Stop pin, or blade kick?

Stop pins on your slip joints - Like them or not?

  • Like them, they protect the blade from slapping the inside of the spring.

    Votes: 8 15.1%

  • Don't like them, that's what the blade kick is for.

    Votes: 17 32.1%

  • It doesn't matter to me. Either way is good

    Votes: 28 52.8%
  • Total voters
    53
DavidZ

DavidZ

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2004
Messages
4,222
I wanted to see what everyone on this forum thinks of stop pins on their slip joints. I like a stop pin personally.
It allows the knife design to eliminate the sometimes obtrusive kick when the knife is open,
Just my $.02
Thanks for voting.
 
I'm not particular about kicks, blade stop pins or nothing..... Depends on the knife. You forgot one category, endemic to European patterns of old....... Tip resting in blade well. :eek:
PXL_20221127_204919935.PORTRAIT~2.jpgPXL_20221127_205240326.PORTRAIT~2.jpg

The blade tip on this knife, and many others like it, rests on its edge in the blade well. One thing I learned is to ease that blade shut! No fear of slapping a spring! :D
 
draggat said:
I'm not particular about kicks, blade stop pins or nothing..... Depends on the knife. You forgot one category, endemic to European patterns of old....... Tip resting in blade well. :eek:
View attachment 2000797View attachment 2000798

The blade tip on this knife, and many others like it, rests on its edge in the blade well. One thing I learned is to ease that blade shut! No fear of slapping a spring! :D
Click to expand...
Beautiful lines on your knife. Very nice.
 
Old Biker said:
So who makes or made traditional knives with stop pins? I don't think I have ever seen one. But there are a lot of knives, I haven't seen.

O.B.
Click to expand...
It seems to be a feature of modern traditional knives although it may have been used on some older models. For example, I first noticed stop pins on models from A.G. Russell. Then I started seeing them on Lion Steel, Viper, and Fox slip joints. I think the Jack Wolf knives might have stop pins also but I'm not sure about that.
 
Railsplitter said:
It seems to be a feature of modern traditional knives although it may have been used on some older models. For example, I first noticed stop pins on models from A.G. Russell. Then I started seeing them on Lion Steel, Viper, and Fox slip joints. I think the Jack Wolf knives might have stop pins also but I'm not sure about that.
Click to expand...
J.E. Made also has stop pins.
I asked the owner of Jack Wolf knives a while back (on one of his Instagram posts), and he doesn't use stop pins.
 
dantzk8 said:
I see an advantage to the kick.
When the blade is worn, to such a point the tip is out from the well when the knife is closed, it's easy to file the kick and solve the problem.

Dan.
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That's a very good point, Dan. The stop pin also provides an advantage here. The blade can rest farther down inside the well because there is no kick extending past the edge. In theory, this should prolong the problem of the tip extending above the well.
 
Only have experience with blade kicks and the Euro solution of easing the blade shut/blade resting on the spring. (I hear in Europe it is considered rude to snap your blade closed, anyway. Not to mention if you do, you're dulling the edge. ... oops ... I mentioned ... please forgive me.☹️
 
The one obvious advantage I see in the stop pin, is that it'll guarantee the blade can't overtravel during a hard, snapping closure. Sometimes, even blades with effective kicks on them can still travel too far momentarily with the spring's overtravel, if the blade is allowed to snap shut hard. I hadn't realized this difference until I'd acquired a few of A.G. Russell's knives with the stop pin. And I do have at at least one or two knives that'll overtravel and allow the blade edge to contact the backspring, if they're snapped shut too aggressively. I even have one multi-hundred dollar custom lockback that will also overtravel on a hard closure and damage the blade edge on the back of the lockbar. When I first acquired that knife, it had the coolest 'ring' to it when allowing the blade to snap shut. But I eventually realized that sound was from the blade's thinly-ground edge colliding with the lockbar.
 
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I like them both, but very different concept, in my opinion.

Kick is by far the simplest solution given it has less parts, but it hits against a moving part, the back spring. I suppose the degree of movement could be based on how stiff the back spring is. But, as some mentioned, it gives the users an easy solution if the blade tip sticks above the blade well.

Stop pin, on the other hand, stops the pin with a fixed object on the frame of the knife. You can technically notch the tang to lower the blade in the long run but it seems like more of a head ache lol (need like needle file).

How about a kick AND a stop pin?? 😆
 
I like and use both. Not sure if I have a favorite. Most of my traditionals don't have stop pins and utilize a kick. The few knives that I do have that use stop pins are modern traditionals and they do what they are supposed to. I do own a few knives that have blade rap but it really doesn't bother me I just sharpen it out.

If I had to vote for one I would choose a blade kick due to the simple fact that it seems more traditional to me.
 
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