Do You Trust Half-Stops?

C

calvinw

Joined
Feb 28, 2012
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When you close a knife with a half-stop, do you trust the blade to stop? Do you push the blade closed from the spine with your hand or fingers in the path?

I only own 3 knives with half-stops so I'm not that experienced. When I close the knife, I pinch the blade with my thumb and index finger, then move the blade to the half stop. Then I reposition my other hand out of the way to close the rest of the way.

I've seen others trust the half-stop. They just push the blade from the spine and let the half-stop stop the blade from cutting their other hand/fingers. I've even seen people do one-handed closing, using their thumb on the spine, pushing to the half-stop before repositioning their fingers out of the way.

(This post is probably better as a poll, but I don't have that option under my current membership level.)
 
I don't. I usually close it through the half stop against my leg or something. I actually like half stops on opening and no half stops on closing.

That said, when I do close with my hands, I don't trust the half stops. Fingers out the way the whole time.
 
I close a non-locking pocket knife the same way whether it has a half stop or not. This question doesn't make sense to me.
 
First, there is nothing wrong with half stops, they work fine.
Second, you don't ever wrap your fingers around the handle when you are closing a knife, ever. Learn to keep your fingers out of the way and it won't make a difference how the knife closes.
 
I don't even know the purpose of the half stop. I've learned to close them on my leg...and after some stitches when I was a kid, I learned to do it while keeping my fingers out of the way!
 
Arathol said:
First, there is nothing wrong with half stops, they work fine.
Second, you don't ever wrap your fingers around the handle when you are closing a knife, ever. Learn to keep your fingers out of the way and it won't make a difference how the knife closes.
Click to expand...

:thumbup:
 
I personally like half stops, but wouldn't trust them to keep my fingers intact! If you follow good practices when handling knives then you are always better off no matter what the design of the knife may be:)
 
I'm rather indifferent to half stops to be honest. I doubt I will ever buy a knife based on whether or not it has half stops. Some folks may, and I respect that, but not me.

That being said, I thought about whether or not I handle either version differently, or if there is a situation where a half stop would come in handy for me, and I found something.

My Schatt & Morgan English Jack has a half stop and is a very hard pull. I need the nail nick to start to open it, but at the half stop, I then pinch the blade to finish opening it. To close it, I'm pinching the blade to the half stop, then snapping it closed from there with my palm.

My GEC #42 does not have half stops, and I open and close in one motion while pinching the blade.

Either way though, my fingers are never in the way while closing any knife. Ever. I would have lost a corner off of my totin' chip card when in scouts many years ago had I done that. [emoji2]

I'm glad you asked though, I never analyzed how I handle these knives differently until now.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
 
I agree with others. This question doesn't really compute. I close my knife against my palm or leg like others have said. Doing it one handed with your thumb while having fingers in the way seems silly to me. It's not like it saves time.
 
jc57 said:
I close a non-locking pocket knife the same way whether it has a half stop or not. This question doesn't make sense to me.
Click to expand...

Here's an example from a fellow member. Check out 32 seconds into the video:

[video]https://youtu.be/vLvSSIV-tcA#t=00m32s[/video]
 
I think of half stops like I do the safety on a gun. Nice to have, but never trust it to work when you need it.
 
Pinch the covers as you close it so that your fingers aren't in the way.

On the other hand, I've seen the same person attempt to cut with the spine of a knife two separate times and both times the Half stop kept them from cutting themselves. I no longer lend this coworker nonlocking knives, to say the least.

Posted using TapaTalk
 
As the others have said, when I start to close the knife I keep my fingers out of the path the blade, no matter whether it has a half stop or not. I have knives with half stops, so it isn't a deal breaker for me, but I think very few knives are enhanced by a half stop. To me they are mostly just a bother.
 
Must depend on the quality and age of knife.
Ive got locking knives that just dont lock anymore,if they ever did.
 
I have never cut myself on a lockback or on a non-half stop knife. But I have cut myself a few times mucking around with a half stop. I never learn that the blade travels quite a way past the half stop then returns.
 
Camillus said:
I have never cut myself on a lockback or on a non-half stop knife. But I have cut myself a few times mucking around with a half stop. I never learn that the blade travels quite a way past the half stop then returns.
Click to expand...

Right! I certainly don't regard HS as a safety feature, if anything they can give you a nasty surprise.:barf::eek::D

I don't mind them but given the choice I prefer a smooth opening knife without HS.
 
Half stops are great for taking pictures of old pocketknives with all the blades open - no worries about unduly stressing old springs with two blades open on a single spring. Other than that it makes no difference from a using point of view. Keeping fingers out of the way of sharp edges seems like the only reasonable policy to me. OH
 
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