Do you prefer a hole or a notch to open?

Artfully Martial

Artfully Martial

Joined
Jun 8, 2005
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Are there better terms for these things anyway?

Anyway, do you prefer the hole in the blade (ala spyderco) or the notch (ala...most other stuff?). Why?

I'm trying to figure out which kind of mini-grip I want.
 
Artfully Martial said:
Are there better terms for these things anyway?

or the notch (ala...most other stuff?). Why?

.
Click to expand...

Do you mean a nail pull?

I would rither have a thumb hole like the spydies or benchmades. They are one handed openers. The nail nick is ment to be opened with two hands, but with some practice some knives (Buck 110 or 112) can be opened one handed. I had a friend cut the mess out of his thumb with my 110 after seeing me open mine with my thumb. I hope this helps I am sure someone else will be along shortly and give some more info. John
 
Spydie invented the hole as a one-hand opening device, and if they didn't they were at least the first to be smart enough to patent it, which forced all other knife makers to pay them a royalty if they put a hole in the blade for this purpose...

Now the hole does constrain the blade design somewhat... There has to be a place to put it... Makes sense... All the other schemes that are devised to support single-handed opening, bumps, slabs, and what not, allow their makers to avoid paying the royalty to Spyderco, but also permit a much wider degree of blade profile design because most of these alternatives are much smaller than the hole and can be mounted on almost any type of blade, even very narrow ones...

That being said, the hole does appear to be the easiest and most versatile one-hand-opening accoutrement... They are equally available to the right or left hand, can be easily used with gloves and can be easily gripped between thumb and first finger to flick the handle down and open the knife that way if you so prefer that opening style (possibly not good for the knife over all, but that depends on a lot of other things). My all-steel model Spyderco Delica is beyond any doubt the smoothest opening knife I own (out of dozens of folders), some costing 10x more!

My $0.02
 
Ahhh, more of the bump....take for example the things sticking out of the blade on the CRKT M16s or...anything from Kershaw/Ken Onion. I guess you don't even really need to use anything on the blade to open an axis lock (why I'm investigating this). Does one or the other make it easier to close?
 
Maybe you mean "hole or thumb stud"?

I prefer the hole but have both. Actually it depends on the size of the hole for me as I have big hands but mostly I'd go with hole just because there is nothing to lose or fall off the knife, and nothing to catch your pocket like some that stick out do. I've also had a few studs that abraid your hand when reaching in your pocket for something other than your knife which is annoying also.
 
Artfully Martial said:
Ahhh, more of the bump....take for example the things sticking out of the blade on the CRKT M16s or...anything from Kershaw/Ken Onion. I guess you don't even really need to use anything on the blade to open an axis lock (why I'm investigating this). Does one or the other make it easier to close?
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You also don't need anything to close an AXIS, flip 'er open, flip 'er closed. That's why I got the "Oval" hole, so nothing is sticking out to catch on pocket or scratch your hand as you reach in pocket. Check out the 806D2 AFCK, It's my personal favorite. (smaller AXIS knives don't do the flippity trix very easily)(not enough weight on the blade, I reckon)
 
I prefer the hole for only one reason. Most thumb studs are placed so that when the blade is open it is over the useful rear area of the blade and can get in the way when cutting things that require a full depth plunge of the blade such as styrofoam, bread, fruit, cheese, cardboard, etc.

Mike

Sorry for the typographical errors, they're fixed now.

Mike
 
I like holes better than thumb studs. Studs sometimes get in the way, I don't like things sticking out of my blade.

The only thumb studs I like are the ones that are well in the back of the blade, in contact with the handle (like in the CRK&T M-21 knives).
 
I would also like to add that the thumb studs TOTALLY (edit - most of the time, although those Doug Ritter's are very wide and probably would not have that problem) get in the way of sharpening that part of the blade. That's reason enough, right thar.

Artfully Martial said:
An excellent point, musashi. Tell me--does the minigrip perform these tricks well enough?
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I must say those Doug Ritter S30V blades are meaty and nice. They have an adjustable pivot screw (TORX) so you could loosen it enough to fippity flip it. (no need to do that on a bigger one) I betcha the minigrip is the best flipper out of all the smaller AXIS knives out there.

I just can't get past the Plastiky FRN nylon Glass-filled Noryl GTX scales and those dang thumb studs!!!
 
Well, all the minigrips I've seen (to be fair, I probably have not seen the D2 or S30V minigrips in real life) could be had in either hole or thumbstud flavors. I'm pretty convinced to go for the hole. In a non-axis lock (or carson flipper) knife, I'd want thumb studs, but in the weird world of axis lock opening, the lower the profile the better.
 
Artfully Martial said:
Well, all the minigrips I've seen (to be fair, I probably have not seen the D2 or S30V minigrips in real life) could be had in either hole or thumbstud flavors. I'm pretty convinced to go for the hole. In a non-axis lock (or carson flipper) knife, I'd want thumb studs, but in the weird world of axis lock opening, the lower the profile the better.
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure only the griptililililililians come with holes, the Ritter's all have Studs. D2 would be my 1st choice, You'll likely never use the hole and low pro is the way to go.
 
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