Blade Opener or Knife Opener

Easy Blade Opener

  • Total voters
    42
Modoc ED said:
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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Aesthetics? For folks who want the function of an easy open knife but find the cutout in the handle unappealing or uncomfortable in the hand, perhaps. I'll almost always take function over form but why sacrifice form for function if you don't have to?
 
Does anyone have a link to a video of a pick being used to open a knife? I've had to use a key, spoon, screwdriver, coin to pry open blades with stiff pulls, and I haven't developed a consistently effective technique so far.

- GT
 
I would prefer an EO notch in the handle and just pinch grip but I am all for tools to help those who need them. If you had an old knife perhaps forgotten and neglected it might not open like it should have and used to making a tool more appropriate. The old saying the right tool for the job it is better and less hazardous for you or the knife to use a tool designed for this purpose rather than improvising one.
 
At this point in my life, trailing Ed by a few years, they are more of a curiosity then a necessity. I think the knives I typically carry will be fairly easy for me to open in the future, unless something drastically changes. If that ever happens I'll be happy to have a knife pick available.
 
I used to think my nails were pretty tough, and I was able to open every knife I encountered. But last Christmas, I was washing a bunch of new knives in soapy water, as I usually do. My nails apparently got soft from being in the dishwater, and I ripped my left thumbnail trying to open a recalcitrant secondary blade. It ripped/folded quite far down, and almost 5 months later, my primary knife-opening nail tears again whenever I use it on a tough-to-open blade (like the pen blades on a couple of beloved vintage Imperials). I've tried to teach myself to use my right thumbnail or the nail on the index finger of my left hand, but so far I seem to be a "motor moron" when it comes to adapting to a new procedure. My latest idea is to try using the "coke spoon" tool on my Vic Minichamp as a knife pick if necessary, but that's quite awkward so far since I'm not exactly sure how a pick is intended to be used.

- GT
 
Oh man, we're ALL going to have infirmities if we live long enough. Like Said in the other post, I really loved my peanut, but age fit that in, so I changed. Things change as we age and to expect to do things in our 60's and 70's like we did them in our 40's is an unrealistic pipe dream. We have to adapt and overcome.

I watched my dad use a Case peanuts whole life until he got old, and then arthritis made him switch to a Christy knife. I've switched to small friction folders like the Resolza that is easy to deal with senior citizen fumble fingers. Or the more softly sprung Buck 303 and 301's. If we don't adapt we become dinosaurs. I know I can't do things the way I did them 20 years ago, so I have changed the way I look at things and do them.

Sometimes we have to change to driving an automatic transmission, sometimes we have to take to wearing glasses in our later year because our eyes ain't what they used to be. And sometimes we have to change the pattern of pocket knife we carry. That's just life and needs to be faced. But if I have to use a tool to open my pocket knife, I'm carrying the wrong knife.
 
I like the looks of the AG Russell Steel Thumbnail. From a functional perspective, I'd rather not have to get out my key ring to find a tool to open my pocket knife. I just won't carry a knife with an excessively strong blade pull. If I were ever to get to a point where I could not easily open a slipjoint, I would just carry a modern knife that opens easily.
 
And then case makes this useful thing:

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Sorry. I have found an old thread about this. Not exactly the same subject, but it was about blade/knife picks/openers/keys, aka steel thumb nails. It had lots of pictures, but most are now not available. I didn't know this was a thing until very recently, so I didn't even know what to search for in the forum.
 
5K Qs said:
...I was washing a bunch of new knives in soapy water, as I usually do. My nails apparently got soft from being in the dishwater, and I ripped my left thumbnail trying to open a recalcitrant secondary blade. It ripped/folded quite far down...
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This is similar to what recently happened to me that prompted me to research this on this forum and start this thread. I wasn't cleaning my knives, but I had just taken a shower and my fingernails were apparently thin and soft. I play guitar and I've noticed that my fingernails have gotten thinner as I've matured. Apparently the combination of thinning and soaking made my thumbnail weak enough to split into the quick when I tried to open a stubborn secondary blade that gets caught up on the nail nick of another secondary blade (that's another thread). Fortunately, I could switch to my other thumb, but I've noticed it bending a bit too much too. I'm now waiting patiently for the split in my primary knife nail to grow past the quick, but I think that it has become a permanent weak spot in my nail :( because I've had it chip or flake at about that same spot before. Maybe I just need to let my nail grow a bit longer and/or use some of my wifes nail hardening goo or eat more gelatin or something. I'm in generally pretty good health, so I don't think it's an indication of a systemic problem...other than advanced maturing. ;)
 
black mamba said:
From the master hisself!

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Thanks, Jeff! :thumbsup::thumbsup: It actually helped me a lot to see a pick in action. I tried it myself a few times (using a car key and using the "spatula" on my Minichamp) after watching the video, and it worked like a charm! :cool: Can't wait to get home and try it on some of my biggest challenges. ;)

(I had tried googling using a knife pick, but most of the hits I got involved picking locks with a knife. After you proved that videos on the topic exist, I tried it again with the magic of quotes: "knife pick" got me many more relevant results, including your Tony Bose video.)

- GT
 
I've got a couple of the AG Russell still thumbnails, can't seem to locate them since the move. There are times when my thumb nails split due to previous injuries. The right one got a very thick splinter of wood under it right up to the knuckle. The left one was damaged by getting slammed in a water tight hatch while living aboard ship during a storm. They always split in the same place and this needs them to be cut very short. When I can't open a knife easily with my nail, I simply choose to carry a knife I can pinch open, like a Buck 112 or a slippie with enough purchase on the blade to pinch open. I will not carry a knife needing a tool to help me open it, but I will use the steel thumbnail when inspecting and chicken eyeing my knives.
 
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