Poll: BM Axis AFCK, tip-up, tip-down, or the option of both?

BM Axis AFCK: Tip-Up, Tip Down, Or Option of Both?

  • Tip-Up Carry (Clip holes at non-pivot end on both sides)...

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Tip-Down Carry (Clip holes at pivot end on both sides)...

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Tip-Up and Tip Down Options Available (Four sets of clip holes--aka the "Swiss Cheese Option")...

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • You're not sure, but darn glad Menudo's out of the picture...

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0

Professor

Gold Member
Joined
Apr 6, 1999
Messages
3,427
I'm posting this unofficial poll to determine what your preferences for clip configuration on the new BM806 Axis AFCK are. I think I know already ;), but would like to have a statistically-formatted response when addressing this issue. Benchmade has been known for conducting "rolling changes" in production, so while prototypes and pre-pro/first production runs may be configured one way, they can always be changed if desired (look at the clip configuration on the BM720 for example). Please post your preference on how you'd like to see the finalized clip configuration on the AFCK. While unconfirmed, Benchmade MAY take this poll under consideration in the knife's evolution...

The options are:

1. Tip-up carry (clip is mounted at non-pivot end)
2. Tip-down carry (clip is mounted at pivot end--like old-school AFCK's)
3. Tip-up and tip-down carry is possible (four sets of clip holes are drilled into the knife)
4. You're not sure, but you sure are glad Menudo broke up.

Bear in mind that by virtue of being an Axis locking knife, it's gonna be ambi right out of the box. So if you want the option of either tip-up or tip down, you're gonna have FOUR sets of clip holes in the knife's handle. This of course avoids the need for manufacturing both a right and left-handed version.

Thank you for your participation, and please bear in mind that the powers that be at BM may or may not be checking in!

Professor.
 
Well, I tried to vote "TIP UP" but for some reason I have a problem accomplishing that. So, I'll say it here, and you can include it however you want, Professor.

If you set up a "tip up" folder the right way, it is incredibly fast into action when you need it fast, and easy to get into action otherwise. The clip SHOULD be attached reverse to what is commonly done. So, for a right hander, the clip is on the left side of the knife if you are holding it with the blade open and the tip away from you, edge down. So that when you grab it out of your pocket closed, the spine in the palm of your hand with the the tip up and your hand oriented thumb up. *FLICK* and it's open in a nice edge forward ice pick grip, with very little manipulation.

Oh, it is safer, though, if you carry it in your back pocket this way, so the blade is held doubly-shut by the edge of your pocket.

Just my opinion... BTW.
 
I can live with either. I can't live with the crappy BT2 finish. How about a poll for BT2 or satin? ;)
 
I've dreamed of an Axis AFCK being indexed in-pocket by the hole, drawn, and its handle flipped down with buttery smoothness for some time. I'll be happy with either, honestly, but to be faithful to the original AFCK design, tip down would IMHO be the chicken's bock.

Professor.
 
Tip up as long as the closed position is secure enough.

Edit here: don't know what "cosed" means, but I meant "closed".
 
Ok... I never really saw the difference with tip up or tip down. The worst I could say is that tip up was more likely to open in the pocket and stab you had when you reach in. Otherwise the confusion of carrying alternativly tip up and down folders could loose you your life in delay?

However a conversation and demo of the Emerson Wave showed me some interesting things.

If it is tip up you have to change your grip to open and then hold properly. Tip down seems safer and you do not need to change grip at all.

I can see that tip up allows a slightly faster draw and strike, but...

Heck I am equally happy with either. The fact that the Sebi is tip up is enough to carry it for me as long as the blade is securly held closed with a ball and racetrack.
 
DOWN. Just as it' s suppose to be in their original and current models. End of story.

Nakano
 
Tip up and tip down on both sides.
This gives the owner the maximum number of options.
I used to be a tip up till I died kind of knifenut. So I thought. Then one day I decided to give the tip down carry method a fair shake and after acclimating to it I found I prefer that mode of carry.
Who knows? Maybe one day I'll decide to go back and try tip up again.

