I Don't Get The "Spydie-Flick."

[VooDooChild]

Im sometimes guilty of it. First it does take some practice to get it down. Second it completely depends on the knife. For whatever reason a stretch 2 is much harder to spydieflick than an endura 4 for me. It doesnt really matter, its all just something I do when Im bored. I said this awhile back as well but quick deployment or flashy deployment is kinda bs. Nobody is spydieflickin their knife open when theyre hangin off the side of a boat when you risk dropping it to the bottom of the ocean. Its something I would honestly do in a showing off aspect. If Im in a group of people helping someone move and all of a sudden someone needs a knife to cut something, and everybody looked at me because they know this is the guy with a knife, then I might spydieflick just to show off.

[Sharp Guy]

I primarily open by rolling the blade out with my thumb but early on I would also flick the blade open with my thumb. Then a friend told me ne found it easier to use his middle finger to flick open the blade. I tried it and I found it hard to believe it was actually easier. It felt really awkward. But once I figured out how to do it it became much easier. A few years later and it's now second nature and flicking open using my thumb feels awkward.

[Evil D]

It's just a fiddle thing for me. I do thumb flick most of the time, it's second nature at this point with most models.

[Haunted House]

I never spydie-flick with my fingers, only thumb or thumb slow roll.
With compression locks, I have occasionally held the compression lock and let the blade open on its own with a flick of the wrist.

But 99% of the time I use my thumb, just feels the most natural & efficient.

[JohnAPA]

Michael Janich is fairly well versed in such endeavors:

https://youtu.be/cfq1YEYQxs8

[kennethsime]

I am a climber

As a climber, the sad part is how accurate this is.

[kennethsime]

Never, and no idea where it came from. I did try doing the Spydie-Drop a few times after watching Sal Glesser produce an open Military from his pocket in one smooth motion using it at the NYCKS in '04 but found it less reliable, for me, than simple thumb opening. Perhaps that's at least partly due to my preference for mid-locks, which tend to be less "flickable" that most other locks. However, some of the older Spyderco catalogs and ads show the Spydie-drop being used with knives like the Mariner and Police.

Paul, now that you mention it this does make sense seeing as though the Military is tip-down carry only. If the blade is facing forward, and you can grab pinch the spydie-hole, it might actually be the fastest way to get the knife open fast. I suppose the Emerson wave is needed to accomplish similar if you carry tip-up.

[kennethsime]

Michael Janich is fairly well versed in such endeavors:

https://youtu.be/cfq1YEYQxs8

Just watched, I didn't see a Spydie-Flick. I will say the inertia openings seem like a lot more work, but then I don't use my knives as self-defense tools. I'm sure if you practice it gets easier, and the trade-off in applied force gets you speed.

[JohnAPA]

Michael Janich is fairly well versed in such endeavors:

https://youtu.be/cfq1YEYQxs8

Just watched, I didn't see a Spydie-Flick. I will say the inertia openings seem like a lot more work, but then I don't use my knives as self-defense tools. I'm sure if you practice it gets easier, and the trade-off in applied force gets you speed.

Honestly, I don't even know what the Spydie-flick is. I've been following MJ for years and I can't get a visual about how the middle finger ever comes into play.

[Sumdumguy]

Michael Janich is fairly well versed in such endeavors:

https://youtu.be/cfq1YEYQxs8

Just watched, I didn't see a Spydie-Flick. I will say the inertia openings seem like a lot more work, but then I don't use my knives as self-defense tools. I'm sure if you practice it gets easier, and the trade-off in applied force gets you speed.

Honestly, I don't even know what the Spydie-flick is. I've been following MJ for years and I can't get a visual about how the middle finger ever comes into play.

It doesn't. This is how I open my Caribbean most of the time.

[araneae]

I'm not a flicker. And my fingers are too long to middle finger flick. The first time I saw it, I didn't even understand how people made it work, then I realized they must have smaller hands.

Thumb rolling is plenty fast for me.

[curlyhairedboy]

It's definitely knife and hand dependent. I can do it super easily on some models and with great difficulty on others, but the thumb hole works in every instance so that's the method I prefer.

[AwayFromMySpydieHole]

It is absolutely hilarious the things that people will demonize and vilify just because they don’t like it, or don’t do it themselves.

I can just imagine people sitting here angrily typing “stop liking what I don’t like!”

It’s simply just another way to open the knife. I’ve been middle finger opening spydercos since before YouTube even existed, so it’s not a “to be cool” thing. It also requires zero wrist at all, so you’re not really using momentum. Let the tension from the detent break, and that’s enough to get the blade to open. If you do it right you can middle finger flick gently enough that the blade barely engages.

I have a military that is almost a decade old that has been middle finger flicked possibly 5000 times now, no undue wear.


I have to wonder why people think this would destroy the knife? Guns that have a trunion interface (like the ak47 for example) have a bolt carrier that absolutely SLAMS into the trunion with each round fired. It happens every round fired, for the life of the gun. Typically these bolt carriers and trunions are not heat treated well and pretty soft. Yet they last 20k-50k rounds without ever having issue related to the slamming.


So, I’m pretty sure a hardened knife blade can hit a hardened stop pin for the life of the knife and never peen the stop pin.....ever. The lock is going to wear out long before the knife is damaged from finger flicking without wrist.

[RustyIron]

Maybe my hands are trashed from climbing, or maybe they're just too large; I'm not sure.

Spydie Flick is the equivalent of a heel hook, a drop knee, a dyno to a greasy sloper, or resting while hanging from a fist jam: it's just plain cool.

Once I saw someone DO a Spydie Flick, I couldn't rest until I figured it out. It wasn't instant. My hand would cramp up and I'd have to quit for a while. But after a total of an hour or two, I had it down. Now it's my most comfortable way of opening a knife. I think it's quicker and more efficient, but I'll leave that for you to decide, if you choose to learn.

[Bloke]

I’ve been middle finger opening spydercos since before YouTube even existed

[Rinzler]

PM 2, PM 3, and manix 2 I open using the middle finger flick. It's natural and opens smoothly.

I'm not a big fan of the thumb flick, or the boomer slo motion open. Flick, snap, done.

[James Y]

I’ve been middle finger opening spydercos since before YouTube even existed

. Bloke, you’re on a roll today!

Jim

[SpyderNut]

To each their own, I reckon. :)

I just don’t see the value in slamming tangs against stop pins, which in turn slams the pivot. :eek:

Agreed. It always makes me cringe a bit when I hear a knife opened hard.

[BornIn1500]

Honestly, I don't even know what the Spydie-flick is. I've been following MJ for years and I can't get a visual about how the middle finger ever comes into play.

Start watching at 4:50.

https://youtu.be/IuH0h4WCRzU?t=290

[James Y]

Some people, whose main purpose for knife carry is self-defense, believe the “Spydieflick” or such is necessary to deploy it as quickly as possible. I’m no expert in knife combat and don’t really carry my knives for that purpose, but I do know from experience that under real, sudden pressure, such as in an actual fight, fine motor skills can go out the window. True, lots of training and experience increases what you can do efficiently under stress, but I would imagine that if getting one’s knife open under such a situation was a concern, that just getting the knife in hand and using a more controlled thumb opening would generally be more preferable. Trying to do something tricky or complex under stress can cause one to flub the opening or even drop the knife, even if the action can be accomplished quickly and naturally under normal, relaxed conditions.

Jim