Tip-Down - What's The Point..?

evry time a knife has come open in my pocket its either a funky design (ie spyderco khalsa which is tip down FWIW) or the detent was bad, i EDC tip ups and have for probably 10 yrs now and other than the reasons stated above never ever a problem, i mostly carry emerson or strider now, occasionally a spyderco Ti ATR, and all stay closed just fine.

i dont like tip down myself, i have a lot of very nice tip down knives which never see any use (ie crawford ti kasper and perfigo, MT SOCOM elite w/a brend grind blade, ralph maxx X2) because i simply dont like the tip down carry.

gravity is the reason knives have detents to hold 'em closed.
 
My tip up SnG has such a stiff detent it still takes effort to open. I doubt it will ever cut me reaching in the pocket, even if it works forward away from the seam.

The Buck Mayo TNT has no working detent - and it's tip down. So far, no problem. I expect it will never get me either.

I prefer tip down because I can pinch the pivot area to extract, then pull the scales into my palm as my thumb rotates the blade open. It takes less hand insertion into the pocket, which is faster - not in a SD sense, just efficient - or lazy, as some might see it. It why I carry clipped, I don't have to dig around for some knife laying crossways in the bottom of the pocket wrong side up. That's a time waster and indicative of a casual user to me - but I've got a mechanic and military background, not a urban suit lifestyle. Maybe it's 30 years of pressure to get the job done faster.

I've finally learned smooth is faster, not haste.
 
Tip down - it's safer.

Recently when camping, I stepped off a rock which was higher than I thought. My left hand was in my jeans pocket along with my BM Ruckus. The jolt of landing forced my hand into my pocket and my little finger was pushed into the blade gap. Bad cut. No, the knife didn't open but the blade was facing up. Also, have you ever tried extracting a partially opened tip-up knife....ouch! Tip-down just pulls out and will probably close on the way out.

I also find extracting a tip-down knife is smoother and does not require re-positioning of my hand as tip-up does.

Wrt safety - I do find that the tip-up Cold Steel knives (when carried correctly - in right front pocket) are prevented from opening by their design. The pants cloth keeps the blade closed as the knife sits quite high.
 
I like tip up as well as tip down carry. I have been to really like tip down even more.
 
For smaller knives I tend to prefer tip up, and I usually carry them in my RFP. For larger, tip down puts the opening hole closer to my thumb, and goes in my RBP. For either, that puts the spine of the blade against the seam of the pocket for extra security.
 
You should ask a buddy of mine that learned his tip-up lesson the hard way. Reached in his pocket in a hurry to get out his keys or something... happened to have a razor sharp tip up folder clipped to that same pocket... Got about the frist inch of it in the web of his hand. Made a horrible wound.... the purple, green kind that hurt for months.

When I carried a folder in the past I carried a Spyderco Manix simply because it was tip down not to mention a very nice knife. There was no repositioning needed because you thumb and index finger were just about in the same place they would normally be when opening the knife in any other case.
 
I bought a Buck Strider at a gun show and clipped it to the front edge of my right front pocket, point up, to carry it home. I put it there because I had another knife clipped to the rear of the same pocket, and my wallet rides in front of it. Put the wallet back in my pocket after buying gas, and it hit the thumb stud on the Strider and opened it. The Strider took a 3/4" gash in my middle finger. I now favor tip down carry. Of course if I were thinking this wouldn't have happened. But tip down protects me from being stupid. By the way, I took the clip off the Strider. It was too easy for the thumb stud to open it when it's clipped in my pocket. Something would rub against the thumb stud, or it would catch in the pocket when I pulled it out.
 
I carried a tip down in my right front pocket and a tip up in my left for years and only had a few problems.

Got a little nick from my 710 once which in turn made me start putting my thumb in my pocket to make sure the knife was always pushed to the back of the pocket.

Had a real close call with a AFCK, after taking some loose cash in my pocket out at a Subway I noticed a few people looking at me a bit different, come to find out the loose cash caught the blade and opened it 3/4 of the way and it was sticking out of my pocket, it didn't get me though.

So I guess they both have their own issues but it's all in what your comfortable with.

Helle
 
Hi Zordas,

Spyderco made tip down clips first. We created the original Clipits in '81. We used tip down clips to make it easier to access the opening hole so the "drop" opening could be deployed.

We introduced tip up Clips with the first Endura and Delica models in 1990. At the timje, the Endura/Delica models were our first lite-weights and the drop opening was harder to deploy because of the lighter weight and tip up permitted a smooth one hand open with the hole in the right position for the thumb to easily access the opening hole when deploying the knife..

sal
 
Unbreakable said:
You should ask a buddy of mine that learned his tip-up lesson the hard way. Reached in his pocket in a hurry to get out his keys or something... happened to have a razor sharp tip up folder clipped to that same pocket... Got about the frist inch of it in the web of his hand. Made a horrible wound.... the purple, green kind that hurt for months.

When I carried a folder in the past I carried a Spyderco Manix simply because it was tip down not to mention a very nice knife. There was no repositioning needed because you thumb and index finger were just about in the same place they would normally be when opening the knife in any other case.
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its funny how some folks get cut so easy with 'em and others carry them for yrs & yrs with nary a problem, hard to figure isnt it??

look at all the EKI tip ups that have been sold thru the yrs with very very few problems, not to mention all the spydies.

i think some folks must just be unlucky or careless.
 
I vote for TIP UP all the way....

Much more intuitive and less chance of dropping the knife when opening.

Wish all makers would offer the option, a la Spydie Chinook.

Never had a prob with blades opening myself, except with EKI's with the 'wave' doodad. Haven't cut myself, but did put a hole in a pair of pants the other day :D
 
My right front pocket is always reserved EXCLUSIVELY for a knife. Simple way to avoid a problem of this nature./

Mark

Unbreakable said:
You should ask a buddy of mine that learned his tip-up lesson the hard way. Reached in his pocket in a hurry to get out his keys or something... happened to have a razor sharp tip up folder clipped to that same pocket... Got about the frist inch of it in the web of his hand. Made a horrible wound.... the purple, green kind that hurt for months.
Click to expand...
 
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