What's the best production flipper?

[LG&M]

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1481391-Budget-Flippers
So good info here.

 

[ChazzyP]

All the flippers I still own flip well enough for me and they encompass an extremely broad price range. One of the very best is the cheapest--Kizer Intrepid, and not the Ti frame-lock either, but the sub-$100 VG10/G10 version. My son has that one too and the Ti frame lock and loves both.

I've de-assisted my ZT0350 and it flips ok; my 0452 flies out and is fool-proof, but required an excruciating amount of forefinger pain to break in its incredibly tight detent; it's little brother 0450 is much easier and comes out nicely; and my 0801 flips slightly sluggishly.

New-to-me is a 247 Olamic Wayfarer that is still breaking in, but flips great and is a super knife.

My Wilson Combat Les George Eagle gave me fits trying to get it right, but came around to light-switch well after lubricating its Teflon washers with TriFlow. I like this one a lot, but it may be an acquired taste and not for everyone.

I've had three Hinderers, having sold an XM18 3.5" Sparrow that was perhaps the best/snappiest flipper of the three, though it had an unpleasantly sharp tab that became easier on the ol' finger after detent break-in and callous build-up. My current XM18 3.5" Spanto is 4th gen, like the Sparrow, but has a much softer detent and flips easily, though slowly as does my 3rd gen XM24. Both of those also shake out.

I have a NorthArm Skaha mid-size G10 flipper made in British Columbia with a 3.25" blade that's incredibly light, flips like nobody's business, and closes without shaking. It's a neat little knife.

At the top end of the price scale are my Shirogorovs. They all flip great, but differently--the F3 Python comes out smoothly; the big-ass 111 is a bit slower both opening and closing; the Hati is on washers, flips like a CRK would if they made one, and is butter smooth. The cream of the crop is the F95T "Turtle" which is as fool-proof a flipper as is made, rockets out, and closes not-to-loosely under its own weight. That's my favorite.

I also have a couple cheap Buck Vantages that flip poorly and a SOG TwitchXL that's assisted. Obviously any assisted flipper should come out well, but I don't care for that feature at all, which is why I de-assisted my 0350 and my non-flipper Benchmade 581.

I've owned a Spyderco Southard and Domino and didn't dislike the knives, but also didn't find their action great or that they had much appeal for me, so I moved on and put the money into something else. I added custom scales to my BM300 AXIS flipper and still couldn't love that knife, so I moved on from that one too.

The funny thing about flippers is that if you hand almost any one of them to a non-knife or non-flipper person they usually can't get the knife to deploy at all. My take is that almost any flipper requires its own special technique--be-it push-button, light-switch, pre-load--and some practice. As with anything, YMMV.

 

[BrandoSpoke]

This question is way too vague but Zero Tolerance knives generally have smooth actions

 

[Cory Hess]

Buck 830 Marksman...the flipping action on these is so free and effortless than it can be a finger guillotine when closing.

I don't have a ton of experience with flippers yet, but I have to say that the Buck Marksman is a ton of fun to flip. It's fast and smooth and just so much fun to play with. I bought it because I thought that the lock design was cool, but once I had it it was the action that I fell in love with. Definitely a winner that won't break the bank.

 

[rexbo]

Try this "test":

With your non-dominate hand, hold the knife as perfectly vertical as you can (tip down of course). Do this by using the thumb and index finger in a pinch hold at the what would be the bottom of the knife fame/handles. Now while holding the knife in that manner, take the thumb of your dominate hand put the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM amount of pressure on the flipper tab that is required to break the detent. Very few knives will fully deploy the blade if you do exactly as I have described.

Will yours?

That's the test I typically try on a knife when I am told that it will deploy 100% of the time under any circumstances. Is that how we actually deploy a flipper blade, does it even matter ? No, but It was interesting to learn that out of all my knives only one passes that test 100% of the time.

 

[Bigbluefish]

From my vast experience of flippers:
I have one. A ZT0450.
I tried a ZT0900 once. It worked.
I had a Boker Kwaiken. It worked, too.
The 0450 works better than either of the other two.
So, the answer is the ZT0450.

