Am I the only one who can't do the middle finger flick open?

R

Red House

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May 1, 2016
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168
I've been opening Spyderco's lightning fast with my thump for going on 25 years but for the life of me I can't master the middle finger open. Maybe my fingers are too long? I've got big hands/long fingers (not fat) and I've played aggressive electric guitar my entire adult life so hand strength isn't the issue. For some reason I can only get the blade halfway open and feel like I'm going slice my finger wide open if I keep attempting this technique. The videos make it look easier than thumb opening but thumb opening for me is super fast and easy. Always has been.
I'm talking about Military's and PM2's so they should flick right open but no joy for me.
 
I have relatively large hands and correspondingly long fingers, and I can only middle finger-flick larger Spydies. I learned on the Manix 2 (G10/regular), and I can do it on my PM2. I can't do it on a Delica 4.

It sounds like your frustration might be causing you to overthink it -- but maybe that's just because that's what would happen to me. ;) Most times when I whiff a middle finger-flick on a Spydie, it's because my angle of approach is wrong. Maybe I'm going too horizontal, maybe too vertical; once I fiddle around with a few different angles, on the large blades I can find one that works.

I hope that helps! :)
 
You just have to find a way to seat the butt of the knife into your palm firmly. I were large size gloves and can spydie flick my dragonfly easily. Just gotta find that sweet spot.
 
I can't easily middle finger flick; instead, I use my index finger. I can do it with most of my Spydies, from my Dragonfly Salt on up to my PM2 and Military. Though admittedly, I almost never flick open my knives anymore.

Jim
 
There is, maybe, one in every crowd. This time, it's me. I don't think I have ever really tried to flick a knife. I just don't see any reason to be in that much of a hurry. Maybe I just don't care...
Of course, in addition to my Sebbie, I also carry a cross-draw fixed blade, and it's about as quick as you can get.
 
Try it like this... try to hold the knife down against the heel of your hand and your index finger by pushing down in the center of the opposite side of the knife with your thumb. Keep your pinky, ring, and middle fingers fully opened. The trick is concentrating on holding the knife like this. Pushing your thump down on one side of the knife while supporting the other side with your index finger and the heel of your hand. You can push down with your thumb pretty hard if you need to. That's what is holding the knife in place. Push down fairly hard at first just to keep the knife stable. Once you have that, just put the end of your middle finger in the spydie hole and with your pinky and ring finger still extended, flick it opened. You may have to adjust how it sits in your hand to get the best angle. Just make sure your holding the knife as described above. Your middle, ring, and pinky fingers don't hold the knife. I can adjust the knife up farther on the heel of my hand for a good ring or pinky flick as well. It's easy once you get use to it. I find that the middle finger flick puts my fingers in normal cutting position faster than the conventional thumb flick. I'm sure my directions probably don't make much sense but maybe someone will be able to understand me. ;)
 
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All good suggestions.

I also had problem but now can do that even to my Endura & Cara Cara.

Additional tip:
Tape the edge first. So you have more confidence in trying and no accident can hurt you. Once you get the hang on it, remove the tape.
 
I find it painful to flick knives open with my middle finger... but only because of a sagittal band injury. It could be a matter of hand position... depending on the action of the knife, I find that I often need to move my hand up (or down) the scales to flick with a different finger.
 
All my spydies are from Golden or Seki-city (ie none >$190 or <$60 paid) and I'm new to spyderco with all but 1 of 15 bought within the last year and I tried it once, tried to show it to someone else once, then forgot about doing it altogether until I read this post. How old is too old to learn to ride a bike, learn a language, or get religion? Using the thumb isn't properly called flicking, even if it seems really fast? I get confused reading instructions
 
with the military? neither can i. but i can do it with the forefinger and it's probably more effective, since it's one-handed and you still hold the knife in ready mode. just keep that military pivot clean and well-oiled, it will take whatever advantage flippers have over non-flippers.
 
hmmm...with small spydies like Dragonfly I cannot flick with whichever finger. For others (Delica and above), middle finger flicking works better for me than using any other fingers
 
Backlocks are hard to flick becaus of the spring pressure on the tang. It's hard for me to flick a delica or a native and my hands are way to big to attempt a dragonfly. I've had no problem with any other lock type. Sages, para3, pm2, and manix2 it's more natural to middle finger flick than use the thumb.
 
I'm not too good with the middle finger either. I don't flick my Spydies anyway, the big hole makes it very easy to open the blade smoothly and under control.
Studs on the other hand are harder for me to open in the same manner so I usually thumb flick those.
 
It all depends which knife. Some knives are very easy for me and other's are simply impossible to flick. If you have multiple Spyderco's try it on different knife. An example is the Mannix 2, I can flick the regular one one but cannot flick it's big brother the XL. Which knife are you trying to flick ?
 
Using the thumb is always what I considered to be the normal flick anyway. I have smallish(medium/large gloves) hands and I can't super easily middle finger flick. I can do it if I want to, but it may take two tries to do it right.
 
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