Collapsed slipjoint?

[Stew]

I'm curious as to how many people have actually had a slip joint close on them in use and how it happened.

Are locks really necessary?

[Edd-UK]

Almost had it happen once, the blade slipped in use when i had wet hands.

[Saint-Just]

Only when mis-using said knife :rolleyes:

[Beachlover]

I'm curious as to how many people have actually had a slip joint close on them in use and how it happened.

Are locks really necessary?

Done it twice.
Both with SAKs and one with a SAK I had modified from locking to non-locking - A SAK Forrester.

One was super-glue'able, the other was a suture jobbie and the scar remains as evidence of my suturing skills :C

Thankfully I did the self harm away from the allotment and manure, compost and tetanus.
For me it's a locker for the plot now

[Russell White]

not exactly in use but had one about 10 years ago, i was repairing a knife at work and was taking it back to warehouse and caught the blade on the door jamb and closed it on my hand. ouch:C

[Deerhunter]

It's a good question. It's never happened to me. I prefer the idea of a lock to a slipjoint, but thats just personal.
If the work your putting your knife to leaves the lock in doubt, use a fixed blade.

[Noddy]

Been lucky apart from once when my finger got in the way closing a Le Thiers

I get bitten mostly by forgetting I am using a lock blade and trying to close the thing as you'd close a slippie :D

[sanibel686]

Only 3 weeks ago! when using my old SAK (of 24 years) to cut/pry off the plastic cover on a pcb mounted relay. It closed and cut quite deeply across the top of my index finger. I would have normally abused my leatherman wave but I was repairing a friends boiler and I left it at home because .......
(Insert 100 lines discussing locking knives and being on the right side of the law)

So "are locks really neccessary"

Respectfully, I think it's a non-question.

It's like saying are mole grips really neccessary when we have pliers.

A locknife is simply a better mousetrap and the locking feature adds a level of safety to it for certain operations.

[fluffy]

A few time with SAKs as a kid, which is why I liked my old Buck 110 copy so much. As I got older/wiser the SAKs were still invaluable but treated with caution. Occasionally fishing with cold wet hands. Cutting through tough stuff where a locker/fixed would be preferred but you did not foresee the task so did not go so equipped, occasionally a blade would flick out of open. Had this happen with a UKPK and a Case Sodbuster. At this point I usually accept the inevitable and go to the car and pick something more suited to the task.
Unfortunately this is just as illegal carry when just in case is your reason.

[bardster]

I have three scars on my right forefinger - all from slipjoints closing up on me whilst using them in my job. I now only use locking folders whilst at work. All occurred while! using te tip of the knife to get under something - ie cable ties - in preperation to cutting them. The knife only has to twist slightly and all the force you were using to cut through said item is now used to close the knife!

[Hepotec]

Lots of times. SAKs and UKPK. Mainly when using the point. I've only been cut a couple of times though. (Properly cut, I mean, not just a knick).

To avoid such cack handedness, I tend to use a fixed blade but I work on private land or am at home, so "good reason" isn't often a problem.

[Underhay]

Only when I was a child. A SAK blade stuck in some wood and as I pulled the handle away the blade almost cut me.

I don't think locks are necessary as long as the slip joint is treated in a completely different way to a fixed blade. As has been mentioned using the tip can be dicey, and hacking at anything the blade can get caught in is a bad idea.

If I need a blade to use really hard, I'll always reach for a fixed blade. You don't have to worry about how strong the lock is and most have a good guard so you can't slide up the handle onto the edge :)

[Roefisher]

In the case of opening it to carry out a single action task such as cutting the wrapping on a dvd case or slicing a banana then certainly they are safe enough.

In the case of using the knife over a period of times changing grips and actually doing some proper cutting, they are useless. And I mean useless.

