Can people not use slipjoints any more?

[Esav Benyamin]

old sheffield slipjoint, lambsfoot pattern. has a seriously strong spring on it. most ppl can't even open it

If that's like a couple of my slipjoints, not only is it hard to open, but when you go to close it, it stops halfway, and then when you push it again, it *snaps* shut like a guillotine. I would never let anyone but an experienced knife knut touch them

 

[Grover_Cephas]

Esav,

..."with a decent blade steel," he added.

Seriously, I said "with a slipjoint's blade geometry" and that's what I meant. Give it a big, fist-filling handle. Give it a slightly _broader_ blade to fit the stud/opening hole. Hell, even black-coat the little SOB, for all I care. It'd be worth it for a good, thin, flat-ground blade, even if it wasn't pretty.

On a related note, how do the one-handed SAK blades compare to the slipjoint versions, geometry-wise?

 

[numberthree]

actually, the one handed trekker SAK has an even thinner edge than the regular SAKs. it's a chisel grind, unfortunately, but it gets laser sharp very quickly...I've actually left mine as a chisel grind precisely because the edge is so thin....

I find that the problem with slipjoints and the inexperienced knife user is that a lot of people equate knife use with 'stabbing' motions. A friend's uncle swears he'll never touch a 'cheap, dangerous SAK' ever again because when he stabbed one into some plastic conduit, it folded on his fingers, cutting him badly. I couldn't resist making it clear to him that the real problem was 'user error', and not the knife. Slipjoints are a real indicator of one's knife handling skills...

 

[PWork]

Maybe some of us are showing our age. I know I'm not the only one here who grew up on slip joints.

Paul

 

[VampyreWolf]

If that's like a couple of my slipjoints, not only is it hard to open, but when you go to close it, it stops halfway, and then when you push it again, it *snaps* shut like a guillotine. I would never let anyone but an experienced knife knut touch them

Mine's got a stop at 30deg or so... and yes it does snap closed with authority.

Won it on BFC from T Erdelyi a while ago, and after both sandpaper and spydie ceramics it's more than sharp enough. Haven't sharpened the edge since Feb, thanks to high carbon steel. Put it away a week ago, pulled it out today and had to oil the blade again.

I just close it with my leg most of the time, but thats how my grandfather taught me 15yrs ago. Fingers clear and you don't get hurt. Thats also how most ppl cut themselves with it too . This is the one I lend out at work. It cuts anything you want, but it'll take a finger with it if you aren't careful.

 

[the possum]

I just close it with my leg most of the time, but thats how my grandfather taught me 15yrs ago. Fingers clear and you don't get hurt. Thats also how most ppl cut themselves with it too .

I remember in one of Elmer Keith's books, he said they were just getting settled in hunting camp, and one of the guys was playing with a penknife around the fire. He went to close it on his leg, but had the damn thing backwards! Cut his thigh wide open the full depth of the blade, and several inches long. IIRC, they had to carry him around and get him back to civilization for medical treatment immediately.

This also goes to show that people doing stupid things with slipjoints is not a new or modern phenomenon.

 

[Lavan]

Ahem.......

Not ALL Victorinox one hander Trekker (Trailmasters) have chisel grinds. Or ...serrations... for that matter.

 

[kamkazmoto]

Maybe some of us are showing our age. I know I'm not the only one here who grew up on slip joints.

Paul

I didn't even know what a locking blade was (other than a switchblade) until I hit My teens and discovered a Buck 110

 

[GarageBoy]

The liner locking one really caught my attention. How is it ?

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Lavan, did Victorinox say you could do that ???

 

[Planterz]

Ok, here is a thought. Ever notice that people seem to be unaware how to CUT with a knife, after using only dull knives?

I think I've posted this before, but...

I sharped a coworker's old (and I mean old), dull (and I mean dull) SAK for him. When I gave it back to him, he promptly cut an apple with it, by drawing the blade towards himself, up to his thumb. And sure enough, he gave himself a rather nasty cut along the length of his thumb. The dumbass looked at me as though I had stabbed him myself. Aparently, that's how he'd been cutting his apples for years. He told me that he wanted it to cut his apples faster and easier, but he didn't want it to cut his thumb. This contridiction was beyond my comprehension, so I just told him to keep his fingers away from the blade if he wanted them to remain attached to his hand.

To the day he got fired, he held a grudge against me for slicing his thumb.

These are the kind of people who look down the barrel of a gun to see if it's loaded or not.

 

[John Watson]

The best safety for a knife as with a gun is between your ears. If a person doesn't use his brain when handling anything that is potentially dangerous he is foolish.

While I really like the ease of use of one handed opening knives with clips, I have begun a return to my boyhood years and started collecting and carrying slip joints. I have mostly Queen and Schatt & Morgan but have branched out to Eye brand, Schrade and others. I like the Trapper pattern the most with a few Copperheads thrown in.

