When would a spine whack EVER be necessary?

N

nails1908@gmail.com

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Oct 6, 2015
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I highly doubt any knifemaker worth their salt is producing knives to handle extreme force on that side of the blade. Knifemakers producing knives that can tolerate extreme force on the blade side? Now that is more likely.
 
When certain companies feel the need to show how unnecessarily strong their locks are to make up for the rest of the Knife just being ok.
 
jday2727 said:
When certain companies feel the need to show how unnecessarily strong their locks are to make up for the rest of the Knife just being ok.
Click to expand...

I'd agree with that, but what really blows my mind is the people who baton a folding knife through a 2x4 with ease, no problem. Lock still solid, no damage. Still stupid for a folder, but hey if you want to test a possible real scenario where it MIGHT be necessary then go for it. Then they spine whack the hell out of it, the knife fails and all of the sudden the knife is garbage. People really buy into this crap! It's amazing...
 
It's not a test for the sake of the task.

It can be used to rule out poor lock face geometry.

For instance

When going for an early lock up,

If a spine "tap" makes the lock fail it's a sign of a poor lock face geometry, adjustment, fit and finish.

I'm not advocating extreme spine whacking but if I was a maker I would want to make sure my product didn't have any lock up issues
 
It's really a useless test that proves nothing.

I use only frame locks, and as hard as anyone, usually sharp side down....

The nice thing about a frame lock is that when you are using it (as opposed to spine whacking it) your hand/fingers put positive pressure on the lock bar. (That's a good thing for when I occasionally use a folder for something it was not necessarily designed to do)
 
When tables and 2x4s become conscious and attack their human oppressors, the only thing that renders them unconscious is a sharp whack from the spine of a folding knife.

It's been proven by science.

So not only are the necessary, they are life and death necessary.
 
Spinewhacks are vital to generate revenue from gullible interfoos. Without them the welfare ranks would be greatly expanded.
 
I can see it being necessary in the same circumstances in which batoning is necessary, but a folding knife is the only blade available.

That is, of course, next to never. However, accidents do happen and spine whacks are meant to replicate that in a testing environment.
 
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A lock is designed to keep a knife from closing. Some will even argue it's not. Here we go again. I guess a knife has a vault like feel if it's locked in the safe.
 
giving a knifes spins a firm whack on a counter or board will tell you if the lock up is solid ( I'm not talking extreme force, but the kind a knife could encounter when struggling to slice through something like a thick plastic container ) I don't think it's exactly an important test, but it can give you a piece of mind.
Personally I don't ever care about spine whack tests, and would never baton with a folder.
 
There are knife fiddlers and knife users. Knife users don't have the time to model their knives with $1000 cameras, and equally expensive lenses and filters, to try and make it look like they use their knives. Only knife fiddlers do.

And knife users sometimes inadvertantly whack the spine. Usually when withdrawing the knife out of a confined space they were cutting something in. And their hands bear the scars of said locks failing.

Nothing wrong with being a knife fiddler. Knife users just don't like it when knife fiddlers, who have manicured hands, tell knife users that lock strength is not important. Knife users make a living with their hands, and heavily stitched hands or digits, means a loss in income.
 
In on 1.

Skillful spine-whacking could be crucial if, say, one were cleaning his fingernails with a folder and got jumped by a huge spider. Depending on the size, species and demeanor of the spider, your lock better be ready for some serious spine-whack.
 
Please do demonstrate whacking the spine while withdrawing the knife from a confined space you were cutting in.

The last time this came up I really hoped to see an example of this but there were no takers.

Now at least in this thread we've got a real user who can show us how it's done. If you're worried about getting nicked tape the blade or use your trainer.

I just can't wrap my head around that movement. I've tried and tried but it won't happen.
 
It usually happens doing something like knocking the sole of your boot to remove pebbles or dog crap. Or tapping a propane tank to check its level. Something you don't really spend 20 minutes thinking about. Will it hurt my man jewelry? Then the thing shuts on you. WTF
 
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