No more tip up carry for me!!!

Originally posted by L6steel
I have never really understood why folks wanted to carry a folder tip up.
Click to expand...
It's faster, smoother, and easier, because it allows for a more natural presentation, without having to reposition the hand after withdrawing and opening the knife.
The clip that doesn't interfere with the index finger, so it's more comfortable and you have better control.
It looks better. Take a nice custom with bolsters...now screw a clip into the bolsters, and it looks like crap (well, on the clip side, anyway). Tip-up doesn't ruin the lines.
It's safer. A tip-down folder may catch in your pocket, and open, a tip-down auto may get pressed on and release. Tip up with the spine against a pocket seam won't open because it can't.
That's why I prefer it, and why I won't buy a tip-down knife...no matter who makes it.

I carried tip down for over six years, and don't see either one as really "good" or "bad". I just know what I like, and why.
My first tip up folder, about 2 1/2-3 years ago IIRC, instantly converted me, and I haven't bought anything tip-down since.
 
I'm with you on tip-down preference; however, my 710 has such a strong "pull" from the Axis-mechanism that I'm confident enough wearing this one tip-up.

Generally, I'm keen on searching for tip-down knives though... :)
 
To each his own. I'm strongly in support of tip up for various reasons, so much so that I will never buy another tip down folder and I have sold all my other tip down folders. I've never had a tip up bite me, but I did have a tip down come oepn in my pocket. The trick is to clip the knife against the outside seam. It can't open up that way.
 
I am a tip up fan as well. I can draw and open the knife much faster in tip up mode. Of course the knives I have carried that way have always had sufficient detents. I started with basic Spydercos years ago and just got habituated to this style of carry. It seems to require less shifting of hand position to open with tip up. Tip orientation is not a deal breaker on whether or not I buy a knife, but I much prefer tip up if I have a choice.
david
 
Hey Guys...

with all due respect..
Show me a better way to carry a folder and I will...
Not sure how/why you guys are getting cut,,but the way I look at it..
The blade is pushed up against the pants if you wear it correctly,,so how can it open....

I hesitate buying a folder that is set up in any other way...

Most of the folders I have since I'm left handed (A special Thanks to the companies who don't think of us Lefties) get moved to the other side and made to face tip up...

Sorry,, I don't understand it at all....

Tip Up Rulz!!

ttyle

Eric...
 
I carry both tip up and tip down, but drawing a tip up knife from my pocket feels natural to me basically because that is what I was used to. None of the tip up lockbacks and linerlocks I own have ever opened in my pocket simply because I clip them against the outside seam of my pockets. In my opinion, this is the only way to safely carry a tip up knife.
 
Let's see.... why would I want to carry tip-up?

Tip down:
-Requires a pinch draw
-Requires a grip shift
-Requires a less natural wrist angle on draw

Tip up:
-Allows a full grip from minute one
-Needs no grip shift
-Can more easily be drawn while sitting
-Is far faster
-Can be drawn with your other hand in a reverse grip
-Is perfectly safe if the knife is designed correctly or you just carry the damn thing properly

Try drawing a tip down folder out of your right pocket with your left hand or vice versa.

What, no one besides me has ever had to cut something and only been able to grab the knife with the 'wrong' hand?

This topic comes up every other damn day. Why do some people give a **** about how other people want to carry their knives? I got news for some of you people, there is no 'right' or 'wrong' to all of this bullshit.

I prefer tip-up for the reasons listed above, but I don't think that you're wrong if you prefer tip-down.

I think you're wrong, however, when you start throwing ridiculous arguments at me.

"Tip-up fights gravity"

This is a stupid argument. I'm sorry, it is. What's the weight of the average blade of a folder? A couple ounces? You mean to tell me, you can't find a folding knife that has lock with a stronger closing bias than a couple ounces?

Go ahead and factor in running and jumping. Still, if your folder can't take that then it wasn't designed properly. End of discussion. Take a $30 Spyderco, hold it up in front of your face, and shake it like you're running and jumping. The thing aint gonna open.

Take a liner lock with a crappy detent, loosen the pivot too much, and yea a fart is going to open it. Doesn't matter what direction the thing is facing. Even a knife like that won't open if it's against your pocket seam.

