Tip up -- yaaaouch!

Twindog

Gold Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2004
Messages
3,989
:eek: I reached into my pocket this morning to grab my keys, and YOUCH. Felt like a wolverine bit off my thumb.

Actually, the blade on my Ti-Lite had somehow opened up so the tip was just outside of the handle. Up to now, while I generally like tip down folders, it wasn't a big issue. Now I see that tip down is much safer. Not only can you get cut, but imagine trying to pull a partly opened tip up knife from your pocket.

Glad my Dominator with the assisted opening is tip down. Chris Reeves, if you want to sell me another $300 knife, make a Sebenza tip down.

On the plus side, to all you macho knife fighters, I can proudly say that I've stabbed someone, too.
 
please explain how that happened? i have ONLY had problems with my tip down folders. with tip up, the blade side/tip is kept in check by my pocket, making it impossible to put my hand anywhere near the tip. with tip down, the tip is positioned towards the center of my body, and my hand rubs against the 'open' side every time i reach in my pocket. got nicked a couple of times with my Gunting already. i will never trust a tip down to a tip up...
 
vactor said:
I have ONLY had problems with my tip down folders.

I am with Vactor. The only holes I've incurred (in pocket and leg) are from tip-down. I carry tip-up 98% of the time and have never had a problem with that.

--SAK
 
Try not using a clip. The knife is not held rigidly, and thus does not come open. If your pockets are big, you can get at it faster too, as long as you arre standing up.
 
Will P. said:
Try not using a clip. The knife is not held rigidly, and thus does not come open. If your pockets are big, you can get at it faster too, as long as you arre standing up.

I recently got a BM 806SD2 in a trade and carry it with a tether (clip removed) tip up. It rides easily, draws quickly, and orients predictably. Even seated because of where the tether lies it stays put but is smoothly in hand without squirming.

If someone had asked me before this knife, I would have said
tether :barf:
no clip :barf:
coated and easily scratched blade :barf:
part serrated :barf:
tip up :barf:

It sure works for me, though :)

Chris
 
Sorry, man. Hope the injury heals fully and quickly.

Would you provide some more details on how it happend so others can learn?

Chris
 
Twindog said:
On the plus side, to all you macho knife fighters, I can proudly say that I've stabbed someone, too.

Hmm, I thought it only counted when you're actually HOLDING the knife. Otherwise, it's just another shmo incapable of properly orienting thier folder.

D13
 
I've always preferred tip down. I keep my knives clipped in my back pocket, and somehow it feels more natural to me to pull out and open a tip down folder compared to a tip up...or is it...Ken Onion Avalanche is tip down right? I like it like that.
Richard
 
I like tip up, you can hold the handle entirely before opening. This way, I don't have to pinch the pivot and spin it 1/4 turn. The spine is in contact with my right pocket seam
 
i love to carry tip-up too. seems if everyone got the perfect knife for tip-up carry, then no one would get hurt :)

i have never had a problem with it; of course i do have the perfect knife for it. benchmade 941 with axis lock. axis keeps blade in tight, but when you need it the blade is out like lighting with very little flip.

perfect knife and lock system for tip-up carry.

just my opinion :)

sorry about the injury!
 
I can't believe this has surfaced, yet again. But we are rebuilding after the crash (seems to be going around like the plague). I'd say that tip up is my preferance as the small Sebenza, Microtech Amphibian and BEnchmade 941 are three of my favorite knives, and I got hooked on pocket clipped one hand openers with an old Cold Steel Voyager. However, my Socom Elite and Buck Mayo and Al MAr Shrike are in my favorite EDC rotation as well and are all tip down. Go figure.

There is no BETTER approach as far as tip up or down carry, just personal preferances. It seems Pat Crawford won't build a tip up knife and so far it looks like Chris Reeve won't build a tip down mode. I seem to think Mr. Mayo won't build tip up either. Who can critisize these guys? Not me.

They're knives and there's a lot of them. Buy the ones you like and ignore the other ones. There's great ones built both ways.

John
 
please explain how that happened?

What happened to our friend Mr. Twindog is a rare phenomenon called "gravity."

Maybe you've heard of it?

Maybe there's even some around you right now...

Tip-up carry defy gravity because tip-up knives are susceptible to coming open under the effects of gravity. This is ok... as long as you're not around any gravity. But, gravity does come up (or go down, as the case may be) every now and then. So carrying a folder tip-up is a calculated risk that you take. You might gain a tiny fraction of a second in opening speed and it'll be ok... as long as you don't run into any gravity in the course of your day's travels.

For those who live in gravity-free environments, such as the International Space Station, tip-up carry is a great idea! Why not gain that small fraction of a second in opening speed when you've got no risk of any gravity.

On the other hand, if you're unfortunate to live in a gravity-infested area, if your work brings you into contact with gravity, etc., then you should re-consider tip-up carry or you might end up being the next one with stitches in his palm.
 
I never worry about my tip up folders opening in my pocket. The blade is always held against the seam towards the back of my pocket.

And when I reach into my pocket I'm reaching into the four or five inches of my pocket thats open and on the opposite side of the knife blade.
 
Gollnick said:
What happened to our friend Mr. Twindog is a rare phenomenon called "gravity."

Maybe you've heard of it?

Maybe there's even some around you right now...

