TIP UP or TIP DOWN

I prefer tip up. It just seems more natural to me but the reason probably is that I carried mostly tip up knives. The other positive side of carrying the knife tip up is that it justifies using lanyard with beads. Imho lanyard is useless when carrying the knife tip down.

But on the other hand right now I carry a tip down knife and I don't mind it at all.
 
You know what? Now that I think about it, I carry my knife neither tip-up nor tip-down. I carry it tip-sideways :D

Seriously, though. Since my pants and their pockets are kinda baggy, my pockets are rather wide. I'm able to clip the knife rather "sideways." It keeps the knife out of the way when I put my hands in my pocket, when I take my keys out of my pocket, and when I lean against something it won't put pressure on my leg from top to bottom of the knife.

But alas, the clip is still configured for tip-up.

IMGP0298.jpg
 
ok, i just tried the "spiderdrop" about 75 times. What concerns me about this deployment method is there is a HIGH chance of losing the knife, either via the opponent's actions, or fumbling and dropping it. It just did'nt seem to be secure in my hand. . When i pull my knife from a tip up position, the handle is FIRMLY in my hand....not so with the spyder drop.

that being said, there seems to be a bit of "fear" (in this case my friends that watching) when you deploy via spyder drop.....
 
my Manix and Delica are both tip up but the Delica is the old on with the left or right clip and the manix just cause, and my Police and SS Endura are both tip down, the police cause its a one position and the Endura cause its like my police and makes it easy.
 
To me, it makes absolutely no difference. Tip up/down is the last thing I consider when purchasing a knife.
 
Bushman5 said:
ok, i just tried the "spiderdrop" about 75 times. What concerns me about this deployment method is there is a HIGH chance of losing the knife, either via the opponent's actions, or fumbling and dropping it. It just did'nt seem to be secure in my hand. . When i pull my knife from a tip up position, the handle is FIRMLY in my hand....not so with the spyder drop.

that being said, there seems to be a bit of "fear" (in this case my friends that watching) when you deploy via spyder drop.....
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If I have let an opponent get close enough for me to need a knife and I don't already have it open in my hand, I've already failed. I don't carry for self-defense, so speed is rarely a factor for me.

When I draw a tip-up knife, I have to curl my fingers back far enough to clear the blade while I thumb it open, then roll the knife and shift my fingers to get them wrapped around the handle in a normal grip. On anything much bigger than a Delica, my grip is usually too far back on the initial grasp to reach the thumb hole unless the knife carries higher than I like, so it's draw the knife, shift my grip to thumb it open, then shift again to position the knife in normal grip.

For a tip down knife, I stick my thumb into the pocket far enough to pinch the hole between thumb and index finger, draw the knife from the pocket, snap my wrist down and back up to swing the handle away from the blade, and shift once to position the knife in a normal grip.

Which is faster depends on what you have practiced. For self-defense deployments with adreneline pumping there is much to be said for two-hand gross motor opening, as manipulating such a small object is going to be extremely difficult. For those situations, tip up might be better. I wouldn't know, as I haven't had such a situation arise in fifty years.
 
THG said:
How is the "Spyderdrop" done? Any videos? I don't see any on youtube.
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Vince_PL said:
My question exactly. It's hard to imagine without any demonstration...
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Don't have any videos on hand, but a spyderdrop is done as follows:

1) Have knife clipped to pocket tip down (duh!).
2) Grasp hole using thumb and index finger.
3) Pull knife out of pocket, and then flick your wrist downwards. Personally, I pull the knife out and down so that it "rolls" over the seam of my pocket, and then when the tip of the knife is pointing up, I flick my wrist.
4) Shuffle your fingers around for the correct grip.
 
I like the spyderdrop opening method, which doesn't work with all Spydercos, depending on the weight of the handle. Knives such as the FRN Delica, Dragonfly, Lil' Temperance, Dodo, don't open easily (if at all) using the Spyderdrop technique, so I carry them tip up. Heavier handled knives, such as the Police Model, Enduras, Goddard, etc., open very well with the Spyderdrop, so I carry them tip down. Several models don't really give you an option since they only have one, or maybe two, clip placement options. If you carry a Police model, you're going to carry it tip down if you use the clip.

There are times when I don't use the clip to carry the knife, such as when I'm wearing a leather jacket. I often have the knife simply sitting in the jacket pocket where my hand is. I can open it instantly that way.

It's nice that I have the option of carrying them either clipped to my pocket or down in the pocket, depending on the circumstances.

When I do use the clip, I always carry them in my front pocket to keep the clip from catching on things, and to make accessibility to them as fast as possible.
 
Tip up for me, the only reason to carry tip down is if the blade may accidentally open a bit in your pocket so I wouldn't be carrying that one anyway.
 
Started out liking tip-down (which the Military had a lot to do with) but now I much prefer tip-down. I have converted most of my folders to tip-up (I think the Chinook II is perfect for tip-up but it comes from Spyderco tip-down - last I knew). So, a +1 on tip-up for me.
 
Liner lock with pocket clip, tip down.
Everything else with a pocket clip, tip up

I have been EDC the Endura (mods 1-4) VG-10 spyderedge for the last 10 years, tip up, blade spine back. Naturally seats in my hand for rapid blade opening as it leaves my pocket.
 
I like tip up as the blade rests against the back of my pocket. When I reach in past the knife for my keys, my hand glides along the spine of the knife rather than the narrow, sometimes jimped hump of the blade. Also not much chance of catching my hand on the blade when I pull it back out of my pocket.
 
I posted the pic of the tip-sideways carry. I tried tip-down for a day or so, and I realized that I like tip-up for tip-sideways carry, and I like tip-down for right-side-of-right-pocket carry.

So it really doesn't bother me either way; I like both.

Just a side note: wouldn't tip-down reduce lint buildup since the pivot wouldn't be as deep in the pocket?
 
I like tip up my self.

Iv only ever been bitten once with tip up and it wasnt a spyderco.
 
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