Tip up or tip down EDC folder?

When carrying in the right hand front pocket, clipped toward the side seam, tip up is the best and safest way to carry. Your hand will never go down on the blade side. Tip down it that position, you're fine going into the pocket but coming out if the tip is not completely nested between the scales you could catch the tip on your hand and...zzzzzzzzzip...OUCH. This risk is largely eliminated with a back lock style but I prefer tip down here.

For just about all other forms of clipped carry, like in a sleeve pocket, in a vest pocket, on Molle gear, you want that tip down so you don't put your hand down on that tip and catch it on the way down...plus you got gravity sort of holding it closed. Again, a risk mitigated by a back-lock or other lock with some spring action on the blade.

So I've oriented the clip on my Para-2 to tip up for what is my most common carry method, front right pocket clipped. I carry my Para-1 when I want a clipped knife in other orientations. Works out great. That's why makers really should make all their knives reversible...like the Para-2 or the Endura. There is a legion of people out there who'd give a kidney for a tip up Military...why not make one?
 
HoosierQ said:
When carrying in the right hand front pocket, clipped toward the side seam, tip up is the best and safest way to carry. Your hand will never go down on the blade side. Tip down it that position, you're fine going into the pocket but coming out if the tip is not completely nested between the scales you could catch the tip on your hand and...zzzzzzzzzip...OUCH.
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With a big knife clipped in my pocket it is very hard to get my hand in there too. I typically don't carry anything else in that pocket except maybe my cellphone and I can pull it out by just putting the tip of my finger and thumb into the pocket and pulling the phone out. On occasions that I do put my hand deeper into my pocket, I still don't usually reach beyond the end of the blade so I wouldn't be injured by it, and the pressure of my hand against the spine of the blade actually pushes the blade against the handle anyway, no way for the blade to open. I've never had a tip-down knife open in my pocket but I've had tip-up knives do it. If you worry about your hand reaching the end of the blade on a tip-down knife, you should really worry about your hand plunging into the end of an open blade on a tip-up knife! When I pulled that partially open knife out of my pocket it cut a big slice through the outside of my pocket.
 
MajorLonghorn said:
Perhaps it's because I don't use assisted opening knives, but I've never had a knife open in my pocket.
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From the experience I've had with older Benchmades, newer Benchmades, Spydercos, Kershaws and CRKT's, modern knives have stronger blade detents than older knives, and assisted knives have stronger detents than unassisted knives. My current assisted knives are the least likely of all of my knives to open accidentally. My older Benchmades and my newer Spydercos are the easiest to open.
 
bdmicarta said:
This kind of discussion is bordering on a religious war. I have almost always carried tip-down and I usually refuse to buy a knife that isn't tip-down. I did carry a mini-grip for awhile and I noticed that for a small knife like that tip-up did work OK. But for a bigger knife it doesn't work. I have contended that people that carry tip-up are not telling us the whole story. I have fairly large hands and long fingers, and I typically wear tight jeans. When I carry a large knife tip-down and pull it out my thumb is right there on the thumb stud or thumb hole and I can open it right up. If I carry a large knife tip-up then when I pull it out my thumb is a long way from the thumb stud/hole and I have to do the inch-worm trick to get to the other end of the knife before I can open it. I would like for someone that carries a large knife tip-up to draw their knife slowly and describe where their hand is positioned on the knife and how far their thumb is from where it should be, or show how they got their thumb to where it should be.
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hey bd, when I just pulled my 301 out, my thumb was right next to the thumbstud. I didn't have to inch it up any.

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bdmicarta said:
From the experience I've had with older Benchmades, newer Benchmades, Spydercos, Kershaws and CRKT's, modern knives have stronger blade detents than older knives, and assisted knives have stronger detents than unassisted knives. My current assisted knives are the least likely of all of my knives to open accidentally. My older Benchmades and my newer Spydercos are the easiest to open.
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Then I guess I just don't have any old knives :)
 
I like tip down for the previously mentioned reasons. The only knives I have set for tip up are the ones I have waved.
 
bdmicarta said:
This kind of discussion is bordering on a religious war. I have almost always carried tip-down and I usually refuse to buy a knife that isn't tip-down. I did carry a mini-grip for awhile and I noticed that for a small knife like that tip-up did work OK. But for a bigger knife it doesn't work. I have contended that people that carry tip-up are not telling us the whole story. I have fairly large hands and long fingers, and I typically wear tight jeans. When I carry a large knife tip-down and pull it out my thumb is right there on the thumb stud or thumb hole and I can open it right up. If I carry a large knife tip-up then when I pull it out my thumb is a long way from the thumb stud/hole and I have to do the inch-worm trick to get to the other end of the knife before I can open it. I would like for someone that carries a large knife tip-up to draw their knife slowly and describe where their hand is positioned on the knife and how far their thumb is from where it should be, or show how they got their thumb to where it should be.

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HoosierQ said:
When carrying in the right hand front pocket, clipped toward the side seam, tip up is the best and safest way to carry. Your hand will never go down on the blade side. Tip down it that position, you're fine going into the pocket but coming out if the tip is not completely nested between the scales you could catch the tip on your hand and...zzzzzzzzzip...OUCH. This risk is largely eliminated with a back lock style but I prefer tip down here.

For just about all other forms of clipped carry, like in a sleeve pocket, in a vest pocket, on Molle gear, you want that tip down so you don't put your hand down on that tip and catch it on the way down...plus you got gravity sort of holding it closed. Again, a risk mitigated by a back-lock or other lock with some spring action on the blade.

So I've oriented the clip on my Para-2 to tip up for what is my most common carry method, front right pocket clipped. I carry my Para-1 when I want a clipped knife in other orientations. Works out great. That's why makers really should make all their knives reversible...like the Para-2 or the Endura. There is a legion of people out there who'd give a kidney for a tip up Military...why not make one?
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I know this is an old thread but I've been researching this and this thread seems to have more intelligent discussion.

I understand tip up/down is a personal decision and here's my take on it:

I like setting my knives so I can open them all by rotating my wrist quickly. The blade doesn't need to be heavy to do this but the heavier the blade, the tighter I can keep the blade pivot screw...but the heavier the blade, the more susceptible the blade is to moving when jumping about. But a lighter blade needs looser screw pressure.

When I move quickly I tend to break things, and unexpected consequences from rapid deceleration tend to be the norm.

I have lost knives due to unexpected contact and unexpected motion of a strap.

My really abrupt decelerations tend to be downward, toward my feet.

I prefer tip down because:
-In a rapid deceleration toward my feet, a tip up carry has a tendency to cause slight blade movement...for me.
---In a tip down carry I have never noticed this movement.
---In tip up carry, I have cut the outside corner of my pocket. This makes me concerned for my safety...unexpected drag my cause unexpected consequences.

-With tip down carry, my grip is consistent no matter where my knife is: front pocket, back pocket, chest area.
---With tip up carry my grip changes depending on the knife's storage location.

-I like where the clip is when knife is in tip down configuration.
---The clip gives my index and middle fingers a non-slip location as I'm opening my knife. This positioning is consistent and reliable.
---In a tip up configuration, the clip is located along my little and ring fingers, but positioning is not as consistent so I spend a fraction of a second more to make sure my fingers are positioned properly.


I do have one knife that I really like (an Emerson) but I tend to not wear it because it is a tip up with a notch so if I pull outward in a more horizontal motion as I draw, the blade opens. It opens very fast and I really like the blade but I hesitate to change the clip location because I keep hoping I'll get comfortable with tip up because the speed of opening is really cool.

Oh well, those are my thoughts on tip up/down carry.
 
I've set all of my knives to tip up carry ever since my first flipper... the action on a flipper could deploy in tip down carry when taking it out of your pocket and always worried me especially on fast assisted folders.

