Who else cringes when they see all the blades on a knife open at the same time?

T. Erdelyi

T. Erdelyi

Joined
Feb 3, 2001
Messages
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I love knives and I love taking and seeing pictures of knives but knowing the stresses opening all the blades on a multibladed knife to half open just drives me crazy.

I had an old Schrade Stockman and a friend of mine was looking at the knife and decided to open all the blades so it looked like in some one the pictures he'd seen.

Well he put the knife back in my case leaving all the backsprings extended, I didn't find out till later that night and as a result the backsprings are now weak, no authoritative snap like it used to have.

When I explained that it's a bad practice to leave stress like that on the spring, he told me it was probably just an old cheap knife, :eek: (I wanted to smack him), then I pulled out my 100 year old Union Knifeworks Moose and showed him how much small a 100 year old knife can have.

Anyone else cringe when they see all the blades open and half open on a multi blade?
 
I cringe, but more because I'm thinking about fingers getting in the way/getting cut when opening or closing (or snapping shut :eek: ) all the blades at once.....
Never really thought of the stress on the springs, but that's a good point....
 
Ted, I'm right there with you. I've done it a time or two, but try not to have to. It is an invitation to a broken spring when two blades (particularly ones without properly done halfstops) partially opened as it doubles the design strains in the spring. I can see where that may have weakened your springs on that knife. It seems a poor practice to me, so I don't do it unless I have a mental lapse... On two blade, two spring jacks, it shouldn't be an issue, but stockmen, gunboats, congress and others with two blades on the same spring, I can see the potential for damage.

Ed J
 
I only do it for a quick pic, I cringe more when I hear of people here leaving the blades half open to soften the springs/pull.


Pete
 
I've opened Schrade USA clam packs that had stockman with all three blades opened. They had been left in that position for well over 15 years and they were all fine. Schrade stored display knives in that fashion in every hardware store in the country for decades. So does Case :confused: I suppose these companies are pretty ignorant when it comes to pocket knives... :rolleyes: I don't cringe, but I've been bitten a few times posing knives in the open position.
 
I like cam ends, one of the biggest reasons I can see for 1/2 stops is the all blades
open scenario for display. As has been mentioned no excess strain on the springs.
Ken.
 
Nah.

eyebrandstockman2.jpg


;)

- Christian
 
> the backsprings are now weak

really sorry to hear that, very disappointing
Im new to traditionals, so had not heard of the problem before
how soft a pull did the springs have before, was it low?

I think I will leave my pemberton 3/4 open for a while, and see if the spring softens up at all
Im sitting in bed recovering from a hernia operation and have already cycled the blade open and closed over 200 times.. Its pretty tight.. If my case peanut has a pull of 3, then my pemberton pull is about an 8
 
thawk said:
I don't cringe, but I've been bitten a few times posing knives in the open position.
Click to expand...

My Case 6332 bit me just this morning while preparing for photos. The sheepsfoot was open at the half stop, and as I opened the clip I must have been gripping a little too low on the blade, because the strong snap carried the tip of my index finger right across the tip of the sheepsfoot, slicing it open quite cleanly.
 
I've never experienced this myself, but I've heard it more than once. Whether it's a common occurrence or a rare one, I do what I can to avoid it.
 
I generally just avoid opening multiple blades on either end of the same spring. So, yes, in a way.
 
I've never had a problem having opened all blades at the same time on a knife before. I've done it mostly for a short time while taking pictures. I have tried to weaken a spring (on a hard pull knife) by leaving a blade half-open over night but have never been successful weaking a spring doing that. I've heard of it happening just as Ted said but as I said; haven't experienced it myself.
 
I was mildly scolded by A.G. Russell once for photographing a vintage German knife with all of the blades partially opened. The concern was that the springs could actually break when under that much stress - especially with multiple blades sharing the same spring.

There is an Old Timer in my collection that had been the display model at a hardware store case. The spring is noticeably softer than springs on identical knives out of boxes.

There was also someone here years ago who opened all the blades on a brand new Swiss Army knife, only for a few minutes, to take a picture. The springs were very weak afterwards.

Can springs actually break from being overstressed, especially smaller vintage gentleman's knives? A.G. thinks so, and that's good enough for me.
Can springs weaken from being stored half-open as in a display case? I'm convinced they can.
 
I don't worry about it. I don't do it often, but if a knife can't take a little of it, it ain't worth having.

Springs generally weaken by cycling, corrosion, or over stretching. It sounds more like a design/ build issue if it's a problem.
 
There was quite a discussion on here about back springs where someone was insisting that springs were not stressed when held in one position but by repetitive opening and closing. Can't find the thread. I worry more about nicking myself with all blades open and have heard that split spring whittlers are worse that other patterns for spring breakage.

Best regards

Robin
 
The only time I cringed is when handling the five bladed Bose that Hampton guy handed me at Blade a few years ago :)
 
These are my thoughts exactly.

Although I never open blades on the same spring at the same time. Maybe one at a time, but I would not knowingly leave both ends of a spring stressed.



thawk said:
I've opened Schrade USA clam packs that had stockman with all three blades opened. They had been left in that position for well over 15 years and they were all fine. Schrade stored display knives in that fashion in every hardware store in the country for decades. So does Case :confused: I suppose these companies are pretty ignorant when it comes to pocket knives... :rolleyes: I don't cringe, but I've been bitten a few times posing knives in the open position.
Click to expand...
 
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