To Kill A Clip-It

Kuolema · #1

Hey all,

The other day I was talking to my girlfriend after the 'incident', and proceeded to give her an excessively long list of reasons why I loved my Spyderco's so much and why their loss was bothering me so much. Which got me thinking, this happened to my Sage I, I was driving, proceeded to shift my body, unaware that my Sage I clip was clipped onto the seatbelt (it had somehow slid under the clip) and subsequently bent it.

****, I thought, but then pulled out the handy LM Wave (every individual should carry a multitool!) and bent it , more or less, back to factory standards.

So, does this happen a lot to you guys? The paper-clip (as I like to call it, but I suppose 'wire clip' is the appropriate term), is pretty dang strong and it bent to my surprise.

I know some of you, I think The Deacon has mentioned before, dislike using the Clip altogether and just remove it, letting it chill in your pocket. Granted, the clips DO TEND to ding up walls... furniture... door jams... etc, etc, etc.

I suppose you could try and IWB carry it and it would practically prevent this, but I just carried my knives in my FRP (only used to really carry one at a time for normal EDC), but what's everyone here do? Just accept that it's a fact of the Clip-It? Does the Clip design/material change how you carry it?

To be honest, the first thing that popped into my head was, "Sweet beets! If I hadn't noticed it could have fallen out!" And no one likes to lose a knife, so I have recently gained a bad habit of every-so-often checking my pocket to make sure it's there.

So, Spydie-holics, what do YOU do to prevent the killing of your clip-it?

THG · #2

Kuolema wrote:****, I thought, but then pulled out the handy LM Wave (every individual should carry a multitool!) and bent it , more or less, back to factory standards.

So, does this happen a lot to you guys? The paper-clip (as I like to call it, but I suppose 'wire clip' is the appropriate term), is pretty dang strong and it bent to my surprise.

It doesn't happen a lot, but the clip on my Spin didn't come close to touching the scale, so it was very loose. I used my Leatherman Blast to try to bend it a little, and the clip ended up snapping.

dsmegst · #3

So far so good. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Joshua J. · #4

I lost my Lava that way, it was clipped to my back pocket though. Seems as though knives in my back pocket clip themselves to things quite often, so I never carry that way anymore. In my front pocket they just about never get caught.
I find it best to modify my clips so that the end points sharply in toward the handle, with as much a "hump" behind it as I can manage. That way when the clip rubs against a flat surface, it slides over most things instead of clipping onto them. Not all styles of clips can be worked into that kind of shape, I find the Military/Endura clips work the best. Wire clips have done pretty well with little modification.

Billy · #5

I can honestly say that in 19 years of carrying at least one Spyderco clipped to my pockets, I have only ever had one "incident" - I was squeezing through some overgrown vines in my back yard and my D4W that was in my back pocket decided to visit with the vines for an extended vacation. I thought I had lost that knife for good, but miraculously found it a couple of weeks later when I finally got around to trimming those vines. :D

razorback1595 · #6

i've had benchmades, kershaws, crkt's, ... their clips bend on me, the only knife company wich this has never hapened is my spyderco's and i carry them more than any other knife i have (manix 2

)

it happens and if you break it atleast it's pretty cheap to replace :D

FLYBYU44 · #7

razorback1595 wrote:i've had benchmades, kershaws, crkt's, ... their clips bend on me, the only knife company wich this has never hapened is my spyderco's and i carry them more than any other knife i have (manix 2 )

it happens and if you break it atleast it's pretty cheap to replace :D

If you break it I'm pretty sure they will send a free one out. I've never bent a clip or lost a knife. I only occasionally clip my knives, most of the time they stay in my pocket loose. I carry a Military and a Para-Military.

vampyrewolf · #8

I ended up damaging the FRN around the clip on my 98 model endura, to the point that the clip would be useless if installed. Just had custom leather made and put it on my belt rather than even consider it damaged :p can't tell you how many times I caught that clip on the table at work that I ran alongside for 8hrs+ a day.

I've had to tighten a few clips, I've had my vest pull a couple up from my rear pockets, but I haven't come close to killing another one yet.

spyderHS08 · #9

I caught my xm-18 on a corner once...oo I about had a cow. It bent the clip out really bad but I was able to remove it and fix it no problem

Hector Castro · #10

Very rarely do I get my clip caught on anything. I carry my blades in my front right pocket. It does rub up against things, and sometimes scratch things, but I have never had one bent or broken. Carrying a clip on in your back pocket is just asking to get it caught on something, or getting it pushed out of your pocket. It took a few weeks of this, the first time I had a Spyderco, and never again. This was about 20 years ago.

VashHash · #11

I bend the wire clip on my superhawk all the time did it just the other day and i was not happy but i straightened it. I also snapped a manix 2 clip when my g/fs brother decided to sneek up behind me and put me in a chokehold. The manix 2 was in my left rear pocket and i crouched down a little and flipped him over. Almost killed him with my superhawk until i realized who he was. He hasn't tried to put me in a choke hold ever since. But yeah i've messed up a clip or two.

Noumenon · #12

I lost my Co-Pilot because the clip kept puncturing or getting caught on vinyl seats at my job. So I got a Native III because I wanted to try out the wire clip and instead of losing my knife it just bends. It doesn't bother me because I can fix it easily and I still have my knife.

A guy I work with keeps bending his Para's clip because it gets caught and wants to try a wire clip too.

BDNX · #13

I bent the clip on my Tasman once a while back...I don't even know how it happened...as it turned out it got bent somewhere along the way at work and I didn't even notice t until I got home. I was real lucky that it didn't fall out of my pocket like that...

MountainManJim · #14

I have snagged the clip of a number of knives. Most on construction sites where I end up squeezing my way into tight places. Also once on a hiking trip, my pack was able to pull my knife out of back pocket. At some point the knife fell to the ground and was lost.

It's not just Spydies that this happens to or even just knives. Anything with a clip can get snagged one way or another.

My solutions are as follows:

I carry a Byrd knife on the construction sites, not my Spydies. I like to convenience of have the Byrd in my back pocket and try to watch out for situation where I'm going to brush up against something.

In the high risk (for the clip) situations like the construction site, I carry my Spydie (Mini-Manix 2) In the Waist Band of my jeans and under my belt. It's very hard for anything to catch on the clip there and yet the knife is still accessible.

On hikes, I carry the knife someplace where belt of my pack won't interfere with the knife, for example, in my front pocket. Or, I just carry a fixed blade, clipped to the pack.

One other comment. I suggest removing the clip when you bend it back. To get the clip tight on your clothing, you need to over bend the clip a little. And, try not to bend the clip back and forth, eventually you will fatigue the steel and it will break. If it does break, fear not, SFO usually can sell you a replacement clip.

Jim

kbuzbee · #15

Didn't kill it but thought it was lost... until....

http://spyderco.com/forums/showpost.php ... stcount=16

I was SO HAPPY!

Ken

Doc Pyres · #16

MountainManJim wrote:
It's not just Spydies that this happens to or even just knives. Anything with a clip can get snagged one way or another.

+1 The clip on my Surefire E1B Backup flashlight seemed to catch on everything except the pocket it was supposed to be holding. After having it hit the concrete a few times, I just gave up clipping it and carry it loose in pocket.

MCM · #17

"So, Spydie-holics, what do YOU do to prevent the killing of your clip-it? "

To be honest. I have had a knife clipped to my right front pocket for so long, I must just compensate for it.
20-25 yrs of muscle memory.

Water Bug · #18

Haven't bent a clip on my :spyder: s (yet), but I have had my Spyderco Delica 4 FRN PE get caught along the inside of my jacket more than once. It's kind of like as I would move the jacket would react in kind and catch the Delica's clip, thus pulling it little by little from my RFP. Eventually, the Delica got pulled free and was sent clammering upon concrete. :eek: Fortunately, being a Spyderco, the Delica took the impact like a champ. :)

MountainManJim wrote:It's not just Spydies that this happens to or even just knives. Anything with a clip can get snagged one way or another.

I had the clip to my Leatherman Skeletool catch the inside of my BDU shirt enough over time to send it smacking upon the hard tile floor of the men's room over at the office. This resulted in the very slightest of a rounding off on one end of the Skeletool, and it functioned as if nothing ever happened. :)

kbuzbee wrote:Didn't kill it but thought it was lost... until....

http://spyderco.com/forums/showpost.php ... stcount=16

I was SO HAPPY!

Ken

I gotta say that as annoying as it is to have a :spyder: dragged from your pocket due to its clip catching on something, it's stories and pictures like this that actually add charm to the overall topic. :)

blacksmithtech · #19

Speaking as a wide man I have caught that clip on everything you could imagine. I will undo the seatbelt and watch my Endura go sailing by. I am now in the habit of doing a muscle memory touch just to make sure I'm squared away (CCW crowd will understand this) The more expensive the knife the more aware I am to loosing it :)

mr.vu · #20

Ive had my waved D4 clip bent many times. I just bent it back with pliers. Ive just tried to be more careful and aware.