Tip up, tip down - what's the deal?

I don't have a preference between tip-up and tip-down.

I've never had a knife open in my pocket.
I don't care about speed of deployment.

mileage varies widely on this question.
 
knifenut1013 said:
I don't believe that one way or the other helps with speed of deployment. I think its more about the knife itself, the design of the pocket clip, how high or low it sits in your pocket, and the ergonomics of the knife play bigger factors than tip up or tip down.
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I agree completely. I think the design of the pocket clip is the most important factor in whether a knife should be tip up or tip down.

I don't care about how quickly I can draw and open the knife. But I do care about how easy it is to get out of my pocket. And because of that, I think I prefer tip down knives because they seem to position the pocket clip lower on the handle so that more of the knife is exposed above the pocket.

I've been EDC'ing my new Paramilitary for the last week, and it's tip down, and has the best pocket clip positioning of any knife I've ever owned. It exposes enough of the handle that you can get a good hold on it to draw without having to worry about it slipping out of your hand like some.

If the pocket clip is positioned correctly, it doesn't matter which direction the tip is pointing, the knife will always be easy to draw.

And I've never had to reposition a tip down knife to open it. In fact, opening a tip down knife is a more fluid motion for me.

But in the end, I don't care one way or the other. If I like the knife I'll carry it. I just lean towards tip down.
 
SPXTrader said:
I prefer tip up (RF pocket) for two reasons: the spine of the blade is up against my pocket seam reducing the chance of an accidental opening, and with my preference for flippers and AO, it's a natural grip on the knife when you remove it from your pocket.
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Yup, and tip down for left hand pocket carry (cross draw for right hand, if you're into that type of thing)
 
I prefer tip down just because it's safer, IMHO. It only took one good cut to convince me. In tip up, even if the blade loosens just a little, one can get a nasty cut.
 
If you're right-handed and carry in the front right pocket, Tip-up is the best way.

But if you're right handed and prefer to carry in the right rear pocket, cuz you've already got too much stuff in your front pocket (like me!), tip-down works better.

I usually carry tip-down in the right rear pocket!
 
tip down, for me anyways, is infinitely better then tip up. at least with spydercos. when you pull it out of the pocket..your thumb and hand are exactly how they should be and same with putting it back.

tip up i have to like turn the knife around to take it out and put it back in
 
I usually prefer tip-up just a touch more than tip-down, simply as a comfort thing. However, it's kind of nice to simply pull a Spyderco out by the hole and do the ol' spydie drop, which is a plus for tip-down.
 
Tip down for me.

I will never understand tip up people. YOU HAVE TO RESPOSITION THE HAND AND IT IS A SLOWER DRAW.

PLUS THE KNIFE CAN OPEN AND CUT YOU IN THE POCKET.

AND IT TIP DOWN KEEPS THE POCKET LINT OUT OF MOVING PARTS.

That is why I like the spyderco Militartys tip down carry so much.
 
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Tip up/tip down DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE THE SAME DRAW TECHNIQUE!!!!!!!!!!! I can draw both ways without repositioning because I draw both differently. Tip up grasps into the pocket while I get my tip down by bringing my hand up from underneath the knife. Both get it into my hand as I need it and both do not need repositioning as I am grasping near the pivot both ways. The issue is when one uses the extraction method on their preferred carry in the other option and then say it is not as good.

That being said I prefer tip up- I never understood how people cut themselves tip up unless the knife is carried on the middle of the pocket rather than against the edge of the pocket. Plus while training knife combat techniques one day the clip of the tip down knife was pushed into my pinky, cutting it. Tip up aligns the clip with the direction of force, greatly negating the risk of clip damage.
 
colubrid said:
Tip down for me.

I will never understand tip up people. YOU HAVE TO RESPOSITION THE HAND AND IT IS A SLOWER DRAW.

PLUS THE KNIFE CAN OPEN AND CUT YOU IN THE POCKET.

AND IT TIP DOWN KEEPS THE POCKET LINT OUT OF MOVING PARTS.

That is why I like the spyderco Militartys tip down carry so much.
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Um, the knife comes out in natural grip...why on earth would you have to reposition?

The knife CANT open with the spine of the blade against the seam of the pocket.

You will get the same amount of pocket fuzz in the knife either way. Trust me, I've done both.

Sorry, but I don't agree at all.
 
J_Curd said:
The knife CANT open with the spine of the blade against the seam of the pocket.
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Exactly, I don't know how these people are carrying their knives if they have the blade opening up when carrying tip up.

I prefer tip up, but either carry method is fine.
 
I had a CQC-8 open in my pocket once though I was wearing sweat pants. Started running (we were in a water balloon fight) and the blade almost completely opened, poked me in the leg 5 times and gave me a nice 1/8 deep by 2in long slice in my thigh. I highly doubt that this could happen when wearing jeans but it can happen with loose clothing and trust me its not a good feeling.
 
knifenut1013 said:
I had a CQC-8 open in my pocket once though I was wearing sweat pants. Started running (we were in a water balloon fight) and the blade almost completely opened, poked me in the leg 5 times and gave me a nice 1/8 deep by 2in long slice in my thigh. I highly doubt that this could happen when wearing jeans but it can happen with loose clothing and trust me its not a good feeling.
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That's not good at all. :(

But I do agree, wearing jeans or pants it likely wouldn't have happened, but with those so called shorts people seem to love to wear these days it would be very possible.
 
I have two more comments for this thread. I prefer tip up for my Primary knife.

When I need a knife I often can not use two hands to get it out and into use.

NOW. That said while I REALLY like my SOG Twitch XL the very fact that it has a deep hiding clip on it makes it a PITA to get out of my jeans pocket! I find that a bit of knife sticking up makes it ever so much more usable.

Again, a few of my "good" knives have tip down clips. That is not a deal breaker by any stretch. But my favorite knife is my Benchmade 553 Tanto. It comes out of pocket pretty darn easy, deploys fast or "sheeple friendly" slow and is just an all around good knife. i WISH it were a Drop Point rather that Tanto but I got a deal on it.
 
Up or down is a preference, not an absolute rule. How one person uses a knife is never a mandate to recommend it's use to another. I've carried both ways for years at time. You get used to it.

Speed in withdrawal is largely mall ninja. There are those who insist on describing imaginary and anecdotal scenarios where they claim it saved the day. What is left out was the cluelessness of walking into a victim zone - and never a word about learning a lesson in situational awareness.

It's like the debate on the M16 forward assist. Some justify it by saying you can close the bolt silently after checking to see if you loaded it. Au contraire, you know you loaded it because you stepped out of the green zone, dummy, and the safety is already off.

It's a lot of uninformed talk by those who need excitement in their life.
 
I've said this in every TU/TD thread we have had. It makes NO difference to me. I reach for the knife pull it out and open it. Done deal. I do believe that some knives are suited for TD so if they open by accident you have less chance of cutting your hand. And all this lightning speed deployment stuff makes me laugh. Now my .45 or .38 or 9mm I carry all them tip down...
 
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