Spyderco's Next flipper

I'd love to see a flipper at a cheaper price.
And maybe with m390 or m4 steel.
With a wharncliffe blade or something with a little belly like the belly on the Techno.
FFG blade. Open construction, Full Ti or a Blue/Toxic Green/Orange/CF/Silver Twill scale.
Just sounds awesome. =]
 
I'd like something a bit smaller - like the size of a Terzuola SlipIt or the Chaparral. I was just looking at my titanium Herbst and thought that would be a great size as well.

TedP
 
Is there enough blade-mass in a smaller knife to effectively perform the "flipping" action on those smaller knives, without adding a spring-assist?
 
I bet so, the Skyline flips out un-assisted quite nicely. I bet it has more to do with geometry than mass.
 
Seems to me that just about any model with a compression lock could easily be converted into a flipper by just extending the choil enough that it protrudes through the spine of the knife when closed.
 
compression lock is going to be the hardest to do AFAIK because of the stop pin
 
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tricker said:
compression lock is going to be the hardest to do AFAIK because of the stop pin
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Nah...look again. The part of the choil that extends down in the front right next to where the edge begins, when closed comes right up behind the stop pin and is in clear view. If that "point" of the choil was just made longer so it extended up beyond the spine of the handle, it would easily make a Para 2 into a flipper.

The part i'm referring to is directly down from the center of the lock tab in this pic. Make that part extend longer and there's your flipper.

Para2CTS-20CP7.jpg
 
mattmanyam said:
David-
I was looking at my P2 with the same thoughts, the other night.
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I've thought about it many many times. I've never really been for or against flippers since i've come to love the spydie hole so much, and the one flipper i did have was also assisted open so it was different than a true flipper. I'd have to handle one to decide. There's also some legality issues to think about where I live.
 
David is correct, and it isn't hard to mod a PM2 for a flipper, you just need to cut a new blade with a larger choil. Compression locks are great for flippers. I've spent about a year researching flipper mechanisms as they mix with different locks and other features for a design project I'm working on, and compression locks are great with flippers.

Ball bearings and bolt action locks are another story all together. The need for a compression spring in the design makes it more difficult to do. The axis allows for the springs to be off axis with the blade but the ball and the bolt do not. I have been trying to figure out how to do the ball bearing with a flipper for the last seven months. It's not easy because the ball needs to approach at a specific angle to prevent disengagement from, of all things, batoning (I know Evil-D, I know.) In all reality, a ball bearing doesn't really need a flipper, as it is the perfectly-flickable lock, but it would still be a design aspect worthy of probable patent.
 
SolidState said:
David is correct, and it isn't hard to mod a PM2 for a flipper, you just need to cut a new blade with a larger choil. Compression locks are great for flippers. I've spent about a year researching flipper mechanisms as they mix with different locks and other features for a design project I'm working on, and compression locks are great with flippers.

Ball bearings and bolt action locks are another story all together. The need for a compression spring in the design makes it more difficult to do. The axis allows for the springs to be off axis with the blade but the ball and the bolt do not. I have been trying to figure out how to do the ball bearing with a flipper for the last seven months. It's not easy because the ball needs to approach at a specific angle to prevent disengagement from, of all things, batoning (I know Evil-D, I know.) In all reality, a ball bearing doesn't really need a flipper, as it is the perfectly-flickable lock, but it would still be a design aspect worthy of probable patent.
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You could do a Manix 2 the exact same was as the Para 2 is done...just extend the point of the choil out from the back of the handle. The only thing you would have to mod is how big the block is that holds the spring for the ball. If you could make that package smaller to allow room for the choil to protrude through the handle, there's your flipper. The only problem is that it's pretty far up from the pivot, so the flipping action might not get as much leverage as something like the Southard gets, but I bet with the CBBL lock you wouldn't need much force to flip the blade out.

And, you said the B word :eek:
 
Evil D said:
You could do a Manix 2 the exact same was as the Para 2 is done...just extend the point of the choil out from the back of the handle. The only thing you would have to mod is how big the block is that holds the spring for the ball. If you could make that package smaller to allow room for the choil to protrude through the handle, there's your flipper. The only problem is that it's pretty far up from the pivot, so the flipping action might not get as much leverage as something like the Southard gets, but I bet with the CBBL lock you wouldn't need much force to flip the blade out.
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I agree with about 90% of what you said, but that other 10% isn't as straightforward as you make it out to be. There effectively needs to be at least double the ball's diameter in travel for the ball, and there needs to be a rod that compresses to keep the compression spring aligned, and that bar needs to sit in a well such that it cannot be dislodged through normal movement of the lock. That well needs to be sufficiently deep and reinforced as to make an effective lock; and like you said, once that happens you're pretty far from the pivot making it somewhat ineffective. There are other ways to deal with the issue, and they're rather strange.

For instance, you move locations of stop pins with some really interesting results.
 
Let me clarify,


Putting a flipper on the PM2 was my original thought too, and of course you can physically put one on there.


But if you want an effective flipper the key is to keep the action in line with the pivot; look at any other flipper.

The lower you put the flipper, i.e. below the stop pin in its current location; you can build no leverage on the blade to flip it.

Look at any flipper in your collection that works and notice how high on the spine the action is, this is the key and therefore the problem
 
tricker said:
Let me clarify,


Putting a flipper on the PM2 was my original thought too, and of course you can physically put one on there.


But if you want an effective flipper the key is to keep the action in line with the pivot; look at any other flipper.

The lower you put the flipper, i.e. below the stop pin in its current location; you can build no leverage on the blade to flip it.

Look at any flipper in your collection that works and notice how high on the spine the action is, this is the key and therefore the problem
Click to expand...
This is true, and the pm2 is still quite compatible with flippers if the stop pin and comp bar are only slightly adjusted.
 
if you go internal there is no more compression lock, the szabo still has a stop pin in the way of the flipper.....its not really internal


you'll have to move the stop pin fromthe 8 o clock to like 10 or 11 o clock


not easy but we're getting there
 
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PC87 said:
Yea, I am sure its on Mr.Glesser and the rest of the spydie brain trusts minds. How about a Tenacious with a flipper with some S30V steel at a sweet price point?

Mr.Glesser, I am itching to buy a spydie flipper, as a spydie was my first knife 25 yrs ago, but at the 240$ price point I cant justify purchasing one. $175 range with 3.25 inch blade resembling the tenacious blade with some better steel would be a best seller!
Click to expand...

Save your cash. To me, one awesome knife is worth a lot more than owning several low budget knives.
 
tricker said:
you'll have to move the stop pin fromthe 8 o clock to like 10 or 11 o clock...not easy but we're getting there
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Now here's the ding ding ding moment! That's not to say that the Szabo's method can't be done with a flipper. The method is just different.
 
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