How do you like your flipper to flip?

jill jackson

jill jackson

Joined
Sep 5, 2006
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I have two Kershaw Tilts now and the first one flips very hard, you have to really pull the flipper hard to get it to fire. But, then the blade just goes CLICK! and she's open! Then I trade for another one and I'm thinking boy I sort of like the way that Tilt sounds opening up real fast and hard into lockup, so I get this new one and it flips so easy! No comparison. I'm not sure which is better, I don't mind either- the hard to overcome one sounds better opening and opens faster once it fires. The easy flipper opens without near the noise, or raw speed, it is just a lot easier to flip though because it takes like a tenth the pressure to get it going.

I've noticed the trend seems to be flippers are easy to flip. I have a few and only two of the older models take a lot of pressure. The rest all flip very easy, but they deploy slower. They seem lazy almost compared to the hard pull two I have. They also don't have the sound of the ones that open fast.
 
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Smoothly and preferably a little easier. I want it to be able to open without any wrist flick. If its a little slower that's fine, i can add the wrist motion to speed it up. But i don't want the wrist action to be necessary.
 
I'm talking about how hard the detent is to overcome on folders with bearings mostly, none of those I have need any wrist movement anyway. They either flop out easy and slower, or take a lot more pressure then they go POW and fly out, once they give.
 
Assuming low friction at the pivot and low detent drag across the blade tang, a strong detent allows more finger pressure on the trigger before the detent breaks, which in turn fires the blade out with more energy (no wrist emphasis required). That's how I like 'em. A soft detent breaks too easily, so there's often too little energy behind the release to snap the blade out consistently. IMO, a well designed flipper shouldn't need any additional momentum beyond the detent break.

The CRKT Eros is a great example of a thin, low mass blade coupled with a firm detent that fires as crisply as an auto.
 
My Southard is set up with a pretty stiff detent but when it fires the blade just flies out. At first I just about wore the end of my finger out playing with it but I figured out the right motion and the detent also seems to be breaking in just a little. Great balance now.
 
I prefer ones with the slightly stronger detent that, once overcome, sends the blade flying out fast without any wrist action. My Skyline and Zings do this. On those, I don't really pull down on the flipper, but rather I apply force from the tip of the flipper towards the pivot (sort of pushing on it like a button).
 
I have several and the new ones have a reasonably strong detent and low friction. You put some force onto the flipper up until the point where you overcome the detent and the blade starts to move. You are still pulling on the flipper so that force is what accelerates the blade and opens it all the way. With less detent and/or more friction your blade would not open all the way.

I like to have just enough detent to make all of this work. I notice with my ZT 0561 if the knife is pointing up when I flip it, there isn't enough inertia for the blade to open all the way and that knife has a very strong detent.
 
Not to hot, not to cold. Its got to be just right. My tilt has the strong detent, flies out. I like when you can decide if you want the blade to fully open or not. My 0560 is perfect as well as my jyd2, push lightly and the blade opens but doesn't lock , push fast and it flies.
 
i prefer a strong detent in mine.

that's really how a flipper is supposed to be whether people like it or not...
 
I prefer the action of the manual Spyderco Southard flipper to the harsh ZT assisted flipper. I can determine just how fast and solid it will open. A loud snap is not always a good thing.
 
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I like a medium strong detent, something that I know wont come out accidentally but something that is not too hard to open. I also like a bigger flipper for my finger.
 
I prefer a stiffer detent for sure. With bearing pivot knives, I find they want to pop open very easily if the detent isn't strong enough.
 
I experienced the same thing with my 0560 and 0561, always assumed the 0560 had a much stronger detent as I had much the same experience you are having with your tilts. I took the 0560 apart today to put a rival custom carbon fiber scale on it (highly recommended), and after reassembling it is much easier and smoother even though I am sure the pivot screw is even tighter than before lol.
 
When I went to a brick and mortar (at the mall) knife shop to buy a HTM gun hammer raiden the thing was so hard to flip I couldn't do it. I ended up not buying it because of that.
 
I like very little detent with super smooth action. Otherwise, if the knife won't flick open without a wrist, I'd rather get the "pop"
 
Maddogg774 said:
When I went to a brick and mortar (at the mall) knife shop to buy a HTM gun hammer raiden the thing was so hard to flip I couldn't do it. I ended up not buying it because of that.
Click to expand...

Mightn't that have been due to an over-tight pivot?
 
I don't like a hard detent because I like to play with my flippers a lot. A stiff detent will wear out my finger, but it can't be too soft either. I don't like mis fires and I do not like assisted knives either. I like manual, they open just as fast and in general are cheaper and have less legal issues in my area. I guess I'm like goldy locks, it has to be just right, very smooth and speed is no issue. Like it was said here before, if I need it out faster I can just flick my wrist.
My favorite flipper I own is my kershaw Chill, my CRKT m16 is a very close second, it is a little stiffer but still very nice and with the Auto-Lawks, I love the sound it makes.
 
I like a medium detent. However, I like the flipper to be angled forward for maximum leverage like that of the Kershaw RAM. That way you can really get some torque going to slam the blade out with authority. I was all flippers were designed like this.
 
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