The only downside I see with tip up carry is that a weak detent could cause knives to open slightly and you can poke your fingers when reaching in.

edit: I'll also add that I have lanyards on most of my knives specifically for fishing them out of the pockets in my Boker case and the holes are all on the bottom of the knife, so tip up all the way. also, I mainly carry in my front right pocket so that configuration seems to be ideal for me.
 
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Well obviously tip down is preferable for safety, particularly for heavy blades
But tip up is necessary in most cases for the clip not to feel bad in the hand
Also, i find it easier to deploy tip downers since my hand is already on the pivot

I just got a Hogue ex4 tip downer, love it
.
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I plead the 5th, on this one.
:D
I prefer TD but it doesn't really matter.
rolf
 
As many said, it usually just depends on you personal preference - a certain knife may come out in the perfect position to open with it's tip up for one person, but require awkward movement for someone with slightly different hands. My general preference is tip-down, but that's primarily because there are more knives that I happen to prefer in tip-down configuration, primarily Spydercos. The ability to spydie-drop is completely unnecessary (as are most discussions in how to possibly shave nanoseconds off of deployment) but I just enjoy doing it. The only time one position is "correct" is with waved knives, which require tip-up to deploy properly.
 
res1cue said:
Tip up:
-Advantages: I like it

Tip Down:
-disadvantages: i don't like it

honestly its all personal preference, and most knives are made with 4 way clips anyhow.
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Pretty much this. There are supposedly to be safety issues associated with tip down but I haven't seen/experienced it yet. Also depends on how you like to draw the knife out.

Me personally? I actually just like to have my knife flopping around loose in my pocket. I've snagged and broken enough pocket clips that I'd just rather not have to worry about it catching something and falling out
 
I always prefer tip up, mostly because that's what I'm used to. I don't have a problem opening a blade in either configuration. With tip down knives though, I fumble to flip them around after closing to return them to my pocket since I'm so used to tip up.

It's also nice to have the extra security of the spine against the pocket seam holding it closed.
 
I think this definitely just boils down to personal preference.

That said my personal preference is absolutely strongly definitely tip down. I like tip down because I usually carry in my back pocket (my wallet goes in the front pocket). I am so accustomed to back pocket tip down carry that I really don't think anything other than a wave could open faster than I can open my tip downs. But that still isn't really much of an issue because I don't carry my knives as weapons. Ultimately the reason that I like tip down is just habit, habit, habit. Tip down is how I've carried since I started buying knives with clips.

With right hand back pocket carry there really just isn't a safer configuration than tip-down. But if you switch to a front pocket then it is a good idea to switch to tip up, so that in case of accidental deployment your pants eat it, not your hand.

An active duty friend of mine pointed out the advantage of tip up for him recently. He is normally wearing pants with flaps on the back pockets. This makes front pocket far more preferable for him, which makes tip up more useful for him. Not long after this discussion I headed into the field for several weeks myself, and that caused me to realize that even though I am in no way military, most of my field paints/shorts also have flaps on the back pockets, so I am now consciously trying to adjust to front pocket carry. I'm not crazy about it, but I figure it will be good to be able to switch easily.
 
Wow people talked nicer in the way way back. :D

I'm just going to share my experience. Because people lose their minds when you express anything as an opinion.

I was blind sided by the new tip up fad. I had 2 Enduras in the early 90s, but the integrated clips broke off. Spoiling any interest in the FRN line, and consequently tip up carry. Otherwise I've never had a tip up till this year. Confused me when I started seeing multiposition clips.

When I bought me Szabo it came tip up. I bought a bead fob for it, but didn't make it 2 weeks before moving the clip. My Chinese Lum came tip up and I left it just to have a knife to put the fob on. It also is short enough to reach the Spydie hole even though it's tip up.
Now when my ZT 0801 came tip up only I realized it was the best for a dedicated flipper. Although I haven't changed my Kershaw Groove to tip up. Hard habits. LOL
 
I don't really have preferences... It really depend on where I carry my knife (front or back pocket) and which knife I am carrying...

It's really all about specific feelings
 
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