A/O-> Manual = improvement

thejamppa

thejamppa

Joined
Aug 20, 2009
Messages
2,907
Hi all!

I own 6 Kershaw knives. Only 1 of them is A/O, my first Kershaw Needs Work black. I've always find the A/O pretty useless and the openingthe Needs Work hard and difficult due spring.

So I removed the torsion bar. Now its fully manual. Sure it doesn't open like Kershaw flipper's but with small wrist movement it opens fast and snappy. Opening is also a lot smoother due you do not have torsion bar to bring increased threshold.

I am surprised how much it improved the knife. After I removed torsion bring and made it manual, Needs Work has been travelling regularly. Its lovely and good knife and IMHO it got better when tosrion bar was removed.

Does anyone else has similar experiences? IMHO Speed Safe and other A/O's are pretty useless. Its not going to make any difference in work. And tactical effect of A/O's can be debated all over and once more without conclusion.
 
I like A/O knives. Granted I only own one, the Leek. That snappy opening
is a lot of fun. Is it better, more tactical, faster, or offer any true advantage
to a knife? Totally debatable. For me it's just the fun factor.

I kind of buy knives based on traits. So I have some autos, some dual actions, some fixed... That's all A/O is to me, another unique knife trait.
 
It's all a personal preference if you want assisted or not.

There have been dozens of threads on the subject and most turn into a fight.
There are the "You're just trying to get by the switchblade laws", "It's stupid" or (my favorite) "It's a fad"

Many companies offer assisted opening features now and sales of said items prove there is a large market for it.
It's never been about opening quick like an auto. It was designed to be open one-handed for easier use.

Technically, thumbstuds, thumbdiscs and holes help assist the user to open the knife one handed.
Kershaw's A/O uses a torsion bar (small piece of bent music wire).
Otherwise we would all have slippies without those features.

It's all good, just a different way of doing things.
 
That pretty much sums it up. There's no right or wrong, just personal preference. I own manuals, flippers, AOs...I like ALL of them...well, um...because I collect knives! :)
 
2brothers said:
It's all a personal preference if you want assisted or not.

There have been dozens of threads on the subject and most turn into a fight.
There are the "You're just trying to get by the switchblade laws", "It's stupid" or (my favorite) "It's a fad"

Many companies offer assisted opening features now and sales of said items prove there is a large market for it.
It's never been about opening quick like an auto. It was designed to be open one-handed for easier use.

Technically, thumbstuds, thumbdiscs and holes help assist the user to open the knife one handed.
Kershaw's A/O uses a torsion bar (small piece of bent music wire).
Otherwise we would all have slippies without those features.

It's all good, just a different way of doing things.
Click to expand...

+1 :thumbup:
 
I have a ZT0300 and part of it's appeal to me is the assisted opening. Wouldn't be the same without it. Makes a cool knife even cooler!
 
Not a big fan of AO myself. Fortunately most of them can be converted. :D
That being said, I'm glad they're around. It makes the knife world that much more interesting. :)
 
I have a few A/O and a few autos and have had many more of each. Waved knives, be they Emerson or Spyderco open just as fast, as do many of the Kershaw/ZT flippers I've had, or even several axis lock Benchmades.

All of them have their place for knife nuts.
 
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