Learn Hardcore Dutch: Ik gebruik mijn scherpe zakmes om kleine houtsnippers voor het vuur te maken. - I use my sharp pocket knife to make small wood chips for the fire.

zakmes is a compound of zak (“pocket”) and mes (“knife”). In Dutch you often combine two nouns into one. The head of the compound is mes, so zakmes literally means “pocket knife.”

Why is there an -s in the middle of houtsnippers?

Dutch compounds sometimes insert a linking -s (called a “tussenvocaal”). Here, hout (“wood”) + snippers (“shavings”) become houtsnippers. It’s simply the plural of houtsnipper (“wood shaving”), with the linking -s marking the compound.

Why does the adjective scherp take an -e ending in mijn scherpe zakmes?

When an adjective directly precedes a noun with a definite article or possessive (like mijn), you add -e:

een scherp zakmes (indefinite, neuter)
mijn scherpe zakmes (possessive → treated like definite)
If it were neuter and indefinite without possessive/definite, you’d drop the -e.

How do you express “I use X to do Y” in Dutch?

Use the pattern:
Ik gebruik + object + om + te + infinitive
So:
Ik gebruik mijn scherpe zakmes om kleine houtsnippers voor het vuur te maken.

What is the role of voor in voor het vuur? Could it be confused with location?

Here voor means “for” (purpose/benefit): you make shavings for the fire. It is not the location “in front of” (which could also be voor), but the goal: “so that the shavings can go into the fire.”

Why does the infinitive maken have te in front, and why is it at the end of the sentence?

In Dutch purpose clauses you use om + te + infinitive. Grammatically, subordinate clauses (including om … te … clauses) are placed at the end, and the infinitive itself comes last: om kleine houtsnippers voor het vuur te maken.

Can you say ik gebruik met mijn mes instead? Or what about ik maak houtsnippers met mijn mes?

gebruiken is transitive and takes a direct object, so you do ik gebruik mijn zakmes, not ik gebruik met mijn mes.
If you want to shift focus, you can say:
Ik maak kleine houtsnippers met mijn mes.
That means essentially the same but emphasizes the action “making shavings” rather than the verb “use.”