually resembles a rectangular-bladed hatchet. It is used mostly for hacking through bones as a kitchen knife or butcher knife, and can also be used for crushing via its broad side, typically garlic.
Butcher's Knife: A knife designed and used primarily for the butchering and/or dressing of animals.
Electric knife: An electrical device consisting of two serrated blades that are clipped together, providing a sawing action when powered on.
Kitchen knife: Any knife, including the chef's knife, that is intended to be used in food preparation.
Oyster knife: Has a short, thick blade for prying open oyster shells.
Paring or Coring Knife: A knife with a small but sharp blade used for cutting out the cores from fruit.
Rocker knife: A knife that cuts with a rocking motion, which is primarily used by people whose disabilities prevent them from using a fork and knife simultaneously.
Table knife or Case knife: A piece of cutlery, either a butter knife, steak knife, or both, that is part of a table setting, accompanying the fork and spoon.
Ulu: An Inuit woman's all-purpose knife.
Knives as tools:
As a utility tool the knife can take many forms, including:
Balisong: A folding knife also known as a "butterfly knife" or "batangas", with two handles counter-rotating around the tang such that, when closed, the blade is hidden within the handles.
Bowie knife: Commonly, any large sheath knife, or a specific style of large knife popularized by Jim Bowie.
Crooked knife: Sometimes referred to as a "curved knife", "carving knife" or in the Algonquian language the "mocotaugan" is a utilitarian knife used for carving.
Diver's knife: A knife adapted for use in diving and water sports and a necessary part of standard diving dress.
Electrician's knife: A short-bladed knife used to cut electrical insulation.
Hunting knife: A knife used to dress large game.
Kiridashi: A small Japanese knife having a chisel grind and a sharp point, used as a general-purpose utility knife.
Linoleum knife: is a small knife that has a short, stiff blade with a curved point and a handle and is used to cut linoleum or other sheet materials.
Machete: A large heavy knife used to cut through thick vegetation such as sugar cane or jungle undergrowth; it may be used as an offensive weapon.
Palette knife: A knife, or frosting spatula, lacking a cutting edge, used by artists for tasks such as mixing and applying paint and in cooking for spreading icing.
Paper knife: Or a "letter opener" it is a knife made of metal or plastic, used for opening mail.
Pocket knife: a folding knife designed to be carried in a pants pocket. Subtypes include:
-Lockback knife: a folding knife with a mechanism that locks the blade into the open position, preventing accidental closure while in use.
-Multi-tool and Swiss Army knife, which combine a folding knife blade with other tools and implements, such as pliers, scissors, or screwdrivers.
Produce knife: A knife with a rectangular profile and a blunt front edge used by grocers to cut produce.
Rigging knife: A knife used to cut rigging in sailing vessels.
Scalpel: A medical knife, used to perform surgery.
Straight razor: A reusable knife blade used for shaving hair.
Survival knife: A sturdy knife, sometimes with a hollow handle filled with survival equipment.
Switchblade: A knife with a folding blade that springs out of the grip when a button or lever on the grip is pressed.
Utility knife: A short knife with a replaceable triangular blade, used for cutting sheet materials including card stock, paperboard, and corrugated fiberboard.
Wood carving knife and whittling knives: Knives used to shape wood in the arts of wood carving and whittling, often with short, thin replaceable blades for better control.
X-Acto knife: A scalpel-like knife with a long handle and a replaceable pointed blade, used for precise, clean cutting in arts and crafts.
Knives as a traditional or religious implement:
Athame: A typically black-handled and double-edged ritual knife used in Wicca and other derivative forms of Neopagan witchcraft.
Kirpan: A ceremonial knife that all baptised Sikhs must wear as one of the five visible symbols of the Sikh faith (Kakars).
Kilaya: A dagger used in Tibetan Buddhism.
Kris: A dagger used in Indo-Malay cultures, often by royalty and sometimes in religious rituals.
Kukri: A Nepalese knife used as both tool and weapon.
Puukko: A traditional Finnish or Scandinavian style woodcraft belt-knife used as a tool rather than a weapon.
Seax: A Germanic single-edged knife, used primarily as a tool, but may have been a weapon.
Sgian Dubh: A small dagger traditionally worn with highland dress.
