Spine whacking? WHY????

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stabman said:
Or maybe they just bashed that "real threat to their privileged and protected existence" in the head with a stick.

Or, in countries where guns are allowed to be carried, shot it in the face...

You don't know the life histories of just about anyone on here, and most folks who have had to do something won't be talking about it much.
And those who do could just be blowing a lot of hot air (if we could harness the heat energy from all the hot air on the internet we'd be set to power the planet for at least 50 years :D ).
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Yes Mark, I'm sure you're right . I'm prob'lee just grumpy 'cause you ain't wrote nothin' new to keep me entertained !
 
I don't get the reason for doing but I don't care what others do to their stuff. I don't compare this to a car crash. In my uses, a spine whack test is similar to dropping a plane on a car. Sure it's data, but the chances of it being something I encounter is so rare that the data is irrelevant. As long as it holds up to minimal pressure the rest is all the same.
 
benzy2 said:
I don't get the reason for doing but I don't care what others do to their stuff. I don't compare this to a car crash. In my uses, a spine whack test is similar to dropping a plane on a car. Sure it's data, but the chances of it being something I encounter is so rare that the data is irrelevant. As long as it holds up to minimal pressure the rest is all the same.
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Once again somebody with the reductio ad absurdum argument...

The thing is, your opinion really doesn't matter to the segment of knife users who carry knives for SD...
 
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bodog said:
Sal's take is basically what I'm saying. But it's a hell of a lot harder arguing with an innovator and inventor like Sal so I'll let his words and thoughts and practices do the talking from here.
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Maybe Sal should watch some videos then, huh...
[video=youtube;LYQRxArvYmQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYQRxArvYmQ[/video]
 
I don't trust any safety catch on a gun, so I'm never going to trust any lock on a folding knife. Anyway, a folding knife is just a half broken fixed blade. I was brought up using a slipjoint and only want a folder for its cutting edge and that better be keen.

Spine whacking is just because you can, but its doesn't say much or have any real bearing on how good or bad a knife is. Locks are only as good as how clean they stay, and everyone of them can get something in the action that will degrade its reliability. It may well be that one knife over another can be better at the spine whack test, but in truth its not very important for the styles and use I put my knives to. On the safe side just don't trust any of them. Its the reason I don't own any "big" folders, well one that is trying to be a fixed blade; just doesn't make sense to me.
The caveat is some locks are worse than a slipjoint, but they are only found on very poor knives, not a knife I would entertain anyway.

Everything to their own, just a non issue for me.
 
GREENJACKET said:
I don't trust any safety catch on a gun, so I'm never going to trust any lock on a folding knife. Anyway, a folding knife is just a half broken fixed blade. I was brought up using a slipjoint and only want a folder for its cutting edge and that better be keen.

Spine whacking is just because you can, but its doesn't say much or have any real bearing on how good or bad a knife is. Locks are only as good as how clean they stay, and everyone of them can get something in the action that will degrade its reliability. It may well be that one knife over another can be better at the spine whack test, but in truth its not very important for the styles and use I put my knives to. On the safe side just don't trust any of them. Its the reason I don't own any "big" folders, well one that is trying to be a fixed blade; just doesn't make sense to me.
The caveat is some locks are worse than a slipjoint, but they are only found on very poor knives, not a knife I would entertain anyway.

Everything to their own, just a non issue for me.
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I agree with most of this.

A non issue, as you say.


GREENJACKET said:
I don't own any "big" folders, well one that is trying to be a fixed blade; just doesn't make sense to me.
.
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HEY, dont badmouth the mighty K2!!:D (Just KIDDING). Cause I bought one.
 
singularity35 said:
Once again somebody with the reductio ad absurdum argument...

The thing is, your opinion really doesn't matter to the segment of knife users who carry knives for SD...
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Is this the SD forum? I thought we were in a general forum. Anyways, I never spoke for the SD crowd. I spoke for myself and my uses. Just be aware your opinion holds as much value to me as mine to you. If there's a feature that matters to you, buy knives with it. This isn't a feature that's important to me.
 
benzy2 said:
Is this the SD forum? I thought we were in a general forum. Anyways, I never spoke for the SD crowd. I spoke for myself and my uses. Just be aware your opinion holds as much value to me as mine to you. If there's a feature that matters to you, buy knives with it. This isn't a feature that's important to me.
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That doesn't change the kind of argument you trotted out... ;)

It would be much more unifying if we just posted what our choices are. Trotting out different arguments just to ridicule a different preference seems to have become the norm here. So sad...
 
