I know a lot of guys prefer what I’ve seen referred to as “dropshutty”. I think that essentially means letting gravity do the work with no assistance needed. I do believe this is widly considered an indicator of premium tuning on superior quality knives and I’ve definitely got a handful that achieved this.
I also know that there’s a certain crowd, probably a bit older, used to the two handed operation of more traditional knives and they like a blade to require coaxing shut. Whether that be one or two handed it would appear matters little to none to this crowd.
I’m guessing that leaves a group of us that like it somewhere in the middle. Basically the Goldilocks theory, not too easy, not too difficult, just a good compromise in between.
To be completely frank, I honestly don’t care. Either way it wouldn’t prevent me from enjoying a knife. I guess if forced to pick I’d go with the middle ground. I’ve cut up too many knuckles with free falling blades to hold any love for “dropshutty”. I can admit it’s a cool achievement for sure, but I’ll take user input required for 500 Alex.
I guess I’d say two handed, I’ve had a knife accidentally close on my hand before and that sucked, but maybe a good enough “dropshutty” one wouldn’t do that, I don’t know enough to really say.
Well the gravity close doesn’t mean it closes while in use. You’ve got to disengage the locking mechanism first, but some of them (love frame and liner locks) can put your fingers right in hand way while doing so, if you’re not extra careful.
Aside from SAK style knives with no locking at all that I’ve had when I was a kid, every knife from my first Buck style knife has locked, so I’m kewl with it dropping via gravity, so I can close it one-handy.
Must be one-handed for open and close, and must lock. I have three different knives - Kershaw (assisted, liner lock), Benchmade (dropshutty, button lock), Leatherman Charge+ (friction, liner lock) - which all achieve this in different ways, and I don’t have a strong preference, though I’ve probably dinged myself more with the Kershaw than the other two.
I do need my knives to open one handed, but I guess I’ve never thought about them closing. No matter how tight or loose the action I just realized I close all of them by disengaging the lock and then pressing the spine against my leg to close. I guess I value a blade that stays exactly where I put it more than one that’s totally loose, whether that’s closed, open, or in between. I don’t like slipjoints for the same reason as they always try to spring to either the full open or full closed positions.
Not for me, though I think I have learned my lesson, I have scars to show that slip joint knives are just not safe…
I like knives that will fall open and closed when the lock is disengaged. Much better for one handed operation. Like maybe when on a ladder, or holding a light with the other hand. I prefer a slight detent for opening, but not enough that it makes the knife hard to open with one hand.
The way I see it, if I’m having to force a folding knife, it’s either not sharp enough, or there’s a better tool for the job at hand. For the majority of the cutting tasks I have when I’m out and about, a small slip joint gets the job done just fine. If I want something for cutting food and I’m out, the Opinel fits the bill. If there’s gonna be chopping involved, I’d rather have a fixed blade or a small hatchet.
I like it to close with one or two flicks of the wrist after unlocking. I mostly like liner or frame locks so my thumbnail will keep the blade from slicing me if I get carried away.
I want it to open and close one handed. I have had to tweak a few of my knives to get it just right.
I’m not super partial to any action type… I love my Buck Slim Pro TRX with it’s old-school lockback, near-2-handed operation; I really enjoy spydie-flicking my Vosteed Gator and it’s riskier liner lock with drop shut action; and I have very much been enjoying my CJRB Lg Pyrite button lock action because it is completely free when the lock is disengaged, but the design keeps all your fingers out of the way.
I have others along various lines, it just depends what I feel like carrying.
Fixed or locking illegal in public without good reason in UK, so “EDC” is limited to sub 3" cutting length slipjoint…
Also some dodgy grey area about flick knives (illegal) and being able to deploy a blade by flicking, e.g benchmade axis lock. Upshot is choice generally limited to slipjoint, which I don’t mind so much, there’s a lot of good ones to chose from nowadays.
Yeah I’ve got a few button locks and they are absolutely, completely free falling dropshutty knives. I agree, because of the button lock design it keeps your fingers out of the way of any potential harm and i have no issues with it. I’ve also got a few Benchmade with axis locks that are super smooth dropshutty and for the same reason the locking mechanism ensures my fingers stay safe. Sometimes i wonder if letting the blade drop like that is somehow damaging to them, but i think of they’re heat treated properly it should be no issue.
Only thing dislike about Benchmade is the butterfly-tax…
In a well-designed button lock or crossbar lock knife there shouldn’t be any worry about damaging it - there should be some form of stop pin on a non-edged section of the blade to take the brunt of the knife swinging closed - unfortunately, that isn’t always the case and the edge can sometimes contact stuff inside the handle.
It is important to me that a knife breaks crisply from its detent with the press of a single digit, flies out smoothly, and locks up solidly with no blade play or lock rock. Closing is less important but if it does the above and drops shut nicely; that’s a win.
I’ve come to find that there are way too many knives that come with some pretty noticeable blade slop. I’m actually surprised by how bad it is on even knives costing upward of $300. Most notably everything Benchmade with an axis lock! I refuse to buy anything Benchmade anymore because of it. Unacceptable. The reality is that there’s no harm in it, but if a $20 Gerber can achieve solid lockup and no blade play, then i have no respect or patience for any other company not doing so.
Also can’t express how many knives I’ve bought that came with loose pivot screws that backed themselves out after maybe 10 times being opened and closed and 1 time cutting tape on a cardboard box. It’s truly ridiculous.
