Why do you hate Assisted Opening?

I take care of my tools. Live my life not caring what others think of me, and in a way not to warrant being questioned by law enforcement. Its for these reasons I've never hesitate in purchasing AO's.

Another main reason is that they represent freedom of choice. Bit of a stretch but hear me out - the rationale why some knives are illegal while others are not, is hazy at best and out to lunch at worst. If something can stab, and you're the type of person who enjoys doing that, guess what you'll find a way to do it regardless of what's at hand. AO's in my opinion show ingenuity in the face of broad sweeping laws that in my opinion are not in touch with reality.
 
Planterz said:
...Assisted knives are popular because they skirt the switchblade laws because switchblades are almost always defined as having a button or switch, while assisteds don't. But you can be certain that if the Kershaw Leek had been around decades ago when those laws were written, assisteds would have been included in the bans somehow....
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Exactly. They are a loophole. They pretty much allow someone to have an "automatic" but not be classified as one. I know.......we could argue semantics here but you really don't need the spring. I can open my Kershaw Skyline faster than an assisted model...probably faster than an automatic too.
 
I bought a Kershaw Leek about 2.5 years ago to replace my previous knife that was confiscated at a sporting event (I always forget I carry a knife, plus I only go to places that have metal detectars maybe once a year). The dude showed me the assisted opening and I fell in love.

I've never been afraid of the blade opening in my pocket (it never has either) because I carry my knives tip down. I've NEVER used the safety lock on it either. My Fallkniven did open in my pocket once and put a nice slice in my finger though.

2.5 years and besides the blade dulling its never failed me. Not once. Still opens as fast as it did brand new and I have no problem closing it one handed. Its also never been taken apart and cleaned...

For emergency situations people are talking about having trouble finding the "flipper" with their thumb (maybe I just misunderstood)? I use my index finger to open mine and I've never stumbled trying to find it.

I will be buying another a/o for my edc within the next couple weeks :-)
 
I don't like A/O. I have no use for a spring to assist me in opening my knives. I can open all of my non A/O knives just as fast if i choose to. IMO, A/O is too close to being an automatic/switch blade. I don't always want my knives swinging open and with A/O you really don't have a choice. I have two knives on my must buy list that are A/O, soon as I get them I'm removing the springs.
 
I had one once, a Kershaw. I thought it was the neatest thing since sliced bread..for about a month. then it stopped working. Maybe I should have gotten it fixed, but I never bothered. I went back to the Gerber LST I had been carrying for years. Didn't miss the assisted opening feature at all. My wife liked that I wasn't always fiddling with my knife. (playing with an assisted opener is hard for me to resist.) I thought about it and figured that it was just something else to go wrong on a knife. I moved into benchmades and finally to a sebenza. After seven years with a sebenza, I sold it and replaced it with a sage 2. Expensive move on my part because I have become somewhat of a a spyderco junkie. I just don't see the need for the assisted opening feature. I am not so pressed for time that I need to save a fraction of a second every time I go to use my knife. I may be old school but if it aint broke, don't fix it.

One hand opening, great advance in pocket knives. (studs, holes)

Pocket clips, great advance in pocket knives.

New better materials and steels, great advance in knives.

New and better locking mechanisms, great advance in pocket knives.

Assisted opening??? a solution looking for a problem. (my opinion.)

Grizz
 
Preference. I'd rather have a manual folder than an assisted one. I've had a torsion bar snap on me and I dislike that once the bar has snapped most AO knives no longer have a detent, which makes them unsafe. AO knives are fun, but for EDC I prefer a manual folder.
 
AKnife said:
Preference. I'd rather have a manual folder than an assisted one. I've had a torsion bar snap on me and I dislike that once the bar has snapped most AO knives no longer have a detent, which makes them unsafe. AO knives are fun, but for EDC I prefer a manual folder.
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lol what did you do to make the bar snap? from normal use?
 
I don't care for AO because I like to manipulate and control my own knives. For me it's kind of like why I never used cruise control when I got cars equipped with it. I'd rather drive my own car.
 
