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

[Campbellclanman]

Wow - thank you very much Jack! - I cant believe how tidy that Joseph Rodgers is for the date of manufacture!!

 

[Jack Black]

Wow - thank you very much Jack! - I cant believe how tidy that Joseph Rodgers is for the date of manufacture!!

It's in great shape isn't it Duncan, but then I doubt it was ever carried by a working man?

 

[neeman]

Well folks, this is the time when those of us who believe in "one blade per spring" are shaking are heads sayin', "what in the heck is you afeared of?" The only time there is extreme stress on a spring is when you got a blade on each end and you tweak both ends of the spring at once.

I'm still not certain that such punishment will weaken a spring, but I can understand that you might flat out break it.

Frank,

When I get a nail breaker, I open and close it many many times
then I leave it open under tension for a couple of days

I find it really helps to ease the opening

 

[T. Erdelyi]

Ok now you did it, you opened the blades on your beloved Stockman or Half Congress to half opened and you didn't find this thread till it was too late, so now your beloved knife opens and closes with the authority a grade school Crossing Guard.

So now what's the alternative, just leaving it with weak springs and carry it anyway or put it away? I can remember my uncle's knife, he'd squeezed the bolsters in a vice just to put some tension on the blades so they wouldn't flop, he used that knife till the main blade looked like an awl.

I still have many older knives that just don't have the snap of a new, younger knife, beautiful knives that are 50-75 years old that were carried and used by a person that didn't have the luxury of picking today's EDC from a stable of many, as most of us today have,they carried them till they were virtually useless.

The knife they used was the only one they owned, it was used for everything from food prep to farm/field work, they didn't have a BFC to post pics to, they had no reason to open all the blades so they could take a pic to show off their latest acquisition there by weakening the springs, do how'd they get that way?

Would you or do you carry a slip joint that has led than stellar or almost non existent tension on the backsprings or do you relegate it to safe queen/retired status?

 

[oldrifleman]

About three years or so ago I bought an AG Russel stockman (BG42). When I got it I could not, without a tool, open either the spey or sheepsfoot. I worked those blades daily for a couple of months without change. I then decided to just leave those two blades at half open for a couple of months. After three months there was no change. I just opened them back to the half stops and put it back into the drawer at work. Reading this I remembered it and pulled it out of the back of the drawer. It is still a 9+ on the pull scale after about 2+ years. Now not sure how this translates into other knives, but I kind of wished mine would have "suffered" from it's abuse. Steven

 

[Doug Add]

I have a couple regular carry jacks that have blades with little or no snap. They do remain in place when open, so are still useful cutting tools.

 

[jon_slider]

> I then decided to just leave those two blades at half open for a couple of months. After three months there was no change. I just opened them back to the half stops and put it back into the drawer at work. Reading this I remembered it and pulled it out of the back of the drawer. It is still a 9+ on the pull scale after about 2+ years.

You are not doing it right.

You need to open the blade NOT to a half stop, so the spring is raised above the frame. Half stops dont put any more tension on the spring than the fully open, or the fully closed position.

IF your goal is to put extra tension on the spring, hoping it will relax a bit, it needs to stick up like this

or like this:

but not like this

 

[wouldestous]

late to the thread but i did not know it was bad for a knife to have all the blades on a spring open or any of them half open if they have no half-stop.
i guess i only do it to take pictures but its still good to know.

 

[oldrifleman]

> I then decided to just leave those two blades at half open for a couple of months. After three months there was no change. I just opened them back to the half stops and put it back into the drawer at work. Reading this I remembered it and pulled it out of the back of the drawer. It is still a 9+ on the pull scale after about 2+ years.

You are not doing it right.

You need to open the blade NOT to a half stop, so the spring is raised above the frame. Half stops dont put any more tension on the spring than the fully open, or the fully closed position.

IF your goal is to put extra tension on the spring, hoping it will relax a bit, it needs to stick up like this

or like this:

but not like this

Thanks, I actually wrote it wrong as the knife does not have the Half stops. The blades in the "90 degree" point have the back spring extended to it's max. I used Hlaf stop when I really meant "90 degrees", Yes I am an idiot, but thats ok. Steven

 

[jon_slider]

> the knife does not have the Half stops

great info, so, youre telling us that after 2 years of being held under tension, the springs did not relax.. on a GEC.

Conversely we have input from T. Erdelyi
"I still have many older knives that just don't have the snap of a new, younger knife"
and
"you opened the blades on your beloved Stockman or Half Congress to half opened and you didn't find this thread till it was too late, so now your beloved knife opens and closes with the authority a grade school Crossing Guard."

with all due respect, an old knife with a weak spring, does not to me mean it was kept open, and as you can see, a GEC does not relax its spring, by being kept open for 2 years.

But I still dont recommend opening 2 blades at the same time, on opposite ends of the same spring, with no half stops.

 

[T. Erdelyi]

> the knife does not have the Half stops

great info, so, youre telling us that after 2 years of being held under tension, the springs did not relax.. on a GEC.

Conversely we have input from T. Erdelyi
"I still have many older knives that just don't have the snap of a new, younger knife"
and
"you opened the blades on your beloved Stockman or Half Congress to half opened and you didn't find this thread till it was too late, so now your beloved knife opens and closes with the authority a grade school Crossing Guard."

with all due respect, an old knife with a weak spring, does not to me mean it was kept open, and as you can see, a GEC does not relax its spring, by being kept open for 2 years.

But I still dont recommend opening 2 blades at the same time, on opposite ends of the same spring, with no half stops.

Someone had mentioned before about people grinding down/modifying the kick on the tang to lower the tip of the blade on an older knife so it sits below the scales and not presented as a proud blade, I hafta look but I'm willing to bet, a good portion of my perceived weak springs are nothing more than worn or ground kicks, I'll hafta check.

 

[puukkoman]

I've never seen the spring tension be affected by grinding the kick. You'd have to grind the cam end of the blade for that to happen, which would mean removal and re-installation of the blade.

 

[Simple Man]

I have never had a problem, but always figured it can't be good on one to have a blade partially open at each end of a shared spring. I can really tell the spring is under quite a bit more tension, with two partially open, just by how hard it is to get the second blade open. For pics, I will however fully open one end, then open the other, either partial or full.

 

[danpass]

Nah.

- Christian

 

[LKJW]

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

Yup. Me too.

 

[2Dead]

I don't cringe when that happens... I do it all the time to take pics. But I only do it long enough to take pics and usually only on new knives. I feel that if the spring breaks on a new knife for the few minutes the blades are open to take the pic then they were bound to break anyway. I've done it with old knives too but I don't have too many of those that have blades on the same spring. Based on experiences in this thread though, I can see not doing it for older knives as they wouldn't be replaceable like a new knife would be. Also, I never store them opened.