Smoothest opening ball bearing manual flipper?

[Lapedog]

The Hoback/SNECX Buster is the smoothest (framelock) I've felt. Thrust bearing pivot and roller detent.

That roller detent must make a huge difference.

I’m sure the heavy blade helps too. Cracked any coconuts open yet?

 

[Officer's Match]

That roller detent must make a huge difference.

I’m sure the heavy blade helps too. Cracked any coconuts open yet?

I don't own one, just played with one at River's Edge Cutlery. First open made me gasp (and I've had some stunners of my own). I soft-fingered deliberately and thought I had made it fail - it just kept gliding until solidly clicking open. Pretty ridiculous action honestly. I didn't really like the knife, but the action was just freaky.

 

[Lapedog]

I don't own one, just played with one at River's Edge Cutlery. First open made me gasp (and I've had some stunners of my own). I soft-fingered deliberately and thought I had made it fail - it just kept gliding until solidly clicking open. Pretty ridiculous action honestly. I didn't really like the knife, but the action was just freaky.

Sounds like one of those knives you can hold the edge of the blade facing 90 degrees from the ground and the flats of the blade facing straight up and straight down; then unlocking the knife and tilting the edge side like two degrees towards the ground and it falls shut.

THAT is a super smooth action. (Brown Servo)

 

[Mo2]

That roller detent must make a huge difference.

I’m sure the heavy blade helps too. Cracked any coconuts open yet?

Roller detent is debatable. Alot of people don't like it nor think it's smooth. It's definitely different.

A flat detent is more idea. Ie grimsmo, Skaha, first Gen Holt spectors and a few custom makers. Sharp by design uses one too but his isn't designed in a way that gets drop shut action but they fire out really well.

 

[GlockFan]

The ZT 0562CF I have is super smooth.

 

[evilgreg]

Sounds like one of those knives you can hold the edge of the blade facing 90 degrees from the ground and the flats of the blade facing straight up and straight down; then unlocking the knife and tilting the edge side like two degrees towards the ground and it falls shut.

THAT is a super smooth action. (Brown Servo)

I have a pile of knives that will fall shut under that methodology. The CKF Milk totally falls as soon as you start to tilt. My Jason Clark is difficult to keep vertical; it wants to fall open or closed if it moves off the vertical at all. I have a liner lock that fires open hard every time but falls shut on the slight tilt, a CF Steel Will Modus. I hate MicroSuck, but my Mini 777 Matrix falls shut when tilted a hair off the vertical.

The days of amazifying action being ultra-rare are I think on the way out.

More baffling to me than any of these ball-bearing flippers dropping shut is how easily my ZT 0850 falls shut on washers. It's by far the smoothest knife on washers I've ever owned, and I've owned multiple Sebenzas. I have the pivot cranked down so tight it has no play, not a smidge, and the damn thing is smoother than polished buttered glass . . . it's so smooth it's confusing. I think they may have used wafers of unicorn horn for the washers or something.

 

[Therom]

I have some experience with a few ZT, Kershaw mand We... and most are very good flippers for the price

But I have been told a lot of god about the Koening Arius and the Outdoor Freeman... I don’t have experience with them but if anyone has them I am interested in some feedbacks

 

[Lapedog]

I have a pile of knives that will fall shut under that methodology. The CKF Milk totally falls as soon as you start to tilt. My Jason Clark is difficult to keep vertical; it wants to fall open or closed if it moves off the vertical at all. I have a liner lock that fires open hard every time but falls shut on the slight tilt, a CF Steel Will Modus. I hate MicroSuck, but my Mini 777 Matrix falls shut when tilted a hair off the vertical.

The days of amazifying action being ultra-rare are I think on the way out.

More baffling to me than any of these ball-bearing flippers dropping shut is how easily my ZT 0850 falls shut on washers. It's by far the smoothest knife on washers I've ever owned, and I've owned multiple Sebenzas. I have the pivot cranked down so tight it has no play, not a smidge, and the damn thing is smoother than polished buttered glass . . . it's so smooth it's confusing. I think they may have used wafers of unicorn horn for the washers or something.

