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Who makes the smoothest folder you've handled? >>

the smoothest knife I OWN at least has to be the SERE 2000. Smooth, but tight lockup. The detent though, isn't strong enough to withstand a good snap. If I snap it the right way, it will deploy without touching the thumbstuds.

but damn, it is smooth.

Nitin
 
When you reach a certain point, you can't really objectively say one is smoother than the other, for example, I have TnT's, Obenaufs, Carsons that are as smooth as can be, I know which "feels" most like what I personally think is "smooth", but that becomes subjective and only reflects what your idea of smooth is, I guess we are somewhat limited by words and prejudices. :)

However, many of the knives that are well known for being smooth utilize teflon washers, which makes it easier to get that silky smooth feel, the Sebenza and Boguszewski's flippers both use phosphor bronze washers and are still silky smooth, so that impresses me a bit more, but, If i had to pick the smoothest, and didn't take into account washer materals, I'd have to go with a good Carson, but Mike is VERY close behind as are Mayo, JWS etc..

Something related to ultimate smoothness is the overall precision of the action, which includes the smoothness, but also the feel of the ball detent as it grabs the blade in, and the "feel" of the lock as it engages. For this, overall precision, that's a tough choice, but the makers that really "do it" for me in this area are: Mayo, Boguszewski, Carson, Obenauf, Tighe, Sebenza and some manual Microtechs. In lockbacks, which of course are never as smooth as liner/framelocks, I go with Dake and Bradshaw.

This is a tough question, and again, made more difficult because we each have our own ideas of what smooth really is.
 
Smoothest I own.....

Production - Hands down, Spyderco Howard Viele.

Semi-Production/Custom, aka "Mid-Tech" - CRK Sebenza

Modified Production - Too many to list. Everyone whom I've had the honor to deal with so far has given me just excellent pieces to enjoy, and all feel distinctly smoother than stock. Suspects John T. Wylie, Jr. and his buddy Kyle "Eich," independent customizer Shawn Thatch, Chase Axinn....they've all done great work, and it's hard, if not impossible, to select one out of the bunch since their input has been so diversified, and each has been a drastic improvement over stock.

Modified Semi-Production/Custom - Mayonized Sebbie, although I must add here that Eric Blair of the famed Blair Toxic Toys probably gave me what is the most significant jump in terms of "improvement over stock" feel on a Strider GB that he turned into a Toxic Embryo GB.

Custom, non-proprietary mechanism - Mayo TNT.

Custom, proprietary mechanism - This one is an impossible tie between RJ Martin's thrust-bearing assisted Devastator and my DA-auto Brad Duncan Whiplash. (I'm expecting my first Chew in a few weeks (or hopefully days!), and that's something that I'm highly looking forward to, as the Voodoo pivot is near-legendary, and this will be my first experience with it.)

:)

But alas, this is all from just my very, very beginner's FNG viewpoint and experience (or rather, lack thereof). I fully intend to have my world-view blown wide-open at Blade, in less than three weeks from today.

Even then, though, I feel that Megalobyte is right-on with his humble assessment of this "overall." It's too subjective to quantify, but I definitely hope that all of our input here will help guide other newbies like myself to seek out "the smoothest" on their own, and to even better enjoy this great hobby.

:)

Allen
aka DumboRAT
 
Can you get any smoother than an AXIS LOCK???


My BM's are so smooth i can't imagine something being much more smoother than that....

It practically drops out when you pull the axis lock...
 
roshi said:
My definition of smooth means easily opened with no play, locks up tight in all directions even when opened slowly, lock disengages smoothly with little effort.
Click to expand...

I agree with roshi's definition of smooth. That said, the smoothest have been Phil Boguszewski's and Larry Chew's folders. The two ltd. edition wood inlay large sebbies I own are surprisingly smooth too, but a notch down from the Bogi and Chew.
 
Well, i guess if youre reading this thread, you appreciate smoothness, and I thought I'd offer a small tip to newbies on how to improve smoothness in all liner/framelocks and the Sebenza as well.

Most people think, incorrectly, that it's the washers/pivot that needs to be lubed or otherwise worked on to make the action smoother, not so in my experience, it's the ball detent, and the friction between it and the side of the blade. Simply take a good synthetic gun grease in a pinpoint applicator and put a tiny dab on the ball, work it in by cycling the action fully open and closed a few times, this should improve things.

On Sebenzas, this works too, but what also helps a lot, is reducing slightly, the very strong bend to the right that CR puts into the lock bar, the less rightward "spring" pressure the lockbar has, the less friction you'll feel in the action, BUT, if you dont know what youre doing, you could easily reduce the tension too much, which can screw up proper lockup, but I have found that Sebenzas have more lockbar tension than they need to have a good lockup, my Sebenzas have all been tweaked by me and, first and foremost, they lock up perfectly, but, are smoother than they come from CRK. The good thing is, if you try to reduce the tension by bending the bar slightly to the left, and you go too far, you can fix it by bending it back to the right until you find that sweet spot, where there is plenty of tension for tight lockup, but not so much that it makes the action too stiff.
 
The two folders I have that open the smoothest are my Bob Dozier mid-size folding hunter and my A.G. Russell yellow delrin folding hunter. Sometimes, they feel like they are opening all by themselves. My small sebenza does pretty well, too. At the other end of the spectrum was a Lone Wolf Loveless folding hunter, which took all of the strength of both hands to open and which I returned to the store, but I think that may have been an anomaly. I'd like to try another Loveless folding hunter, because it is such an extraordinarily good looking knife and it feels so good in the hand.
 
Does a balisong count? My Benchmades are like BUTTAH! Gotta get me a Korth...

This may sound goofy...even sacreligous, but even after playing around with a Small Sebenza, various Benchmade AXIS blades, and others, my cheapo Ken Onion Kershaw Vapor beats these with smoothness. It's a simple framelock, cheapo steel (beadblasted AUS-6 that rusts). But it's the smoothest, tightest locking folder I own (which isn't saying much). Give me a Vapor with S30V and it'd rival the Sebenza in quality.
 
German knifemaker Peter Schlusche's folders open and close smooth enough to make you believe that he uses washers made of hot butter.
 
My smoothest are several of my Benchmades with the new phosphor-bronze washers: 710SBT; Griptilians 550, 551, 556; 805. Also my SOG Pentagon Elite II. Spyderco SS Delica II, SE. SS Spyderco Police. Spyderco PE Wegner folder.
My Sebenza's action is loosening a bit naturally from use but still is not the equal in smoothness of action as the above-mentioned folders, but that is okay, too. I like it to smoothen up naturally and personally don't want to tweak its action.

Jim
 
Got Sebe, got Spydie Viele, which are ok. To my surprise, however, my Boker Brend, my largest folder, is currently my absolute jus' like buttah unassisted champ. In current setup, it's also a smooth kinetic opener.
 
sorry for reviving such an old thread---I'm curious to see what the current opinions are. without a doubt, I'd have to go with Tom Mayo for this one.
 
Smoothest folder I've ever touched is a William Henry Spearpoint. All WH knives open smooth, but the Spearpoint is in its own league.

-Freq
 
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