Blade Opener or Knife Opener

Easy Blade Opener

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Gabriel Velasco

Joined
May 2, 2018
Messages
70
I've seen three different legitimate knife companies produce "knife picks", "blade openers", or "knife openers" that help you open the blades more easily. The Case "Easy Blade Opener" is a thin strip of metal that fits into the nail nick and has a keychain hole. The Rough Rider Blade Opener has nice wooden covers and a nicely shaped metal "nail" that fits into the nick. I also saw a plastic one - Winchester??? I can't remember. What do you think? Yes? No? Do real men avoid blade openers? Are they completely useless, or are they a good tool?
 
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Is this what you are talkin’ ‘bout?

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Gabriel Velasco said:
Yes.
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Seems like it might be abit annoying to have to pull your keychain out each time you want to open your knife. I think a better option is probably take vitamin E for strong nails and hair.

That said I can think of two people who would love this. Women, especially with long fake nails, so they won’t break said nails. So would people who bite their nails down to the quick.
 
I don't see the point for a few reasons.
  1. People all over the world open knives with their nails, why shouldn't I (barring any future disabilities I may have)?
  2. If the knife maker or pattern makes it so difficult to open that I need yet another tool to open my tool, I'll just pick a different knife.
  3. I'm not opening my traditional (or any) knives so frequently that I may damage my nails.
No matter, you do you.
 
Lapedog said:
...I can think of two people who would love this. Women, especially with long fake nails, so they won’t break said nails. So would people who bite their nails down to the quick.
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Yes. It seems that lots of working guys have very little nail, either because they chew their nails, or because they work hard and just wear them down to nothing.

Now, that I've been researching this, it's not as rare or uncommon as I thought. I'm finding lots of versions out there. Everything from simple strips of metal with a keychain hole to openers with nice wood and/or bone covers on them to match knives.
 
I received one from A.G. Russell many moons ago as a gift. It was tipped with some kind of rose wood meant as the handle as I recall. I like it because Mr. Russell himself gifted it to me.. I've never had an occasion to use it but there may come a day - who knows.
 
I have the Case XX opener and the Rough Rider opener. I do agree with the premise of it being silly to need a tool to use your tool. I don’t carry or even use either of them. I have them simply because they were cheap, mildly interesting conceptually, and they do have a place in my collection as being knife related accessories.
 
skyhorse said:
You shouldn't need a tool to open your tool.:eek:
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I think I may be in this camp.

When I was a young pup in the boy scouts, we had a scout master, Mr.Van. He made a point to tell us that we should never have to fight with out knife. There may be a time when your ands are cold, wet or both. You don't want a knife that you can't open easy. One scout showed up at a scout meeting with a knife that he'd just bought, and was so stiff, he was really struggling to open it. Mr. Van put him in the cr and drove him back to the store and had him pick through the knives to find one he could open with little trouble.

If I need a tool to open my knife, then I'm not carrying the right knife. I LOVED my little Case peanut, but age and arthritis made it too difficult to handle so I went another kind of knife. But I will never carry a knife I have to use a tool to open.
 
If it makes knives more accessible for older or disabled folks, then what's the harm? I suppose an argument can be made that EO or modern knives are available for these folks, but I'm sure there are plenty of folks who have attachments to knives they already own and want to keep using them after they become difficult to open.
 
I could be off base here, but seem to recall reading somewhere long ago that these blade openers were mainly used by traveling salesmen or factory reps. If you've got a whole suitcase full of your company's wares, and show them off at hardware stores, you may be opening hundreds of knives all day every day. I could see where your finger nails could get a little sore after that kind of use.
 
Whoever started manufacturing pocket knives first probably invented the blade pick on the second day. Opening a big pile of knives for sharpening or inspection would destroy a thumbnail pretty quickly. One of my responsibilities is keeping order in a stock room. I can tell you from experience that removing the backing from labels and removing labels from surfaces gets painful after a while. I can only imagine what opening a bunch of knives would feel like.

I don't use a knife pick every time I open a knife. But, my every day knife, an old Henckels stockman, gets the pick treatment on those rare occasions when I open the secondary blades to clean the knife. It's not a bother because I rarely want to use the secondary blades anyway.
 
Postlapsaria said:
If it makes knives more accessible for older or disabled folks, then what's the harm? I suppose an argument can be made that EO or modern knives are available for these folks, but I'm sure there are plenty of folks who have attachments to knives they already own and want to keep using them after they become difficult to open.
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:thumbsup:
In watching my parents age (both in their mid/late-80s), I can't help but notice they could use any help they can find, when it comes to doing anything requiring some manual dexterity and grip strength. Fingernails get brittle and thin, arthritis creates issues, and strokes hamper coordination and strength, at the very least. If my Dad were to start having trouble opening his pocketknife (he manages so far, in spite of ALL of the impairments mentioned), I'd not hesitate in offering whatever works, to make it easier for him. Whatever it takes.
 
If i'm going to have to get my keys out of my pocket and use a tool to open my knife, I think it would just be easier to just go ahead and use any random key to open my knife than to have to go through the keys on my keychain to find the tool.
On a side note, I remember back in the day a guy getting a new knife and opening and closing it and oiling it and even seen them use pliers working it open and closing it to help break one in. It seems to me that older people wanted an easy to open pocket knife that would be real loose, even rattly by todays standards. If a knife was loose and easy to open, that was almost part of the charm of a well used knife. Not considered a flaw like today.
 
I've not had a problem opening any of my knives with my thumb nails. Oh, I've had some that were very difficult but so far I haven't had to resort to a tool except for one #23 and I had to use a small tipped screwdriver to open it. When I did get it open, I managed to work it until I could open it with my thumbnail.

If a knife comes with a cutout in the frame such as an easy open knife, I can see pinching the blade open as that's what the cutout is for but I don't get why someone would want to have a knife that has a blade that is pinchable - that's what the nail nick is for - to open the blade. In other words, I don't see the appeal of having a knife with a pinchable blade other than an easy open knife.

Anyway, I do see the need for a blade opener for people who as David said have an infirmity of one type or another.
 
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