Did lefties do something to knife manufacturers?

dkb45

dkb45

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There has never really been a better time to be a knife nut. Super high quality knives are now available for less than they have ever been, there are $40 knives with super steels, sub $100 knives are getting ceramic detent and bearings... Technology is at an all time high, and the consumers can reap the benefits. Most consumers that is. Look at all of the new designs not from Kershaw/ZT or Benchmade (Cold Steel gets honorable mention for being possible the most lefty friendly), and there is a common theme of complete lack of lefty clip support. Spyderco is even getting worse about it. Nearly all of the new super high quality Chinese brands don't have a single knife with a lefty clip. Kizer is even getting worse about it after ballooning into the brand that looked the most promising.

I can totally understand with some knives why they are tapped for lefty carry. Milled clips and pockets in the frame are awful to deal with, along with increasing cost more than the minor amount that 2 or 3 small holes would. What I don't understand are the models with simple stamped clips and simple tapped holes for the normal clip position with thought put into ambidextrous opening, such as making the scale have clearance for lefty opening, but they can't tap some holes to make it properly ambidextrous, it's just left as a half thought. The designs were obviously made with us in mind, but a few holes are suddenly insurmountable? I just don't get it.
 
I'm in the same boat brother, I ask the same question everyday


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I do everything left handed but I carry my knifes clipped to my right pocket. Don't know why but seems more natural that and the fact my phone is kept in my left front pocket. But your point is well taken.
 
Stuck in a right handed world myself. I'm used to carrying a knife on my right and a sidearm on my left anyway. The only time I carried a left handed knife in my left pocket was the one that ended up in the bottom of the Mississippi river. It was a pimped poboy emerson 10 and the net I was throwing snatched the clip on it and along with the net went the knife never to be seen again. I just carry right sided now and just deal with it and don't go fishing with nice knives in my pocket anymore.
 
I know that in part it's because of right handed customers who think left handed drilled/enabled knives are "ugly".

There's a few companies that do well for us lefties though:

ZT,
Cold Steel (Although I refuse to buy anything from them due to their sue happy practises)
A.G. Russell (on his newer stuff especially)

But yeah....in the end it's all added manufacturing costs.

If you have to spend $5K to drill and tap all your knives for lefthanded carry...

and then you only sell $1K worth extra of knives it's not going to be worth it from a buisiness standpoint.
I might not like it...but I understand it.
 
there are some options,i get along fine with a PM2 in my left pocket,but the best was when i had the oportunity (thanks Alex S!) for selling me my first "lefty",a Ferrum Forge Archbishop!and recently i ordered a "lefty" Masterblaster from the FF boy's!NO more "right hand knives in my left hand,the only exeption my trustworthy PM2's.
 
I am a lefty but I've always sort of been more ambidextrous I guess, I trained myself to carry a knife right handed like most I suppose , but a recent injury has left had me doing more and more with my right hand, my great uncle who I only met a few times who has passed away quite some time ago was left handed he told me stories of teachers beating his left hand with rulers trying to force him to use his right hand.
 
I'm in kinda the same position from the other direction: I'm a righty who carries his knife on the left side, so I too would appreciate a few more options for left-hand carry.

My EDC, a Spyderco Dice, theoretically allows left hand carry. Unfortunately, the clip screws that came with the knife are too short to engage the threads in the frame on the left-hand side, which means that although I still carry it in my LFP it's still "backwards" with the blade against my hand instead of against the seam on the pocket. This is pretty much my only complaint about this knife.
 
Same holds true at least when it comes to Air Guns. Believe it or not there are some real nice Air Guns out there. However for some of them you would find it impossible if not extremely difficult to find certain models which are designed for left handers. Heck you can also find it difficult when it comes to some black powder guns as well. When it comes to air guns most of the stocks are designed so the cheek rise works only for right handers and we're not even yet talking about controls on some guns both air guns and black powder guns which are only designed to work for right handers. There are some where the cheek rise is ambidextrous but a good majority of airguns the stocks are either right handed or left handed for a good portion of the models out there. With little knowledge I am unclear if this is designed to save on weight or money. Yes you could fire some of these weapons if left Delete repeated word although it would be difficult with cheek risers on the right side only or safeties and magazine releases on the right side only which would make them more challenging to deal with.

Basically we live in a world which designs and produces mainly right handed type goods. Left handers it would appear are in the minority.
 
It's why I own so many (ambi) benchmades and spydercos. I don't own a single frame lock. Maybe someday I will try a lefty sebenza... Someday! I'll probably try a lefty mili one day.
I own one liner lock. A rat1 w/d2. Because I love D2 on my work knives and I typically only use it for slicing. I've gone to my truck to switch it out with a grip or endura, many times, for rougher, dirtier work. Still, for the money I enjoy the knife.
I would have loved to have had a spyderco southard, rubicon (with a regrind), gb1 or 2... But I get it. It costs money to retool and we are a small percentage of the whole.
Fortunately, like many lefties, I'm fairly ambidextrous. Some things I use either hand indiscriminately. Some things I only do right handed. Others I only do left handed. Definitely predominately lefty.
Custom scales is the one that gets me. More than a few guys make the majority of their custom scales tapped for the clip only on the "show side". I know they will all tap them pile side as well if asked. It still affects my buying decisions "in the moment" when browsing. The production scales for these knives are tapped ambidextrous.
That's life..... For a lefty.
 
Lefties did nothing to anyone. The world just hates us. I have been left handed long enough to confirm this.
 
Simple supply and demand.

First, there are in fact some very adequate, even superb left handed options out there, but when left handed people as a whole only make up about 10% of the entire population, 15 tops, (and that includes ambidextrous folk), even if that % carries directly over to knife enthusiasts, from a manufacturing standpoint it makes much more sense (and dollars) to focus efforts on appeasing the 85-90%, and hope a well enough chunk of the minority will simply suck it up and deal with the inconvenience.
 
Not only am I a lefty but also a big man with big hands. I find most folders to be too small or hard to operate while larger ones seem a bit heavy for EDC. I do carry an olive Kershaw Leek which I use right-handed. Growing up in the time I did, one was pretty much forced to use their right hand so today I am ambidextrous to an extent.
 
it is strange. i'm an ambi, but lean towards using my right hand on knives but lean and prefer being a southpaw on shooting due to my dominant eye being left. as firearm makers in pistols continuously release ambi safeties and controls on models.......knife makers tend to keep shying away and making more models with lock designs that aren't ambi by any means like frame locks vs. backlocks. not sure why? maybe just not enough southpaws to matter to them sales wise? or maybe not enough complaining they are hearing from enough southpaws?
 
I actually don't mind it. It is less knives I have to buy.

some of the best prediction brands accommodate so I can't complain.

-ZT has left hand carry options on every knife. They also have the 0392 which is essentially the only way to own a hinderer that has left hand carry! This fixed a big gripe for me because I always wanted a hinderer but for whatever reason the jack leg only caters to rightys.

And we also have Benchmade, Crk, and some spyderco. That is enough to keep me broke!
 
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Anderdale said:
I actually don't mind it. It is less knives I have to buy.
Click to expand...

+1, that's basically where I've landed. :thumbup:

Spyderco has me well covered with full-ambi options and I was able to snag a lefty Millie when they were on closeout. As others have mentioned though, there's only a few specific blades that I carry lefty. My weekday edc's go in my rfp b/c I usually have my phone in the other one.

For use, I can work most locks ok with either hand, but I almost completely shun righty frame and liners locks these days, saves me a ton of $$$, lol.
 
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