Best folder to accidentally drop in sand?

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stillshot2

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Jun 6, 2014
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I was out in the Arizona desert the and right now it's especially dry and nasty with loose dirt and dust. When walking through a wash I thought about how bad that would be to drop my Manix 2 XL into it, that sandy dirt getting all in the action with the ball bearing and coil spring. Or a button lock would seem equally worse. What would be your go to folder if you knew it had a high chance of encountering a plunge in fine sand? I'm thinking a frame lock would be tough to beat here.
 
stillshot2 said:
I was out in the Arizona desert the and right now it's especially dry and nasty with loose dirt and dust. When walking through a wash I thought about how bad that would be to drop my Manix 2 XL into it, that sandy dirt getting all in the action with the ball bearing and coil spring. Or a button lock would seem equally worse. What would be your go to folder if you knew it had a high chance of encountering a plunge in fine sand? I'm thinking a frame lock would be tough to beat here.
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If your needs are simply a sharp knife to cut things. I'm a pretty firm believer in the Opinel as being one of the toughest simplest low cost knives that punches way above its weight class. No, it isn't flashy, expensive, or tacticool by any means, but the steel is good, it takes a keen edge, and is baseball bat simple. You cn drag that knife through hell and it still works. It's the only knife I grab if I know I might lose, or abuse one.
 
Go to folder?

I don't have a photo of the exact knife, but I was all over the southwest last year, and I want to say the North Arm Skaha was my hiking carry. I was taking a group, so I couldn't do anything crazy, but between Arches, Grand Canyon, Zion, Canyonlands, etc, I probably carried that knife 50 miles.

Admittedly I didn't drop it, lol, so no comment about the performance when actually *in* the sand.
 
Does it have to be a folder? If the environment is going to be that harsh I would carry a small fixed blade like a Mora Eldris or Esee Candiru or Izula. If it must be a folder then for sure the less moving parts the better. And washers for sure over anything with bearings. Maybe a simple lockback that you could blow the dirt out or use a small stick to clear out the crud. Like a Spyderco Native.
 
stillshot2 said:
Nice knife, I think a liner lock is a close second to a frame since it is simple as well but allows sand to accumulate between the scale and liner area
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That's why it lives clipped or zipped inside my hiking bag until I need it, along with my sandwich and anything else that needs to remain non-sandy. ;)

I'm away from home so I can't share a pic of my personal bag, but the Osprey talon pro 20 has these nice little hip pouches that zip up, and usually carry my chapstick, knife, whistle, and maybe my phone or keys if I'm on a short hike.

Honestly, if I were gonna go make sandcastles with one of my knives, I'd go fixed blade. Something really corrosion resistant as well, considering scratches and abrasions and such make rusting worse. And I just don't clean my knives a huge amount...
 
Big chunky framelock, all the way, with an open spine and as little covering the pivot internals as possible. You really don’t want any extra milling on the blade tang either.

My honorable mention goes to the Dead Reckon Button lock system- surprisingly they have managed to build a sand friendly button lock.

I’m a sandblaster, so this is a topic of dear concern to me.
 
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