To flip or not to flip

WE Knife makes a pretty good flipper. It's not close to custom but it's smooth. The leverage it takes to push the bump. Fast deploy with a good lockup.

I've felt customs that were glass smooth. $1000+ knife three years ago.

If you introduce any kind of grit. Dirt or sand. You're going to not use it. Take the thing apart. And micro clean the bears and everything they ride on.

I have three of the WE Knife. I don't remember the names but there's no way, I'd sharpen it to where any kind of grit slurry would touch those bearings. If you were running an edge on something custom in the thousands of dollars range, running on bearings. The blade would need to removed. Sharpened and then reinstalled.
 
Jsega51 said:
Would it piss people off if I said I didn’t always flip open my flipper knives? I sometimes pinch the blade and open them two handed style, usually when others are around so the sound doesn’t make people look. I also carry slipjoints and back locks so that two handed technique just takes over like second nature sometimes.
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I have a Benchmade Ball and a Spyderco Sliverax. Both are excellent knives, both are flippers, but neither is a good flipper. The detents are too weak, so it takes a little assistance from gravity or a wrist flick to get them to flip open. But the Ball opens just fine with the thumb stud, and the Sliverax opens just fine with the Spydies hole. I can flick the Sliverax with my thumb or any finger except my pinkie. So that's how I usually open them instead of flipping.
 
Grasshopperglock said:
WE Knife makes a pretty good flipper. It's not close to custom but it's smooth. The leverage it takes to push the bump. Fast deploy with a good lockup.

I've felt customs that were glass smooth. $1000+ knife three years ago.

If you introduce any kind of grit. Dirt or sand. You're going to not use it. Take the thing apart. And micro clean the bears and everything they ride on.

I have three of the WE Knife. I don't remember the names but there's no way, I'd sharpen it to where any kind of grit slurry would touch those bearings. If you were running an edge on something custom in the thousands of dollars range, running on bearings. The blade would need to removed. Sharpened and then reinstalled.
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WE does a decent job. The biggest gap is probably the heat treatment. I'm not saying they are bad and they are actually quite good on the budget end with 9Cr18Mov or 14C28N. It's just that on M390/20CV, there is a performance gap when comparing WE or Kizer to Spyderco or Shirogorov. On action though, I've had customs and mid-techs with worse action than your average WE (or Civivi for that matter).

Grit, dirt, and sand can be bad for any folder (or between a fixed blade and its sheath). The challenge of cleaning out a knife on bearings is a little overblown. I can often rinse them out under water or blow them out with a can of dust-off. Even then, the need is pretty rare. Honestly, pocket lint is the biggest offender and it isn't a big deal. Hard particulates are a situational or environmental challenge and an environment bad enough to discourage me from using a knife on bearings will discourage me from using any kind of folder.

When sharpening, you don't want slurry running into any kind of action. Aside from being careful, a little painter's tape or something can be a big help.
 
Washers do a better job at knives seeing dirt or sand. The gap in between the metal and washer. Have a different kind of tolerance then the bearing.

The bearings on the knife are not sealed. They're not even shielded. Pull it out and look. If it's easy to oil. It's more easy for grit.
 
Grasshopperglock said:
Washers do a better job at knives seeing dirt or sand. The gap in between the metal and washer. Have a different kind of tolerance then the bearing.

The bearings on the knife are not sealed. They're not even shielded. Pull it out and look. If it's easy to oil. It's more easy for grit.
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Check out the can't leave anything alone thread. I do a lot of modding.
 
CRK really should consider a front-flipper. All they'd have to do is put a tail on the top of the blade jimping, reduce the detent pressure, and remove the thumb studs (otherwise, Tactical Flipper Bros like me would destroy the blade stop). Removing the cutout for the thumb stud would give the knife better lines too.

Front-flipping isn't vulgar. It's certainly a "South African" sorta thing.
 
jacobconroy75 said:
CRK really should consider a front-flipper. All they'd have to do is put a tail on the top of the blade jimping, reduce the detent pressure, and remove the thumb studs (otherwise, Tactical Flipper Bros like me would destroy the blade stop). Removing the cutout for the thumb stud would give the knife better lines too.

Front-flipping isn't vulgar. It's certainly a "South African" sorta thing.
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I'd be way into a pure front flipper with a streamlined spine.

In the meantime, I have a few front flippers with thumb studs that manage a good detent for both. The ones that come to mind are Ray Laconico designs.

I also have this inexpensive Kubey that snaps perfectly from the front flipper or the blade cut-out. Just saying, it can be done. (BTW, the lock-bar did not look like that from the factory.)

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