Anybody else without a warm, fuzzy feeling about assisted openers?

Professor

Professor

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While I know there's a lot a fanfare for assisted openers (and I certainly think they're "neat" from a gadget perspective), I'm just curious if I'm the only one who feels that deep down, they're going to be our undoing by bridging the gap between one-hand-openers and autos?

More and more production knife companies are making assisted openers at lower and lower price points (BM, CRKT, Kershaw, Gerber), and my fear is that once they flood the market, we're going to start seeing some legal backlash.

Am I nuts (more than usual anyway?)? :)

I just know that I can deploy my one-hand-opener as fast as I need to, and have never seen the point of the added parts that an assisted opener employs.

Not trying to flame assisted openers, nor am I trying to be a gloom and doomer, just trying to express what's been on my mind for a while.

What's your thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Professor.
 
Seriously, I cannot stand them. When I had a ZDP Mini Cyclone, the first thing I did was take the spring out. To me, it's just something to go wrong on what are basically pretty simple tools. I also found the sweet spot between no blade play and being overly tight has been an issue with the few I've owned.
 
Can't stand em. The edge of my pocket is all the opening assistance I need :D
 
Hater here too... CPMD2 Leek, immediately took out spring, added a detente hole for the little ball that's already there, tightened up the action and off you go! I agree that they are a) a gimmick, b) complicated with no real advantage (unless there is a disability involved), c) unnecessary. The Leek is the near perfect knife once the spring is removed.
 
I've bought a bunch of them in the past , probably because subconsciously I expected them to be banned and wanted to get in before they were gone.

Here in NY , I'm sure if the legislature was "motivated" they'd ban them ( everything fun is illegal in NY)

There really is no advantage to them over a well made one handed knife, but I love them just the same.

I'm a gadget geek and I like the way some of them are made, especially the Darrell Ralph designed A/O's that Camillus was making a few years ago.
 
They mostly suck.. Not because of the possible legal ramifications, but the typical A/O's have no heart for the most part. Although they're acceptations, as with anything else. My favorites are the vintage USA conversions or the authentic vintage Italian stilettos in bone, stag and other natural scales..

As far as these knives being banned here and there or anywhere, it won't much matter, IMO. Like everything else, if you ban an item, it just makes that item more desirable so the market for them will always be there. Its just typical human nature.


Anthony
 
I'll admit that it's mainly the coolness factor that influences me. There's something to be said about the feel and sound they make. It's also neat to see how the next one is going to work. Everyone has to step around the patents to get the same effect, and I enjoy taking them apart to see how they did it.

As and aside: Speaking about the DDR design (ROBO mechanism), I think it is probably the most robust one out there. I'd hope that someone will be making quality knives with that design in the future. This is one design that will not break, with only 3 moving parts, the blade, the handle and the bar.

As far as the legality being an issue, I tend to be optimistic, and hope that by closing the gap between what is currently leagal, and what is currently taboo, the general public may finally accept the fact that there really is no need for a ban on switchblades. Okay, maybe I'm TOO optimistic, but it doesn't hurt to dream.

Otherwise, I'm just going to hoard all I can before they finally decide to ban them.

DD
 
I simply don't like them. Up until this week, I've continued to buy them just because there are so many great designs that also happen to be AO. I'm going to try and stop compromising so much and only get folders without them, as it ends up making me disappointed in the long run. I've removed the AO on my mini mojo.
 
I like the Nitrous Stryker.:)
I think they will avoid the ban, precisely because a decent one hand opening knife opens as quickly. I think they're a great way to have the fun of a switchblade, without the politicians having to admit how stupid the switchblade ban was in the first place.
 
I don't care for them.

Pulled the AO bar out of my Nitrous Stryker,
very smooth manual liner-lock now, best EDC I own.

-Ron
 
I really like my little Kershaw Chive.

In my fat hand the AO is almost necessary. The knife is virtually too small to really make good use of the thumb stud and the blade too short to get much inertia for a reliable flip.
 