My worst cut came from my DKPK when it sliced into my right hand thumb from the end to half way down the thumbnail, the entire thumb depth. That happened when I was shaping the head of a holly walking stick which involves a lot of moving and turning with different angled cuts. How it happened was, it stuck in the wood as I was changing for another angle and it shut on my thumb as I turned the stick around. It was, of course, my mistake but when you're working at something like that you just can't look at the blade all the time - as you're following the stick to know the next cut location.

Never again did I do anything other than a single action slice or cut with a slipjoint knife.

So I would say for prolonged use, yes, a locking knife is necessary.

Mark

[harryf3]

I’m working or playing with knives for almost 35 years and never had anything more serious than a small cut. However few months ago I tried to open a drain hole on the bottom of a plastic flower-pot with a case sodbuster, a knife with actually no tip, just belly. I had the knife in my pocket and felt lazy to go and take a pointy knife or tool. It was sharpened at a lower angle, a real razor. The blade found the bone of my index finger. I still have the scar and do not feel the finger 100%.

[Kane]

Yes, while "boring" with the point luckily it was blunt so it was more of a nip than a bite - threw a good old scare into me though :)

[ScanDgrind]

I managed to cut myself to the bone with a very old SAK many years ago. I like to think I'm a little wiser now and I tend to use a locker if I'm going to be putting a bit of power behind the cut. I did this while using the tip of the knife to get underneath some plastic tape.

Another time I cut myself but not so bad was when I was carving. The knife blade dug into the work piece but wasn't sharp enough or I wasn't strong enough to push cut the blade all the way through. I started to pull the blade back out to ree it and the blade snapped shut on me.

It's a good old law in these days of health and safety isn't it:D

[Chux]

I have had slipjoints close a couple of times. The most memorable was when cutting open a box and I pulled the knife up and out of the cardboard. The card gripped the blade enough to fold it shut and necessitated a strong cup of tea and replacement undergarments.

One of my friends put a little too much pressure on a slipjoints when cutting and the spring gave so that the blade folded over backwards into his hand.

[Underhay]

Chux said:


One of my friends put a little too much pressure on a slipjoints when cutting and the spring gave so that the blade folded over backwards into his hand.

That must have been a very poorly designed knife, the pressure from the blade should be directed into the end of the spring compressing it in line with the handle and there shouldn't be any forces trying to bend the spring back further.

[mloc]

Only when mis-using said knife :rolleyes:

same hear, using a SAK to dig out a dowel and i twisted and folded the main blade on to my thumb splitting the side of the thumb along with the nail:O :C , bled like a good-un too :rolleyes: :lol:

[Nick Steele]

same hear, using a SAK to dig out a dowel and i twisted and folded the main blade on to my thumb splitting the side of the thumb along with the nail:O :C , bled like a good-un too :rolleyes: :lol:

I did something like that with the magnum camp bowie that's on passaround. They do indeed bleed, just a little bit.

[lilzee]

a few times, camping with cubscouts and such.

now i usually carry a locker while camping, and don't edc much, just so i don't accidentally bring to school.

i do have a nasty scar on my left index where an opinel closed on me though.
(didn't notice the twist ring...) :rolleyes:

[sanibel686]

clearly these slipjoints are far too dangerous and should be b:censored:

[Nursie]

Yes, while "boring" with the point luckily it was blunt so it was more of a nip than a bite - threw a good old scare into me though :)

Yep me too, tried this with a brand new UKPK (sharp as hell):O
Scared the living hell out out of my work colleague, when the new site nurse starts bleeding and swearing:rolleyes:, still managed to sort wound out myself(couldn't face the stick I'd get in local A+E dept)
Still carry a slip joint, just a darn sight more careful with what I do with them, no boring or prying.
Still got 10 digits so count myself lucky
Take care
Graham

[benp1]

i've been lucky I guess, but I pay more attention when using a slippy in a situation where it can close easily, like cutting up cardboard boxes. my ukpk has closed whilst doing that but it stopped at the half stop and I spotted it in time