Recently had a lady friend ask for the use of my Queen teardrop which does have a liner lock of sorts. Made sure to show her the proper way to open and close the knife prior to letter her take it off for use. She had to alter some personal items in the ladies room where I wouldn't be with her watching that she didn't do anything dangerous. Knife and friend came back unharmed, but I was worried. I would have been just as worried if I had loaned her a Spyderco, Benchmade or any folder.

I guess for me, slip joints just bring back a bit of childhood for me. I can hardly remember a time when I didn't have a knife handy. Never bothered my mom or dad. I have, as a young boy, let a slip joint close on my fingers. You have a tendency to remember such things and try not to repeat the error.

 

[cockroachfarm]

...These are the kind of people who look down the barrel of a gun to see if it's loaded or not....

Or look straight into the lens of a Surefire M6 before turning it on to see for themselves if it's as bright as I claim it is.

 

[Sword and Shield]

If that's like a couple of my slipjoints, not only is it hard to open, but when you go to close it, it stops halfway, and then when you push it again, it *snaps* shut like a guillotine. I would never let anyone but an experienced knife knut touch them

I've an old LF&C pruner that's like that. Widest backspring I've ever seen, easily over 1/8". My mom can't even open the thing, and I always do a mental finger-count after closing it. I've tried putting a semi-frozen hot dog in the path when it closed- went through like it wasn't even there.

 

[GarageBoy]

Yea, they did that with my my G2

 

[Jeremy Reynolds]

I have carried a slip joint on occasion, but still prefer my liner-locks.

I am very hesitant to loan out knives any more, without first asking what the person needs it for. I handed a custom Carson m4 to a buddy once, who then told me he had some screws he needed to tighten. I grabbed the thing out of his hand before he could do it. People don't seem to understand that I don't want them using a $400 knife for a screw driver.

My dad was using my Lum Chinese (custom) the other day, opening a cardboard crate to help me move in to my new apartment. He slipped and I heard the knife scraping across cement. I almost cried.

I honestly would rather have a slip joint loaner. That way when the idiots try to use it as a screwdriver, it closes on their fingers. Then they will learn a knife is not a screwdriver, and to get the right tool for the job.

JR

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Then they will learn a knife is not a screwdriver, and to get the right tool for the job.

Here's the right tool for people like that!

 

[Moondrop]

Here's the right tool for people like that!

I have one of those, 'cept it's a Schrade. Carbon steel blades that were pitted when it came to me, so I cleaned it up. But I seem to remember that knife spending time in the water with me once at the beach - forgot I had it - and it survived. Don't know that I'd let anyone borrow it, though, since the screwdriver locks and the blade doesn't and they'd probably blame me if they forgot which was which.

 

[Carlos]

Spyderco's new slipjoint for the UK market. 3" S30V blade, G10 handle, tip-up clip.

 

[DeadManWalking]

Thought I'd update this monster of a thread I have created.

I gave my Cricket a little time off as I went to Wally World and bought a Buck Cadet. Small knife-a-phobe friendly 3 blade stockman. Wooden handles, a basic tool older than dirt. Stockmans are not what I like, as I rely on SAKs and my favorite traditional pattern is the Trapper, but the 3 Blade stockman is probably much more common than the Trapper.

The experiment here is to see how people react to such a common, elementary, inoffensive, and very old tool.

Let's start with purchasing it from Wally World in the Sporting Goods department with a young lady my age behind the counter. For the record I'm old enough to buy whatever the heck I want but still young enough to have to show I.D.

"Excuse me ma'am I'd like to purchase that Buck Stockman you have on display there."

She looked at me confused. Okay I didn't really expect her to know her knife brands or patterns and let's give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she's either doesn't like Buck for some reason or is used to seeing stockmans with slightly different configurations or something . I sighed. "You know, #26."

When I bought the knife I was asked to show I.D.

I asked the Wally World clerk as I slid my license out what she thought someone was going to do with that knife. She shrugged and laughed at my lame joke. Okay so that verifies that no one is intimidated by this little knife.

So at that point I was kind of discouraged that the most common slipjoint pattern from a widely distributed manufacturer was not recognizable but it seemed she'd at least seen a knife like it before.

The knife itself is unfortunately made in China but it's adequate for my experiment.

A day later I have happenstance to bechtest it as I am picking up some lumber for my brother. It just so happens I worked at this particular lumberyard for 4 years and an employee who remembered me stopped to help me tie at down just for an excuse to catch up a bit.

And of course what does he need but a knife to cut the nylon twine with?

First of all why does he not already have one? So I see my opportunity and lend him my new little Buck. AND he can't open it. It's not that he tried to open it and just slipped on the nail nick, which I will admit still happens to me sometimes, he stared at it and turned it end over end.

I took it from him, opened the spey blade, but then thought more carefully and switched to the sheep's foot, and handed it back.

The good news is once he had it he hand no problems using it, and even stropped it briefly on his jeans and closed it with a nice audible snap before handing it back. But there remains the problem he couldn't open the thing.

I plan to keep doing this. I will never use this knife for anything (that's what my EDC is for) but I will see what others do with it and touch it up if it gets dull. It's perhaps the best value in knife related entertainment since bladeforums.com