whats with the assist

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Thisisit

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All the kershaw/zt knives that i like that i feel like would be worth buying have assist witch stops me from buying them. I know some of them you can take out but i dont feel that should have to be necessary. I feel like if they are gonna make assisted knives they should make manual ones too. Assisted is illegal in my state. My state local laws dont just use the obvious if it opens automatically by the push of a button. They say if a knife opens by any means of a spring to assist in the opening process it classifies as a switchblade. Its a shame because the only 2 manual flippers kershaw has are the skyline witch is too small and the jyd witch for me has too many negatives about it for me to purchase.
 
I never got the point of assisted knives. In my experience they don't open any faster than a well excecuted manual action knife, they have more parts/things that can break and I don't care for the feel either, they just seem artificial to me.
 
Cereal_killer said:
What state are you in that words the law like that? Guessing MD?
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Nah. Between local and state laws in south jersey, Idk if your familiar with it but the atco/berlin aera. Its worded very weirdly loosely. I feel like the way its worded leaves assisted knives in the firing range.

Switchblade knife" means any knife or similar
device which has blade which opens automatically by hand
pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in
the handle of the knife

Ontop of that i just dont like them. I find they just making closing more difficult and dont help opening in a well made knife its effortless to open once you get past the detent.
 
I like assisted knives they are fun to flip or open. However pretty much all the ZT or Kershaw knives I have seen can easily be made into a manual knife by just taking out the torsion bar, it takes about 3 minutes.
 
I've tried them, but I found I really dislike assisted knives (don't like idea of torsion bar wearing out, not as fun to flip as a manual, SUCKS when closing, "scary", and little to no point in having an assisted knife to begin with) and when you take the torsion bar out, the blade retention is gone... and if it was a flipper, that means it doesn't really flip anymore.

Assist ruins a knife for me.
 
evanPGH said:
I never got the point of assisted knives. In my experience they don't open any faster than a well excecuted manual action knife, they have more parts/things that can break and I don't care for the feel either, they just seem artificial to me.
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That's where I'm at with them.

A well designed manual or flipper will open pretty fast on it's own.

Kershaw does it, I think, because people seemt like like the "mor kewl pwerz" stuff on knives sometimes and they make a clicking sound that is identifiable as a pump shotgun.
 
They have a lot of disadvantages and no real advantages. You can open a knife quickly and smoothly with any number of opening methods. Obviously Kershaw/ZT sells a lot of them to people who think they're cool. I bought a few assisted knives years ago (Leek, Speed bump, Clash, Tremor, ZT0350, etc) but I rarely use them anymore. The torsion bar rattle is present in ALL my Speedsafe Kershaws and ZT 0350 and it is obnoxious. I don't like the additional force required to close the blade. I've long since quit purchasing AO knives.
 
Thisisit said:
Switchblade knife" means any knife or similar
device which has blade which opens automatically by hand
pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in
the handle of the knife
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I'm not telling you your wrong, on that you should do anything than makes you uncomfy, do what you feel is best, but if I were living there I would take that to not include kershaw's A/O's. Reason being that the point where you apply pressure is on the blade, either thumb studs or a flipper, both of those are unarguably parts of (or devices attached to) the blade and not the handle.

At the end of the day it doesn't matter what the law says, it all comes down to the specific situation (including the LEO actually there and his interpretation of the law) so do what makes you feel safest (from the long arm of the law that is).

Fanglekai said:
They have a lot of disadvantages and no real advantages.
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My A/O Blur has one major advantage (for the purpose I use it for) over the non assisted knife that I sometime rotate the blur out for. Both knives are waved and it's the knife I carry back left pocket- I can draw the A/O every time catching the wave and deploying the blade 100%. With the non-A/O knife , tho its not the norm, I do have issues getting the wave to fully open the blade some of the time.
For me A/O is without a doubt better than non-assisted at more reliable fully deploying with the wave.
 
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AO and 'flipper' knives I find are actually easy to use, especially for arthritic hands. Closing the knife on your thigh, also makes for a pain free process. If the tortion bar rattles, a dab of grease will fix it and where reliability is concerned, I have never had a tortion bar break.
 
The main advantage I can think of is consistent opening / locking. Generally, I prefer manual knives, but some of my favorite knives (Blur, Leek, 0301) are assisted openers.
 
evanPGH said:
I never got the point of assisted knives. In my experience they don't open any faster than a well excecuted manual action knife, they have more parts/things that can break and I don't care for the feel either, they just seem artificial to me.
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I bolded what I feel to be the determining factor. A well executed manual knife will open just as well as an assisted knife, that much is obvious. To see it from the other side though, even a poorly executed assisted knife will open as fast as a well executed manual knife. At very low price points (probably below $30), and fresh out of the box, an A/O knife will quite likely open faster than a manual knife.

On the other hand, if you know how to open your knife properly and/or you take the time to clean and lubricate your cheap-o knife, I agree there is no need for an A/O. My super cheap (like $15) Kershaw Chill flips open faster than my Volt SS. If I give both knives to non-knife people, they won't get the Chill all the way open but they will get the Volt SS all the way open. From what I've seen, there are more non-knife people than there are knife people.

I'm sorry I just kind of thought-puked this post, I hope it makes sense :o
 
Most of the ZTs can be readily de-assisted, as they have their own detent ball as well as the spring. Most kershaws cannot. Here are the Kershaws I would have purchased if they could be de-assisted:
Thermite
Knockout
Freefall
Cryo II (!!!)
Volt
Needs work (!!!)
Rake
RJ I

I mean, seriously. Love all of those knives, can't and won't own them. Sigh.
 
flarp said:
The main advantage I can think of is consistent opening / locking. Generally, I prefer manual knives, but some of my favorite knives (Blur, Leek, 0301) are assisted openers.
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This.

And for manuals opening faster....we arent even talking about seconds difference here...we are talking milliseconds
 
I tried them, just not a fan. A lot of companies offer both options however it seems Kershaw generally just defaults to assisted - take it or leave it. (or take it & modify it)
 
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