 

[Officer's Match]

Try this "test":

With your non-dominate hand, hold the knife as perfectly vertical as you can (tip down of course). Do this by using the thumb and index finger in a pinch hold at the what would be the bottom of the knife fame/handles. Now while holding the knife in that manner, take the thumb of your dominate hand put the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM amount of pressure on the flipper tab that is required to break the detent. Very few knives will fully deploy the blade if you do exactly as I have described.

Will yours?

That's the test I typically try on a knife when I am told that it will deploy 100% of the time under any circumstances. Is that how we actually deploy a flipper blade, does it even matter ? No, but It was interesting to learn that out of all my knives only one passes that test 100% of the time.

That is the first time ever that I could successfully break detent without fully opening my CKF MILK. However, my Olamic 247 passed that test rather convincingly.

 

[rexbo]

That is the first time ever that I could successfully break detent without fully opening my CKF MILK. However, my Olamic 247 passed that test rather convincingly.

I have the same Olmaic... a 247 and with mine, I can break its detent without fully opening if I am very careful on how much pressure and where it's placed on the flipper. I have a lot of very high end/expensive flippers that won't "pass" (Shiros, FF, Curtiss, Beggs, Grimsmo, etc.). All but 1 in fact (a Thorburn/Van-Heerden A3) . Ironically the only other flipper I have that passed 80% of the time was my ZT-450 (which I consider to be in-expensive)

But at any rate it's just a silly test that means nothing....

My favorite flipper (for action) is still bar none my Herucus Blomerous LL51... flips 100 percent (other that "the test") and the detent is heaven, the clear best over some very stiff competition like the Rask, Shiro T95, Neon, etc. for example

 

[evilgreg]

Try this "test":

With your non-dominate hand, hold the knife as perfectly vertical as you can (tip down of course). Do this by using the thumb and index finger in a pinch hold at the what would be the bottom of the knife fame/handles. Now while holding the knife in that manner, take the thumb of your dominate hand put the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM amount of pressure on the flipper tab that is required to break the detent. Very few knives will fully deploy the blade if you do exactly as I have described.

Will yours?

That's the test I typically try on a knife when I am told that it will deploy 100% of the time under any circumstances. Is that how we actually deploy a flipper blade, does it even matter ? No, but It was interesting to learn that out of all my knives only one passes that test 100% of the time.

This is a pretty decent test, though it favors knives with rock hard detents a bit. I tried this on a couple of dozen of my flippers, and only a handful flip every time that way. The Kizer Splinter was the least expensive of the knives I tried that passed your test (~$120). The next least expensive knife that passed was my ZT 0450, and my 0450cfzdp also passed, but all of these knives have really stiff detents. Some of the knives that I think of as far superior flippers overall fail, but always flip hard in practice and have much smoother overall feel.

IMO, this is a great test for determining if a bearing flipper has a strong detent, though.

 

[abbazaba]

One of the very best is the cheapest--Kizer Intrepid, and not the Ti frame-lock either, but the sub-$100 VG10/G10 version.

I second this. I have both versions as well, and I just can't sell the Vanguard Intrepid cause it's so awesome. The weight of the blade definitely helps, but Kizer is absolutely killing it with their flipping action IMO. Even the 3" 3404 flipper on washers that I have from them has better action than a good number of bearing knives I've had.

 

[rexbo]

This is a pretty decent test, though it favors knives with rock hard detents a bit. I tried this on a couple of dozen of my flippers, and only a handful flip every time that way. The Kizer Splinter was the least expensive of the knives I tried that passed your test (~$120). The next least expensive knife that passed was my ZT 0450, and my 0450cfzdp also passed, but all of these knives have really stiff detents. Some of the knives that I think of as far superior flippers overall fail, but always flip hard in practice and have much smoother overall feel.

IMO, this is a great test for determining if a bearing flipper has a strong detent, though.

agree it absolutely favors a strong detent no question, and I also agree that a strong detent does not mean it's necessarily a good flipper all around.