I don't mind A/O, but I typically only buy cheaper knives($80-) that have it and have a great company behind them. They make great gifts too.
 
mystro said:
No control when opening and closing is irritating with one hand. A good custom flipper is faster to open and much more rewarding. Knife opening skills should be learned and perfected and when done correctly, is artistic. Any hack can open a assisted opening knife. Guys that love their knives and are into the art of the knife tend avoid assisted knives like a bowhunter avoids using a crossbow.
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Careful of generalizing- many knife lovers love all knives and don't see their being anything wrong or worthy of looking down your nose upon with assisted openers. Knife lovers in my country cannot legally carry flippers, but can legally carry AO- does that make us less lovers of the art of the knife? Your opinions (ie. opening skills)based on your experiences are not those of all in the world, be careful that your words are not taken as an attack on others.

LondonBridges said:
I'll say I LOVE assisted openers. In my case, Kershaw Blur and Emerson Karambit (if the wave counts).

Why? Rheumatoid arthritis.
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My mother had badly damaged/amputated fingers from a farm accident and could utilize some flipper activated folders better than drawing some fixed blades- a good reason for them.

I don't find there to be a problem deploying my AO's at the speed of my choosing by utilizing the thumbstuds- I don't own any without studs, and have never had a problem with opening in my pocket (always tip up against the seam with no room to open), carry slipjoints/linerlocks with more parts, and most Keshaw have a secondary lock that I can use if the torsion bar breaks. I prefer to use a flipper AO as my fingers get in the way of the deploying blade occasionally otherwise, but it is not a deal killer. Some knives I wish were, some knives I wish weren't, but it boils down to if I like the knife I will get it regardless.

The great thing about the diversity of knives is what works for me doesn't have to work for you, and we are free to decide for ourselves (except me with automatics/balisongs/push daggers/knuckle knives). Enjoy the cut!
 
I don't care for them because it isn't as easy to control the speed of opening. It's not impossible to open an A/O slowly, but it's a lot easier to open a manual quickly (if that makes any sense).
 
Orion's Belt said:
I don't care for them because it isn't as easy to control the speed of opening. It's not impossible to open an A/O slowly, but it's a lot easier to open a manual quickly (if that makes any sense).
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Makes complete sense. If you want to control the deployment speed of an A/O you'll probably use two-hands to open it, which obviously detracts from the purpose and convenience of a one-handed opening design. In that case, I'd much rather be carrying a nice slip-joint instead. A/Os can also be a little more awkward to close one-handed, imo.
 
Because of this thread I realized how I open my AO's with one hand in a controlled manner. I open it with index finger by the flipper into the same hand's thumb until the assist is overcome, and then roll the thumb to the side of the blade to finish off the opening. Because you open the blade spine first into the thumb, it only opens as fast as you move your thumb, and I guess it is natural for me because I never even noticed how I did it. I just tried it with 3 AO's with flippers (I was wrong earlier- I have a Kershaw Shallot without studs) and it worked well with all three.
 
Do not see anything wrong with AO. Some of my favorites knives just happened to have that function. And if and when I do not want it to open to fast and with click - no problem! Cuts like a Kris has already described the technique well enough.
By the way, flippers are not outlawed in Canada as far as I know - as long as you can not open them simply by inertia, flicking by hand, without pushing the blade with your finger, it is OK. Just couple of weeks ago I have bought Buck Vantage in Wallmart - and it flipps well enough...
And I have not seen a broken AO knife yet. Or, rather say, have not seen the one which could not be easily fixed by some oil and smal pivot screw adjustment.
 
My first knife was an assisted opening, one light pull of the notch and the blade flings open. At first the sales guy had to do some convincing to me that it is not an automatic (I'm in California). And since then every time I've used it in front of someone, they kept insisting that it's an automatic. I don't really care, but once I got more into knives I started really having a thing for thumb holes.
 
Questionable legality
More moving parts means more stuff to break
Unsafe

And yeah, I said it, unsafe... The whole idea is that they're supposed to be to improve saftey, but I don't really buy the whole, "Oh, well, they open to quick for the user to get cut, and the bias toward staying opens means it won't close on their fingers." From what I've seen it's more likely people people accidentally cut themselves if they don't know what they're doing or if they slip with it or something. So I kind of just wonder what the point is, and to me it's always seemed like a way to make switch-blades without them actually being switch-blades.
 
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