[Longstrider]

Twice. Once with an old Richards of Sheffield single blader whilst doing, as I see many have before me, twisting the point into a piece of wood. Not a very deep cut but enouigh to scare the whotsits out of me when I thought of the possibilities of the situation.
Once with the Spey blade of an old but gorgeous Case Jumbo Stockman that I had re-scaled with some ancient teak. I had just finished skinning a mink I had trapped and went off towards the river with the knife in my hand to wash it and myself. I tripped and fell. :C Had to open the blade from it's position of about 45 degrees to the handle to get my index finger out from between the blade and the handle whilst seriously contemplating both surgery and fresh underwear. Got away without the surgery but I still bear the resulting scar the better part of 30 years later. To realise just how close I came to falling with my entire weight on the back of that blade was enough to send chills through me.

The cold terror of what could have happened left me with so little doubt about the use and the improved safety of having locking folders that the only non-lockers I now own (as far as I can remember) are SAKs, and I tend to only use them for jobs other than where the need is for a knife, due to the variety of blades, (corkscrew, bottle opener, saw, small scissors etc) I've pretty well always got a 'real' knife on me to use when I need to cut something ;)

I too have had a cheap and nasty folder collapse backwards after applying more pressure to a cut than the knife could handle. The blade slid neatly down the side of the spring, peeling the slabs away from the springs as it went.
I've had a couple of folder blades simply "give up the ghost" and snap clean off at the plunge cut whilst doing the very same thing i.e. trying to cut straight through a stick that I knew I could cut, only to discover that the knife couldn't.

[Chux]

Chux said:


That must have been a very poorly designed knife, the pressure from the blade should be directed into the end of the spring compressing it in line with the handle and there shouldn't be any forces trying to bend the spring back further.

I won't defend the knife that failed - it was not dirt cheap but was, to be honest, not something that would appear on the radar here on BB

[bigreddog]

I have a big scar on my knuckle from a SAK shutting on me when I was trying to cut a thick bit of holly when I was younger (green wood and I was trying to force it)

I also had the UKPK shut to half point trying to hack up some thick cardboard boxes (trying to cut several at once) - the choil meant my finger stopped it closing but it did make me jump a bit

I consider a lock an essential safety feature, because almost by definition a pocket knife is a tool carried for uncertain applications - I might pack a chisel, saw, kitchen parer, craft knife, pencil sharpener, scissors, secateurs, axe etc if I knew I needed them, but usual I don't, and I press the pocket knife into service to slice an apple or cut open a blister pack or trim a stick. So I am likely to use it for things to which it wasn't specifically designed - and a lock is therefore important.

[ColdIron]

Closed SAK 35 years ago on my index finger dooing some (stupid) drilling! Almost lost 1/2" of finger. Bone did stop blade. Did blead a lot! Learned to use 'tools' as they supposed to be used!

[jhobson]

often when stropping

[dunc5]

I've done it twice , both with SAKs . First time I was using the tip of the blade as a screwdriver :rolleyes: someone called me and I looked up and slipped . I know I know but I was in my teens and I never done it again .
The second was more recent when I was fitting a new double glazed unit into a window . I was cutting the security tape around the old window to get it out . The trouble with some SAKs is when you pick them up and your don't pay too much attention its easy to hold them upside down and in this case I inserted the back of the blade and it folded on my hand .

Dunc

[fluffy]

The trouble with some SAKs is when you pick them up and your don't pay too much attention its easy to hold them upside down and in this case I inserted the back of the blade and it folded on my hand .

Dunc

Oh yes, done that one too.

Has anyone noticed how SAKs keep cropping up in this thread?

Design flaw or rite of passage?

[mojofilter]

At least 3 or 4 times, all on the exact same spot on the side of my forefinger, twice last year with the same sak soldier, about 10 days apart.

When the second one cut deeply into the just starting to heal first one, I certainly said a few bad words! :lol: