Thoughts On The Flipper ?

That tanto blade (which I'm a BIG fan of) on the 0700 looks so nasty and sinister. I love it. I'm almost seduced by it's devilish looks.
 
I love all of my ZT and Kershaw flippers. Between the 0350 and 0700, I think it's a mostly a matter of blade shape difference, but the feel in hand is a bit different from knife to knife as well. Really, you can't go wrong, but why take a chance, get both!
 
I think they're far overrated as well. I'm more of a thumb stud person, however my most collected knife is the Skyline, and I do enjoy that deployment on it.
 
Flippers have become my preferred way too. I know it's blasphemous around here, but my Spydie Southard has set the standard. Although I can use studs just fine, there's something about an exceptionally smooth flipper.
 
Since getting a flipper knife I must say they are pretty sweet! However, a knife doesn't have to have a flipper to make me like it. It is definitely a good deployment method, but I still look at all methods since they can all be great if executed properly by the manufacturer.
 
I have mostly flippers now, except for a couple of Blurs and a Speedform II. I really like the flipper when it works, which means that the detente on a manual flipper has to be strong enough to allow some tension to build up before it's released. I'm probably going to pack two of my current flippers up and send them back to KAI to have the detente strengthened. I can deploy them but it's like I have to meditate on it or something, and it's just tiresome.

BTW, I tested the detente thing by bending the integral lock bar inward increasing the detente temporarily. It made flipping very easy and reliable, in marked distinction to what I'd been experiencing before. The only problem is that that doesn't last longer than about 20 or 30 openings. The detente needs to be re-tuned.

Update: After some checking, I doubt that ZT "tunes" the detente, although I don't know that for a fact. I know that Hinderer won't tune the detentes for the XM just to make flipping reliable, so you take what you get. Good argument for only buying a knife in person, I guess... or, just buying assisted openers (or knives with that option just in case). I should also say that opening the ZT with the thumb stud is extremely reliable, so that's probably what I'll do. Nice that there's *that* option.
 
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The Kershaw Skyline was my gateway drug to knives with flippers. Remember as a kid handling your favorite knife and daydreaming about all the adventures you were going to have with it? Well the flipping open my Skyline brought all those memories back to me as an adult. It was fun.
 
Halfneck said:
The Kershaw Skyline was my gateway drug to knives with flippers. Remember as a kid handling your favorite knife and daydreaming about all the adventures you were going to have with it? Well the flipping open my Skyline brought all those memories back to me as an adult. It was fun.
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Yeah, it is more fun than thumb-studding. I'll give it that.
 
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