A good actioned knife on washers is an absolute delight for me. Honestly though a Sebenza usually doesn’t have a very free action. Even my small 21 which is perfectly broken in won’t drop shut without abit of a shake, but the blade is light.

In no way was I saying Shiros or Brown Servos are unique in their action, just that in my experience they were alot smoother than ZTs or WEs or most knives I have handled.

For the bearing knives I own I almost always run them dry with no lube so their actions aren’t all they could be. However even when I did oil them those shiros and servo were on another level.

 

[evilgreg]

A good actioned knife on washers is an absolute delight for me. Honestly though a Sebenza usually doesn’t have a very free action. Even my small 21 which is perfectly broken in won’t drop shut without abit of a shake, but the blade is light.

My 0850 is so smooth that if I absentmindedly put pressure on the blade spine while the lock bar is still engaged, even a tiny bit (you know, when you do the frame lock closing thing, your thumb and index all but simultaneously doing their little "this is how we close a frame lock" dance) it will attempt to guillotine my thumb.

Combined with the wave feature I didn't realize the knife was equipped with when I bought it, it's been just a bunch of surprises.

 

[Lapedog]

My 0850 is so smooth that if I absentmindedly put pressure on the blade spine while the lock bar is still engaged, even a tiny bit (you know, when you do the frame lock closing thing, your thumb and index all but simultaneously doing their little "this is how we close a frame lock" dance) it will attempt to guillotine my thumb.

Combined with the wave feature I didn't realize the knife was equipped with when I bought it, it's been just a bunch of surprises.

You can thumb stud off those honeycomb thumbstuds?

Damn you for making me need this knife now. How are the liners in it? Is it mostly linerless or minimal liners?

 

[evilgreg]

You can thumb stud off those honeycomb thumbstuds?

To my surprise, the first time I carried it I yanked it from my jeans pocket and was surprised to hear it lock open with a clack. YMMV, but I can wave it open with the thumbstuds every time, in every pair of pants I've carried it in if I draw it towards the seam. I had no idea it would be like that when I bought it. The huge thumb stud combined with the buttery smoothness make it wave better than my waved Emersons . . .

Damn you for making me need this knife now. How are the liners in it? Is it mostly linerless or minimal liners?

Linerless, beyond the sub-frame lock bar, obviously. I held off buying one until the clearance sales killed me, and now I love the damn thing. It's big, but light, feels great in hand too. It has rapidly become one of my favorite ZTs and I have way too many of them. If I could only save three of my ZTs from a fire the order would go 454, 777, 850 at this point. The 454 because I love the damn thing, the 777 for resale value not love, and then the 850 for love again. Apparently I should just auto-buy any sub-frame lock knives that ZT puts out . . .

 

[SW-EDC]

ZT0450, 0452

 

[Lapedog]

To my surprise, the first time I carried it I yanked it from my jeans pocket and was surprised to hear it lock open with a clack. YMMV, but I can wave it open with the thumbstuds every time, in every pair of pants I've carried it in if I draw it towards the seam. I had no idea it would be like that when I bought it. The huge thumb stud combined with the buttery smoothness make it wave better than my waved Emersons . . .



Linerless, beyond the sub-frame lock bar, obviously. I held off buying one until the clearance sales killed me, and now I love the damn thing. It's big, but light, feels great in hand too. It has rapidly become one of my favorite ZTs and I have way too many of them. If I could only save three of my ZTs from a fire the order would go 454, 777, 850 at this point. The 454 because I love the damn thing, the 777 for resale value not love, and then the 850 for love again. Apparently I should just auto-buy any sub-frame lock knives that ZT puts out . . .

I really would like to see them make an integral knife out of cf with a subframelock. I think that would be the ultimate ZT knife. I don’t know if that will ever happen; but that 850 is sounding like it might be the next best thing.

The way the blade closes makes that knife far too dangerous; better just give it to me

 

[SCBaldr]

After having spent some more time with each o the knives I previously mentioned. The Atmos, the Norseman, the Shiro 111 and the Arius. I was able to really zero in on the best action in my collection.
Action Vid: https://i.imgur.com/DBCHIgj.gifv