Who opens their slippie goofy-handed

I'm right handed and open with my right thumb. Then switch the knife to my right hand. Never took much notice till this thread....come to think of it when I'm eating a steak I cut with my right hand (fork in left, stuck in the piece that I'm cutting off) then switch the fork with the meat on it to my right hand to eat it. I think Europeans eat with fork mainly in their left hands.
 
Nice to see a variety of ways people open them. I wonder if it is genetically programmed :)
 
hunterfisher808 said:
I'm right handed and open with my right thumb. Then switch the knife to my right hand. Never took much notice till this thread....come to think of it when I'm eating a steak I cut with my right hand (fork in left, stuck in the piece that I'm cutting off) then switch the fork with the meat on it to my right hand to eat it. I think Europeans eat with fork mainly in their left hands.
Click to expand...

Man, we don't HAVE forks over here yet:D

Still spearing stuff on the point of knives:eek:

Actually, I use either hand for forking. I tried opening a heavy spring GEC with my right thumb.....damn near lost the whole hand,real biter:D
 
I usually pull the blade with my dominant hand, but I keep trying to get used to doing it the other way too. Different strokes for different folks.
 
tomcrx said:
I remember my Dad and Grandfather both doing it this way. The reason
was, "You'll never shave your pinky or stick your toe"
Click to expand...

For me, it's all about safety. The whole issue here with is technique is that you are holding the blade fixed and rotating the handle around the blade. This is a lot safer than holding the the handle and rotating the blade. Try holding the handle in one hand and moving the blade open with the other. You will notice that you have to pinch nick and move your hand at the same time. It is much easier to have the lose the blade this way.

When drunk, clumsy, or not paying attention, this becomes an apparent issue.

God Bless
 
tomcrx said:
I bring this up because someone commented on how I open the knife.

I am right-handed but I grasp the knife in my left-hand, upside down, and open the blade with my right hand. It looks like a V and the sharp edge is always away from my body.

----------* ----------|
-----------*---------|
handle----->*-------| <--blade
--------------*-----|
left hand-------*---| right hand
-----------------*|

I remember my Dad and Grandfather both doing it this way. The reason
was, "You'll never shave your pinky or stick your toe"

Anyone else open it this way?
Click to expand...

I always thought that this way was THE way to open a knife.
 
Just goes to show you. Today I opened my SOG Twitch II by holding the handle in my right and keeping the blade from AO with my left.

I got a million of em!
 
I am cross dominant: left handed/right eyed. Throw lefty; bat and shoot righty. Carry a slipjoint left side so the right is free should I be packin' heat.
Pull the knife with my left hand and open the blade with my right. Unless my weak thumbnail is broken (as it often is) where I switch hands to open. My nails are pitiful: When I get out of the shower I couldn't open a slippy with either of my nails if my life depended on it. I regularly break a nail trying to open a knife and resort to the other hand in that case. Beeg deel.
 
kidwholaughs said:
For me, it's all about safety. The whole issue here with is technique is that you are holding the blade fixed and rotating the handle around the blade. This is a lot safer than holding the the handle and rotating the blade. Try holding the handle in one hand and moving the blade open with the other. You will notice that you have to pinch nick and move your hand at the same time. It is much easier to have the lose the blade this way.

When drunk, clumsy, or not paying attention, this becomes an apparent issue.

God Bless
Click to expand...

It's the same movement, just with your hands switched. People aren't holding the handle stationary and rotating the blade into the open position; what's happening, really, is that your left hand is holding the blade in a relatively fixed position, and your right hand moves the handle around the blade. The difference is, you don't have to switch hands to use the knife. If someone's going to fumble with a knife, it's going to be while switching the knife between hands.

Edit: I also don't see any kind of safety issue either way if you let go of the blade while opening. There's nothing in the way of the blade.
 
Last edited:
I always keep my pocket knife in my left front pocket, my car keys are in the right pocket. I pull the knife out with my left hand and use my right to open it. Not sure why I do it this way except that is the way my dad did it as well.
 
I keep it in my right pocket and I hold it in my right hand, instead of using the nail nicks I pinch the blade with my left thumb and forefinger and pull it open., and I am right handed.
 
The blade is the dangerous part. The handle is the safe part. When opening a nail nick knife, I want to handle the dangerous part with my dominant hand so that I have better control. Some slip joints have pretty lively back springs so I don't want my weak hand trying to control a razor-sharp blade catapulting into the open position.

Switching the knife back to my dominant hand takes about 0.1 seconds. I am never in such a hurry that I need to make up 0.1 seconds. If I was, I wouldn't use a slipjoint knife.

Just my opinion, your mileage may vary!
 
I wrother agree!

If I only have one hand open or need a knife FAST well that's why something like a SOG Twitch II is clipped in my right front pocket.

If I have two hands or would like to have a lower profile then I'll get the slippy from left front.

Incidently, I've been using a stone and played with the edges on the 50th Anni Schrade Trapper and finally got those blades sharp. That knife had an UGLY angle on the main blade!
 
I'm right handed and I hold the knife in my right hand and open it with my left thumb, my pocket knife is almost always in my right pocket though.
 
Right handed, and I open them exactly as the OP -- hold the handle in the left hand, pull the blade with the right. As someone else said, the blade is oriented properly at that point, all I do is open the other fingers and accept the handle into the hand.

It might stem from opening a knife with my left thumb once when I was a kid, and taking off a chunk of the knuckle when the thing slipped/bent the thumbnail. I have more control and dexterity on my right hand, so that feels more "right". :D
 
Also, when you open a knife with the handle in your right handle, the blade is still oriented in the correct position, as is the handle, and in fact, the knife is already in your hand. Maybe I'm crazy, but like I said, the blade stays relatively motionless when I open my slipjoints, so my weak hand isn't controlling the blade, my strong hand is controlling the handle. It feels very awkward to me trying to open the blade with my right hand.
 
Oh my... I carry my one-hand-opening Benchmades, so I had to go to the drawer for the Opinel and try opening this one. I can open it both ways, ie. holding the blade by right or left hand and I can't tell which suits me better, both are fine.
Normally, I'm right handed, but in this case I don't care which hand is dominant. I also stirr my coffee clockwise or counter-clockwise, depending on my mood...
It may be connected with other issues such as when driving on a straight road and holding the steering wheel just by one hand, which hand do you use? I have no favourite here neither, I switch them randomly.
 
Last edited:
dalee100 said:
Hi,

As another one of those sinister people, I use either hand without preference. I guess because I tend to have a fair degree of ambidexterity. Most likely learned from living in a right handed world.

dalee
Click to expand...


Most of us lefties are like that. I must write left-handed and shoot right-handed, but virtually everything else I can do equally comfortably with either hand (including knifework).
 
Right handed, left handed, blades down and blades up. I thinbk it depends on the knife and my familiarity with it. My copperlock I open by pinching the blade with my thumb and index finger and let my pant leg do the rest.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top