Why is walk and talk important?

[klattman]

One way to avoid broken thumbnails guys. When I have a stiff folder I drop some Sentry Solutions Tuff-Glide between the back spring and the blade, that along with wiping the blade down with a wet Tuff-Cloth keeps most of my knives, even the stiffest ones opening smoothly and easily. However an overly stiff backspring sometimes is just an overly stiff backspring

This is a good point. Walk and talk is a function of the springs, true, but it also makes a difference how smooth, clean and lubed the joints are.

Ideally, I'd like a slippie that is easy to open and much harder to close. Tough to do that with one spring. When they get dirty or rusty (gasp) they tend to become the opposite - too easy to close, too hard to open. I hate nail-destroyers.

 

[Thomas Linton]

I was always taught that a slip-joint can only "walk" if there is a flat spot on the tang end. This causes the blade to half-stop on opening or closing. At least, this was the learning from Ken Warner, A.G. Russell, and Charles Buck.

 

[Ebbtide]

Halfstops Rule!

 

[allenC]

Has anyone here ever "weakened" a strong backspring on purpose?

I have alot of Victorinox SAKs and several of them (the Soldier, the Electrician, and the Pioneer Harvester) have very strong backsprings.
I really would like them to be just a tad easier to open.

So, I'm doing a little experiment and am trying to weaken the Soldier model by partially opening all of the blades and stressing the backsprings to their max.

So far I left the Soldier in the "stressed position" for 24 hours and they seem as strong as ever.
I'll try for another 24 hours.

What do you guys think?

Allen.

 

[sak_collector]

Has anyone here ever "weakened" a strong backspring on purpose?

I have alot of Victorinox SAKs and several of them (the Soldier, the Electrician, and the Pioneer Harvester) have very strong backsprings.
I really would like them to be just a tad easier to open.

So, I'm doing a little experiment and am trying to weaken the Soldier model by partially opening all of the blades and stressing the backsprings to their max.

So far I left the Soldier in the "stressed position" for 24 hours and they seem as strong as ever.
I'll try for another 24 hours.

What do you guys think?

Allen.

Good luck, you might be waiting a while. Victorinox seems to have very consistent backsprings, and most attempts to weaken them are futile. The non alox models are a bit easier. UnknownVT did an intersting thread on the subject a while back. His Vic SAKs are unaffected when opened halfway for photos and such, and over longer periods of time also seeing if they will weaken. He did however discover that some of the time, Wenger SAKs will have the springs weaken to the point of almost being mushy in a very short time, an hour or less. Many people had the same results when they checked out their Wengers.

 

[Bastid]

Great thread.

I just do not get may factory knives at all these days that compare to the walk and talk of some knives I carry and use that are 70 to 100 years old.

Winchester, S&M, Case Classics are pretty consistant, but it sure is tough to find a nice one out of the regular runs from the big boys. They can still do it when they want to. (Case Bose is an example.) but it looks like it is going to cost us.