All About Pocket Knives

Yesterday one of the little boys at church came up and handed me a small metal handled knife and said, "Mr. Phil, can you fix this?" He found it in an old tackle box and couldn't get the blade to open. I couldn't open it with my thumb nail for him. A little oil and a pair of pliers and it opened to the strangest looking blade modification I'd ever seen. Almost appears to have been turned into a regular straight bladed screwdriver. The edge is ground completely flat and what remains might be used to tighten a screw on a fishing reel, maybe? The spring is amazingly strong, a nail breaker for sure, great walk and talk but not for a little feller or for that matter an old man.
Going to make him a trade for a gold toned gentleman's knife that opens more easily and then give the J.A.Henckels back to him too. Treefarmer

Well done.
As for the modified blade, no doubt it served the purpose for the one who did it.

Great trade! Although I'm not sure who got the better of the deal, him or you!

Great trade! Having had similar experiences as a youngster myself, assuming he is old enough he will remember you forever!

As for the intended purpose of the modified blade I think you’ve made a very astute guess.

Ken

It's just what you do when you don't want to tear into a worn out knife but cant bring yourself to toss it away

I could see an electrician using a blade like that . . . maybe.

I realized I hadn't shown the edge of the blade on the young boy's knife. It has a 90° edge, hopefully y'all can see what was done. It sure would be tough to cut anything with that edge. Still looks like a makeshift screwdriver made from a tipped blade to me.
Treefarmer

Its just making something out of nothing would be my take
It was a broken knife and now its a working screwdriver, why not. Plus you get to grind metal.