Whats the best production flipper

[Jensen81]

I own Hinderers, CRKs, ZTs, and several other "high end" knives. Believe it or not the smoothest and quickest flipper style knife that I own is my large SOG vulcan tanto. It is amazingly smooth and fast. It is addictive to flip it open and also to flip shut. It is a great knife!

 

[evilgreg]

That's what I like most about it. In fact, I'll probably have a CF scale made for it to lighten it up even further.

Me too to this.

My life is a mixture of knife-friendly and office environments. Throwing on dress pants means having to set aside the knife options that are too butch.

My slimmed down Southard almost does it all for me, so far. With sturdy construction, thick blade stock, and the ease of opening it, I don't pine for my 710 when I'm out of the office. With the thin build, light weight, and prettied up scale I can carry it in dress pants without it seeming silly.

The light weight is a huge part of why I love it, actually:

 

[ridnovir]

Shirogorov 95
midtech but still

 

[evilgreg]

Shirogorov 95
midtech but still

I have yet to see one of these in person, but they look pretty sweet. I almost pulled the trigger on a slightly different 95, but didn't at the last moment and it was gone a half hour later when I changed my mind. Not really a production, knife, though.

 

[Arugess]

My preferences include the Spyderco Southard and the CRKT Foresight depending on your budget range. Incredibly smooth action on both. The IKBS from CRKT is incredible and if not for the large size of the Foresight I'd probably EDC it more often.

I have the Benchmade 300SN as well and it just doesn't match the other two in smoothness of the flipper action. I always feel that I have to use my wrist to assist as the AXIS lock prevents as smooth an opening action as the Southard or Foresight. Both of those snap open smoothly, swiftly and with authority that the 300SN can't match.

 

[MRaymond]

Evilgreg, can you post a pic of that from the top? I really like the carbon fiber scale and from the angle in this picture, it seems to resolve the only issue that is preventing me from trying out a southard.. I can't stand the "uneven" width of the scales. Thanks!!

Me too to this.

My life is a mixture of knife-friendly and office environments. Throwing on dress pants means having to set aside the knife options that are too butch.

My slimmed down Southard almost does it all for me, so far. With sturdy construction, thick blade stock, and the ease of opening it, I don't pine for my 710 when I'm out of the office. With the thin build, light weight, and prettied up scale I can carry it in dress pants without it seeming silly.

The light weight is a huge part of why I love it, actually:

 

[TheModernNeanderthal]

Evilgreg, can you post a pic of that from the top? I really like the carbon fiber scale and from the angle in this picture, it seems to resolve the only issue that is preventing me from trying out a southard.. I can't stand the "uneven" width of the scales. Thanks!!

I carry the same sentiment. I have one in the way and that will be my first mod, a new, thinner scale.

 

[evilgreg]

Evilgreg, can you post a pic of that from the top? I really like the carbon fiber scale and from the angle in this picture, it seems to resolve the only issue that is preventing me from trying out a southard.. I can't stand the "uneven" width of the scales. Thanks!!

I carry the same sentiment. I have one in the way and that will be my first mod, a new, thinner scale.

Here you go, please excuse the poor quality of this quick low-light photo:

It looks and feels symmetrical after Barry's work. I am very happy

 

[Omega Leather Works]

I love symmetry, but as one person pointed out the Southard is not as "bad" in that aspect as it appears in pics. You can't have symmetry anyway with a framelock. I understand the point though, and thinned scales do look good too.

 

[evilgreg]

I love symmetry, but as one person pointed out the Southard is not as "bad" in that aspect as it appears in pics. You can't have symmetry anyway with a framelock. I understand the point though, and thinned scales do look good too.

No argument here; as I originally posted I thought the knife felt great in the hand with the original thicker scale. I did think the asymmetry added to the ugly factor a bit, though not as much as the brown color. IMO, just dying the brown scale black makes this knife much more attractive.

It is thinner this way, though, and moreover it doesn't have the sandpaper grip of the original scale which combined means it's a bit more pocket friendly (and it was pretty pocket friendly to begin with).

 

[MRaymond]

Hey thanks EG. It looks great! I am a fan of symmetry myself. You have a real keeper there. Not only for its good looks either, it's got a great story too.

 

[Barry H]

I own both the ZT 0561 and the Spyderco Southard. I like them both. But if I had to bug out for what ever reason, I'd grab the ZT. Beefier, robust, seems to be a heavier duty tool. Flipper action is faster and more aggressive than the Spyderco, probably due to the larger blade mass.

Only thing I did to mine was to convex the blade. If I ever get the time, I'll replace the scale with a one piece version, rather than the liner plus an outer scale.

 

[TotalDbag]

Not produced anymore, but the TiLT!!!!