So I always thought tip-down carry was dumb...

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zhyla
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So I always thought tip-down carry was dumb...

#1

Post by zhyla »

... till I went to put my pants on today and carved up my right leg with my Manix 2. Somehow the blade had pulled out to ab out half open in my pocket after I took my pants off. Ouch!

No real damage (minor bleeding) but also no idea how it happened. Maybe somebody stepped on my pants while they were on the floor last night?
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DeathBySnooSnoo
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#2

Post by DeathBySnooSnoo »

I've always preferred tip down...always found it easier to use, but it is safer too. It is rare that a knife opens, but still...

I'm glad that you weren't badly hurt.
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phillipsted
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#3

Post by phillipsted »

Glad you weren't cut up too badly, zhyla!

I was a confirmed tip-up guy for a lot of years. I tried one of my PM2s tip-down last year and really liked it. The reason is that it allows my right-hand pinkie to grip the clip at the base of the knife more securely. This is important if you are working with a knife a lot, flicking it open and closed. I like the sensation of a more secure grip.

I've never had a spyderco open in my pocket before - but experienced it with a gerber several years ago. In that case, the knife did not have a very positive detent in the closed position.

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#4

Post by gbelleh »

Tip-up or tip-down, I try to always have the spine of the knife against the seam of the pocket. Oh, and removing knives from the pants before taking them off and putting them on helps too. :)
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#5

Post by Holland »

brutal! glad you didnt take to much damage
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#6

Post by tvenuto »

gbelleh wrote:Oh, and removing knives from the pants before taking them off and putting them on helps too. :)
This ^. Glad you weren't badly hurt.
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#7

Post by iyn »

I swithed recently to tip down carry. I have short fingers and it's easier to deploy the blade by pivoting the knife against the body and using the clip to index my hand on the blade. But I use lock back blades like enduras, delicas, stretch, so they do not shake out easily.
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#8

Post by APS »

Just curious, did you or someone else shake your pants/toss them, etc, out after you took them off?
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#9

Post by Pneumothorax »

Zhyla, I used to be just like you. Preferred tip down since the Spydie hole was right near thumb upon removal from pocket, but couple instances of having blades open accidentally in pocket cured me of tip down. Mostly, it happened with knives that dont have strong detents or a backspring to keep them closed. M2 is a perfect example of that. When I first came on this forum, I got into a couple of discussions for pro-tip down. Now Im a convert - the added nice thing is that tip up puts the back of the knife handle and butt of the knife against your hand going in the pocket - generally a smooth surface vs, pivot and blade spine.
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#10

Post by Blerv »

Sorry to hear :( !

The pant seam is the best way to keep the blade in place, tip down or up.
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#11

Post by Evil D »

This is why you always carry tip up with the spine against the side of your pocket. If you still somehow manage to get cut, then God wanted you to get cut lol.

When you carry tip down, this can happen:

Image

Somehow when i put the knife away, the blade snagged the pocket on the way in and I didn't realize it. Then i happened to brush my hand on my thigh and got this:

Image

In all that blood is a nice 1/4 inch deep/wide stab wound. Felt awesome. I know this was a fluke, but i haven't carried tip down since except on my Military since i don't have any other choice.
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#12

Post by Pockets »

Ow! I tighten the pivots on my knives so they don't do this.
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#13

Post by zhyla »

APS wrote:Just curious, did you or someone else shake your pants/toss them, etc, out after you took them off?
I'm a simple man. At night my pants come off, with all pocket contacts still in, and they go on the floor next to the bed. In the morning I pull the pants back on. Unless some underpants gnomes wandered in during the night I don't think the pants were tossed about.

I guess the Manix 2 doesn't have much keeping the blade closed once you get it slightly open. A little dab will do you... in :) .
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#14

Post by Evil D »

zhyla wrote:I'm a simple man. At night my pants come off, with all pocket contacts still in, and they go on the floor next to the bed. In the morning I pull the pants back on. Unless some underpants gnomes wandered in during the night I don't think the pants were tossed about.

I guess the Manix 2 doesn't have much keeping the blade closed once you get it slightly open. A little dab will do you... in :) .