Flipping underwater is also fun, again strong detent rules the day

 

[sharp_edge]

"best" in what sense?

- Blade opening speed
- Smoothness of action
- Failure rate (i.e., chances that the blade will not be fully open / lock engaged)
- Amount of the force needed to pull the flipper tab
- Magnitude of the sound when the lock is engaged
- Strength of detent
- Necessity of certain flipping technique (e.g., push button, light switch, or both)
- Comfort of your index finger tip (e.g., is it sore after 10-minute non-stop flipping)
- Level of control you have over the flipping action (faster, slower, or stopping in the middle)
- Availability of other opening methods (e.g., thumbstud, thumbhole, or none).

Am I missing anything?

 

[rexbo]

"best" in what sense?

- Blade opening speed
- Smoothness of action
- Failure rate (i.e., chances that the blade will not be fully open / lock engaged)
- Amount of the force needed to pull the flipper tab
- Magnitude of the sound when the lock is engaged
- Strength of detent
- Necessity of certain flipping technique (e.g., push button, light switch, or both)
- Comfort of your index finger tip (e.g., is it sore after 10-minute non-stop flipping)
- Level of control you have over the flipping action (faster, slower, or stopping in the middle)
- Availability of other opening methods (e.g., thumbstud, thumbhole, or none).

Am I missing anything?

not that comes to mind! haha Good list and a great point, "best" is certainly suggestive and depending how much stock a person puts into anyone of the attributes will determine on how they come up the "the best".

For me it's the "perfect detent" that still deploys the knife 100% in normal circumstances. Speed, sound, etc are all just icing on the cake

 

[evilgreg]

I second this. I have both versions as well, and I just can't sell the Vanguard Intrepid cause it's so awesome. The weight of the blade definitely helps, but Kizer is absolutely killing it with their flipping action IMO. Even the 3" 3404 flipper on washers that I have from them has better action than a good number of bearing knives I've had.

My funky colored 3404 from back in the early days of Kizer, when they only had a handful of models, is an amazing flipper too. For a knife on washers that thing flips incredibly well, in part because of the solid detent and in part because it has kind of an oversized, upward-angled flipper. I had to switch the clip to tip up to make it part of my rotation, but I've carried that little knife a bunch.

 

[Officer's Match]

I just pulled out one of my favorite flippers, one I frankly hadn't thought about for a while. A Medford Viper. By design, a "push button" - and frankly, the most satisfying push-button-flipper I have ever tried. That think rockets off a detent that really isn't as firm as a lot of other's, and even though it is on washers, it easily flies into battery. The resounding thwack is just really really fun.

 

[RamZar]

There are lots of good ones. Firstly, the detent needs to be strong enough to hold the blade in place for safety reasons. Ideally, not too strong that it requires an extended break-in period.

The shape, size and jimping of the flipper tab is another factor as well as. I've found loose ceramic bearings best but steel bearings, caged bearings and even various types of washers work fairly well.

There are variabilities within the flipper performance of some manufacturers and even within samples of the same model.

Personally, some good ones have been: Shirogorov, Custom Knife Factory, Todd Begg Steelcraft, Curtiss, Zero Tolerance, Olamic, Guardian Tactical, Kizer and Reate. I've heard good things about WE and Rike as well.

 

[Jmarconi8907]

Shirogorov F95 takes my vote. Glass like action. Their Elmax is very well done too.

 

[alinla]

My favorite flipping action is the ZT0900. I'm not even sure you can flip it wrong. The thing is a rocket and the "Thunk" sound it makes is addicting.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[BrandoSpoke]

There is no answer to this. What you will like may be totally different than what someone else likes. If you just ask the opinions of other people about what they think is "the best" you are going to 1) be spending $400 on a Rick Hinderer or some expensive knife, and 2) you most likely not be 100% happy with your purchase. Look at knives in your budget, do some research, then go somewhere you can try one.

 

[Thetimefarm]

Hinderer XM series... April fools