friend silenus,
i bought my folding hunter with money i made mowing lawns while i was a boy scout. i have a swiss army multi tool i use at work every day, but that old buck my knife
lack of preview led to that poor phrasing. the forty year old folding hunter is my knife
The knife I was discussing is this one. but it has a note about sales to police and military only. I can’t recall where I bought this one and I’m also not sure if that is simply a S&W policy of based on some local regulations. You’d need to find out what will be acceptable in your area. Mine is nice. Strong spring, strong blade, locks in place and holds a razor sharp edge.
Oh, and as to a earlier post, it opens with the push of a button, not after a partial opening.
if you like the weight then the one you’re looking at is a good choice. It’s certainly a good size for what you want. I use to carry a 4oz knife and also liked the hefty feel. However, if you’re wearing cargo shorts it will not feel comfortable to put it in a lower pocket because it will pendulum as you walk. You might want to put a 4 oz item of that size in your pocket to see how it feels. That’s about what my old Startac cell phone weighs.
My criteria for a daily knife is that it must have enough of a handle to firmly grasp but retain a 2.5" blade. I also want to be able ot open it with one hand so an assisted-open knife is prefered. It has to have a sturdy lock and the blade should have a hardness of between 55 and 60.
Unfortunately I can’t recommend any stores to go to for knives. I’ve bought them from knife shows and various dealers. The site I listed for the Benchmade 310 has an excellent picture of the knife. You should note that it is both smaller than what you are looking at and also no longer in production. You’ll have to find a dealer online.
That is a neat little knife. Would have to see it up close to pass judgment but the concept of a change pocket watch is worth looking at.
Hey! I just tried this repeatedly, and all I got was a really sore thumb, a chipped lighter, and a still-capped beer :mad:. I’ve seen other people do it. What gives?
I’ve got a number of auto-knives but the one I like is/was made by GT knives (2" blade). the release button was built into the blade pivot. It is a trademark of their knives. I’ve found it difficult to find anyone who carries GT. Oh, and their larger knife is a work of art. the picture doesn’t do it justice at all. It’s so pretty I hate to carry it around.
While I’m thinking about it.
In the 4 oz category of knives is my all time favorite knife but it’s the 4" Benchmade 705 (discontinued). If you’re left handed it is absolutely the best one-handed knife ever. It was the first of the AXIS lock knives and has been replaced by the 707. I haven’t looked at the 707 so I don’t know if it measures up. The 705 will flick open with almost no wrist movement and the AXIS lock system is designed to account for wear on the mechanism. It will ALWAYS lock solidly when open. The AXIS mechanism is accessed from both sides of the handle and that makes it a truly ambidextrous knife. For some reason, not all the AXIS style of knives open as well as the 705 and I must assume it has something to do with the position of the pivot point.
not sure how it’s down with the lighter (assuming Zippo) but think in terms of a lever and fulcrum. You grasp the bottle like you were trying to wring it’s neck with your hand as close to the cap as possible. The ring formed by your thumb/finger are used as a fulcrum point so you can lever the cap off with something solid. The longer the item the more leverage you have.
I carry a Dyad C44 when camping or when I know I’ll need a good size knife. For daily carry of a small pocket knife I carry the Mini Dyad C39.
At work I carry the new version of the C79 assist rescue
I love my spyderco knives, won’t buy anything else
Spyderco makes a nice range of knives with good quality blades but I’m not a fan of the lockback mechanism used on many of them. They wear over time which makes it more prone to folding back on the user. I think they use linerlock mechanisms on some of their locks and that is what I would recommend. As far as one-handed operation, the Benchmade locks with AXIS lock mechanisms are much easier to use both to open and close the blade.
I went ahead and ordered the Buck Alpha Dorado–it arrived today! It is an absolutely gorgeous knife. It’s got a rosewood handle, is a perfect weight and size to fit my hands comfortably, and flips open with a flick of the thumb. It’s lovely and just feels like a quality knife. Thanks so much for the mention, Phlosphr.
One thing, the only thing that I dislike about it, is the way it closes. The blade locks open with a little toothed… bar? at the base of the blade. In the old pocket knife I had, you depressed a little trigger on the top of the bolster which released the lock mechanism and then closed it simply by sliding your thumb along the spine and pushing it down. I may be completely missing something, I couldn’t find anything in the sheet that came with it about how it “works”–and it wouldn’t surprise me to be the first idiot on the face of the planet that couldn’t operate a pocket knife–but it seems that to close this one you press the little toothed bar sideways to click it out of the way of the blade, sort of closing it with your other fingers. This is 1) tricky, and 2) is begging to close the blade on my thumb. Is there another trick to it I’m missing? I couldn’t find anything else on the knife that looked like it might operate a release.
Thanks again for all the suggestions, I love this place!
You want the type of locking mechanism that you got versus what you described. It won’t let the blade fold on you during use. To close the knife push the lock to the side with your thumb and then start the blade closed (just enough to get the blade past the lock). Pull thumb away and use it to close the knife. If you get in this habit you will never close it on your thumb.
When adding to your collection you might want to look at the Benchmade AXIS lock knives. When you pull the locking mechanism back it completely unloads the blade so you can flick it open and closed.
Okay, that’s what I’m doing–just seems sketchy, as though I might accidentally ‘start’ it a bit too hard and snap it shut on my thumb.
Which has been known to happen… 
I did this by closing the blade using my leg (think cowboy western lighting a match on your jeans) and cut the tip of my thumb right off.
When you squeeze your hand on a lockback knife, you can unlock the blade. A liner-lock mechanism protects against that. However, depending on the quality, etc of the liner lock, sometimes the blade needs to be forcefully flicked open, otherwise the liner-lock only grabs the edge a tiny bit, and can also fail.
Glad you found a knife you like! I’m itching to get a new one.
Best-
-Tcat
All my knives close differently so a little practice is in order. Tomcat’s method is what a lot of old-timers did. I have a Kersaw partial assist with the lock you describe and the base of the blade is so wide that it bottoms out on my thumb preventing the blade from closing. That’s another neat knife to collect but you can’t put it in your pocket without engaging the safety lock. It WILL open in your pocket and it has a very pointy blade. OW. For all practical purposes it acts like an automatic. It really flicks out quickly. The “button” is actually the base of the sharp side of the blade and sticks out the back when closed. You press on it and the spring takes over. It is also what bottoms out on your thumb if you close it as I described.
I think you will really enjoy your knife when you feel comfortable closing it.
I carry a Victorinox Rambler on my keychain. I love it. It’s small, light, and that little phillips-head screwdriver has gotten more use than anything else on that knife. I’ve had three so far. The first one was ruined when I tried to sharpen the blade on a grinding wheel, and ended up grinding the blade completely smooth :smack:. The second was confiscated by airport security because I forgot to leave it at home, and the third one is the one I have now.
Check out KnifeOutlet.com. They have a gazillion knives, good prices, and good info to base your purchase on. I’ve purchased tons of knives for Mr. K there. There’s something for every kind of Knife Guy ™.