Accidents with non-locking folders...

D

DANGELO

Joined
Oct 20, 1999
Messages
422
I am aware that a knife-knut talking about stitches and the like, is like a race car driver talking about wreaks, but recently an issue came up regarding safety.

UPS guy comes into shop one day, see's my partner slicing into a box with a non-locking Wenger. He states whole-heartidly, that Swiss Army knives are probably the MOST dangerous knives around.

What is your input on this? I carry a Wenger in my bag EVERYWHERE I go. I also carry one of about two dozen utility/tactical folders.

In all my years of knife carrying, I have had but ONE (1) accident...(knocking on cocabola)-the lock on my old non-locking buck, not my liteweight, gave way during some "play time" with a small stick and it proceded to slice(it was sharp, nad afterall safe means sharp...or something like that) into my finger...a few stiches later, my boyscout friends and I had matching scars...keep in mind they got theirs from a Swiss!



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God's choices in inflicicting suffering are unsatisfactory to us, nor are they understandable, unless innocence offends him. Clearly he needs some help in directing the blind fury with which he flogs the earth...


 
I grew up with a non-locking folder in my pocket. You learn how to handle them, or you cut yourself. I think abuse/miss use, is when most accidents happen. The notion that a knife has to have a lock to be safe is kind of "klinton", I think!
When you use any tool, you are responsible for you own actions.
 
Some people shouldn't be around any sharp objects, like knives, saws, fishhooks, etc., as they end up blaming the objects when they hurt themselves.
 
I have been carrying folders for 50 years + .
I have been carrying locking knives for about 20 years. I have cut myself more often than I care to remember. But, by far, the most serious lacerations have been with the lockers.
Not sure, but I think it comes with the false sense of security and the carelessness that can result.
Most of the cuts with the lockers have been on closing the bloody things. Of course, alcohol has, often, been a factor. Must make the hands slippery....or something
rolleyes.gif

Actually, for other reasons, I find myself using slipjoints more these days.

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BrianWE

I had no shoes and wept...until I met a man who had no feet. Cheapest pair of shoes I ever bought.
 
I think that some types of Swiss Army and similar knives could be viewed as dangerous simply because they're small. I've come to regard the really short and slim folding knives as dangerous because you simply can't get a good grip on them. Small knives are convenient to carry, but often difficult to control. And that goes for fixed-blades too.

I agree though that non-locking folders aren't necessarily more dangerous than locking ones. In the long term, locking folders are probably a safer bet, but non-locking ones really force you to pay attention to what you're doing.

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Cerulean

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain? - Blake
 
The purposeful use of a blade tempered with respect will still not keep someone who uses a knife frequently from being cut, just not as much as someone who doesn't. There's that saying about if you ain't making mistakes, you ain't really trying. I believe that to be true in all walks of life (and knives)

smile.gif


 
I had a non-locking folding knife close on
my finger about 20 years ago, and that has
not happened since. (Still have a nice scar
from it.)
When that happened, I learned respect for
knives of all types. Although I have cut
my fingers with blades since, it was never
through abuse of a knife. (I was using the
knife to pry at something the first time,
and it was not a SAK.)
I think the Swiss knives have a reputation
for cutting fingers because many are given
to people who have no knife knowledge.

Warhawk
 
The only accidents regarding using slipjoints where I got cut had nothing to do with the absence of a lock. The worst was closing a Case Pocketworn Canoe model. The backspring was especially strong and I stupidly had my finger in the way.

I think a good Swiss knife (I always carry one of my several Victorinox's) is one of the safest knives if you pay attention. I've actually cut myself more with my locking knives. Most people just do not know how to "operate" a folding knife, even a non-locker. I've known people who couldn't figure out how to open a simple pen knife by using the "nail nick" in the blade until I demonstrated. But then again, with lots of other subjects, I need people to explain everything, too!
wink.gif

Jim
 
When I was younger, much younger, I had a SAK close on my hand. I was digging and twisting in a piece of wood. I learned my lesson. Non-lockers can close if you twist, don't twist. The only locking knife that ever closed on my was a Normark Big Swede. The lock was all the way to the back and when you squeezed hard teh lock would disengage. That happened once and I got rid of the knife. I've cut myself a hundred times over the years with my knives, but only those two times was it becasue of failure.

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"Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n"
John Milton
There are only two types of people; those who understand this, and those who think they do.
 
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