Does "Your Blade" open straight?...

[Rebus777]

More and more of the knives I have
purchased lately seem to not open
completely and have that droopy blade
look. I know that some downward angle
is suppose to be more ergonomically
correct, but to me, especially in
slipjoints, it just does not look
right. I don't mind a few degrees
of angle, but when the knife looks
like it is partially closed when it
is fully open, that's too much.

Old catalogs from the 30's & 40's
don't show most of the knives like this.

Has anybody else noticed this or
really even care?!

-Rebus

 

[Kdarmy]

Well I can tell you right now, Don’t even think then about buying a Hen & Rooster Sowbelly, not if you want the blades to be straight when opened

It is because of this, with a H&R anyway, the reason I have a few of these knives. H&R takes this idea to the extreme.

I have had on more than one occasion let someone use it and they will stop to look at it first like it’s a freak of nature.

 

[littleknife]

I have seen this only on typical American patterns (like trappers, stockmans). I also do not like it.
BTW I think it is Case, and not H&R which takes this to the extremes.
This was one of the many reasons why I got very disappointed with their (recent model) trappers and stockmans.
A few companies which do NOT make/sell such "handicapped" knives, or provide some "fully opened" too, are Camillus, Queen, Moore Maker.

 

[Kdarmy]

No, It is Hen & Rooster that I speak of here…. Only their Sowbelly model, not the entire H&R line of knives. Check the web and see if you can’t find a picture of an opened one. They are really something to see.
I’ll have to go back and look over my case catalogs, I hadn’t noticed that they have recently change that much. I am not much of Case fan myself.

 

[littleknife]

Kdarmy, you will hardly see any knife fully opened in the recent Case catalogs. One of the few exceptions is the copperlock pattern, which is frequently shown fully opened, and it is not "angled" forward. But try to handle some Case trapper or stockman knives. The long spey blade on the trappers is looking like stuck in the process of opening. For a user knife looks may be deceptive, but this also felt really uncomfortable while cutting.