accessing spydies

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feeny

Joined
Aug 22, 2006
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What are the different (technical!) ways you use to open a spydie? Which do you find you gravitate towards for normal use, and which would use if you had to have fast access, or access under duress.

I suppose the answer will vary based on the model too - oh and by access I am assuming accessing the blade after it has been unclipped and is in hand ready for deployment.

I have two spydies so far (lava, mini manix) and use subtly different methods for deployment.

Lava:
1. Straightforward use of thumb, probably most reliable, but not fastest.

2. Use of third digit (counted from thumb, with thumb as first) flicking the blade open by the spyder hole. Can be done with finger alone and keeping the rest of hte hand perfectly still, but works best with a wrist flick to aid opening. Looks and sounds cool and is faster than 1 but not as reliable as the blade does not always lock open - and probably less effective under duress unless practiced many many times.

3. Spyder drop - easier techinque than 2 and works every time on lava, looks and sounds cool, relies on having the thumb and second finger holding the blade by the hole, which is not always practical depending on how it is being held. Slower again than 1 or 2.

4. Use of fourth finger in spyder hole to push the blade into open reverse grip position. Works reliably but requires some manipulation to position the blade in hand for this sort of opoening.


Mini Manix:
1. Straightforward use of thumb, again most reliable, but not fastest.

2. Use of second OR third digit (counted from thumb, with thumb as first) flicking the blade open by the spyder hole. I cannot open the mini manix in this manner without the wrist flick - I just dont have enough strength / snap in my fingers for a blade this size with the spring resistance.. I find secdond finger to be faster and also opens the blade fully gripped by scales in my hand, whereas third finger is a little slower and opens the blade with my second finger on the choil rather than the scales. However I have "thrown" the blade a few times using second finger - but never using third, as when using third finger the second finger serves as a sort of safety to stop the thing flying out of my hand.
....Looks and sounds cool and is faster than 1 but not as reliable as the blade does not always lock open - and probably less effective under duress unless practiced many many times.

3. Spyder drop - easier techinque than 2 but I cannot get it to work every time on the mini manix yet. This may change as its new and might wear in some more - however at the moment unless I really "drop" it hard, it only spydie-drops open 60% of the time.
... looks and sounds cool, relies on having the thumb and second finger holding the blade by the hole, which is not always practical depending on how it is being held. Slower again than 1 or 2.

4. Use of fourth finger in spyder hole to push the blade into open reverse grip position. Works reliably but requires some manipulation to position the blade in hand for this sort of opening. I find this a bit more technical on the mini manix vs. the lava again due to blade size more than anything else.

(These are just my ways / findings I have discovered thus far and almost certainly will vary for different shaped hands and .. I am sure there are better ways and techniques out there - which I am interested in hearing about!)
 
I cant do that with any of mine without at least opening to 45 degrees or so - which I have to do with thumb or fingers before wrist / arm torque can accomplish the rest...

Is this a lock mechanism thing or a pivot adjust or lots of lube / maintenance / tuning thing?
 
shabbasuraj said:
Atlantic Salt and SS Endura 4.....

I just flick the thing open, no fingers involved.

Very FAST.
Click to expand...

I forgot, I can also do the same maneuver with a FG Endura 4.

I think I can do it with these knives as they have a lot of 'blade heft'. ... that and you have to have the correct technique in 'flicking' the thing open.

Keep practicing.. preferably with no one around.... LOL
 
Hey what do you know! It works!! A hard down with inertia and then quick up with torque and out she comes! That's the sort of stuff I hoped to learn!

Works on the manix, not a chance on the lava though. Thats great :)

Wonder what else is out there... both for the big ones and little ones!
 
Nicely done 'little tiger'.. (to be said in an strong Cantonese accent that you would associate with a 110 year old martial arts master).. LOL


Nice to hear that you learned the technique...

...just never forget when, where, and who taught you. :D:p
 
Paramilitary- press in compression lock, slight flick of wrist, and release lock midway through the blade opening to ensure a lockup, and not a bounceback, very smooth, VERY quiet.

The Native I is just too stiff for just about everything except the straightforward thumbflick.