This might be my favorite thing about the Manix 2, or more specifically about the CBBL lock. Mine has a very strong detent action when completely closed, but once you push enough to get the ball out of that divot, the blade opens almost effortlessly (almost, because the pivot is quite snug from the factory on this one). It makes opening action so silky smooth and quick.
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#15

Post by KardinalSyn »

Glad you are safe. That said, its a cardinal sin to step on a Spydie.
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#16

Post by jon1all »

Evil D wrote:This is why you always carry tip up with the spine against the side of your pocket. If you still somehow manage to get cut, then God wanted you to get cut lol.

When you carry tip down, this can happen:

Image

Somehow when i put the knife away, the blade snagged the pocket on the way in and I didn't realize it. Then i happened to brush my hand on my thigh and got this:

Image

In all that blood is a nice 1/4 inch deep/wide stab wound. Felt awesome. I know this was a fluke, but i haven't carried tip down since except on my Military since i don't have any other choice.
Geez, is that a partially deployed knife in your pocket or are you just happy to see us? LOL!!

Well, despite the OP's rather atypical set of circumstances (the knife being left in an unworn pair of pants and obviously sliding forward in the pocket enough to allow a tip up knife to open partially), this pic here typifies to me exactly why people who say that tip down is safer than tip up aren't really thinking about what goes on with the two types of carry. By this I mean, at first glance it seems logical that the tip being pointed UP would present more of a danger because, well the tip is pointing up and when you put your hand in your pocket there is a chance you could get cut/stabbed because the tip is pointed up toward you. But this isn't actually true (well, assuming you carry your knife--like most--slid to the back of your pocket against the seam) because in the tip up position the spine of the knife is pinned against the back seam of the pocket and is prevented from deploying. Plus, in tip up whenever you dig your hand into your pocket to retrieve something you are only sliding your hand against the spine of the handle (whereas in tip down you are actually sliding your hand along the spine of the blade when going into your pocket). So anyway, my point is despite initial perceptions, tip up carry is actually less likely to cause an accidental in-pocket deployment/cut because the blade is pinned closed against the seam of the pocket (as opposed to being free to accidentally semi-deploy as in this pic above). Of course we could get into the benefits of faster depolyment, etc and tip up/tip down proponents will argue these ad naseum (I am in the tip up camp here too because tip down is a 3-step process (remove the knife, swing the butt of the knife to the palm of the hand, deploy blade) whereas tip up is a 2-step process (ie, no need to swing the butt of the knife to the palm, it's already there, so just remove and deploy)). BUT... I can see why some people prefer the tip down method and don't care to argue it as it is largely a matter of personal preference. IOW, I am not really sure there is much negative consequence to the 3-step tip down carry process as it would only come into play negatively in the most "tactical" of situations and that's soooo unlikely as to be not worth worrying about. So my preference for tip up comes from the aforementioned safety aspect as well as preferring the way a knife looks with the clip in the tip up position--think it is more aesthetically pleasing as such. And... I have always appreciated economy of movement and the tip up 2-step process just appeals to me on those grounds as well. :)
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#17

Post by chuckd »

I have had my Tuff on tip up and the blade had opened just slightly, a fraction of an inch, and when I slid my hand into the pocket to pull it out it cut down my thumb about an inch long, not very deep but still some good bleeding. Going toswitch up the clip and play around with it
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#18

Post by -F1 »

gbelleh wrote:Tip-up or tip-down, I try to always have the spine of the knife against the seam of the pocket. Oh, and removing knives from the pants before taking them off and putting them on helps too. :)
Yeah, but sometimes you're in a hurry to get 'em off. :)

I carry mine tip-up, but I keep the blade side as close to the pocket edge as it will go. That obviously helps keep the blade in place.
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#19

Post by defenestrate »

The sensitivity on the hand will tell you you are being cut way before your leg will. tip-up with spine toward seam is typically my choice. I generally have my spyderhawk spine away from the seam beause I like to snap it open into icepick/RGEO grip.
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#20

Post by chuck_roxas45 »

I like tip down on longer knives because my thumb is always near the thumbhole when I extract the knife from my pocket. No inchworming my hand towards the pivot when the knife is in hand. I've also experimented with left side, tip down configuaration carried in RFP so that I can carry with spine on the seam side of the pocket. I'm still smoother with this than with tip up on a longer knife.
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