Would you carry an auto folder, if you legally could?

[Blop]

I have an BM 5000A auto axis. A useful tool like the manual.

Very easy and comfort to open but closing two handed.

The manual offers more in that respect.

 

[mhawg]

I have several nice autos and on occasion I will carry one and even use it. If you don't whip it out in front of the wrong person or get busted for a crime where they search you you won't have a problem. Don't fly or try to go into the courthouse with one though.

 

[ice-pic]

An assemblage of parts that transmit forces, motion, and energy one to another in a predetermined manner.That is the definition of a machine.I love machines and would carry one.

 

[Bufford]

Yes, I would carry an auto. Great for convenience, and sanitation as well. I could easily hold and cut my food or spread a sandwhich without fumbling around so much.

With all the speedy one handed opening box cutters around along with one hand openers, the switch blade laws are out of date, and out of touch with reality.

 

[AR fan]

I would carry the Benchmade auto axis also. I was issued it and it's a very sturdy knife, nothing flimsy or gimmicky about it.

 

[Halbie]

I think it's funny that it's the people who aren't interested in autos who always bring up that modern tacticals are as fast or faster. Who cares how fast they are? If you're looking for speed and convenience, get a fixed blade.

I'm holding out for a fixed-blade auto. Pops out of the sheath and into your hand. I've been working on one and almost have it perfected. -- Halbie Three Fingers

 

[p_mcmanis]

depends. if I was a big camper I would almost certainly carry one regardless of local laws, seeing as the last thing you want is to be in a posistion where the only way you can realistically get a knife open is a push button or slide release and you just cant get your knife open.

but really, modern tactical knives are really, really fast, and obviously for regular use you dont even need that, so I feel my needs are filled properly by manual knives.

 

[Stavrou0]

I am in the "less moving parts" side of the house. I like folders for ease of carry and convenience. I cant always carry a fixed blade everywhere. In my opinion those are fastest deployable knife. But a folding blade with a simply backlock or framelock will do me fine.

 

[mmarkh]

Sure would.

The modern automatic knife designs are simply pretty good knives that offer the advantage of being able to open them relatively easy should one suffer from an injury that affects manual dexterity.

Seeing the comments as to more parts, lack of robustness, and such makes me realise how few people have taken the time to look at the newer designs. Yes, the pin-locks are relatively fragile, but the common plunger lock is a simple and robust design.

While we are on the dream of legal auto carry, lets allow Bali-song knives to be carried too.

Maybe I'd throw a Microtech Halo into my ecd rotation, but I'd defiantely start carrying butterfly knives (balisongs). They're stronger, easy to open, and they're really freaking cool.

I can't carry my bali? I didn't think they were against the law in Md. I would like to own that Spyderco Citadel. It's a very nice knife.

 

[orthogonal1]

I can't carry my bali? I didn't think they were against the law in Md.

I don't know if its legal or not. As they say, "check your local laws concerning legality". I do know that when observed using my bali, I sure do get looks and comments on legality.

Of course, when I have shown a few people that the common thumb opener can be opened just as fast or faster then my autos and balis (in my admittedly unskilled hands), they usually get the point as to how obviously stupid the prohibitions truly are.

BTW - what is up with the "speed of opening" thing? As if such has much particular use. The issue is convenience of opening IMO.

 

[benzine]

i own two autos and they are illegal where i am , i dont carry them , nor would i want to

 

[Byrom Hermo]

BTW - what is up with the "speed of opening" thing?

This has always been an issue. You've got several generations of people that spent all or most of the years preceding the current era (the era of the tactical knife, auto's, thumb studs, balis) carrying and using regular pocket knives or staight knives. I graduated in the mid 80's and with a lot of practice was able to fling my Case 6111 1/2L open with one hand. *I wanted an auto so bad* They just weren't available. My buddy always carried a boot knife in a sheath in his back pocket and he would always tell me 'My knife's a lot faster than yours'. Unfortunately this doesn't help those that will not carry a sheath knife.

Back then I wanted a one handed opener for the cool factor, practicality and quickness of deployment. There just weren't any to be had.

the common thumb opener

Didn't exist.

my autos

You had to know someone travelling to Europe or Mexico to get one of these.

balis

This item was very limited in availablility and was not at all a 'tactical' item in the US.

