I heard recently about a part-time maker who left a knife upright in a vise, came back near it, dropped something, and in his instinctive grab to catch the falling object, badly cut his right middle finger. Surgery to sew up muscle and reconnect nerves resulted, most of his range of motion should probably return in a year or so. I'm very sorry that happened to this guy (or any maker or user really). He's a great maker.
Wishing to avoid any kind of finger injuries myself, because it'll be my right hand and my two best fingers (index & middle) that take most or all of the damage if a blade folds up on me, I personally think a folder should pass at least a moderate spine whack test (this is my position, after originally thinking it was overkill and a sort of armchair commando type test). There are so many folders that do pass the test, why bother to take any chance of permanent injury in hard use of a folder, or in self defense, with a marginal knife?
I simply grab the folder very firmly, with my fingers on out of the way of the blade's potential path back into the handle (of course!), and bring the spine down sharply on a computer mouse pad on my desk to avoid damaging either object. I was very surprised to find I indeed owned 2 folders (out of maybe 30 to give you one data point on the % that won't pass) that didn't pass the spine whack.
I fixed one of them myself by disassembling and bending the liner so it moves into the tang with more tension/force. The other knife is now no longer in my posession.
[This message has been edited by rdangerer (edited 03-07-2001).]
