This thought came to me last night so I quickly drew a primitive concept to illustrate it.
Basically, I like to carry a knife clipped, but I don't often like to use the knife with the clip.
With this concept, the exagerrated S shaped clip attaches to the pocket. The knife has a slot machined in the scale between the scale and liner. The clip has a prong which slips into the knife slot. The prong can be bent to provide spring action to retain the knife in the pocket. I also debated a ball detent for retention too. While the bali clip sketch shows points on the prongs, they would be rounded for comfort and safety.
The knife that really inspired this concept is my BM Morpho. The clip is uncomfortable in the grip for serious use.
For a bali, the prong is split to slip into the two handles so the clip holds the bali closed if you want to carry a latchless bali.
Pros:
no clip to interfere with the grip
deep carry clips fit on most any knife without messing up the knife ergonomics.
Tip up or tip down should be easy to accomplishon the same knife without changing screws.
Cons:
Adds expense to the knife
Would require a company to produce few different complex clip designs rather than one for the whole line.
Probably adds girth to the knife design
Could be tricky to reclip. I would think a flared slot would help guide the clip into place but still could be a bit tricky until you get the hang of it.
Lock interactions. Should work on a liner lock and lockback. The Axis lock would be trickier. A narrow prong offset in the handle might fix that on some designs.
The cons outnumber the pros, but the pros outweigh the cons in my mind. It's not the right clip for every knife, but I'd like it on most of my knives.
Basically, I like to carry a knife clipped, but I don't often like to use the knife with the clip.
With this concept, the exagerrated S shaped clip attaches to the pocket. The knife has a slot machined in the scale between the scale and liner. The clip has a prong which slips into the knife slot. The prong can be bent to provide spring action to retain the knife in the pocket. I also debated a ball detent for retention too. While the bali clip sketch shows points on the prongs, they would be rounded for comfort and safety.
The knife that really inspired this concept is my BM Morpho. The clip is uncomfortable in the grip for serious use.
For a bali, the prong is split to slip into the two handles so the clip holds the bali closed if you want to carry a latchless bali.
Pros:
no clip to interfere with the grip
deep carry clips fit on most any knife without messing up the knife ergonomics.
Tip up or tip down should be easy to accomplishon the same knife without changing screws.
Cons:
Adds expense to the knife
Would require a company to produce few different complex clip designs rather than one for the whole line.
Probably adds girth to the knife design
Could be tricky to reclip. I would think a flared slot would help guide the clip into place but still could be a bit tricky until you get the hang of it.
Lock interactions. Should work on a liner lock and lockback. The Axis lock would be trickier. A narrow prong offset in the handle might fix that on some designs.
The cons outnumber the pros, but the pros outweigh the cons in my mind. It's not the right clip for every knife, but I'd like it on most of my knives.
