Why assisted opener?

[Wrace]

I find the thumb stud to be almost useless by itself on knives like the M16 and such. It is just placed too close to the knife handle for me to work smoothly.

Having said that however, I do like the AO on the M16 as it works well with gloved hands to pivot the blade out away from the handle a bit. I can then catch the stud with my thumb and open.

I'm not a big fan of the wrist flick opening deal as it aggravates some nerve damage I have in my forearms/wrists. Particularly with how much I use my knife during a days work.

Wayne

 

[Gryffin]

I find the thumb stud to be almost useless by itself on knives like the M16 and such. It is just placed too close to the knife handle for me to work smoothly.

Here's a hint: try using your index finger (forefinger). I find it works better for opening just about every knife with a thumbstud or openiing hole. Er, well, unless the maker put one of those @#$%^& right-thumb-only thumbstuds on...

 

[Artfully Martial]

There really aren't thumbstuds on the M16, I'm convinced...they're just the blade stops...they're absolutely horrible for actually opening the knife. Forgettable due to the superb flipper, of course.

As for the knives being too small to flick, I tried to wrist-flick the Scallion, a pretty small knife today, and after a few tries, I can open it without touching the flipper or thumbstud with just wrist motion. Takes more practice on small blades, but totally doable.

 

[Scott Dog]

I agree with Glockman. I've gotted some pretty nasty cuts on my thumb using an assisted opener. Something about the way it opens makes me feel insecure about them and they require practice to use proberly. I prefer the manual as it makes me feel more in control of the openning process.

 

[DavidW3]

"I agree with Glockman. I've gotted some pretty nasty cuts on my thumb using an assisted opener. Something about the way it opens makes me feel insecure about them and they require practice to use proberly. I prefer the manual as it makes me feel more in control of the openning process."

Perhaps somebody should explain how assisted-opening works.

But if I have to guess, it's because you, and whoever also got cuts doing it, was opening the knife like other non-assisted opening knives and you were pushing and guiding the blade all the way (assuming you were pushing the thum stud). But, little did you know that the blade itself actually travelled so fast that your thumb couldn't catch up with it and your thumb, because you were still moving it forward and round, ended up landing on the blade itself and got cut.

The way I use the thumbstud to open an assisted-opening knives like a Leek is to do a little kick on the thumbstud with my thumb (or any finger you prefer). Just a kick to move the blade out but not pushing and guiding it all its way( because that's the job of the torsen bar).

I think you're more comfortable with the manual because you've been doing it many, many times. And you have learned it and practised it. I trust there're also people who first learned how to open a folder also got nasty cuts when learning and practising it.