A good knife doesn't even have to be against a pocket seam though.

I carried an Endura for years in my back pocket. The thing had nothing but its own lock to keep it closed. Never opened on me.

L6steel,
you say the detent is strong enough to completely eliminate the possibility of flicking, yet it opened in your pocket? I don't believe you. You're exaggerating the strength of the detent or you don't know how to flick a knife open.
 
with all due respect..
Show me a better way to carry a folder and I will...
Not sure how/why you guys are getting cut,,but the way I look at it..
The blade is pushed up against the pants if you wear it correctly,,so how can it open....
Click to expand...

This is the strange thing about tip-up fanatics. Like TOTC says, who cares? But here, we have a tip-up fan basically saying that it's the fault of the stupid user for not carrying the knife correctly! I mean, a guy gets 15 stitches from a tip-up knife that opens in his pocket and all some people can say is, "well, you weren't carrying it right." Hello? Is anybody home? It just boggles me that people who carry tip-down, at least in part for safety, get criticized here even after they were seriously injured by tip up knives!

TOTC said in another thread that he doesn't think it's safe to flick open a 710 by pulling back on the axis lock. He's right. Mine jumped out of my hand like that a few times. So, who's going to say to TOTC that he just doesn't know how to open a knife? Nobody. And nobody should.

But tell BF that you don't think tip up is safe and you better get ready for the flames. Should I be surprised that there's a tip-up thread going on at the same time as a few sebbie threads? Does it bother you tip up people so much that some of us have different opinions?

How about if we get a list of big-time tip up fans who got bad cuts from knives that opened accidentally? Pretty short, I bet. I hope you guys never get burned. But don't go around telling someone who got cut that it's their fault for not carrying the knife properly.
 
Me I like tip up.But heres what I don't get if with tip up you can stab your hand,why then don't people stab there legs with tip down? I know 2 guys who did,well one just cut his pants the other stabbed his leg.

It would seem to me that if tip up would stab your hand then tip down would have as much chance to stab your leg.
 
Hey hd2k...

First off,, Please don't put words in my mouth...

No where did I say that it was Anyones fault...

What I said was this..

"Not sure how/why you guys are getting cut,,but the way I look at it..
The blade is pushed up against the pants if you wear it correctly,,so how can it open...."

In my opinion if the knife is pushed all the way back in the pocket, assuming the blade is facing the back and not the front,, I'm not sure how it could happen...

I've never Ever had it happen to me,, nor could I even imagine it to happen the way I wear a folder...

I have an assortment of liner locks, lock backs, Axis locks, and none of my blades would fall open on their own..

In fact the closest thing I've come to getting cut is taking my commander out of my pocket carelessly...

It's a bummer its happened,, I feel for ya,,but don't in my own mind see how its possible...
Not saying it isn't possible though...

Getting cut is part of the fun of a knife addiction...
Personally I'm starting to enjoy it....
Just glad I don't collect guns....

BTW,, No ones Flaming Anyone...... Yet! :)

ttyle

Eric...
 
Friends, don’t you think this discussion slowly starts to cross politeness borders?
Everyone can like what he or she likes, this is not the reason to flame him or her. And no one argument is silly as far as it is argument but not sheep-bleating in G. Orwell style: “Four legs are right, two legs are wrong!”

The fact that in tip-up position blade weight and inertia work against ball detent tension is not disputable thing – this is the fact so it can’t be silly as itself. Another thing is how important this fact is for you... It is quite important for me although I have never cut myself with tip-up folder and once pretty decently stabbed my loved backside with tip-down folder putting it into my rear pocket. However this single accident can’t overweigh common sense and safety feeling. This is just me, my personal matter.
Do you believe pocket seam can prevent unwanted opening? All right, you belief is your personal thing. Do you think tip-up provides faster draw and opening? Well, let it be, I even will not ask you how much faster and what this difference is important for...

For me safety is first, but this is just me again...

But no one of these arguments is worth to claim someone a stupid and/or his arguments – silly, isn’t it? Think about this, please...
 
OwenM, thanks for the post, very informative! I never thought about putting the clip on the knife so the blade would be at the back of the pocket. I put it on the finger side, when in use, of the knife instead of the palm side thinking it would be more comfortable.

