Half Stops - Love Em or Lose Em

Modoc ED

Modoc ED

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In the "Let's Talk GEC" thread on page 818, post #16346 Jeff black mamba black mamba in reply to EngrSorenson EngrSorenson said;

"I find half stops more dangerous as well. When you overcome the tang's hard angle any slip of grip will cause the blade to jump closed and can nip you. It's happened to me as well, and NEVER with a cam tang. Plus, I've never had a knife of either type close on me accidentally while in use. I've even field dressed deer with a slipjoint and never had it close on me, and some of that work is blind; so I see NO reason for half stops."

I've gotta say, I am disliking Half Stops more and more. I much more prefer the smooth opening and closing action of cam tangs over the harsh, jolting, action of square tangs. Dumb ole me - when I opened a knife with a half stop once, my thumb nail slipped out of the nick at the half stop and the blade came back and stuck me in my stomach. So what do you guys/gals think?
 
I've never had any problems with a half stop. If you get cut opening or closing any knife, half stop or not, its not because of the design, its because you put you finger in the path of the blade. Learn how to hold the knife with your fingers off to the side in a pinch grip and that won't happen.
Also, many people in other threads wonder about square and clean joints. Those are great, but you can't have them without half stops....
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I've been bitten by them in the past due to the way I was opening the blade. - but have also had them come in handy when a blade accidentally close on me. Overall, I'm a fan of half-stops.
 
I like no half stops on most knives. A pinchable trapper with some size I like a half stop. Makes me feel better with a hard use knife, but for a small knife like a Gec 33 or a case medium stockman (6318) I prefer the cam tang. I like the 6332 stockman with half stops but wish I could find a pre ‘70 that has a lighter snap. The three or four I have used all want to jump out of my hand with that gator snap ;)
 
I've been cut/ poked through inattention. Half-stop or no half-stop was irrelevant in those instances.

The one time I almost closed a slipjoint on my fingers was the last time I used a slipjoint to break down a cardboard box. That knife had a half-stop, and I doubt anything other than dumb luck prevented some nasty cuts as the blade was past the half-stop when I was able to stop the knife movement. I now only use razor cutters/ utility knives, or a locking blade, or a fixed blade when breaking down cardboard.

As I age, I find finger pain, strength, dexterity and strength of my thumbnails being affected. These all impact opening traditional knives. The "gator snap" some people find desirable makes a knife difficult for me to open, and I have lost track of the number of times I have broken/ chipped/ split my thumbnails. I keep my nails very short for this reason. Using a blade opener helps at times, but those can slip due to pain and the loss of finger strength & dexterity. I figure at some point I'll end up having to go to easier opening knives with locks and fixed blades.

IMHO, and this is definitely a YMMV thing.

edit for clarification - the nail damage usually occurs on several specific knives I have with very strong springs and half-stops. There is a very small point when opening where the blade tang is "on the cusp" and will stay halfway between closed and half-stop, allowing me to switch to a pinch to complete the opening. If I miss that sweet spot, the blade gator snaps to the half-stop and that is usually where the nail damage occurs. Shorter nails usually only suffer slight chipping or edge damage easily smoothed, past a certain length the risk of breaking/ splitting increases. This doesn't happen for me on knives with no half-stop, even if they have strong springs. The finger pain/ strength/ dexterity becomes more of an issue with those.
 
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I can't speak with authority to the safety aspect as my use is relativel casual with a slipjoint. What I can say is the double snick as it hits both stops closing is a pleasing feature for me*

*as long as the detents ain't too fierce!
 
Too many variables in my case. I had a knife with a half stop but the pull is so weak that it really didn't stop much at the half point lol

On the opposite end, the knife had a such a strong pull that it was very difficult to close.

On top of that, there are knives that the edge has the plunge line super close to the bolster that when the knife is at the half stop, the edge is basically half on your finger when you choke up on the knife (cam tang or not). Versus, knives that has sufficient tang protruding away from the pivot that the edge doesn't actually touch your finger when you have your fingers positioned close to the kick.

From opening/closing perspective, I love the 'feel' of properly adjusted half stops (pull around 4/5).
 
Don't matter to me. I have knives with and without. None are "over sprung", I'd rate the pull at a "5" on almost all my knives.
(The main on my BTI Uncle Henry 855 stockman is a solid "6". The other two are a"5".)
If I've ever been bitten by a knife with half stops, it must have been when I was a kid, and not a "big deal" since I don't remember the incident.
 
I have had a bunch of knives over the years both with and without half-stops, and to be honest, I never even knew what a half-stop was until I started browsing BF a few of years ago. I certainly never noticed their absence or presence when using a knife.

I definitely think the argument that they are somehow a safety feature is bunk.
 
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