Pocket clips: tip up or tip down carry?

Cosmic Superchunk

Cosmic Superchunk

Joined
Jan 28, 2001
Messages
3,709
First off I want thank Sal Glesser of Spyderco for bringing us the concept of pocket clip carry. There are a plethora of knives on the market with pocket clips of various shapes and sizes, designed for tip up or tip down carry. Which do you prefer? For instance, I prefer tip up carry because I find it easier to draw a knife if the clip is mounted on the butt end. Also, if the knife has a lanyard hole, you can make a short fob to aid you in retrieving the knife from your pocket.
 
Tip down.

Tip down.

Tip down, tip down, tip down, for the love of the almighty Walrus, TIP DOWN!

How many times must a man stab himself in the fingertip before he decides to prefer TIP DOWN?
Eyecrazy.gif


No, really. Tip down.

Down.

Down, I said.
 
I used to be a staunch tip-up guy, and I still maintain that some linerlocks are safer that way--as long as you keep the seam of your pants against the spine.

BUT...for knives with opening holes and knives that you'll open with no wrist assistance, I am now a tip-down guy. Anyone who has a tip-down Spyderco knows what I'm talking about.

This question will never go away, but there's one way to make everyone happy: whenever possible, manufacturers should drill four sets of holes.
 
For liner locks, tip down to protect fingers. However, I think the axis lock holds the blade firmly enough inside the handle to safely allow for the convenience of tip up carry.
 
I have to vote for "tip down". To me it just seems safer and more convenient.
 
I agree with tip down carry on most linerlocks, however, with Benchmade's Axis locks and SOG's Arc locks, tip up carry does quite well. I think lockbacks like those by Spyderco, Al Mar, Cold Steel are well designed for tip up carry.
 
I've found that another nice thing about tip down knives is that you can comfortably carry several knives side by side in the same pocket. With tip up knives, I personally tend to rotate the knife somewhat while I draw it, so having something next to the knife in my pocket can interfere with withdrawing it. With tip down knives though, you usually draw it straight up and out of the pocket, so carrying other things in the same pocket doesn't seem to cause as many problems.
 
Tip-UP for me, thank-you. For ME, I find the opening quicker and more natural as I draw a folder "tip-up".

As a side-note, I find it interesting that REKAT makes some of their folders "tip-up" (Sifu, Carnivour), and others "tip-down" (Pioneer II, Pocket Hobbit).
 
Originally posted by Shmackey
whenever possible, manufacturers should drill four sets of holes.
Click to expand...
I agree completely!!

But usually I prefer tip-up.

It's totally an individual thing and I don't think either one is "better" than the other, just whatever works for you.
 
I could go either way, it really depends on the knife. I couldn't imagine my AFCK to be anything but tip down, but I love the fact that my LCC is tip up because it's so easy. It doesn't matter to me.
 
Tip up is a more natural draw for me. If the knife isn't safe for tip up carry, put it in a sheath or carry something that is.

Paul
 
I have a number of blades in both styles and I have to say I fail to see the need for tip up. You are more likely to get stabbed reaching into pocket and if the knife does open you are at more risk all round. Ease of opening is another point, with tip down you grab the knife open with thumb and the blade is tip up edge towards bad guy or whatever you want to cut. With tip up the knife has to be manipulated more to bring the knife into an 'action ready' position. An example if you will, my Military is tip down, I can draw and open in just over a second. My Matriarch was awkward and inconvienient to draw by comparison, I had to reach much further into the pocket and place my hand much further down the handle of the knife to draw it. In an emergency this is about as cool as a holiday on Mercury.:p
 
The knives I started out with were all tip-down, but I have come to strongly prefer tip-up carry. The tip-up draw just comes a lot more naturally to me. I doubt there is any real advantage to either direction; it is just a matter of personal preference and individual biomechanics.

I also don't think either carry has an advantage in safety. Tip-down has gravity working to hold the blade closed. On the other hand, I carry my knives against the back edge of my front pocket where a tip-up configuration means the blade has no space to open.

I would like to see more knives come pre-drilled for whichever the user prefers. The tip-down carry is one of the main reasons why my Kershaw Boa normally rides in a concealex sheath instead of my pocket.

--Bob Q
 
If the knife is well designed and made....... I don't really care whether it's tip-up or tip-down. It's the designer's and manufacturer's jobs to make sure the knife doesn't open up in my pocket. If they don't think they can pull it off, they should go back to the drawing board.
 
Tip up.

All my early knives were tip-down, and I didn't know any better.

Since I got my small Sebenza I've realized what I was missing. In fact, I probably wouldn't buy another tip-down production knife, and that the BM705 is tip-up will probably be the deciding factor in buying it (axis lock was the first consideration).

Mike
 
Tip up! Tip down is too slow to deploy.

Just my personal preference, of course. But I won't buy any more tip down knives. BTW, I think that if the knife opens in your pocket on its own, then there's something wrong with it, either the design or the pivot pin tension. :eek:
 
I have cut myself exactly <b>once</b> on a tip-up carry. Strange it hadn't happened in years, and hasn't happened in a year since either, but it did happen once. That being said, tip up is more natural to deploy and therefore easier. If it weren't, no one would be even asking this question (yet again) because everyone agrees that tip-down is <i>safer</i>.

But the worst is having to do <i><b>both</b></i>. Having a few knives that go one way and a few going the other makes it nearly impossible to make the tip-down draw as smooth as tip up. If all you have ever known is tip-down, then getting that draw smooth and fast is not to hard to do. But the moment you get used to tip-up, going back to tip-down seems really clumsey.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top