One-handed opening: does it matter?

ASBOB said:
One issue that hasn't been raised before now: there is a segment of the membership that is disabled. For them, there my be little choice, and one-handed is a necessity.

In my case, my left side became paralyzed twelve years ago. I have more mobility in the hand on that side than the foot, as the result of exercise, but it is still limited. If I'm casually relaxing at a desk, I enjoy a slipjoint folder (albeit one with reduced spring tension), but any other situation requires use of a one-handed knife.
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Exactly. As I mentioned in my previous post, sometimes it's a necessity.
 
ASBOB said:
One issue that hasn't been raised before now: there is a segment of the membership that is disabled. For them, there my be little choice, and one-handed is a necessity.

In my case, my left side became paralyzed twelve years ago. I have more mobility in the hand on that side than the foot, as the result of exercise, but it is still limited. If I'm casually relaxing at a desk, I enjoy a slipjoint folder (albeit one with reduced spring tension), but any other situation requires use of a one-handed knife.
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Thanks for bringing this up. I never thought of that before. In that case, I see the value of a one-handed opener.
 
I was going to bring this up about the disabled. That is a practical reason for a one hand opening knife. Another is faster deployment. Farmers and cattle ranchers need one hand deployment when possible. If you have never had a steer and rope roll over and tangle you up and you need to cut yourself free to save your hide, then you cannot understand. There are many times where a one hand opening knife is simply a better choice.
 
Starting around the time of the American Civil War, the main blades on some Barlow pocketknives were modified with a notch cut out of the tip of the blade, so the user could open it one-handed, by catching the notch on the edge of a table, their pant leg, or anything else they could catch it on. The modified spear point blades ended up looking more like razors. These were for men who had lost an arm.

Jim
 
not2sharp said:
Which knife would you have along for this kind of crisis?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/127_Hours
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/127_Hours

n2s
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Fixed blade definitely, haha. But damn, it sucks to have to self-amputate. And with a bloody multitool, good Lord. I’ve heard of that incident before. Mighty hardcore, that was.

I see now the value of one-handed openers in emergency situations. If your vehicle crashes and one of your arms is out of commission, a one-handed opener could spell the difference between extricating yourself out of the steel prison or remaining stuck.
 
One hand opening is very important for me in choosing a knife. Yeah, I have some that require both hands, but most of my knives require only one hand to open them. I can think of several practical situations requiring one hand opening such as cutting a fishing line while holding the fishing lure with the other hand, using knife in the dark while holding flashlight with other hand, plus they just look cool flipping them open with one hand.
 
One hand opening and closing is very important for me, at least for the enjoyment of carrying and using a knife

if I don’t have that I get bored and always come back to my SAK ;)
 
It's very important to me. As others have said 98% of the time, I'm holding what I want to cut something on in the other hand.
I LOVE the little autos from Kershaw, Microtech and Pro-Tech. If I don't want to pull the big folder out, I usually use my Launch 4 or my UTX-70 CA.
 
I work as a Diver on two boats and a Submarine. There have been plenty of times where I had to hang on to something to steady myself and then needed to deploy a knife and a couple of times where I was hung up on something on one arm and needed to get the knife to cut my arm free. I carry a fixed blade which covers most situations and I also carry a Spyderco Autonomous. The Coasty rescue swimmers carry it and it works pretty well to remove fishing line and net material. Even working on the surface I always have a one hand opener. In fact out of probably a hundred Knives I don't think I own more than a handful of two hand openers; most of them are SAK's. These are my most used knives at work.
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And these are my most often used knives outside of work.

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