OK WTF EXACTLY is flipping a knife????

The General

The General

Joined
Jun 6, 2000
Messages
3,625
To me flipping a knife is this...

Opening the knife by holding the handle and yanking your wrist in a violent way to cause the blade to snap open. I have NOT yet managed to make any knife do this without pressing a button etc AND doing the above.

Is flipping considered to be holding a knife by the blade and snapping it down to make the blade open? Or opening the knife half way and then snapping it open with the wrist for the final half?

I keep hearing about people flipping and damaging blades, but what is it? EXACTLY?

Thanks!

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Wayne.
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by The General:
To me flipping a knife is this...

Opening the knife by holding the handle and yanking your wrist in a violent way to cause the blade to snap open</font>
Click to expand...

You are exactly correct. It seems like from your past posts you have several knives that "should" be able to accomplish this. It is pretty hard to describe. It starts with the blade facing inward toward the body and during the "yank" the knife also rotated outward somewhat to allow the blade to succumb to the centripidal force of the motion. ( I get centripidal/centrifugal mixed up!?! ) Oh well, it is a simultaneous snap and twist of the wrist.
Maybe someone has a good vid clip like we saw posted from the question about the wave on the commander!
 
I can do it with my axis by holding the axis release down. Same goes for my Gerber bolt action and my MOD CQD. However I find it impossible to do it on my Endura or any other lockback and have failed to do it on a liner lock blade as well. Perhaps my requirement for a rock solid blade has made me over tighten the pivot pin? I remember a friends AFCK was VERY flickable, but had a little blade play.

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Wayne.
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
 
On many models this cannot be accomplished without first getting past the ball detent. With the axis lock, you have to first disengage the lock in order to do this.
 
So in other words you do have to open the knife a little? Or remove the ball indent?

???

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Wayne.
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
 
The AFCK is very "flippable" but you can tighten just about any knife to the point that it won't budge. A lockback with a light/thin blade would be VERY hard to do because of the pressure created by the lock. Some locks like the axis make it impossible without releasing the lock. Flipping will almost invariably loosen a pivot screw unless you use loctite on it.
 
I can open any of my folders with a 'flick' or an 'inertia opening' or whatever you want to call it. Lockback, axis, liner, doesn't matter. Some are easier but all are possible (you don't have to loosen them). You do not need to pull back on the axis to flip it out.

If you want to know the proper technique check here:
http://members.aol.com/imagestopost/inertia.htm
I'm not saying it's a great practice but I think it's good to know in case the SHTF.

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Karma is only justice without the satisfaction
 
My blades can still open with a light touch from my thumb on an opening device or a Spyderco Drop (TM)!

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Wayne.
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
 
Thanks for the link! I will try it on my Endura right now!

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Wayne.
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
 
Tried an failed on my Endura, but I just tried it on my Seahawk and nearly pissed my pants when it flew open! Wow it does work after all. I found you have to hold it right where it pivots to get it to work. It took me a couple of mins to find a screwdriver so I could disengage the liner lock though...

This could be hard on a knife.

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Wayne.
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
 
The knife does not have to be opened with a rotation of the wrist. It requires much less skill to do it while rotating the wrist, but it can be accomplished without the wrist rotation.

--JB

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e_utopia@hotmail.com
 
Another method you can use is what I call the "slam". There's really no wrist action involved in it at all.

You hold the knife in a vertical position, at about shoulder height, with the tip pointing down. Then you just slam the knife down hard and fast to at, or below, waist line level. The blade will pop out of the handle and swing up to lock in place.

Of course, this is very dangerous. If you're not careful, the knife can slip out of your grip and harpoon your foot, amoung other things.
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Cerulean

"The hairy-armed person who figured out how to put an edge on a suitable rock made it possible for us to be recognizably human in the first place." - J.K.M.

[This message has been edited by cerulean (edited 04-30-2001).]
 
General, please be advised that almost all manufacturers take a very dim view of your doing that and at least one, Bob Brothers of REKAT, commented that flicking my Sifu could be considered abuse and could invalidate the warranty. The reason seems to be that it puts stress on the knife that it was not designed to bear.

Also, if an LEO sees you doing it, especially in the UK, I should think, you would be in a heap of trouble.

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Walk in the Light,
Hugh Fuller
 
Flipping can damage a knife by placing lots of stress on the locking mechanism. Linerlocks made of titanium are particularly likely to be damaged by flipping.