Serg, outstanding post, thanks!

Thanks for the input forumites!
 
Hey Guys..

You know what I think is funny....?

See them all the time..

guys who hang the knife from the pocket clip on the outside of their pants,,or belt....

That cracks me up every time..

ttyle

Eric...
 
Well i prefer tipup, but i see the danger,
(once a Sifu opened partly in my jacket -
i felt the blade when reaching for my wallet -
oups, nothing got cut :eek: )

Since then i have one more safty rule:
I have NEVER ANYTHING in the same pocket where my knife is.
That works for me.

I think about sewing a seam into the pocket to make a small compartment for the knife.
 
well, my experience has been that the only 2 folders i had probs w/opening in my pocket were tip down, and made by the same unnamed maker, very well known/respected, but due to the blade shape, your hand would open them up when reaching into the pocket for change, etc- they would open when ya pulled your hand out - a penny to whoever guesses the make/models, EM me

have NEVER had probs w/tip up knives i carry (ie emerson commander, etc)

but thats just me......


sifu
 
Sergiusz, you're right on with your answers! The difference I have in drawing and opening tip up vs. tip down folders is negligible except with the Emerson wave - provided I catch the wave with my pocket lip! LOL!:D Your comment with the tip down folder in the backside reminds me of Gene Wilder's line in "Blazing Saddles" when he's explaining to Cleavon Little why he stopped being a gun slinger for a while. Guys in every town would call him out. One time a little kid called him out. He turned to walk away. Wilder then said, "The little b@$t@rd shot me in the @$$!" :eek:

Normark, it's like they're not sure if they want to carry and make sure everyone knows it, or they're a wannabe geek mistaking their knife for a palm pilot/pager/cell phone/lastest nerd-geek appliance! (I can say this since I'm a Sys Admin!)

Michael, I never thought that this thread would move in the direction of something like 9mm vs. .45cal or reverse grip vs. sabre grip, or what's really a custom knife!:D I think God is indirectly telling you how awesome your fixed blades that you're making are!:D

Hank:cool:
 
Originally posted by L6steel
I put it on the finger side, when in use, of the knife instead of the palm side thinking it would be more comfortable.
Click to expand...
I bet that is more comfortable. Always thought it would be with the clip on the "other" (left-handed) side, even tried it with an Axis lock with a reversible clip. It just made getting the knife out awkward, and I wouldn't trust many knives to carry like that. Maybe a good lockback, but certainly not a liner, or frame lock. Guess this is one of those times where we can't have our cake and eat it, too:(
Everything's a compromise...
Really, I think the best clip is no clip, but they sure are convenient.
 
I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

I have a good friend who is a mechanical engineer. One of his favorite rules of thumb is: "don't fight gravity. It's a battle you just can't win."

Tip-up carry fights gravity.

You know, all lock mechanisms can fail. Special ways to push the knife to one side or another against the edge of the pocket etc. will also eventually fail as the knife moves around. But gravity??? Gravity is the one thing in this world that you can depend on 100%. It just never seems to fail. 24/7 from sea-to-sea, it's there pulling down gently just waiting for the chance to open your knife enough to slice your hand open. It's a battle you just can't win.

Tip-down, on the other hand, uses that constant pull of gravity to keep the knife closed.

Carry tip-up and gravity is your constant enemy. Carry tip-down and gravity becomes your constant friend. Given that gravity is probably the most reliable force on the face of the Earth, I'd rather have it as my friend.
 
Gollnick,

I've read this argument from you a million times and I hear what you're saying but I still disagree. A good knife can easily "win the battle against gravity."

I don't need my pocket seam to keep my tip-up folders closed. They were designed properly with attention to engineering.

I'm not going to lay down rather than stand up because I can't "beat" gravity, and I'm not going to carry a folder tip-down if I don't want to either.

There is nothing intrinsically dangerous or negligent about all tip-up knives. If that is the case, as some claim, why would respectable people like Sal Glesser and Chris Reeve still produce them? Good men like these would not endanger their customers for a few bucks.

BTW, I do feel that there are knives in the market that are tip-up which are grossly unsuited for this method of carry. That is a problem with the company's specific product, however, and not the method of carry as a whole.
 
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