Shaman safety

[Paraguy]

I keep hitting my finger when I close my Shaman! Ok, all jokes aside. I have figured out how to close my Shaman without whacking my figure, but I was wondering what y'all thought of the "ouchie tab." How could such a great knife have such a painful flaw? What was Sal thinking? He spent I lot of time designing it. For full discloser, I love the Shaman enough that I can overlook this, but I'm just confused as to why the "ouchie tab" exists.

[Airlsee]

To build character.

In all seriousness, I don't like the tab on the Shaman.

[JRinFL]

I think physics played a role. In order to get the features he wanted in the knife, they took up space. Sal felt the minor inconvenience was worth it to retain the features.

[Wartstein]

... How could such a great knife have such a painful flaw? What was Sal thinking? He spent I lot of time designing it. For full discloser, I love the Shaman enough that I can overlook this, but I'm just confused as to why the "ouchie tab" exists.

There seem to be two camps concerning this.

I think you are not the only one who has issues with the tab, but when I could try a Shaman (never actually owned one) I almost naturally moved the finger out of the way. Not an issue at all.

And the "tab" makes for a more pronounced finger guard when the Shaman is opened.
Can´t tell if this is a noticeable advantage, would have to try the knife in various conditions first (the ugly ones... cold, wet, greasy.. )

Anyway: You could quite easily grind it off. Would not impair function by any means.

(Edited for grammar)

[Paraguy]

... How could such a great knife have such a painful flaw? What was Sal thinking? He spent I lot of time designing it. For full discloser, I love the Shaman enough that I can overlook this, but I'm just confused as to why the "ouchie tab" exists.

There seem to two camps concerning this.

I think you are not the only one who has issues with the tab, but when I could try a Shaman (never actually owned one) I almost naturally moved the finger out of the way. Not an issue at all.

And the "tab" makes for a more pronounced finger guard when the Shaman is opened.
Can´t tell if this is a noticeable advantage, would have to try the knife in various conditions first (the ugly ones... cold, wet, greasy.. )

Anyway: You could quite easily grind it off. Would not impair function by any means.

Yes. I have seen Shamans on this forum that are ground like this. I think it looks kinda dumb. So I guess the trade-off is worth it in my mind- the possibility of pain for looks.

[vivi]

My Yojumbo has a similar tab, and I previously owned a Shaman.

Took me two tries to learn how to depress the lock, swing the blade shut, and get my finger out of the way.

The fix takes seconds to learn.

[Airlsee]

True enough.

[Evil D]

I just move my finger at the last second and the blade shuts just fine with as much mass as it has.

[ladybug93]

i wouldn't call it unsafe as much as i would say it looks like unfinished compromise rather than purposeful design. after people got used to it and showed spyderco it was acceptable, it started showing up in more designs.

i'm not going to say anything else... i'm pretty anti-shaman and had a whole long post written, but it's not relevant to the tab or safety of the knife, so i'll stop there. my opinions on this model are not shared with most people around here.

[soc_monki]

The tab, to me, is a bit of a guard. without it your finger "could" slider easier up onto the sharpened blade. Yes, it is in the path of closing, but move your finger and it won't get hit. There is no reason to hold the compression lock tab down to have the blade swing closed. People complained about the Amalgam and the flipper tab swinging through that area and being a pain, and some people ground it off. Sure, the knife works fine with thumb and spydie flicks, but I bought it to be a compression lock flipper and moving my finger isn't an inconvienience.

Truth be told, I always moved my finger before the blade was fully closed on PM2's and my Para 3 as well. It's really a non-issue. The knife can be modified in any case, just like people add sharpening choils to Spydercos which, IMO, is unnecessary as well but to each their own. You can always take metal off, but you can't add it back.

[TkoK83Spy]

Having 3 Shaman's and a Watu that also does this...it just takes some quicker reflexes and some muscle memory and it becomes an afterthought. I love that choil on the Shaman and think it's a wonderfully designed handle.

[Vaugith]

I had the nub ground off on my first shaman. When I first handled it I felt like you do and thought it would improve my experience. When I bought my second shaman a long while later, I thought I might want to grind that nub off too but decided to carry it for a while first to double check. To my surprise the nub didn't bother me at all. Apparently I adapted to move my finger out of the way without even having the nub there to encourage me to do so. Today for me it's a non issue. I carry both nubbed and nubless shaman regularly and don't notice even the slightest difference in my uses. I use them hard and have never felt like my hand was going to slide up onto the blade without the nub with or without gloves. But hey, if you think grinding the nub off is going to help you enjoy the knife more, have at it.

[desmodue]

How could such a great knife have such a painful flaw?

"I'd hook up with Cindy Crawford...if she didn't have that mole on her face"

[James Y]

I don’t own a Shaman, and have never even handled one,p; but are you pressing the tab with your index finger to unlock your compression locks? Because on the compression locks I do have, I always depress the tab with my middle finger, and all my fingers are already out of the way before I unlock it.

Jim

[prndltech]

im with vivi. its not an issue. if that hurts your finger, well... ill just stop typing now.

[Airlsee]

...I always depress the tab with my middle finger, and all my fingers are already out of the way before I unlock it.

Jim

The tab/nub will just land on the back of your middle nail if you don't move your finger out of the way. No big deal.

[wrdwrght]

I’m not seeing why the nub is a matter of safety. I do see, when closing the blade in a particular way (there are several), how the nub can come up and whack my index finger while it pinches the compression tab. But that is no matter to me.

[sal]

Hi Paraguy,

While I respect your opinion, I don't think it's a "design flaw".

sal

[VooDooChild]

Yeah just move the finger. Practice doing it and it will become second nature.

I can close my shamans with no issue, it just takes some time to get used to it.

Or once you have initiated the closing arc of the blade just keep lighter pressure on the lockbar and the nub will push your finger out of the way.

For me the shaman is so good that I forgive it for this.

[kennethsime]

Yea, I was mad about this for maybe two days, then got used to it.

I think it’s just part of cramming such a huge blade into a small handle.

The Shaman is one of my favorite designs in a long time, and my Zcarta version is one of the best knives I’ve had the pleasure of using.