Lock-up depends on a tight junction between the blade tang, and the liner-lock, the frame-lock, or the lock-bar. Since blade steel is much more durable than titanium liners, flipping can accelerate the wear on the liner. Because metal is malleable, the enormous forces that can be generated by flipping can deform the blade tang, or locking mechanism and cause blade play or lock-failure.

Some knives are much more tolerant of flipping than others, but I think almost all knife manufacturers would consider frequent flipping to be abuse of the knife.

Many modern liner-lock folders can be 'flipped'. Loosening the pivot pin will make many knives 'flippable'. Some knives can be flipped open without generating much impact force as the knife locks open. Others require a more kinetic energy (faster, longer flipping motion) to get them to open. This will generate more force on precision machined parts as the blade tang, and locking mechanism engage, and cause premature wear on these parts.

In the US, folks should be aware the 'gravity' knives are illegal just about everywhere. A gravity knife is a knife that will fall open without any additional force except gravity. Flipping is a technique(s) that imparts enough kinetic energy into the blade that it will swing open and lock. A flippable knife could easily be construed by a LEO to be a 'gravity' knife.

Flip only when necessary.

Paracelsus, completely flipped out
 
"Flipping" a knife: Step-by-step

1) Make a vertical fist
2) Place knife on top of thumb and index finger.
3) Perform sharp upward movement with both fist and thumb.
4) Watch in wonder and amazement as the knife flips. Call it. (heads/tails, tip/pommel)
5) Catch! Or, in the case of a "tails win," proceed immediately to the emergency dept. at the nearest hospital.
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'Scuse me while I flip this out ...
 
OR, you can just get a Madd Maxx with a "flipper" on the blade.
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If ignorance is bliss,
why aren't more people happy?
 
Wayne,
You have asked a question that IMHO you will get about as many different replys as the number of people who answer.
Some do it one way, someone else will have a 'better' way becuase the first person really doesn't khow what he is talking about.
rolleyes.gif

Some say it hurts all knives, some say it a only hurts 'cheap' knives, while others say it will hurt nothing.

Others will say if you do it 'correctly' it is ok. Some say that no matter how hard you do it, nothing is damaged.

Some say they can produce 'good' knives that have not been hurt by flipping, I can show you 'good' knives that are trash IMO because of flipping, excessive though it was; it was still flipping.(not my knives)

All of these opinions are just that for the most part, probably all have some element of truth;who knows????????????

IMO if a knife was meant to be flipped it would not have a thumb stud, hole, thumb disc, etc., etc. Any thing can be torn up and IMHO this just accelerates the process.
Oh, even I know it can be done correctly in a manner where it causes no problem. I can do it that way if I choose too. I don't 99.9% of the time though.

Most people I 'see' do it slam it open w/ all the force they can generate. IMO this is not good for the knife. THAT IS MY OPINION ONLY THOUGH..... Whomever pays for the knife can choose to do whatever they want to with it.
Basically Wayne, if you pay for it do what you want w/ it. Don't flip it though...
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Have a great one .

I will, that is WILL email you tonite. Unexpected thing came up yesterday. So as not to keep you guessing completely. There were a couple of 'semi' duffs. None total though.
DETAILS tonight, I promise.
Great day to you,
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teacher
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Cheers teacher! I kinda figured you would find some blades from THAT company that were a little out of sorts
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Probaly not as many as me though
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As to other comments, I do not intend to flip any knife, I just wanted to try it. The way it hammered the liner lock bar on my Seahawk, and the amount of effort involved vs using the thumb stud= a showy and pointless waste of time. Nice for the first few seconds, but more likely to scare a sheeple and get me some jail time
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But I suppose that is just my sheeple friendly attitude
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Thanks!

------------------
Wayne.
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
 
It doesn't matter if you grab the handle and fling the blade open or grab the blade and fling the handle open. It is still abusive to the knife and wontonly provocative to the public unless done in a strictly defensive posture. Practice it at home with a knife you care nothing about to develop the technique. Do it when push come to shove. 'Nuff said.
Open note to General,WTF is not an appropriate acronym to be used in the general forum.
David

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AKTI# A000150
NC Custom Knifemakers Guild member
NC Knife Knuts member

[This message has been edited by davidb415 (edited 05-01-2001).]
 
Totally agree w/ you David.

I'm sure The General's 'WTF' meant "What the Flip". I hope it did??????????
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Later,

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***
teacher
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[This message has been edited by teacher (edited 05-01-2001).]
 
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