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singularity35 said:
I'm sure he's seen more than you...
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hj1pda.jpg
:D
 
I agree with Chris Reeve about not spine whacking a folder.
A maker just told me that he lightly spine whacks his folders to set the lock. I found this interesting.
For me, I would never spine whack a folder. It just does not make sense, to me.
rolf
 
People buy crazy tough knives because it makes them feel crazy tough. Some people think their identity is tied to a knife.

It's no different than why people buy a certain car or wear certain clothes.
 
Just to make those comparative spine whacking tests more fair, especially those involving a framelock such as Demko's test on CS Code 4 vs. CRK Sebenza, I think the handles of both knives should be wrapped with something like a rope to mimic the knife in a human hand when being used. I'm sure it is fairly easy to figure out how tightly the handle should be wrapped and how thick a rope should be used. Well, unless people believe that pinching the butt of the handle is normally how a folding knife is being used.
 
sharp_edge said:
Just to make those comparative spine whacking tests more fair, especially those involving a framelock such as Demko's test on CS Code 4 vs. CRK Sebenza, I think the handles of both knives should be wrapped with something like a rope to mimic the knife in a human hand when being used. I'm sure it is fairly easy to figure out how tightly the handle should be wrapped and how thick a rope should be used. Well, unless people believe that pinching the butt of the handle is normally how a folding knife is being used.
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Not an unfair statement but everyone has different grip strength and not all people always grip the knife as hard as they can when they're cutting random stuff. I guess the closest way to replicate it would be to have one of those big butterfly paper clips clamped onto the framelock. But then it's not a matter of lock strength, it's a matter of grip strength and becomes essentially a friction folder with the long piece hanging off where your hand is supposed to keep the blade open versus the locking mechanism. Then it's no longer a lock so much as a way for your hand to act as a lock. And that's not a very good marketing tool.

"We make a knife with the best fit and finish and instead of a lock we offer something that only keeps the blade open if you're gripping it right and with a lot of strength. You don't really need a lock anyway, people have been carrying non-locking knives for a long time! And we don't believe in modern and useful cars and airplanes either because people got by with horses and trains for a long time, too! But modern CNC machining is the tits, we don't know what we're trying to accomplish! Are we modern, or are we not? Do we believe in innovation and producing the best, or don't we? You decide!"

Not very good.
 
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Stabbing, gouging and pushing, hammering in, with a lot of force then a good lock is nice, but its a darn silly thing to do with any folder. An accident waiting to happen. Most don't even have a grip or guard stop to the hand going forward onto the blade. As it is, most of these jobs can be done in a different way with far less force. A folder is just the wrong tool.

Its easy to think up ways that a folder can emulate a fixed, but in practice they just aren't any good at it whatever the hype is that says they can. Only takes a couple of times to over do it with a folder and see their limitations to never trust that again. Scary moments and its enough to put one off unless you are someone slow to learn. Those over confident having bought into the hype will come a cropper at some point. No ones fault just reality.

There maybe those convinced locks work, and the whack test proves it, and I'll not argue but I've got all my fingers and they all function fine after 40 years. Don't think all the former will be giving the same argument 40 years on.
Don't trust any lock, and if you do know the risk for a risk it is. Knives fail, so do fixed, just ensure you have a get out of jail card. Pushing with a locking knife doesn't get a card if it all goes to pot.
 
bodog said:
Not an unfair statement but everyone has different grip strength and not all people always grip the knife as hard as they can when they're cutting random stuff. I guess the closest way to replicate it would be to have one of those big butterfly paper clips clamped onto the framelock. But then it's not a matter of lock strength, it's a matter of grip strength and becomes essentially a friction folder with the long piece hanging off where your hand is supposed to keep the blade open versus the locking mechanism. Then it's no longer a lock so much as a way for your hand to act as a lock. And that's not a very good marketing tool.

"We make a knife with the best fit and finish and instead of a lock we offer something that only keeps the blade open if you're gripping it right and with a lot of strength. You don't really need a lock anyway, people have been carrying non-locking knives for a long time! And we don't believe in modern and useful cars and airplanes either because people got by with horses and trains for a long time, too! But modern CNC machining is the tits, we don't know what we're trying to accomplish! Are we modern, or are we not? Do we believe in innovation and producing the best, or don't we? You decide!"

Not very good.
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You do know that CRK wins the manufacturing quality award almost every year at bladeshow right? That is voted on by his peers, knife makers and companies that make up the industry. They must all be complete fools to vote for a company that produces locks that fail when a light breeze hits them.
 
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