Have you ever had to watch a Youtube vid or ask someone about how to close a newly purchased knife?

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SanLuisObispo

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Have you ever had to watch a Youtube vid, or ask someone about how to open or close a newly purchased knife? I have twice now.

This morning when GSMO/CS delivered my Kudu (what a cool knife for $6.99!) and years ago when I bought a Frank Beltrame automatic Italian stiletto

Watch LCT open the Kudu:


And to think I had planned to remove the "key ring" from the Kudu! :D
 
Nope. I am not sure exactly when it was I learned how to close my very first liner-lock, frame-lock, lockback, or axis-lock, but seems like I never required a Youtube video to show me.

Slipjoints I learned about when I was about 8.

Liner-locks and lock-backs I have owned since the 70s. I even have a really nice Blackie Collins designed Gerber Bolt-Action folder from the early 80s (from back when Gerber was a high-quality brand). Figured them all out somehow.
 
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I did for the Kizer Feist. Either my hands were overly weak or I had a lemon with the detent, videos show the knife designer easily flicking it open with the side of his index finger or thumb. I couldn't do that with my model, I had to push hard with the bone of my thumb. It works out OK, it just took me a while. And on the bright side, it's fun to watch my buddies try to open it and fail!
 
No, the last thing knife related that gave me problems embarassingly enough were the "Tek Lok" sheath clips. I spent a good 3-5 minutes sqeezing and pulling on the thing, till I realized you had to flip the little level, etc....

Kydex was another thing I remember lots of people having trouble with years ago. It got so bad at one show, I remember a dealer explictly walking people through how they worked before even handing a kydex sheathed knife to someone. It was always the knife draw, they'd pull too softly a few times, then pull with all their might.... :/ :(.
 
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I haven’t but when I carried a CRKT M16-14SFG with a liner lock and automated liner safety about 90% of the people who used my knife could not close it.
Also as a teenager, mid 90’s, I remember a friend of mine having a knife that he would open and tell us if anyone could close it in 2 minuets we could keep it. No one got it from him. It probably came mail order from US Calvary or Brigade Quartermaster or whatever preceded BUKD. Anyway this knife was more than 3/4 serrated, had camo scales, black blade with some kind of special ops or airborne logo on the blade. One scale would rotate maybe 10*-15* and the blade would slide out the front, I believe, and rotate back to lock it in place. Now that I’m talking about it if anyone has any leads on what this knife might have been I’d really like to know.
 
lieferung said:
I did for the Kizer Feist. Either my hands were overly weak or I had a lemon with the detent, videos show the knife designer easily flicking it open with the side of his index finger or thumb. I couldn't do that with my model, I had to push hard with the bone of my thumb. It works out OK, it just took me a while. And on the bright side, it's fun to watch my buddies try to open it and fail!
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I share your amusement! My concern is always about breaking the knife. With the Kudu, you have to pull on the ring fairly strongly and then begin to close the blade towards your hand. Not only is that illogical, the Kudu is a very light knife and it feels as though you could do harm to it by pulling on the ring.
 
3fifty7 said:
I haven’t but when I carried a CRKT M16-14SFG with a liner lock and automated liner safety about 90% of the people who used my knife could not close it.
Also as a teenager, mid 90’s, I remember a friend of mine having a knife that he would open and tell us if anyone could close it in 2 minuets we could keep it. No one got it from him. It probably came mail order from US Calvary or Brigade Quartermaster or whatever preceded BUKD. Anyway this knife was more than 3/4 serrated, had camo scales, black blade with some kind of special ops or airborne logo on the blade. One scale would rotate maybe 10*-15* and the blade would slide out the front, I believe, and rotate back to lock it in place. Now that I’m talking about it if anyone has any leads on what this knife might have been I’d really like to know.
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The one that confused me -- it wasn't my knife, was the Paragon Warlock:

 
3fifty7 said:
I haven’t but when I carried a CRKT M16-14SFG with a liner lock and automated liner safety about 90% of the people who used my knife could not close it.
Also as a teenager, mid 90’s, I remember a friend of mine having a knife that he would open and tell us if anyone could close it in 2 minuets we could keep it. No one got it from him. It probably came mail order from US Calvary or Brigade Quartermaster or whatever preceded BUKD. Anyway this knife was more than 3/4 serrated, had camo scales, black blade with some kind of special ops or airborne logo on the blade. One scale would rotate maybe 10*-15* and the blade would slide out the front, I believe, and rotate back to lock it in place. Now that I’m talking about it if anyone has any leads on what this knife might have been I’d really like to know.
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Sounds like a BokerMatic. I have two, one is all black with a regular blade and the other is camo with a black blade. The camo version came from The Edge Company back in the early 80’s.
 
JPD1998 said:
Sounds like a BokerMatic. I have two, one is all black with a regular blade and the other is camo with a black blade. The camo version came from The Edge Company back in the early 80’s.
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Wow you are good !

There is one BokerMatic Airborne for sell on Etsy for a cool $495

Man Edge Company catalog, those were the good ole days.
 
3fifty7 said:
I haven’t but when I carried a CRKT M16-14SFG with a liner lock and automated liner safety about 90% of the people who used my knife could not close it.
Also as a teenager, mid 90’s, I remember a friend of mine having a knife that he would open and tell us if anyone could close it in 2 minuets we could keep it. No one got it from him. It probably came mail order from US Calvary or Brigade Quartermaster or whatever preceded BUKD. Anyway this knife was more than 3/4 serrated, had camo scales, black blade with some kind of special ops or airborne logo on the blade. One scale would rotate maybe 10*-15* and the blade would slide out the front, I believe, and rotate back to lock it in place. Now that I’m talking about it if anyone has any leads on what this knife might have been I’d really like to know.
Click to expand...

U.S. Cavalry. Damn that takes me back.

I've never needed assistance opening or closing a knife.
 
Yes, Tri-ad lock. I had thought they were pretty straightforward. Turns out you have to use vice grips to disengage them. If you leave them half-open for a month they get easier to use though...

On a serious note, all of my knives have used intuitive locks and I haven't needed to reference a video. I think I had a multi tool once that required you to open one of the secondary tools in order to unlock the implement that was currently in use. I was stumped for a while, might have read the manual to figure it out. I have watched a lot of disassembly videos though.
 
I saw a CRKT Gallagher Glide Lock at an Excaliber Cutlery in the mall many years ago. I asked to see it, and then had to ask the store clerk how to close it. It has a very interesting lock mechanism that I had not seen before...

Greg
 
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