Why no love for self assist?

[not2sharp]

By that argument, you could say the same about automatics. The quality of even the best cheap assisted opening knives I have are as good or better quality than the less expensive automatics I used to have that cost 7 or 8 times their price. Side opening automatics like Beltrame have been using shoddy off and on manufacturing prices for years, but they get way more money than they should because people are willing to pay it. Some are good knives, others not so much and by the same manufacturer. A spring assist should not make any difference in quality of a knife - it is simply an added feature. If a spring assisted knife is poorly manufactured I would bet the model without the spring assist from the same company is just as poorly manufactured.

The spring can conceal a rough gritty action.

n2s

 

[Yooperguy]

I like them quite a bit. I also appreciate the smoothness found in a good flipper too. Like them both.

 

[NG VI]

In a world of legal autos if you’re going to carry a folder why would you carry anything else

I'd say that in a world loaded to the gills with perfectly executed liner and framelocks, why bother branching out unless you're looking for a grimy demolition tool or a weapon?

 

[Vlade]

There it is

 

[Chronovore]

I've weighed in on some of the older threads but I'll bite. I'm against assisted action in 2023. It isn't just that overcoming tension to close a knife is annoying, that there is more to go wrong, or that the maintenance is more complicated.

Assisted actions made sense back when good manual actions were rarer or more expensive. It was a specific answer to that question. That question is now moot. These days, you can get surprisingly good manual action, including on caged bearings, on very inexpensive knives. You can get a Petrified Fish for like $30 and the bearings might even be ceramic.

Hell, companies like Ganzo and Sanrenmu are offering decent manual action on bearings for less than that. The rub is that even some of those ultra-cheap options have a crisper break and smoother action than more expensive assisted knives from Kershaw or CRKT.

 

[Prester John]

Key phrase “turned into a weapon”, so a knife isn’t a “weapon” until it’s used as one, otherwise it’s a tool meant to cut something. Seems ridiculous to take peoples’ tools from them and classifying them as “weapons” when they haven’t met the definition of the word don’t you think?

Carried knives most of my life, and have used knives many thousands of times. NEVER have I used a knife as a weapon. Not that I wouldn't if I had to, but they are primarily tools.
Went to a hockey game once, and my daughter and I had to go back to the car to put away our knives. Told a co-worker about it, and she was astonished that I let my daughter "carry a weapon"!

The popularity of the Kershaw Leek calls the title assumption of this thread into question.

I really like using my Leek and I like my Scallion even more.

I'm not alone there either - - far from it.

Ordered a Leek myself today. But I am learning to like all kinds of knives.

 

[Jsega51]

Went to a hockey game once, and my daughter and I had to go back to the car to put away our knives. Told a co-worker about it, and she was astonished that I let my daughter "carry a weapon"!

How would you cut your way into those chips without the bag exploding and cut your way out of your shoes when the drunk butthead next to ties the laces together?! Damn the people admonishing a simple pocket tool.