Deployment speed?

I do not value deployment speed at all. I use my knife all day at work cutting this and that and for me a knife that's easy and quick to close is far more important. I walk over to something that needs to be cut and I pull my SAK out and open it. Once I've arrived at the thing that needs cutting I grab it with my left hand and cut with my right. Then I close the knife against my leg and haul away the thing that I wanted with my left hand still holding it. Deployment speed is way over rated IMO.
 
Relatively easy one handed deployment is vastly preferred. Once a knife passes this basic threshold, I appreciate a smooth, heavy action like a Sebenza for most applications. I'm not particularly impressed with fast deployment speeds because most reputable knives can perform this way. The ease of closing the knife is equally important. Some knives open quickly, yet close slowly or awkwardly, such as tri-ad locks.

Overall ranking:

(1) A well built frame lock [CRK];
(2) Ballbearing/Compression/Axis Lock;
(3) Everything else.
 
Shotgun said:
I do not value deployment speed at all. I use my knife all day at work cutting this and that and for me a knife that's easy and quick to close is far more important. I walk over to something that needs to be cut and I pull my SAK out and open it. Once I've arrived at the thing that needs cutting I grab it with my left hand and cut with my right. Then I close the knife against my leg and haul away the thing that I wanted with my left hand still holding it. Deployment speed is way over rated IMO.
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But Shotgun, that's using logic and forethought of action. I didn't think that was allowed anymore!:D
 
jackknife said:
But Shotgun, that's using logic and forethought of action. I didn't think that was allowed anymore!:D
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Never been on a ladder or in a bucket truck and needed to hold something while getting your knife out and cutting with the other?
Such things happen in the working world at times (it has a few times for me).
I logically used foresight (or forethought) to have a handy knife on me which could be opened and closed with one hand. :)

There's a reason one-hand openers were invented and it wasn't for stabbing folks who cut you off in traffic. ;)
 
stabman said:
Never been on a ladder or in a bucket truck and needed to hold something while getting your knife out and cutting with the other?
Such things happen in the working world at times (it has a few times for me).
I logically used foresight (or forethought) to have a handy knife on me which could be opened and closed with one hand. :)

There's a reason one-hand openers were invented and it wasn't for stabbing folks who cut you off in traffic. ;)
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My grandfather maintains that one hand openers were invented for men that only have one arm :eek:
 
bpeezer said:
My grandfather maintains that one hand openers were invented for men that only have one arm :eek:
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There were (and perhaps still are) places where one is allowed a switchblade if they have only one arm.
 
stabman said:
There were (and perhaps still are) places where one is allowed a switchblade if they have only one arm.
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You're right. In fact in many places that would otherwise define it as illegal, if you can provide documents detailing your lack of limb, you can EDC that 5" OTF. :D
 
stabman said:
Erm, maybe I'll just stick with my regular knives. :o
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Me, too (okay, I'd take a Microtech Halo if someone wanted to toss it :P)

Seriously though, I was chaperoning a high school dance once, that my students put together for a charity event. I was acting as a money-changer, and a student not in my class came up with his money, with one arm. I thought to myself "now how's this guy gonna get his jacket off to go dance?" But he did, every easily.
 
I worked with a machinist/CNC programmer who had lost an arm.
He did the job just fine; humans can get around most issues with the tool we hopefully all have one of...a brain. :thumbup:
 
I was lucky I had my Sebenza on me during a crisis. A lot of people say that a Sebenza doesn't open fast, but I can actually open it faster and easier than an Axis-lock-style knife. For months I had been practicing deploying my Sebenza and had been able to get it down to just under two seconds from hands at my side to pulling it out of my pocket and deploying it. My thumb had been conditioned by this process to the point that I had developed calluses from opening and closing it so often. I think that maybe my arm muscles were a bit more developed on my left arm too--I'm left handed and have a left handed Sebenza.

Anyways, I had just come inside and found a several people standing in my kitchen. I move really quietly all the time - I always seem to surprise my family and coworkers by somehow "appearing" out of nowhere when in fact all I had done was walked into the room normally - so when I turned the corner in the hallway no one was looking in my direction. They were opening and closing cabinets and drawers and looking through all the stuff. I noticed that two of them were struggling to open something on the counter.

While I was trying to figure out what was going on, one of them turned around and saw me. I quickly realized that I needed to get my Sebenza out--I was really thankful that I had spent so long practicing opening up my Sebenza. I probably broke my record that day, as I think I was able to deploy my Sebenza in about a second and a half. I took a few strides into the kitchen and raised my knife.

Then I opened a can of pumpkin puree with my Sebenza for my Mom, since she had broken the can opener and no one could figure out how to open the cans for her.
 
Cynic2701 said:
Anyways, I had just come inside and found a several people standing in my kitchen. I move really quietly all the time - I always seem to surprise my family and coworkers by somehow "appearing" out of nowhere when in fact all I had done was walked into the room normally -
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I am exactly the same, and I don't even know why, I use a cane to walk, I really shouldn't be able to sneak up on people like that, without even trying to sneak.
 
stabman said:
I worked with a machinist/CNC programmer who had lost an arm.
He did the job just fine; humans can get around most issues with the tool we hopefully all have one of...a brain. :thumbup:
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Slightly off-topic here, but a young man I knew of went to my university. I can't recall his precise condition but it was one where he had to literally lay on his side, all the time. Day and night that was his position. He still found a way to go to classes and use d a special helmet to help him type on the computer. He became an architect.
 
RedLynx said:
You're right. In fact in many places that would otherwise define it as illegal, if you can provide documents detailing your lack of limb, you can EDC that 5" OTF. :D
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...So you're telling me that you need a document to prove that you are missing a limb?
 
bpeezer said:
...So you're telling me that you need a document to prove that you are missing a limb?
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That's what I am telling you, yes. It really isn't shocking if you spend any time on the receiving end of the government's rules regarding medical care. I was born (very obviously) with cerebral palsy affecting my lower half. You wouldn't believe the things I need documentation just to prove what is really already available by sight.
 
RedLynx said:
That's what I am telling you, yes. It really isn't shocking if you spend any time on the receiving end of the government's rules regarding medical care. I was born (very obviously) with cerebral palsy affecting my lower half. You wouldn't believe the things I need documentation just to prove what is really already available by sight.
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I'm sorry to hear that. Some of the rules in place seem absolutely asinine, but it's even crazier to think that many of those rules were born out of actual circumstances.
 
I realize deployment speed is not all that important for the cutting tasks in my life, but it's a satisfying feeling when you know the mechanism in your folder is smooth and flawless. It also makes your knives more fun to play with!
 
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