Will closing knife 'hard' dull knifes?

I

imacf90

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I just recently figured out how to get my sharpening system to work for me and give me a nice razors edge. So, I've been doing a little thinking after that. After i strop my knives and get a really good edge on them, would closing them hard(like dropping the blade shut) do anything to the edge? you know... like on SAK's or even an old buck 110 or 112.
I know this may depend on what type of knives we're talking about here, since the newer style knives have much more clearance than the older ones(or maybe not.). the way the old lockback knives work, you can push the blade down and itll still move up and down while its in the closed position. I don't know... what do you guys think?
 
Depends on the knife. Look close at the edge after you have sharpened it. If it appears to be rolled or any other deformities then you know not to do that.

I know my Case Canoe doesn't do that, but I can press either blade side to side and they touch.
 
Properly designed and manufactured folding knives have a portion of the blade tang (called the "kick" IIRC) that arrests the motion of the closing blade so that the edge does not make contact with the innards of the handle.
 
Bill1170 said:
Properly designed and manufactured folding knives have a portion of the blade tang (called the "kick" IIRC) that arrests the motion of the closing blade so that the edge does not make contact with the innards of the handle.
Click to expand...

This is correct, but isn't it also possible to keep depressing the blade until the kick pushes the back-spring out enough for some of the blade to be able to make contact against it? I've noticed that with my case trapper and even a few lock-backs I have.

I've always worried about this with knives. One thing I would do with knives if the opening was wide enough, is to put a strip of paper between each liner. That way if you close the blade down hard, you can pull the paper out and check it for contact. Most knives I've seen won't contact except for slip-joints because the kick pushes the back-spring back out if you press too hard--but you have to be pressing really hard and I can't see this happening unless you have the blade pinched between something really hard.
 
Typically, in most folders, it isn't the sharpened part of the blade that hits any kind of "stopper". Because Gerber paraframes are skeletal, you can see the inner workings of the knife and mechanism. What actually stops the blade upon closing is the same notch in the tang (just below the beginning of the sharpened edge) falling on and resting on what's called the anvil pin.

On the older folder styles, if you look at the tang, the visible part actually sticks out farther than the sharpened part of the blade, and that hits the inside of the high-tension lock before the edge hits anything. That's also why you can squeeze the knife, like you said, and there's retention but it moves some. That extended portion of the tang is pushing against the inside of that lock.

I can't imagine a scenario in which you could close the knife hard enough to overpower the tension of that lock and make the blade move enough to come into contact with another part of the knife. That said, snapping it open and closed repeatedly does vibrate and add undue pressure on most of the components, and some portion of the knife may wear out or become loose faster. However, if we're talking about a Buck knife, guys have been snapping those open and shut for almost 50 years now, and most of them are still going strong.
 
IMHO, yes.
A non locking SAK will.
The spring, that hold the blade in the open position can be bent backwards far enough for the edge to make contact.

red mag
 
Off center blades on handles with barrel spacers may dent against the thicker part of the spacer. Happened to my BM Rukus 610.
 
My old original Cold Steel Vaquero Grande, you can tell the blade hits inside because the inside is lightly cut where the blade hits. Does not appear to dull the knife too bad because the plastic handle material cuts easier than the knife dulls.

Out of all the knives I have, and I have a lot, it is the only one that does so. Never had a problem otherwise.
 
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