Dear: Half-Stop

David has nailed it as far as I'm concerned. So far (roughly 50+ years of regular knife use) I have only been nicked by knives with half-stops. The firmer the backsprings, the less a half-stop is needed or desired. OK on <5 pulls, marginal on 6-7 pulls, dangerous on 8+ pulls. If my grip slips on a cam tang I just let go and the blade stops moving. But on a strongly sprung half-stop, the blade can snap and slice, sometimes deeply.
 
Just Tom. said:
Sorry to further derail this thread, but I just realized that my EDC has FIVE stops on closing, so that’s five times better, right? Except that it locks open anyway 🤔…

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winnar!
 
I’m a “wrong tool but it’s cool so I’ll use it anyway” type of guy. Skinned my fair share of antelope and even processed some duck with with a slipjoint. Only time I ever came close to really hurting myself was actually the opposite, I thought a knife was a cam but it had a half stop. I was closing my GEC 36 (which I have closed many times before) and breezed right over the half stop quickly before letting go to readjust my hands. Muscle memory thought the blade would hold on the cam but obviously the half stop was passed and it sucked the blade down on my index finger. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds like it would be shockingly, but it was tender on the knuckle bone for a good 3 months.
 
I know it runs contrary to the orthodoxy, but a half stop isn't a safety feature, it's a design element. For every story about a half stop saving a finger there is a story about fingers being cut by them. Think about that: half stops don't cut, blades do. Use your knife carefully and correctly, that's how you keep from cutting yourself.
 
Every time a thread like this shows up (so, a couple of times a year, I guess), there's a contingent who talk about how "the only time I ever got cut was because half stops are a bad idea" or something. And I usually pass by, but this time I have to ask: what are you doing that makes the half stop unsafe? I can't think of a way that I open or close knives where a half stop increases my risk in some way. This is an honest question, not snark: how exactly are you handling the knife where having a half stop led to you getting cut? I'm honestly curious as to how that would even work.
 
sf fanatic said:
I don’t use my folders traditional or modern for such tasks. For less than $10 on Amazon and worth every penny. 😃
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This is pure sacrilege on a knife forum!! I do the exact same thing though, but mine is a Milwaukee 🤣 I frequently use it for scraping concrete and other such abusive tasks. For me, sharpening my knives would just be too time consuming, so I prefer to just stick a new razor in. I do still carry an actual pocket knife, it just gets used for more gentle things, like food.

Just Tom. said:
Sorry to further derail this thread, but I just realized that my EDC has FIVE stops on closing, so that’s five times better, right? Except that it locks open anyway 🤔…

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I have a few with a ratchet tang. Not very subtle, but they sure aren't closing on your fingers easily!
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I have never ever been nicked or cut by opening or closing my knife, half stops or not... it's more about paying attention and using good mechanics.
 
Can't say that I have been saved injury due to a knife having a square tang [i.e., half-stop].

I do have a few which have fairly stout springs and square tangs, and if not paying attention during opening and closing that snap to the 1/2 position can cause the blade to move more quickly than I was expecting. That is where the potential for a little "bite" comes from.

Most of mine are rounded cam tangs and don't have a half-stop, so I'm just not used to it. If you always use a knife with a half stop, it would be what you expect and you would probably never get a nick.

When I am cutting down cardboard boxes to go into the recycle bin, my practice is to have a sturdy locking folder as well as a two- or three-blade traditional. Some boxes and cardboard are more easily cut by the thinner slipjoint blades, and some more easily by a thicker "modern" blade. So I use whichever one works best for the task.
 
Tyson A Wright said:
. . . how exactly are you handling the knife where having a half stop led to you getting cut?
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Tyson, the several times it has happened to me I was opening the blade when my grip slipped and the blade snapped and cut. I don't deny there may have been negligence on my part, but still, it has never happened with a cam tang, as they just stop where you let go.
 
It has been a long time since I cut myself with a pocket knife. I can't recall being saved by a safety device on a folding knife. What, for me, may appear to be carelessness when closing a knife is just decades of experience of keeping fingers from blades.
 
black mamba said:
Tyson, the several times it has happened to me I was opening the blade when my grip slipped and the blade snapped and cut. I don't deny there may have been negligence on my part, but still, it has never happened with a cam tang, as they just stop where you let go.
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I still can't picture the actual mechanics. If I'm grabbing the blade by the flats and pulling open, and the blade stops abruptly halfway, my fingers keep going, off the spine. If I'm pushing the blade shut and it stops abruptly halfway, my fingers are stopped on the spine. The only way I see the half stop causing me to get cut is if I'm pushing on the sharp edge of the blade to open it and yikes, don't do that!
 
This is how I hold my blade when I'm closing my knife. My fingers are pinching the tang and I'm pushing the blade closed with the meat of my finger against the spine. If the blade were to jump to half-stop, it would simply jump out of my fingers and do no harm... technique!
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I tend to pinch the frame with my thumb and index finger (not the blade) and use the soft meat between your index finger and thumb to push the back of the blade....

Fingers out of the way and a firm grip...never had issues.

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