Well you asked for it. Here is a copy of an old post.
. . . or some call it a novella
I know, I know the short answer is : A FIXED BLADE.
But that's too easy. Which LOCKING FOLDER is best.
Yes, yes it is one thing to sit in the old arm chair and flip the knife with a single hand that is warm and healthy and bandage free.
Lately from using my Para 2 I have found it is another thing to try one handing it with less than good paws.
About a month ago I had a surprising “incident” that got me thinking about writing this thread and danged if a few days later I had a second conflaguration.
I had mentioned back then that I had dropped my PM2 and slightly beat up the edge. And that for me to drop a knife is pretty darned rare; only once before that I could ever recall.
When it happened with the Para recently I couldn’t even figure out why it happened. It just slipped out of my pinch while working the compression lock. I have other Paras and had never dropped one. After the second time it was clear why.
The reason ? Sore split thumb combined with well taped up index finger. Winter weather brings on this crazy cracking. I have been battling this since I was twenty and working with concrete. Not age related, If I avoid certain foods it goes far to minimize the condition. And the tape ? I have been doing it differently this year; pinching the flange around the edge which easily survives a day of work without coming loose and is never too tight to cut off circulation.
The flange of tape though can tangle up with the scales of the Para and or compression lock and look out . . . ‘ bagger is using his knife again . . . stand back at least twenty feet !
Been closing it two handed and so far no more flipping through the air with the greatest of ease like a high wire act.
First I grip the spyder hole with my non dominate hand, I let go with my other hand and pinch the compression lock and then swing everything closed . . . from there it seems . . . so far . . . that I have the skills to put it in my pocket without further a due.
So to repeat myself : Which is best for damaged, cold, less than fully usable hands ? I just spoke with an old friend the other day and he mentioned he had to give up some activities due to numbness in his hands form carpal tunnel operations. By the way he isn’t a knife guy but EDCs a belt pouch with a SAK Soldier and a four inch Crescent wrench.
When I dropped this knife the second time in as many weeks the knife litterally flipped up in the air and came down on the back of my finger. Stop laughing . . . OK . . . I’ll join you then . . . it is funny.
One thing I got in the habit of with my first Para 2, the all black DLC one, was I had removed the clip and was carrying it in a pouch. I found with the clip gone the best way to work the compression lock was with my thumb, let the blade drop then roll it over point up and close it with my thumb. See photos. This was how I was closing the M4 when it flipped over and bit the back of my finger.
So . . . that’s not the best when hands are in bad shape (maybe it is just my stupid tape job).
Two hand closing is what I am doiing now for the winter.
I started carrying the 940 to see how the axis lock fairs one handed with handicaps. So far so good but that's only been one day.
Man that was up town today . . . I was putting on the Ritz . . . 940 in left pocket . . . Para2M4 in right pocket. I was livin’ large !
The 940 is easy to work with split fingers but when I had a Manix LW I found the lock spring too stiff and it could cause my cracked thumb to burn and split open and bleed.
If nothing else I may have set a record for photos up loaded in a single post.
If you scroll it fast it is kind of like a video.
" (pun fully intended).
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