Tip up or tip down?

C

Clint Simpson

Joined
Nov 13, 2001
Messages
378
I was wondering which most people prefer, tip up carry or tip down carry? More importantly I want your input on the pros and cons of each. Thanks!
 
Gee, why didn't I think of that!:)

Thanks tho, you showed me that I have been drawning my knife incorrectly. My 4 inch Voyager is usually grabbed by the "back half" of the handle. I then change my grip then open the blade. I better start learning how to draw fully holding the handle!
I still have much to learn.
 
Tip up.

I think that most of the best "fighting folders" are made to be carried this way.:).
 
I prefer tip up when the knife has a thumbstud or tip down when it has a spyderhole.
 
Clint.. some people won't carry a "tip up" knife because if the blade opens and if you reach in your pocket you can cut your finger. Although, if a tip down opened in my pocket the tought of what it may cut scares me much more than my finder. Personaly, I have carried tip up knives starting with a Spyderco Endura 10 years ago, then an XL Cold Steel Voyager, which I carried daily for about 4 years. Finally I bought a REKAT Sifu and a Buck Strider both of which are tip up, oh yeah, the Emerson Commander is also "tip uP" and I have never had a knife open in my pocket. I have had friends have it happen though.
I wouldn't let "tip up" or "tip down" be your sole decision on buying a knife. I have friends who will only buy a knife if it meets their carring style. To me that's crazy. One of my favorite knives is "tip down" and it carries great.

:cool:
 
I'm still debating this. It depends on the knife and the position of carry. I think it's best to become familiar with many types of blade configurations.
FM.
 
Being a balisong artist, I prefer to carry tang-forward.

Now, for conventional folders, I carry tip down, the way God intended. It says so right in the Bible, "Let your conventional folding knives be carried tip-down, for anything else is from the evil one." I may be paraphrasing a bit there, but it says something like that.

A friend gave me a tip-up knife to take home and sharpen for him just a few weeks ago. I forgot that that thing was there and reached into my pocket and almost sliced my hand open. The blade had fallen open just a bit. Fortunately, I felt it before I got cut (fortunately, his knife was rather dull).

I have a good friend who is a mechanical engineer. One of his basic rules is, "Don't fight gravity. You can't win."

Tip-down is intrinsically safe; it uses gravity to keep the knife safe. Tip-up is obviously dangerous; it fights gravity... and that's fight that you can't win.

Maybe when I'm rich and not famous, I'll buy myself a week on the International Space Station and carry tip up. Until then, while I'm subject to gravity here on earth, I'll carry tip down.
 
You guys jinxed me!! I just cut my finger on my tip up folder. It was probably my fault for wearing loose sweat pants. Never had this happen when wearing jeans.

I went to seat the knife deeper in my pocket when I felt the bite. Looked down and I drew blood :eek:

I'll still carry tip up, just got to be more careful about what I wear.

S.
 
Gollnick makes some very good enginerring / physics points in his response.
I'd guess the "fast draw" appeals to the "gunslinger" in all of us. The truth is
like the gunslinger of the wild west only a very few were good enough to do it
right and live (or not get cut). So for my money I'll buy / use the safer TIP DOWN
models. I'm not fast enough or skilled enough to warrant a knife in "gunslinger"
fashion. I don't think to many of us are that "fast" really. Some just wish they were.
 
Tip down carry is the only option unless you consider your fingers expendable. You may take it from me that there is no such thing as a minor hand laceration, by the way. I sutured up hundreds of them.

I fail to see how a tip up carry facilitates the draw of the knife or attaining the correct grip initially. My Kit Carson #18 rides tip down, with the pivot point at the top of my pocket. When I pull the knife out, my thumb is at the level of the thumb stud, and the knife is in the corrrect position to use.

Walt
 
Look, no matter how much this is argued it's always going to be an issue of personal preference. I hate some of these posts that call people 'stupid' or 'crazy' for carrying a knife one way or the other. I hate posts that say that there's only one way to do it.

The very nature of carrying a knife in your pocket is unsafe. The handle tries to cover the blade but it's not 100% secure. The biggest consideration is where you carry the thing.

I prefer tip-up. I don't profess that it's any better or worse than tip-down. It's my preference and that is all there is to it. I have never had my tip-up knives open in my pocket. This is because I carry them in my front pocket with the blade up against the pocket seam. They also don't open because they have locks capable of applying enough closing pressure to keep them closed.

You want to know the only two knives that have opened in my pocket? The AFCK and the Gunting: both are tip-down. One time the Gunting stuck me in the leg while it was open. Does that mean that I consider tip-down knives unsafe or worse than tip-up? NO.

Tip-up knives will more likey be opened by gravity... unless you orient them correctly in your pocket. If they do open, you might mess up your hand later. If a tip-down folder opens in your pocket then you might mess up your thigh or your... um.... you know what.

Even if you don't carry a tip-up against the pocket seam, I don't see how you could ever get some of them to open. Any good lockback, or axis lock will keep that blade where it's suppossed to be. I have carried my Endura IWB in jogging shorts before on long runs: never opened and there was nothing to stop it except the lock.

As they say, opinions are like @$$holes: everyone's got one and everyone's stinks. Just don't pretend that your opinion is some cosmic truth and everyone else's is misguided.
 
I prefer tip up. I have never had any problems with my tip up folders. I can deal with a tip down carry knife, but I suppose since my first folder with a pocket clip was the Spyderco Endura, I'm just accustomed to tip up carry.
 
I prefer tip up. Just make sure you keep the knife clean. A dirty detent could cause the blade to open. Mine never have. I have carried tip up for years, no problem. Jeans and sweat pants have a lot of lint that could clog up the detent. Srub those blades regularly. Besides it's more sanitary for food prep which is a service that a pocket knife seems to get pressed into quite often.
 
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