Nothing like half-stops and long pulls, what features do you like in a knife?

flyfishrman

flyfishrman

Joined
Jul 23, 2006
Messages
506
We get into alot of conversations about patterns and handle materials, different blades etc. We don't get into alot of other knife features. One that I've become particularly fond of are half stops. I really like them. I do have to say that similar to a lock on a knife you can get a false sense of security in your blade stopping at 90 degrees, so they keep you on your toes. For some reason to me it just seems like a knife with a half stop was given just a bit more care in its making to get it to do that.

Another feature I love are long pulls. Small nicks are fine, but a long pull just looks nice on a knife.

What about you guys, what little features do you love about your knives?
 
i love a well done swedge on a knife.

long pulls are nice too, and i like the look of matchstrike pulls.

i also like rounded bolsters, they just feel nicer in the hand when you are fondling the knife.
 
I like half stops and long pull nicks too. The other thing that I really appreciate is milled brass liners. Adds a touch of class IMO.
 
sm2 said:
Case Peanuts have half-stops. I wish Case would do a striker nail nick on the main blade, in CV especially.
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Man oh man do I agree. We traditional forumites have been pining for more handle materials and blade configurations in CV for quite some time. I don't currently have a knife with a striker nick, need to add that to the collection at some point.
 
Half stops and swedges are are my favorites. I like a long pull, too. Pinched bolsters are nice on some knives.

todd
 
I really like long striker pulls and milled liners. milled liners. One thing I really like on an older knife is a stovepipe kick.
 
Rivit said:
I really like long striker pulls and milled liners. milled liners. One thing I really like on an older knife is a stovepipe kick.
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Me too. If I am not mistaken, the stovepipe kick was typical of hand-forged blades. They had the advantage of being adapted as needed to fit the blade into the handles.
 
I like a finger choil on some of my other folding lockbacks. Any slip joint patterns that have a finger choil on them? It would obviously be on a larger knife, but I've never seen one.
 
Long matchstrike pulls and half-stops :D Although cosmetic, a little tastefully done file work is always an added bonus
 
Properly positioned nail nicks, half stops on some knives, stainless integral liners-bolsters, and swedges...
 
"Properly positioned nail nicks"

i forgot about this. i agree, a well placed nail nick is a boon. such as on an opinel, with the nail nick all the way down at the end of the blade. alows alot of leverage so the blade is easy to open. also the nick on the spey blade of a trapper is normally all the way at the tip of the blade. very easy opening.

about matchstrike pulls; can you really use them to strike a match? i have never held one, but from the pictures it seems that the texture would be too rough and would just rip the striker bit off the wood, or break the stick.

as an aside, i have found that i can strike a match well on my pocket stone, if for some reason i don't have a proper box striker.
 
I like milled long pulls,fluted bolsters , nickel silver liners and sunken joints. Larry
 
I guess I'm the odd man out on long pulls and half stops. Never liked long pulls. As a kid I owned a vintace Remington Scout knife that I sold off just 'cause I didn't like that long pull on the blade (ok, I admit that was a dumb a$$ move!).

Half stops are ok, I guess ..... but they were never that important to me. My relatively new peanut has 'em and I love that knife, so I guess that makes me a half-stop fan now.

Otherwise, I love rounded bolsters and handle pins have to be smooth and buffed. Nothing worse than rough, unfinished pins.

Lastly, I have never liked file work on springs. To me it's like putting too much makeup on a beautiful gal.
 
To add something new, I like it when there is a well placed "easy open" groove fashioned into the handle. Some aren't readily visible until you look closely. Any added touch that shows the knifemaker is also a seasoned user.
 
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