Great Knife Accidents With Folders?

C

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Sep 5, 2005
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I guess it says something about the efficiency and quality of today's knives that more people aren't seriously hurt when their folders close on them. Perhaps it's because the locks are better than we think, or maybe it's just tough to type when you don't have any fingers...I dunno. I began by asking if anyone had had any horror stories about the Lake and Walker Knife Safety (LAWKS) system used by CRKT and no one replied that they had.

I know people occasionally get bit by their own carelessness or...worse, but I'd like to hear any stories about folders that bite the hand that feeds them. And if a folding knife did fail, how did that change your attitude about the particular knife/manufacturer/lock, etc.?

Since I brought it up, yes, I got myself real good as a teenager with a Scout knife. It bein' a slipjoint, I was whittling and the blade got caught in the wood. Trying to extract it, it suddenly snapped and closed, catching my right four fingers. There was blood everywhere and, rightly or wrongly, I've detested slipjoints ever since. At the time I thought that bandage would stay on forever, and the throbbing from the wound kept me up nights. Thankfully the doctor gave me something called Percocet, which really worked well, but when it said take once every four hours, it was every four hours like clockwork. I always kept that knife clean and nice and felt a bit betrayed, but it was clearly my fault.
 
I think its got a lot to do with lock strength. I get myself occasionally when closing if Im not being careful but you learn really fast how to keep your fingers out of the way. I think its sort of like handling a gun, its incredibly dangerous but good safety means the dangerous part wont be aimed at you.

And lock strength is pretty good now imo. Everyone has the chinese knives that they picked up somehow and Ive got one with a .125mm liner lock that I couldnt get to fail with a spine whack test and eventually I just got a hammer and I finally caused a failure. On a cheap chinese liner lock. Pretty impressive if you ask me.
 
I carry slipjoints 90+ percent of the time. I never get bit. They must be making 'em really good these days. ;)
 
This had nothing to do with the lock. It was my own sheer stupidity. Damage dealt with a Delica 4 Emerson Opener.

Day1.jpg


It's worse than it looks. That purple-ish part is a flap of skin hanging off. It's even more purple now lol
 
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Duplicating a friends lock failure of a liner-lock knife. The knife passed mild and rapid tap spine tests, so I then did exactly what he did - I stabbed a cardboard box.

Suprise - the lock failed (duh).

Cut my index finger a good 1/4 + inch deep (seeing bone).

Folly at its finest (and the end of ever recommending a liner-lock knife to anyone).
 
I cut off the tip of my middle finger (everything ahead of the fingernail) when I first got my Sebenza. I was practicing opening and closing and made a slight error. :)
Blade was super sharp so it healed up real quick.
 
A couple times I cut my thumb closing liner-locks by pushing the blade against my leg and not getting my thumb out of the way in time. I guess liner-locks and frame-locks can be dangerous, ha? I never had one fail on me, but I don't use them for heavy tasks.
 
Opening a cardboard box back when I did my gig at a grocery store (20 years ago), I happened to have my left thumb just a little too high on the side of the box. I cut the tip clean off. But, I just ran to the office, sprayed that Bactine-type stuff on it, and applied about 5 bandaids. Being a razor cut, it healed pretty quick, but my fingerprint is a little askew.
 
Nothing serious here. I've had worse accidents with scissors.

I've only had very small cuts, nothing that even necessarily required a bandaid. And I flip balisongs, so that's really something.

My brother had a cheap Chinese linerlock. It worked fine for a couple months until it wore out. At that point, it was easily defeated by hand pressure on the spine, just like a slipjoint, except that after it popped, there was no resistance to closing. Even less pressure was required if there was any squeezing or twisting of the handle.

I found it absolutely terrifying that the knife that appeared rock solid a month or two ago was now downright dangerous.

It's been in my mind lately. A lock can be a nice thing to have sometimes, but you can't depend on it. Even the venerable Axis Lock has been known to have problems.

Maybe it explains my fondness for slipjoints and balisongs to some degree.
 
I had a Kershaw Boa's lock fail on me and sliced a chunk off my index finger doing the same thing as the OP.
Because of that I don't like linerlocks much anymore, aside from my Spydie CF Mili, it locks up hard and tight.
 
While it isn't technically a "knife" I got poked really bad with a folding saw. I was in a dark outhouse at a friend's cabin about 15 years ago and went to reach for the arsewipe, and much to my surprise, someone decided to store an open folding saw under the inverted coffee can where the TP was kept. After reaching in hastily, I butted my index finger against the teeth and got some minor perforations in my finger tip, but what is worse is what came as it healed. I guess I must have damaged my finger nail in the process, and it eventually split all the way down the middle (I have very dry hands and nails, hey I'm old). I was sure the nail would fall out, but it never did, it just looked really ugly and hurt something sinister. We still don't know who put the saw there in the first place, but it was a dumb thing to do whoever it was.
 
I've only managed cuts with a folder a few times, only once was it due to a failed lock. That was a 1 dollar pakistan cheapo and it was so dull all it did was hurt a bit, didn't even break the skin.

My two worst cuts were with fixed blades actually. One was a blackjack AWACS, I did a stab into a phonebook and the combination of smooth handle and beveled guard caused my hand to ramp up on to the blade. Didn't think I cut myself at first, and in fact never felt any pain from that cut cept for the dull throbbing while it healed. Thankfully because of the clean cut and location (meaty part of my hand opposite the thumb) it was easy to close up with tape and took only a week to heal despite how deep it was.

The other one was entirely my own stupidity, put my other hand right where the blade would cut into it if it slipped. Right before I cut myself I thought "hmm, I should move my hand before I c..." and there it was, a big ole slice right through the web of my thumb. You could see the joints and muscles inside. Just an FYI to anyone else who gets cut there, get stitches :) I tried to do the same thing I did with the first cut, butterflies, a bit of gauze, and lots of tape. It was not nearly as effective and took over a month to close, much less get the full range of motion back due to the tight scar tissue.
 
I got nailed by my Delica 4 wave when it I was pulling it out of my pocket and it waved but failed to lock and slammed closed on my pointer finger. I also have a friend who cut of the tip of his thumb when his Kershaw whirlwind broke.
 
One of my worst cuts was when I was messing around with my smith and wesson neck knife. Picture:
http://www.noze-nuz.com/smithwesson/sw990.php

I had just finished getting it razor sharp, and went to pull it out of the sheath. My thumb was a little close to the edge of the sheath, and ouch I cut my thumb at least 1/4. It was a clean cut, but it hurt like a b*tch.
 
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