The point is that the knife buying public has always wanted a fast folding knife.

 

[vjb.knife]

I can't carry my bali? I didn't think they were against the law in Md. I would like to own that Spyderco Citadel. It's a very nice knife.

You are kidding, right? You live in Maryland and you think anything remotely threatening looking is legal? If I were you I would put that Bali back in the house. Unless you are out on the eastern shore or someplace remote, but if you live in the Balto / DC corridor you are asking for serious trouble. A balisong is a switchblade in MD. I grew up in Maryland and even thirty years ago the place was a Police State (no offense to Police Officers, it was meant as a political statement).

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

I was born in 1956, exactly one year before the U.S. Congress, in a fit of hysteria, passed the ban on switchblade knives. It's a good reminder to those who wax nostalgic about the 'good old days.' There was no shortage of nanny-statism back then. Anyway, there were few things that I wanted as a kid more than a nice Italian-made switchblade. I still remember vividly a few of the war movies that I saw in which the bada$$ American GI carried a switchblade.

Fifty-one years have passed, and now there is a thriving grey market for auto folders. Plus, whenever I head south to Oregon, I could buy one at any cutlery shop, since they are legal there to own (but not carry). But I have no interest now in acquiring an auto. I don't even like assisted-openers. Give me a manual opening folder with super-smooth opening via pivot bearings like IKBS, or Darrel Ralph's 'MaxGlide' (my EDC). That to me is the ne plus ultra now. I regard switchblades as inherently less reliable and less durable, and little, if any, faster. I see downside but very little upside to autos. Many still see them as 'neat,' but to me less reliable and less durable is not neat. Neat is as neat does.

The one exception is that I've always wanted a Microtech UTX-70, which is a small 'double action' OTF. Double action means that the blade opens and closes by pushing a switch. I love the idea of that, because while most one-hand knives are quick to get out, they are somewhat slow to put back. I think a double-action OTF carried in a WH style 'clip case' would be the best of the best, in terms of quickly getting your knife out and putting it back. I've never bothered to buy a UTX-70, because tiny or not, they are still illegal in my state. As dicussed in past threads, you are one 'cop having a bad day' away from a huge legal headache if you carry illegally.

Today, I would not buy, much less carry an auto, even if I could do so with 100% legality. Would you?

I can legally both own and carry a switch blade. That's because I live in Florida, where it's legal to own them, and have a Florida Concealed Weapon Permit, which (unlike in most states) is not limited to firearms, and specifically authorizes the carry of switch blades. I have one, but seldom carry it. I've always got a small and light lockblade on me, and almost always a revolver. Just seems redundant to also carry a switch blade.

PS When I was a kid back in the 1970s, my brother came back from spending the summer in Italy with an Italian switch blade. He got bored with it, and it just floated around the house for a few years after that, and eventually disappeared.

 

[antonio_luiz]

If they were legal here I'd definitely carry an auto but would opt for one of the Microtech OTF models. The "more things to go wrong" & "not strong enough" don't worry me as I'm not likely to attack anything more aggressive than the zip tie on the packaging of something I've just bought

Plus I suffer from chronic SFS (sausage finger syndrome) and regularly nick myself with side openers so an OTF auto has a lot of appeal to me

Unfortunately, knife carry is illegal here so I my EDC is a little iSlice on my keychain for opening packages and blister packs

 

[wutitiz]

I'm holding out for a fixed-blade auto. Pops out of the sheath and into your hand. I've been working on one and almost have it perfected. -- Halbie Three Fingers

lol, I think you're reinventing the 'kydex sheath,' which I believe Bob Terzuola invented maybe 20 years ago. But let us know--that 'fixed-blade auto' sounds like a dream come true.

 

[huugh]

I can but I don't. Side opening autos don't suit me.
Though I wouldn't mind Microtech Scarab or other quality OTF if it wasn't so expensive...

 

[ashtxsniper]

Legally I can carry auto's due to my profession. I own a few but I dot carry them anymore. I did carry one for about a year and found no distinct advantage over my Spyderco's or Benchmade's. IMHO they are kind of a hassle.