The more options the better IMO.
 
My preference these days is for tip up, though I believe one can get used to either style with enough training (I've carried both ways over the years). What I really like about the new 806, as a southpaw, is the reversible clip.

Leo
 
Tip-down interferes with the grip, and puts the thickest (tallest) part of the clip right where your index finger is. Interferes with comfort and control. I haven't the slightest idea why anyone would want a tip-down clip:p
...and it's slower.
...and clips on the pivot end kill the look of the knife, especially if it has bolsters uuugghhhly.
So yeah, I voted tip-up tapped on both sides.
 
Owen's right about tip-down killing the aesthetics of a good knife.

This may be slightly off topic, but I would like to see a TSEK done in an axis lock, tip-up. I prefer thumbdisks and studs over Spydie holes. That would enable a Wave opening, much like the 710 (Personally, I think the 710 is the "AFCK" of axis knives).
 
I never really saw the difference with tip up or tip down. The worst I could say is that tip up was more likely to open in the pocket and stab you had when you reach in.

Oh gee, slicing your hand open... I guess that's nothing to be worried about.

It just about happened to me just yesterday with a knife that a friend gave to me to sharpen for him. I put it in my pocket to take it home and then, last night, as I was cleaning out my pocket having forgot that this knife was in there, I felt that blade and just managed to avoid getting cut.

Tip Down for me thank you.
 
Tip Down. I will not buy AFCK with tip up. We could have possibility to do drop openings with axis lock knife. WHY accept anything less. There is hole and axis lock - what makes it so hard to drill those small holes for clip to pivot end???
 
Originally posted by Gollnick
Oh gee, slicing your hand open... I guess that's nothing to be worried about.
It just about happened to me just yesterday with a knife that a friend gave to me to sharpen for him. I put it in my pocket to take it home and then, last night, as I was cleaning out my pocket having forgot that this knife was in there, I felt that blade and just managed to avoid getting cut.

How were you carrying it Chuck? I cannot, for the life of me, understand how that could happen. I'm not calling you a liar, not by any means. I just want to understand how it could happen. All my tip-up knives are carried with the blade-spine against the seam of my pocket, so there is no way they can open. Even set up like my earlier post. So I'm dumb-founded. Were you carrying it off-side? I mean, this is not the first time I've heard of it, but it is the first time I'm asking anyone.

:confused:
 
It is known that many carry their folders at an angle relative to their bodys vertical line. No matter if tip up or down, the bottom portion of the folder while sitting in the pocket, runs almost parallel to the crease formed by the thigh meeting the abdomen area. A folder that has an inefficient ball detent can allow for its blade to slowly inch its way open while carried in pocket.

Nakano
 
I've carried several tip up folders for several years:

Chris Reeve Sebenza
Spyderco Wegner
Spyderco Endura, Delica and Rescue
Benchmade 710
Cold Steel Voyager
Kershaw Liner Action
Microtech L.C.C.
Benchmade 550
SOG Pentagon Elite
Benchmade Ares
Emerson CQC-7B
Buck Strider

Not one has ever opened in my pocket, with the exception of an Emerson Commander, but it was not a fault in the knife, it was because I was pulling the knife out while sitting down and the wave feature got caught on some thread in my pocket.

I simply find tip up carry a personal favourite for drawing a knife from my pocket. Of course, if I really like a knife designed for tip down carry, I just deal with it.:)
 
Originally posted by Nakano 2
It is known that many carry their folders at an angle relative to their bodys vertical line. No matter if tip up or down, the bottom portion of the folder while sitting in the pocket, runs almost parallel to the crease formed by the thigh meeting the abdomen area.

Hmmmm... sounds pretty odd to me. None of my tip-uppers ever sit that way. They are always against the seam/edge of the pocket. For sure and certain, because they can always be felt there while I'm sitting.
 
Back
Top