Holes In Handles - Good Or Bad?

B

Bruise Lee

Joined
Aug 4, 2002
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I just bought a CRKT large Pointguard which has some major holes and slots drilled/molded into the liner and handle. Ok, I know one of the advantages of this feature is less weight. But how much weight are we really saving by removing some Zytel? An eighth of an ounce?

I think I remember hearing somewhere that holes/slots make it easier to keep a knife clean. I assume the idea is you can blow or wash out debris thru the holes. But, doesn't that also make it easier for that debris to get into the knife in the first place?

Are there any other advantages/disadvantages tha I missed? What school of design do you prefer?

Bruise
 
Always better than holes in the head!

Honestly, for me, I like the looks.
One of my favorite folders at present time is a Kershaw Wild Turky with the Ti handle.
May be easier to clean. May be lighter, but I like its looks.

My 2 cents.

Ed T
 
i have a few pocket knives with such holes in the slabs...I got them cuz I liked the look, and yes they kinda are less weight too.

But there is a down side, yes they are easy to clean,'sorta"...but yes mine always seemed to need cleaning too?,,,sometimes I think the holes were just another thing that dirt and pocket lint found a way to clog up.




-------------------------

DaQo'tah Forge

"Hey don't look at me like that, Anyway he was already dead when I shot him so whats the big deal?."....DaQ 2002
 
It's really not about getting holes on the FRN, but eliminating weight off the liners.
Kind of like fluted barrels and cylinders.
 
LMAO
You see, I am just the oddball. I like holes in the handles and unfluted cylinders...
 
That Ti Wild Wild Turkey is a great little knife. It can do a lot of work in the kitchen, small as it is, because it's so sharp.

Darrell Ralph has slots in the handles of his EDC-type knives (EDC, Paragee, and FL1 & FL2) and they are supposed to help gripping the otherwise slick metal handle slabs. Sort of like skeleton handle knives, which generally have holes in them, too.
 
reduced weight, better grip, easier to clean AND, if strategically placed, help you twirl the knife into reverse grip...oh yeah, and they look cool :D

RL
 
Holes in your knife are a sign of poor quality control at the manufacturer.I purchased a knife one time from the Spyderco Knife Co. that actually had a hole in the BLADE.I gave it to a friend who said he could weld it up easily.The real problem here is you people that carry your lint and dirt in the same pocket as your knife. I can only imagine what your keys,wallet,and cigarette lighter must look like.
 
Originally posted by ThePsychologist
Holes in your knife are a sign of poor quality control at the manufacturer.I purchased a knife one time from the Spyderco Knife Co. that actually had a hole in the BLADE.I gave it to a friend who said he could weld it up easily.The real problem here is you people that carry your lint and dirt in the same pocket as your knife. I can only imagine what your keys,wallet,and cigarette lighter must look like.
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you sure that wasnt the thumb hole? Im pritty sure most spyderco knifes have a hold instead of a thumb stud...:rolleyes:
 
CRKT has the holes because the pointgaurd is a production version of Crawford Pointgaurd. Crawford's version has the holes because the handles are aluminum, so it saves weight. CRKT uses the holes just to keep the look the same.
 
That's not LINT in my pocket, it's TINDER, in case I get caught in a survival situation, and have to start a fire with no dry wood around.

The holes in the Point Guard are dots and dashes of a Morse code message, but it's a coded message, because if you found out what it meant, I'd have to stab you.
 
Heck i thought you where talking about Tom Mayo's TNT's, love his holes and the joke about a hole in a Spydie! ROTFLMAO hehe
 
My TNT got so dirty, I plugged up the holes with brass plugs, and started carrying my lint in my bellybutton.
 
Having the holes in the handle has good and bad points.

My first complaint is that the handle holes of a folder do allow dirt, lint and "stuff" additional paths to the pivot point and locking mechanism. Also, small metal parts can get jammed different places and cause damage to a fine edge.

One positive is that with the holes there is a much greater surface area to cover. If it is a given that a certain amount of oil, blood, mud or some other slime is going to get on the tool, having a greater surface area means that the stuff will have less thickness where you are trying to grip the tool. The holes will also allow for stuff to more easily escape out from under the hand/fingers like those fancy tires that push the water out from under them for better traction in the rain.

The negative side of the same arguement is that there is usually not a fixed amount that is going to get on the tool, but rather more nearly an infinite, or practically limitless amount. It is going to cover it to some layer thickness determined by the viscosity of the stuff, and the speed at which it is coming at the tool. In this case, the greater surface area of the tool with holes just means that there is more stuff to clean off of the tool, and more tool surface to have to clean, and more difficult places to clean. However the holes may be even more important here to give the stuff somewhere to be pushed to so that the hand can securely grip the tool.
 
Originally posted by Morgoth412
CRKT has the holes because the pointgaurd is a production version of Crawford Pointgaurd. Crawford's version has the holes because the handles are aluminum, so it saves weight. CRKT uses the holes just to keep the look the same.
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Morgoth what you said makes lots of sense. But, when I went onto Crawford's website the picture of the Pointguard I saw had solid micarta (whatever) handles. No holes whatsoever. Maybe he makes several versions of the Pointguard.

Bruise
 
Holes in zytel do not really cut down on weight much, I have a few of these and i think its mostly for astetics, looks nice. does provide a little grip though.
 
Originally posted by ThePsychologist
Holes in your knife are a sign of poor quality control at the manufacturer.I purchased a knife one time from the Spyderco Knife Co. that actually had a hole in the BLADE.I gave it to a friend who said he could weld it up easily.The real problem here is you people that carry your lint and dirt in the same pocket as your knife. I can only imagine what your keys,wallet,and cigarette lighter must look like.
Click to expand...

They are "a sign"? Do you mean that in a cognitive behaviorist interpretation, or the classic Freudian ego versus id? ;)

Seriously, "poor quality" and "Spyderco" are almost never mentioned in the same sentence (although there are exceptions).

I'm not sure about your experience with Spyderco but that "hole" (known affectionately as a Spydie hole) is trademarked and worshipped amongst Spyderco fanatics. Although it's not universally appreciated amongst knife nuts, it's not a sign of inferior quality or a cheap way around thumbstuds either.
 
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