Everything Under the Moon

I am quite new and was under the initial impression that an athame never cuts anything physical but is used as a spiritual tool and a boline or white handled knife is used for any physical cutting. But then I read a book of candle magic that suggests using the athame to inscribe symbols into candles, so I thought I'd ask whether people would use an athame or boline in situations I'm not sure of -

Inscribing words or sigils into spell candles?
Inscribing anything into charms, talisman or ritual items (such as a wand?
Cutting cakes that are being used as offering or part of a ritual?

Youre asking about a 'rule'

Please bear in mind that rules differ for different paths.
what is required of a wiccan, by the coven, may be completely unimportant to a druid, or a medicine man.

You can also have a knife or knives made up entirely of brass. The handles are forged to a hand grip and then dimpled to give grip. Your not trying to push them through body armor so the heft and blade thickness is like other knives, just a bit lighter They make great throwing knives, hold an edge fine enough to cut single sheets of paper, and, given reasonable care, are also very durable. No worries about color. No interference from iron or steel in your working. You just have to have a steel knife if it's called for. The average kitchen can supply that at a pinch.

It comes down to personal choice for a solitary Crafter. I wouldn't use any knife for inscribing because I'd likely cut myself. Instead I use a darning needle to inscribe candles. To me the athame is for sacred use & the boline is for mundane cutting tasks. I chose to reserve my athame as a spiritual tool for directing energy and cutting etheric bonds. But if I needed to cut cords in knot/cord spell, it would be ok to use my athame bcs that IS cutting magical bonds & within the purpose I've assigned to my athame.