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Flick open? Knife newbie...
- Thread starter Turbo Tension
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Wrist flicking a blade open will exert a lot more force on the blade tang & stop pin. Some of the beefier, high end, 'hard use' folders will hold up a bit longer than a cheaper, flimsier knife, but every knife will wear out faster if opened this way. It's simple physics: if you slam it open, vs. a gentler motion with the thumb only, it'll cause more stress, more wear, more quickly. Try the same thing with your doors at home, or the drawers in the kitchen (slam 'em shut), and see how much quicker they fall apart.
There seems to be a 'coolness factor' for a lot of people in slamming the blade open in a big, flashy way. But, unless the pivot is so tight that it can't be opened quickly any other way, it's completely unnecessary. That extra movement of flipping the wrist to finish the opening isn't going to save any time anyway. Practice with the thumb only. Once you develop the muscle memory with the thumb, you'll probably find no need to wrist flip it anymore.
There seems to be a 'coolness factor' for a lot of people in slamming the blade open in a big, flashy way. But, unless the pivot is so tight that it can't be opened quickly any other way, it's completely unnecessary. That extra movement of flipping the wrist to finish the opening isn't going to save any time anyway. Practice with the thumb only. Once you develop the muscle memory with the thumb, you'll probably find no need to wrist flip it anymore.
Probably because the axis bar is riding up on the tang more than when you open it slowly. Wish mine did that. I always flip mine open, either with my wrist or my thumb.
I will agree that the wrist snap will most likely cause extra wear and tear on the knife but to be honest I don't think it would be as hard as say a Emerson opening with the wave feature. I owned a 2000 Commander for several years and can say you get a DEFINITE snap when deploying with the Wave feature!!
Wait -- what?
I'm confused. I thought it was normal to start deployment with thumb-stud, flipper, or Spydie-hole, then use a flick to pop the blade into the locked position. The manufacturers' instructions that came with my Kershaw Zing tell me to flick the knife:
Am I doing it wrong? Is this something different from "flicking?"
I'm confused. I thought it was normal to start deployment with thumb-stud, flipper, or Spydie-hole, then use a flick to pop the blade into the locked position. The manufacturers' instructions that came with my Kershaw Zing tell me to flick the knife:
Am I doing it wrong? Is this something different from "flicking?"
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its not legal here either, however if you adjust the pivot screw just right, and loktite it, you can get it so that it will still flick open if you try, but hold the knife and pull the axis and it stays put... i also found that at this tension, there's no blade play. its a very fine line though, both legally and trying to adjust it just right... took me several hours and across a couple days to get it where i want it
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I'm sure some do it that way. However, with all my spydercos, as well as my thumbstud knives, I keep the thumb engaged on the opener all the way to full open. It takes some getting used to initially but, once the 'muscle memory' in your thumb is developed, it becomes second nature. One swift, smooth sweep with the thumb. Takes less than a second.
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Good question. If folders with flippers aren't meant to be flicked open, why the heck do manufacturers put flippers on them?
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On decent non-assisted flippers, if the blade bushings are smooth and working as intended, you shouldn't need much, if any, help from the wrist to open 'em.
Obviously, for a spring-assisted flipper, all that's needed is a nudge from your finger. The spring should get the rest of it done.
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For me, it's more about maintaining control of the blade. I've been bitten once or twice by blades that I began to 'flick' open with my thumb, but once my thumb came off the blade, it tried to close on me. Seems to get the 'knuckle' of my thumb each time. As long as my thumb stays in contact with the opener, there's no chance of that happening.
Yeah, I wore out one of the springs on mine in 3 months because I had a habit of sitting there watching TV flicking it open and closed.
Things wear out, but in my opinion it matters what is wearing and how. If you're wearing down a spring that keeps your knife in a locked position like an AXIS lock, yeah I would call that abuse.