They were fun to play with for a couple of hours. For real-world use, they don't impress me. For use around non-knife people, they are a ticket on the express train to disaster. They are clearly a means of circumventing the spirit of the switchblade laws by taking advantage of the exact wording of those laws. I personally think the existing laws are unconstitutional, but they've been in place for fifty years and I doubt any politicians are going to risk their careers to try repealing an unconstitutional law that hasn't resulted in armed insurrection in half a century.
 
A few points to ruminate on:
1) The market is already flooded with them, so, don't fret about WHEN it is going to happen.
2) Most AO knives only have 3 parts (blade, handle, spring/bar/what have you)
3) They are not necessarily prone to the "frequent" breakage everyone seems to think they are (especially the higher quality ones from Kershaw and BM).
4) The "they are unnecessary" argument is virtually a moot point. When you get deep into the hobby there are alot of things that could be considered unnecessary.
5) Is an assisted knive any more contentious than just about any knife when it comes to legislation? If you have to point a finger, point it at the cultures that gave Autos and Balis a bad name so many years ago.
6) Assisted open knives can be darn handy at times and good, clean fun nearly all the time.:D


Now for my opionion on a few of the points listed above:
If the assist breaks in most any AO knife any hack with a Torx bit and 10 minutes can fix one. If you are a cop or military guy who depends on your equipment to save your life, then, yes, you have a valid concern. If you are like me and 99.99 percent of the rest of us it is a minor inconvenience at worst, and, an issue that could be easily avoided with a few minutes of preventative maintenance you should be performing anyway (you do open your knives up to clean and lube them from time to time, right?) ;)

I carry an AO knife every day. The bar has never broken on me. People don't recoil in fear. The cops don't hassle me. My dog still likes me. My wife still loves me. The sky isn't falling........... Like 'em or not enjoy the hobby and all the unnecessary things we have the pleasure of owning or lusting after. :thumbup::D
 
I own a few but dont carry them much. The state of MI made my choice for me. AO is a no-no is MI.

I prefer a manual deployment over a AO. I don't need anything fancy and it's more stuff that can go wrong. I'm not very bright so I like to keep things simple.
 
I've lost interst in them over the past year or so. I don't forsee buying any in the near term unless something really jumps out at me for the knife it may be, not because of the AO.

Right now there are none. The only AO's I have now are a Nitrous Stryker, two ZT 030X's, a Boa, a Cyclone and a Spec Bump.
 
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I am a traditional slippie guy, so I have no opinion on AO's. I think the Benchmade fully auto, illegal in CA is a great knife! However, I am sheltering my Case stockman's eyes from this post. I do not want to hurt his feelings, do not want to make his red bone scales flush, he is a very sensitive knife.
 
gazz98 said:
I own a few but dont carry them much. The state of MI made my choice for me. AO is a no-no is MI.

I prefer a manual deployment over a AO. I don't need anything fancy and it's more stuff that can go wrong. I'm not very bright so I like to keep things simple.
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I've never seen anything in MI laws making assisted knives illegal. I don't have many, and only carry one of them. My Emersons open faster than anything else that folds. I can see the allure to AO especially in areas where you can't carry an auto. (like here in MI) I carry my ZT 301 from time to time, and it takes the same effort to open it as do most all my manual folders.
 
I like em, I don't discriminate against any opening method. I have autos, bali's, AO's, waved, and non-autos.

It's just another method of deployment, and it's nice to have variety. ;)
 
4) The "they are unnecessary" argument is virtually a moot point.
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Well, I'll grant you that, but I'm not arguing that they're unnecessary, I'm arguing that they are worse, functionally speaking, than a good manual counterpart (say an axis lock--much less a RAM).

A good AO may be able to keep up with me on my manual openings (may--and I'm kind of skeptical. I can open my manuals on the draw with my wrist for one thing, and flicking a thumbstud or flipper doesn't take any longer, or slightly less long).

But no AO can keep up with me on closing. The resistance of the spring has to be overcome, and they cannot be flicked closed. On an axis lock or ram, or their various counterparts, I can just flick it closed. This is very nice when you've got to take out your knife and put it back up over and over again, throughout the day.

AO just slows me down. And that's the reason I don't want it.
 
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