Tasman can use the #2 strategy you listed there, and it's what I prefer for it.

Spyderfly...ah yes...the possibilities are darn near endless, but the y2k is by far my favorite, followed by the helix (which is just too dang hard), followed by the standard open .

The Endura 3 had a really nice thumbflick action, the weight of the blade worked well for it...

That's about it...
 
Very cool.

Shabba a.k.a wrinkled cantonese fella: That inertia-torque thing cant be too good over time for the lock / wear on the knife though. It really jams itself open that way. IT is fast and reliable (and has a definite cool factor too) though. Is there a variation on that technique to open in reverse grip?


Phil? Tell me more of the thumb flick on the E3?
 
Tip down knives, when drawing the knife, place thumb and fiirst finger in the Spyder hole, a flick of the wrist and the weight of the handle will open the knife. very fast once you get the hang of it. AKA "Spyder Drop" A lot faster than using the thumb.
 
feeny said:
Very cool.

Shabba a.k.a wrinkled cantonese fella: That inertia-torque thing cant be too good over time for the lock / wear on the knife though. It really jams itself open that way. IT is fast and reliable (and has a definite cool factor too) though.?
Click to expand...


I dunno.. I have been doing this maneuver for years now on some of my earliest knives, and they are all still fine. Keep in mind that, by no means is that the only way I choose to unleash a knife. Sometimes slow and gentle thumb action is more appropriate amongst the presence of sheeple.

As far as I am concerned and based on my usage patterns, flicking the knife open in the manner you just learned to do, by my book is 'normal usage'.
 
Dragonfly - I usually just rotate it all the way open with my thumb, but the pivot has loosened up to the point where I can flick it open if I want to now. I also sometimes use the Spydie drop technique. There's not enough weight in the handle to do that normally, but I have a noose type fob on mine that adds enough weight to do it, and it whistles through the air nicely when I do it too.

D4W - Just pull it out of my pocket, it doesn't get any faster than that! ;) I sometimes hold the blade closed as I take it out of the pocket and just open it with my thumb if there's anyone around who might get freaked out if I use the wave, or if there are people close by that might be in the way of it.
 
Well, Feeny,

You pretty much covered my methods of deployment. Like you, it varies for me by which Spyder it is, but it basically all comes down to the standard thumb flick, inverted pinkie flick, the spyder drop, and rarely a wrist flick.

I used to be big on the wrist flick, but I did it in front of Spyder rep one time and they exclaimed, "Oh, no! Don't open it like that!" They said that prematurely wore the pivot out and was just too hard on the locking mechansims. I guess I can see that, but I don't know if they were just being overly finnicky or if this is a big no-no.

:D
 
Hmm... so after much practice, I have two new (well, for me they are new!) methods...

Both involve the aforementioned wrist flick - however when I first started wrist flicking, it was a two part movement, the first part being a wrist flick to deploy the blade to an angle of about 30 degrees or so - basically the first movement needed enough inertia to counter the spring resistance, then the second movement would involve either a "dead stop" or a change in direction to "flick" the blade into the locked open position - the torque of the stop / direction change would be more than enough to fully deploy the blade.
I could only get this technique working in forward grip.

Since, I have discovered that with the right angles (and I need practice) the above can be done in one movement, I find I need to hold the handle near the butt, which maximises the torque, and even thoguh its only one wrist movement rather than two, the handle actually pivots in my grip which gives it the flick motion at the end. Very fast... one movement left.

Now, although the above might be finicky.. what isnt, and is indeed most satisfying, is I have found that the above one-movement technique works perfectly, and reliably, and damn quickly in reverse grip... with the blade set for tip down carry, the thumb in the little divot on the pocket clip, just flick it down and out it comes settling perfectly in the palm.

So, the wrist flick can be well used for a reverse grip opening.
Lastly, still absolutely NO movement using any of these methods on the lava... it stubbornly refuses to budge!
 
why dont you guys just open them the way they are supposed to be opened??

if you flick your knives out hard like that, there can be wear and tear as already stated.

the only spyderco i flick out is the dallara drop point cause its super smooth and hefty/built enough to endure being flicked out constantly.
 
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