Folding knife opening in your pocket?

Been carrying a knife since I was about 7 years old. Only knife that ever came open in my pocket was a buck odyssey. Small cut from it, nothing to get worked up over though..
 
I've been carrying a knife since I was 5:D. The only knife that ever opened in my pocket was a D/A protech Harkins. I did'nt notice I was cut until I saw a patch of blood the size of a silver dollar on my breeches leg.
 
my tip up Caly 3 Spyderco was clipped to my right pocket but the spine of the blade was not against the back seam of the pocket, i am guessing my keys must of opened it and when i reached in to get my keys i felt something "funny" as i pulled my hand out i notice a big deep cut. The knife was very sharp and barely felt it at first. Seven stitches and a little bit of nerve damage and i now ALWAYS keep the spine of the blade against the back seam of my pocket!
 
tomdogma said:
my tip up Caly 3 Spyderco was clipped to my right pocket but the spine of the blade was not against the back seam of the pocket, i am guessing my keys must of opened it and when i reached in to get my keys i felt something "funny" as i pulled my hand out i notice a big deep cut. The knife was very sharp and barely felt it at first. Seven stitches and a little bit of nerve damage and i now ALWAYS keep the spine of the blade against the back seam of my pocket!
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Ouch! That made me cringe just thinking about it.
 
I avoid spinning around too fast for that very reason. Hate to have a folder open up in my pants.

Honestly though, never had that problem except for a minimalist designed cheap gerber that only has one side and a thin wood back spacer to protect the blade. Was too easy to run a finger against the blade on the open side so i don't carry it.
 
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Had it happening with a cheap no name knife that a friend gave me, also the only knife I've had where the lock failed and it closed up on my fingers
 
Recently bought a small liner lock that I had to return because twice in a day I reached into my pocket & the blade was partially opened. Very sharp but got off easily with just a nick :eek: Never - ever had this happen before. Studied it pretty carefully & realized that the back edge up at the pivot was just too square & a little proud of the frame & so it could get pushed which started the pointy end on its way out. I'm sure that a more rounded profile & ground a little closer in to the frame would have solved this problem. As it was a brand new custom I just returned it - too bad it was a beauty otherwise, but I hated to be booby trapped by my own knife. Otherwise I've never had an issue with my Spyderco point up on a clip or my Kershaw or any other pocket knife for that matter.
 
Yep - my ZT 0500 MUDD blem opened in my pocket and cut me pretty good. I didn't need stitches.

I try to carry tip up and with the blade against my pocket seam. I have a habit of constantly checking to make sure my knife is snugly against the seam.
 
About six years ago I was carrying a Kershaw Chive loose in my pocket, and it came open on me. Gashed my palm nastily when I reached in. I've never had a knife clipped to my pocket pop open on me though.

I never carry knives that don't have strong in-handle retention, and I NEVER carry assisted-openers IWB or loose in pocket. As for clip position, as long as the detent holding the knife closed is stout, I don't think tip-up or -down really matters.
 
I never had a problem myself, I carry right handed, tip up or tip down in the outside corner of my right front pocket. But a friend of mine had a tip up, right handed opener that he kept in the outside corner of his right rear pocket. sliced himself bad enough to require 7 stitches. Intuitively, my way seems more prone to possible injury, as his way the blade should be between the body of the knife and the pocket edge, but experience has trumped intuition for us at least.

Dave
 
I've sleeped with kershaw skylines and cold steel ti-lites in my pocket as well as a few others inbetween and none have ever opened up on me.
 
I carry a Spyderco Military IWB every day - solid detent never a hint of blade movement. :)
 
The only knives I've had open in my pocket have been AO knives.
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+1. Only time I've ever had a problem was with assisted open knives. Happened a couple of times with a Gerber Vallotton. Crazy thing is this knife has a "lock" that can be engaged but somehow I'm disengaging it while in my pocket.
 
I never had a Kershaw knife open on me, but I generally push them back against the side of the pocket it is clipped into and that prevents opening.

Only thing I remember opening is the saw blade on my SAK OHT. That and my P37 can opener occasionally slips open if I have my keys in my pocket. That can hurt getting it out, but it not exact gashing wounds of a knife or saw blade now.
 
I have had it happen but it has been years since the last time. This is because I have only had it happen with liner/frame lock knives and I no longer carry those. I also only carry tip up so the knife must not have been pushed up tight against the pocket edge because the couple times it happened it was when I was going to dig for something in my pocket and I got a quick burning feeling as soon as I stuck my hand in the pocket and got cut. I'm not a big fan of liner or frame locks and a loose detent on a lot of them is just one of the reasons. I also carry IWB and one time had a blade open and cut up my shorts. I don't remember how I discovered it but I still remember looking down and seeing an inch of the blade poking out a hole in the material. The thing is it was my only tip down knife which I have heard people say is the only safe way to IWB carry. But it was a frame lock so I just don't trust them anymore. I carry tip up IWB every day and have never had a problem with AXIS, CBB, RAM, or compression locks and have been doing it for years. I just think there are much better designs than liner and frame locks but they all have patents on them which probably saves me a lot of money. Most customs and semi customs are frame locks and even though there are a lot of designs I like I won't buy them because they are frame locks. I know I'm in the minority and I'm probably missing out but I still have a lot of really nice knives that have locks I trust and enjoy using a lot more. I also get to try a lot of different high end steels than S30V which is most common in $400 ti framelocks. Anyways, sorry for going off on a tangent.
 
Yeah twice,once with a Kershaw Whirlwind,tip down.The other time was with a SERE 2000,tip up.
 
I'm 47 & it has never happened to me with a folder, & i don't have any folder over $70. It did happen once though. Scared the living crapolla out of me. I traded a German soldier some things for a supposedly German SS balistic knife. It was the real deal. I had to use all my weight to get it back in. It opened & went right through my pants pocket, just missing the baby maker & stuck FIRMLY into the wooden floor, next to my foot. I traded it that day to someone else, but i told them what had happened to me. The cool factor was too much for someone else to resist. TOO close of a call for me.
 
Yep, a Kershaw Bump, Spyderco Starmate. Some say tip down is safer, but it wasn't for me. Maybe if you never run or jump for any reason.
 
My EDCs always lay at the bottom of my pocket, stud on top .I've had my key ring catch the stud and partly open the blade ! This on a Sebenza .The cure was simply to shorten the stud.
 
yablanowitz said:
It also assumes you only carry in your front pocket. I've carried a tip-down-only Spyderco Military in my right back pocket every day for five years and it has never come open in my pocket. It really can't, since the spine of the blade is against the side of the pocket that way. ;)

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Good point on which pocket you carry in. But, for me, back pocket carry is the second quickest way to lose a knife. The quickest is to just heave it into the bushes on purpose. :p
 
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