Can AOs be carried loose in pocket without endangering important parts?

N

noway

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Jan 13, 2007
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Never owned an assisted opening knife but now looking at a ZT350 or 400. Is it utter stupidity to carry one of these loose in the front right pocket without using the clip? Has anyone ever had an AO knife open up on them while in the pocket and suffered an injury?

I may be a little past my prime but I still don't want to lose any important parts.
 
It's highly unlikely to happen unless you really cram your pockets full of junk. And even then I might put the vote on having said junk hold the blade shut. If anything, I'd imagine your hand would be the first to get cut up as you reach in your pocket.

But if a ZT knife pops open in your pocket, I'm fairly confident that you'll notice it.
 
A friend of mine bought his girlfriend a Kershaw LEEk and she was carrying it in her jeans pocket when it opened up and the tip stuck through the pocket. The next time she reached down it cut her up pretty badly. That's the only time I've ever heard of something like that though. None of mine have ever opened on me, I think she must have hit the flipper while reaching into her pocket...
 
1. no
2. those are pretty big knives to have flopping around loose in your pocket anyway - if you don't want the butt to show you could get STR to make you a low-rider clip and the knife would be much more comfortable and accessible while still being low-profile.
 
I wouldnt worry about it. To be honest, the only knife that has ever opened in my pocket was a manual folding knife. I was running with it and it popped open and poked through my pocket. Luckily I didnt get hurt haha
 
Cirith said:
A friend of mine bought his girlfriend a Kershaw LEEk and she was carrying it in her jeans pocket when it opened up and the tip stuck through the pocket. The next time she reached down it cut her up pretty badly. That's the only time I've ever heard of something like that though. None of mine have ever opened on me, I think she must have hit the flipper while reaching into her pocket...
Click to expand...

That's why they have a lock on them to prevent such mishaps.
 
I don't think you run a risk. Kershaw is pretty good about that, I've never had one of their A/O's open in my pocket. In fact, I've removed or disabled the safeties on my Kershaws that do have that feature, because I don't think they're necessary. And it would be pretty hard for you to injure anything other than your hand if that did happen, anyway. If you keep the factory default of tip down carry, even your hand would probably be fine.
 
Depends on the A/O System.
SpeedSafe: yes, I think it would be safe enough. The pressure you have to apply on the flipper for the blade to pop open is fairly high, so I think this won't happen accidentally.
S.A.T.: yes
Outburst: hell no
 
Utter stupidity would be an overstatement. There is remote chance that an A/O can open in the pocket but most of them need to have the blade start opening before the spring activates. Safeties simply make the knife slower and more cumbersom and complicated. My advice? Forget the A/O. It has no practical advantage that I can see and it does add complexity to the product. You can probably tell that I don't carry one either.
 
I have never had a problem with a folder opening up in my pocket, and I have EDC'ed autos, AO's, manuals, S/A OTF's, and D/A OTF's.

In fact, actually the strong detent on an A/O will make it HARDER to open up in your pocket than a manual.

But overall if I tend to go for manual folders over anything else, less complex, less likely to fail.
 
I own and have carried a ZT 0350 and it has never opened in my pocket. Actually, being a ZT, the knife is a beast and you need to really push the flipper to engage it. It needs a lot more power than an ordinary AO (comparing to my SOG Aegis), so the possibility of opening in your pocket is quite remote.
 
Only have one AO, a SOG Twitch II (nice gentleman's folder) and I always carry it with the safety engaged. Having said that, I don't really know what the AO feature brings to the table my Spydies and unassisted BMs open very quickly without it. Just my $.02 but AO seems to be more for the coolness factor than any practical reason.
 
I carried two AO knives loose in my pocket and didn't have a problem with them at all. One was a Kershaw Shallot and for those of us who own/ed one, it takes a lot to open it in your pocket. The Benchmade Barrage I would leave the safety off and nothing would happen. The spring has to overcome the Axis lock and even if you pull back on the Axis it still wouldn't deploy until you pushed the blade far enough. I guess it all depends on the mechanism.
 
I have a Kershaw Leek and wont carry it anymore because it "has" accidentally opened a few times in my pocket.
 
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