Do You Trust Half-Stops?

With half stops or without half stops , it does not make much difference to me . I can't understand why anyone would put their fingers around a knife when trying to close it . I can understand that there is some safety factor in a half stop while you are using it though . I am sure that they have saved a lot of cut fingers of people using a blade incorrectly .
To answer the question though : I do not trust half stops .
Harry
 
I don't like them really at all, and would never rely on them or even think of them as a safety feature... Keep your fingers the heck out of the way of any edge I say! (one reason I'm not real fond of lock backs, since you Can Not release them without having at least one finger in the path of a then free swinging blade.)

A hazard is mostly how I see them. On normally sprung knives, less so, but on bear trap sprung examples its terrible. Tends to cause the blade to suddenly snap to the half stop on opening, pulling the blade suddenly away from your finger, or out of its grasp if pinch opening; Too much uncontrolled blade movement close to fingers. If it doesn't cut you as it jumps, then depending how your reflexes are, when you recoil from the then fast moving blade, you have another chance to get cut. Same for any try at a controlled closure. No thanks.

I do tend to be able to ignore them on smaller knives, for instance never notice it on my Peanuts. For some knives, there is a rounded corner to the tang, more of a normal tang cam end with a smooth transitioned flat area on the end... thats OK most of the time because they don't jump around opening or closing, and can be ignored.

But perfectly square cornered tangs to give a half stop I consider a defect, and a cutlers trade failure. One reason I refuse to risk buying another GEC knife. Their combination of square corners and bear trap springs are a royal pain to deal with.
 
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I have started disliking half-stops on my traditionals, they just increase the knife closing time since I can no longer close it in one sweep. And my fingers are always out of the way, half-stop or not.
 
If someone trusts half stops, can they be trusted? I wouldn't let them watch my kids! :D
If it can go wrong, it will go wrong.
 
I guess im in the minority here but all the knives i have i close with one hand whether they have a half stop or not, with my thumb on the spine i lower the blade to the halfway point then rotate the knife in my hand toward me, open my fist, reposition my thumb so that its further towards the tip of the blade and with my fingers open and the knife cradled in my palm close the blade with my thumb. Pretty simple...
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Sorry bout the sideways pics.
 
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That seems like a lot of trouble, half stop or not. I just close them against my clothed leg in one motion.
 
Vinifera said:
Nice to see so many posts about how to close a knife.
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That was my thing in my first post in this thread. I mean, I get that this is a knife forum, but come on. It's like having to tell people that the sharpened edge is the part you use for cutting. Or that the flat metal thing is what we call a "blade."

Though back to the original question - you know, my Case Peanut has half stops. When I take it out of my pocket at night I put it on my desk along with my wallet. Every so often, I find my wallet laying open and missing a $20 when I get up in the morning. I used to think it was my wife needing some money for the day (she leaves for work before I wake up), but now that I think about it, it COULD be that dang half-stop in the Peanut that's stealing my money.

I'm going to have to set up a game camera.
 
I always keep my fingers out of the path of the blade when closing a knife. I don't care if it has a half stop or not, I'm not going to mess around.

Half stops are neat, and I like them on bigger blades with stiff springs, but I don't really "trust" them in the same way that I don't "trust" the safety on a gun. Safety comes from your good sense, not from any mechanical feature.
 
I really don't like the feel of a knife with a halfstop, sometimes when opening my nail is still in the nick and it's not very pleasant when you hit that sharp abrupt stop. I've never even thought about closing a knife on my fingers as its always been second nature to keep my fingers out of the way when folding any traditional knife.
 
To be honest i don't know if the half stop came out as a safety or opening aid feature.... To me it just looks like it must have had origin in the forging and hot cutting workflow of the old days.
And while back then it was just the easy and straightforward way to build the tang, nowdays it shows the mastery of the craftman when it comes to walk&talk and triple flush spring positions.
 
stezann said:
To be honest i don't know if the half stop came out as a safety or opening aid feature.... To me it just looks like it must have had origin in the forging and hot cutting workflow of the old days.
And while back then it was just the easy and straightforward way to build the tang, nowdays it shows the mastery of the craftman when it comes to walk&talk and triple flush spring positions.
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I never thought that the half stop was a safety feature either.
You are most likely correct that it came from a step in streamlining the machining process.

I like half stops but I don't think it makes a knife more safe, in fact with most knives it makes them snap harder on the final close.
 
It's news to me that half-stops are a safety feature. I always thought they were a by-product of "square and clean" joints, which I assumed were meant to give larger mating surfaces in the open position.

I sometimes make things up rather than looking them up.
 
Sort of neutral about half stops until I read this thread. Now I realize they are not to be trusted, they leave the house a mess, swipe your cash and cannot be trusted around children.
 
Humour aside, I'm surprised this thread has gone on so long :confused: All pocket-knives once had square tangs, then wily French cutlers came up with the round-tang as a way of reducing spring wear, which leads to the tip of the blade rising in the frame, and the blade eventually going all floppy. Half-stops have never been intended as a 'safety feature', and anyone who puts their fingers across the blade-well when closing a knife really shouldn't be carrying one. Why on earth would you do that?! :rolleyes:
 
I tend to treat every knife like it's a loaded gun. Don't give em a chance to hurt you, and they won't.
 
I agree with Old Hunter, they don't bother me either way. I have many knives with both.
Old Hunter said:
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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I prefer a knife that doesnt have half stops. However half stops are not a deal breaker. In fact ive knicked the top of my fingers opening some of the heavily sprung GECs that have half stops. Like jack black said half stops were never intended as a safety feature.
 
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