Tip-up carry defy gravity because tip-up knives are susceptible to coming open under the effects of gravity. This is ok... as long as you're not around any gravity. But, gravity does come up (or go down, as the case may be) every now and then. So carrying a folder tip-up is a calculated risk that you take. You might gain a tiny fraction of a second in opening speed and it'll be ok... as long as you don't run into any gravity in the course of your day's travels.

For those who live in gravity-free environments, such as the International Space Station, tip-up carry is a great idea! Why not gain that small fraction of a second in opening speed when you've got no risk of any gravity.

On the other hand, if you're unfortunate to live in a gravity-infested area, if your work brings you into contact with gravity, etc., then you should re-consider tip-up carry or you might end up being the next one with stitches in his palm.

i must respectfully disagree w/this, i carry tip up edc and have never had one open on me, the only time this has ever happened was with tip down knives (a spyderco joht singh khalsa and a gunting) and they opened as a result of the shape of the blade imho.

i dont really prefer one to another, my 2 favorite knives are a emerson spec war CQC8 (tip up) and a crawford perfigo (tip down) so i use both, but many folks seem to think that the knife will invariably come open in the tip up configuration, and this simply has not been my experience.

if ya keep the pivot pin properly tightened, i dont think ya will have a prob, i say that and i'll cut myself tomorrow probably lol.


greg
 
oh, i also think ya should empty your pockets out in the evening and repack every morning, if ya leave a knife in pants which get stepped on/kicked/fluffed up before putting them on/banged around/etc ya are asking to lose it/have it open on ya/shift around to a funky place in the pocket/etc.
 
Add my name to the list of people who have stabbed themselves with a tip up carry knife opening in their pocket. More than once too. Now, I carry my Large Sebenza in a leather belt case.
 
Like others have mentioned, I really don't have a preference. I always thought I preferred tip-up and given the choice (with a custom, for instance where the maker lets me specify), I'd likely choose tip up. When clipped to my right front pocket, it just seems natural that when I grasp the knife, my hand is already in the position to open it. It just seemed more natural.

However, my Obenauf Model 2 is tip-down and there's no noticeable impact on opening speed or comfort. So in the end, I'm happy with either setup. I'm actually in the middle of a one month experiment in which I removed the clip from my Obie to see if I liked it. While I used the clip in my pocket only rarely, I thought it made it easier to open & close. The clip allowed a better grip. Note, I only carry the Obie in the house, but the lack of clip is really starting to grow on me. It's feels nice and sleek in hand and looks good too!
 
i must live in a gravity free zone then, cause i've never had any problem with my tip up carry knives. oh, wait, maybe it's because i actually think about it beforehand and put the spine of the knife against the back edge of my pocket so it stops the blade from coming out. now i can enjoy both gravity and tip-up carry, what a wonderful world!
 
This has been rehashed over and over, so to reiterate I'll kick in here as well on the subject.

I have been bitten twice by tip up as described by twindog. The first time just a small poke with the tip.

The second time a nice nasty puncture wound that was quite deep and painful.

Because it hasn't happened to you doesn't necessarily mean someone has done something wrong in the way they have carried tip up clipped to the pocket.

I know enough about folders to understand it was not something I did or didn't do that caused the injuries sustained to my own thumb when it happened to me.

I haven't carried tip up in a linerlock configuration since the second incident described above about two years ago. Imagine your surprise when you really need to access that defensive folder under stress and assault and you stab your thumb and stop in shock and surprise at your own impailment BEFORE it has cleared the pocket. Thats not something to look forward to in my opinion.

I presently carry a tip down Persian Spyderco, but it is a lockback which doesn't suffer the ball detent issues of letting the blade move through gravity.
Tip up linerlocks are an accident waiting to bite that accessing thumb. To discount others misfortune, write it off as something they did wrong, or somehow the user was not diligent in it's positioning on the pocket is to be naive.

Murphy being who he is, if it can happen, it will, to someone, somewhere, sometime. As we have documentation from the poster, now myself, and over the years more than a few others with tip up linerlocks, perhaps viewers here should consider the possibilities based on real world experience in lieu of automatically believing it was user error in some way.

Linerlocks have too many issues for me to be carrying them for serious self defense purposes. They release at the most inopertune time while in use, have bitten people when this has happened, as well the issue of tip up in the linerlock config as in this post and you can readily see it may be food for thought to one who prides himself in being prudent to listen when others have issues and not just write it off as some idiot didn't know how to carry the thing in the first place.

For me, it's tip down [ preferred ]for the Brownie Pop and no linerlocks ever for the reasons stated above. I understand everyone likes the linerlocks as they fly open quickly and thats a good thing. The very reason they are easy to flick open also is the cause/effect we see with what twindog has just experienced. Can't have it one way [ easy to flick open ] without the other issue [ opening slightly by the ball detent letting the blade move away from it's resting place in the closed position ].

I'll carry tip up in lockback only. Your mileage may vary and thats a good thing, to each his own. We make decisions based on others experiences as well as our own if we are smart.

To all the naysayers who believe it will never happen----don't come crying to us here when it does happen.

My thumb took a good stabbing the second time, it WILL NOT be happening again to me I can assure you.

All my linerlocks are stored away. They are going up for sale this year as I'll never carry them again anyway.

Horizon Seeker: You think that I didn't carry mine that way as well? Think that that idea never ocurred to others here? A word to the wise would normally be sufficient I would think.

I've probably carried a defensive folder longer than quite a few who have been here on earth. Been there, done that, but no longer based on first hand experience. Hope you never have to experience the self inflicted pain.

Brownie
 
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