Tip Up!

C

Chewy1

Joined
Jun 5, 2006
Messages
1,564
Well, it took me long enough to decide. I used to be one of those I could care less kind of guys when it comes to tip up or tip down. But that was until this weekend. We went to the beach, and I didn't want to take one of my normal knives due to the sand and water. So, I pulled out a cheap Gerber framelock that I got at Target. It's plenty sharp.

I went to clip it on my pocket, and, darn, if the crazy thing wasn't upside down! I looked at it a little cross-eyed, and then it hit me that I had tried to insert it tip up, but it was tip down. My mind was made up in an instant. No tip down carry for me. :barf::barf:
 
It's not an absolute deal breaker for me, but I prefer tip up myself. It takes a pretty special knife for me to carry a tip down blade.
 
i carry tip up unless the knife has a hole and i can use the spydie drop to open.
 
I always prefer tip up to me it just makes sense. Again it's not the BIGGEST dealbreaker for me.
 
I've only had pocket knives with tip down before and I find that it's very efficient to open quickly(for me anyway) as when I pull it out of my back or front pocket my thumb is directly on the stud. I've got a manix 2 arriving in a couple of days so I'll have a chance to see what all the darn rave is about!:D in my mind tip up doesn't seem as convenient but I won't make any judgments until I've tested for myself...
 
I personally always carry tip down but have carried tip up before and got jabbed when going to draw once. I only carry Spyderco so when I draw the knife when carried tip down I always know where the hole is and deploy it reliably every time. To each their own.
 
I carry Tip Down for the most part. For safety reasons.

I have seen two friends who carried Tip Up get cut, one a LEO needed 6 stitches - when the knife (well known name brand) came open slightly. The tanto tip had opened just enough that when he went into his pocket - OUCH.

Unless I know the knife has a great detent to keep that blade closed I wont chance it.
 
NRaiano said:
I've only had pocket knives with tip down before and I find that it's very efficient to open quickly(for me anyway) as when I pull it out of my back or front pocket my thumb is directly on the stud. I've got a manix 2 arriving in a couple of days so I'll have a chance to see what all the darn rave is about!:D in my mind tip up doesn't seem as convenient but I won't make any judgments until I've tested for myself...
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it's best if the knife is "wave openable"
 
I prefer tip up with a left hand clip for right hand carry. It enables a forward wave draw into an edge out reverse grip.
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Charlie Mike said:
I prefer tip up with a left hand clip for right hand carry. It enables a forward wave draw into an edge out reverse grip.
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What is wrong with waving at the back of the pocket? I prefer tip up but the blade has to be at the seam so it can't accidentally come open. The way that knife is, it could open up in the right front pocket. I have been cut multiple times with a tip up knife but only when the blade is not pressed into a seam. I only have one tip down knife and it has also opened up and cut up a pair of shorts so both can cause problems if not careful.
 
Tip Up FTMFW!

Don't ever have to worry about a premature open with the sebenza, it's retention is perfect, not too much not too little.

Tip down is a deal breaker for me, I had one, and it felt weird and awkward to put in my pocket and take it out.
 
I really still don't care. I haven't had one compelling reason to go tip up or down on a particular knife except to move an exposed sharp horn or jimping that chews my hand up when I reach into my pocket. The Boker Plus Eskellibur 1 is a good example. With the "as received" tip down configuration that thumb hump and the very sharp jimping Boker Plus employs on that knife is sitting in the worst position for reaching into your pocket. Switching to tip up moved the jimping and thumb hump down and back so it's not ripping my hand up when I use the pocket anymore. It's probably not doing my pocket any good when I slide it in though. I did get poked pretty deeply with a CRKT AO I used to own that had opened in my pocket unknowingly so tip up must have a quality detent but I'm not scared away from tip up because of that one incident.
 
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FlaMtnBkr said:
What is wrong with waving at the back of the pocket? I prefer tip up but the blade has to be at the seam so it can't accidentally come open. The way that knife is, it could open up in the right front pocket. I have been cut multiple times with a tip up knife but only when the blade is not pressed into a seam. I only have one tip down knife and it has also opened up and cut up a pair of shorts so both can cause problems if not careful.
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Nothing wrong with waving the normal way. If I had to use my knife defensively, I wouldn't want to waste motion draw rearward when a forward draw gets my knife to the target much quicker... and I like to train in reverse grip.

I've been poked by an Emerson carried this way once. Turned out the pivot was loose. If you keep a tight pivot, this isn't a problem.
 
termiteslayer said:
tip up :thumbup:
tip down :thumbdn:



me
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That was my post the other day.

This is my current position on the issue -
My tip up knife (Griptilian) opened in my pocket when I started to pull it out today. I think the thumb stud caught on one of the small holes in my pocket (my work pants are used and abused) just enough to open the blade to have the tip get solid purchase on my pants. It cut a small hole in my pants before I noticed the extra resistance and stopped. I've been thinking about it since and I really didn't like the way the knife expanded in my pocket. Just a little bit of upwards movement can translate into a significant amount of lateral movement.
If I was in a panic mode I could have sunk that blade very deeply into my hip area.
I guess awareness is the kicker no matter what you do.
 
Hillbillenigma said:
I carry Tip Down for the most part. For safety reasons.

I have seen two friends who carried Tip Up get cut, one a LEO needed 6 stitches - when the knife (well known name brand) came open slightly. The tanto tip had opened just enough that when he went into his pocket - OUCH.

Unless I know the knife has a great detent to keep that blade closed I wont chance it.
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Sorry to hear that but at the same time glad I'm not the only one that has done it.

I carry in my left pocket. My Centofante III was set up for tip-up and had somehow partially opened. The blade was forward of the handle. I reached in and received my second cut from that knife. No stitches but a shallow clean cut. Luckily I was moving slow.
 
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