If you're flicking open a simple liner-lock that has a stop-pin made of any reasonably hard steel and is about .100" thick, I don't really see that as causing a problem. You're not likely to actually break the stop-pin or the liner lock, and the pivot of the blade might wear out a little bit more. At the most you might cause yourself some blade play if you manage to do some damage on the stop pin.
Though to me I think the bigger danger with wrist flicking comes in losing a hold on your knife. I've never seen any cut because of this, but I've seen someone throw their nicely sharpened knife onto the ground by doing so. I'd definitely call that abuse.
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I really take issue with this thread, and some of the comments.
FYI I don't currently own any CRK knives.
If you read what Chris has actually said and implied, he didn't say that he doesn't appreciate people flicking open his knives.
What he has said is that, he doesn't think that people who obsessively flick open their knives, thereby using them as a toy instead of as a tool, should be sending their knives back to CRK for repair. And I for one agree with him. No one has ever picked up a CRK knife, flicked it open, and had the knife fall apart.
CRK knives are manufactured to very tight tolerances, a fact that is highly evident even just handling one for 30 seconds.
Knives are meant to be used, not abused. You can't expect something that is made with incredibly tight tolerances to perform optimally if you abuse it.
I don't know of any folding knife, locking or non that will retain new from the factory performance after repeatedly opening it over and over again many times a day. Knives are tools, and they age. The harder you use them, the more they wear. Flicking a knife open causes more wear than opening it more slowly (and thereby with less force and friction).
-Freq
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I think that wrist flicking will wear out the lock faster than if you just open it smoothly with the thumb, or flick a flipper without wrist momentum. Granted, before I knew anything about knives I carried a CRKT M16 (which is a flipper) and flipped it open with the my wrist every day for about 3 years and the liner hardly moved over at all. For me the biggest thing is the lock type. I don't mind flicking open an axis lock knife because it has a huge steel lockbar that contacts the back of the blade tang, thick steel against thick steel. However when you start talking about something like a titanium liner lock, I personally don't feel comfortably putting any extra force than whats needed. Titanium is much softer than steel and can wear out by deforming when slammed against the heat treated blade steel. I don't even flick my Ti framelocks for the same reason. Yes some framelocks have heat treated lockbars (sebenza, buck tnt, sage 2) which increases the hardness of the lockface to a place where it really shouldn't deform the Ti, but I still don't like doing it. So the only knives that I'll flick open with any authority (that I own) would be Axis lock BMs.
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it is really important whether or not you flick a knife open. if you flick open a knife even once you are being really bad. :thumbdn:. when you think about the universe and stuff it is a total priority that you have not flicked open one of your knives.
(( trolling ))
(( trolling ))
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The OP asked and most of the posts were opinions, experiences, and common sense replies relevant to the OP's question. Don't you think you have just too many jerkits for a second post?
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^ lol.
If you want to break in a knife in a shorter period of time, I find flicking really helps.
If you want to break in a knife in a shorter period of time, I find flicking really helps.
We must have some REALLY hard flickers on this forum if you guys are wearing out knives.
So, umm, what about waving a knife? Seem to me it’s just as hard as flicking a knife.
I flick some of my knives sometimes, never had an issue with it, guess I’m not doing it hard enough
-sh00ter
So, umm, what about waving a knife? Seem to me it’s just as hard as flicking a knife.
I flick some of my knives sometimes, never had an issue with it, guess I’m not doing it hard enough
-sh00ter
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We must have some REALLY hard flickers on this forum if you guys are wearing out knives.
So, umm, what about waving a knife? Seem to me it’s just as hard as flicking a knife.
I flick some of my knives sometimes, never had an issue with it, guess I’m not doing it hard enough
-sh00ter
I guess you should try doing it all the time to really find out if there's gonna be a problem.
I guess you should try doing it all the time to really find out if there's gonna be a problem.
I guess that was poorly worded, I should have said only some of my knives get flicked open because most of EDC knives are AO or flipper knives.
For example though, my Delica gets wrist flicked or spydie dropped regularly.
-sh00ter