How far you can actually push slipjoint knife?

D

damib

Joined
Jul 7, 2021
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119
Hello guys,
I am interested in your thoughts or experiences with how far can you really push slipjoint knife without it being dangerous. I have used slipjoints all my life and I really didn't have any dangerous moment.
 
I used a Schrade old timer stockman and a Queen Mountain Man commercial fishing and never had an issue.
The OT was the largest one with delrin scales and carbon steel blades- that one went to Georges Bank with me twice I believe.
The Mountain Man was a gift from a fellow forumite and was Amber bone and D2. It had a half stop i believe. Eventually the backspring snapped while I was opening the knife but until then I had no problems.
If you know the limitations of the knife you will get as much mileage and enjoyment out of a slipjoint as you will a locking knife.
I tend to favor a one hand opener with a pocket clip these days for the convenience rather than any safety concerns.
 
Don’t use one for an ice pick, don’t stab with one, a spine whack test will be a failure every time, don’t use one for a pry bar. These are the tasks I don’t do with a slip joint.
Like all knives, if they’re used for the intended purpose, they will be safe tools
 
For 25 years, before my infection with the knife nut obsession, my sole pocket knife for all things was a Buck 301 stockman. It was my EDC whatever knife, bird and trout knife, camping knife, and it never failed me. It took all 25 years of heavy duty use and sometimes a bit of abuse, to wear it out.

It never cut me only because having grown up with a Camillus Boy Scout knife, I was used to slip joints. Eve when I went in the army engineers, they issued us the all steel scout knife that some call a demo knife. I never felt under knifed. To this day, I don't carry or even own a lock blade knife. I still have all my fingers, and have been in a few emergency situations and campout fine.

Like my old man told me once when I was a kid and he saw me prying with a knife and he gave me a good head slap, "its a knife, bone head." Used like one, its just fine.
 
I forgot to mention I almost always had a swiss army knife or original leatherman on me. I believe the Recruit model was the SAK I normally carried. Before that it was a Tinker or the same knife but with a corkscrew instead of the Phillips head screwdriver. I never experienced any issues with any of the Swiss Army knives I carried.
Unless you are carrying a beefed up heavy duty folder or fixed blade, a slipjoint will be as safe as any other knife. People have used them for two hundred or more years.
 
With the exception of my Buck 110, purchased in ~1969, I carried and used only slip joint knives from the 1950s through to ~'95. I've continued to use them to this day, even though nowadays I mostly carry both a slip joint and a locking blade (because I can). I used them as a truck driver, factory worker, construction worker, lab worker, chemist, and engineer for all my cutting needs and never had a problem. I have never suffered a cut due the knife closing at an inopportune moment.
 
As long as you use it with the cutting force against the edge, you can push it as hard as the blade thickness allows. Most of my slipjoints are pretty thin, around 0.07" thick. So I don't push them near as hard as my Sebenzas, Spydies, and Cold Steels. For me, harder use typically comes in the form of puncturing tough material, or lateral force during scraping or carving. NEVER prying though.
 
When I raised hogs and other animals I'd cut up squash and zucchini for them with a Swiss army knife, when the blade met resistance in tougher vegetables the handle would fold down. Which I found annoying. Could it do the job? Yes.

Eventually I got tired of the tougher veggies causing the handle to fold and started using fixed blades.

With the right technique you can use them as hard as you're willing to deal with I suppose.
 
Getting started in life with SAKs and traditionals, it was one of many lessons of youth. Even today, I treat all folding knives as just that.

I don't care how strong a particular locking mechanism might be. I don't do anything with a folder that might test it.
 
I've told the story of my Grandfather and his slipjoint a few times here in the past, I'll share an abbreviated version here.

My Grandfather had always been good with his hands, and tools. In the middle and later years of his life he was the maintenance man for a very large apartment complex.

The one tool he always carried on him was an old single-bladed slipjoint, and he used that knife for a wide variety of tasks, both cutting, and non-cutting chores (he often used the back angle of the clip-point blade as a screwdriver). It was his pocket toolbox, and among other things I watched him re-wire a lamp, and fix a car, with nothing more than his know-how, and that knife.

My Grandfather was living proof that the right man can accomplish a lot with the simplest of tools.

And I don't recall him ever cutting himself with that slipjoint, nor did he ever break it.
 
killgar said:
I've told the story of my Grandfather and his slipjoint a few times here in the past, I'll share an abbreviated version here.

My Grandfather had always been good with his hands, and tools. In the middle and later years of his life he was the maintenance man for a very large apartment complex.

The one tool he always carried on him was an old single-bladed slipjoint, and he used that knife for a wide variety of tasks, both cutting, and non-cutting chores (he often used the back angle of the clip-point blade as a screwdriver). It was his pocket toolbox, and among other things I watched him re-wire a lamp, and fix a car, with nothing more than his know-how, and that knife.

My Grandfather was living proof that the right man can accomplish a lot with the simplest of tools.

And I don't recall him ever cutting himself with that slipjoint, nor did he ever break it.
Click to expand...

My grandfather worked two jobs. His primary job was for Amtrak/Union Pacific at the Detroit Central II train station. His second job was the stock yards/slaughter house in southwest Detroit.

His favorite knife(aside from the fixed blades he used at the slaughter house) was a Case half whittler.

I have the last one he carried. My mother still has the butcher knives he used at the stock yard. I cleaned them up and rehandled them with a Brazilian rosewood a few years ago.

Unfortunately I can’t say he never broke his Case. The tip was broken when I got it after his passing. Not terribly. Could have been something as simple as dropping it. I clipped it and it’s in fine condition now.

🥃To your grandfather, mine and their slipjoint knives.
 
I carried various slip joint knives for close to 40 years - before the internet came along and people told me how unsafe it was to carry that type of knife.

Anyhow - I bet you if you eliminate all the threads about locks and all the threads about types of steel, all that going to be left is "What did you carry today?"

;)

So - let's all pile on and give this dead horse a couple whacks! (just kidding)
 
Using a knife is usually more a matter of finesse than force. If the blade is properly sharpened you shouldn‘t have to push very hard.

A slipjoint should hold up as well as any other knife. There are plenty of antique examples from over a century ago and often we see them with heavily worn blades and scales, indicating extensive use.

As long as you maintain the knife and refrain from outright abuse, it will likely outlast you.

n2s
 
As others have said, if you don't try to cut with the spine, stab, pry, use as a screwdriver, etcetera, you'll have no problems. The normal cutting action forces the blade open - not closed.
As for "hard use" ... how about building a thatched survival shelter?
Vinnie's Day Off
The knife looks like a "half congress", in the 3.5 inch closed range.

(If you pay attention, you'll learn how to easily fell saplings without chopping or batoning, with a sub 2 inch blade. 🙂)
 
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