"Normal use" will vary with each knife and even each material. As such, normal use should typically be taken in context of a specific blade or series of blades. Scrapyard knives as a general rule are quarter-inch thick, fixed handle, hidden tang designs made from modified S7 impact steel. We can make generalizations about all such knives: that they will readily handle high impact (allowing aggressive chopping and batoning) and a high degree of lateral stress when used as a pry bar. Whereas, say, a Swiss Army Knife, made of very thin and hard stainless, should only used as a splitting tool or prybar under circumstances of extreme desperation. "Normal use" is the sum of uses toward which the knife maker gave some consideration, and for a Scrapyard knife (because they are so over-built) includes virtually everything except chopping concrete or hardened steel: no knives are made for these purposes because cutting such hard materials is not practical (hence impact or abrasion tools).....