Love for any of the Classic Non-Locking Pocketknife designs?

[MichaelM]

Cars aren't supposed to be crashed into things either, but I still wear my seat belt and buy one with airbags.

This analogy is off.

Cars are driven on roads with other drivers and often non-drivers. Road conditions -- including inclement weather, chemical spills, etc -- contribute to car accidents. Other drivers contribute to and outright cause accidents. Non-drivers do likewise. Furthermore, even if this weren't so, even if the chances of a car accident were much lower than they really are, the likelihood of any given accident causing death or debilitating injury is high enough that anyone with a rudimentary grasp of expected outcomes would wear a seat belt all the time.

Whereas your pocket knife is almost always you, the knife, and whatever you're cutting. When you do use it in those rare circumstances where conditions are unfavourable for the use of a pocket knife, you can almost always mitigate the risks of injury by using the knife safely. And a lock doesn't stop any of the really common injuries associated with accidental impacts with passers by, slipping with the blade, etc. Closing the knife on your hand means YOU fucked up. And even though the chances of slipping and cutting yourself with a knife are much higher than you just plowing into a building with your car (unless you make it a habit to drive totally out of your mind drunk) the chances of the injury being life threatening are pretty damned low.

In short, the comparison is really flawed.

For most of what you use a pocket knife for, you don't need a locking blade. You're way better off just being careful and remembering that you're using a pocket knife and not a scimitar.

Or, let me put this another way: You know how my grandfather managed to not slash himself terribly with his non locking knife? He used it properly. And doing that still works to this very day. It's why you can safely use non-locking SAKs, the blades from non-locking multitools, and of course the good old fashioned non-locking knife. You remember that you're not fighting fucking pirates with the thing, but whittling or opening boxes.

Because if you're doing something that absolutely requires that you exert pressure on the spine of your pocket knife, you're using the wrong tool or you're using it wrong.

[ninja-elbow]

You remember that you're not fighting fucking pirates with the thing, but whittling or opening boxes.

Oh, holy shit that made me laugh!

BTW, my fighting folder? 2 locks on it.

[Towanda]

I've always like the canoe design, but I don't own one. I EDC a multitool, a folder, and a SAK, but I'm starting to rethink the SAK. I really don't use it much anymore.

Sent via messenger owl.

[ninja-elbow]

Let's not forget that non-locking designs have been around longer than locking designs:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/11/ ... ulti-tool/ << that 1800 year old Roman multitool
http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/novgorodmetalp.html <<< Viking folders found in Novgorod, scroll halfway down.

[squinty]

Cars aren't supposed to be crashed into things either, but I still wear my seat belt and buy one with airbags.

This analogy is off.

Cars are driven on roads with other drivers and often non-drivers. Road conditions -- including inclement weather, chemical spills, etc -- contribute to car accidents. Other drivers contribute to and outright cause accidents. Non-drivers do likewise. Furthermore, even if this weren't so, even if the chances of a car accident were much lower than they really are, the likelihood of any given accident causing death or debilitating injury is high enough that anyone with a rudimentary grasp of expected outcomes would wear a seat belt all the time.

Whereas your pocket knife is almost always you, the knife, and whatever you're cutting. When you do use it in those rare circumstances where conditions are unfavourable for the use of a pocket knife, you can almost always mitigate the risks of injury by using the knife safely. And a lock doesn't stop any of the really common injuries associated with accidental impacts with passers by, slipping with the blade, etc. Closing the knife on your hand means YOU fucked up. And even though the chances of slipping and cutting yourself with a knife are much higher than you just plowing into a building with your car (unless you make it a habit to drive totally out of your mind drunk) the chances of the injury being life threatening are pretty damned low.

In short, the comparison is really flawed.

For most of what you use a pocket knife for, you don't need a locking blade. You're way better off just being careful and remembering that you're using a pocket knife and not a scimitar.

Or, let me put this another way: You know how my grandfather managed to not slash himself terribly with his non locking knife? He used it properly. And doing that still works to this very day. It's why you can safely use non-locking SAKs, the blades from non-locking multitools, and of course the good old fashioned non-locking knife. You remember that you're not fighting fucking pirates with the thing, but whittling or opening boxes.

Because if you're doing something that absolutely requires that you exert pressure on the spine of your pocket knife, you're using the wrong tool or you're using it wrong.

I still say locking > non-locking. You use either knife the same way, but the lock is useful in case you happen to fook up, and I don't see the downside to it. I agree the analogy is imperfect, but your argument is still like saying there's no advantage to a seat belt because you can render the seat belt superfluous by driving carefully. If you need an airbag in your car, you're driving it wrong! etc etc.

I like, and have owned, traditional knives held open by a spring. They are perfectly useful tools. I fail to see how adding a locking mechanism to such a tool would reduce it's utility, and I can see a tertiary benefit. What drawbacks do you see to a locking mechanism, that makes a locking knife inferior to a non-locking folder?

[skelco]

I carry one of several Swiss Army knives that I own every day, very useful

[jamoni]

My dad gave me a Buck Stockman when I joined the Army. That's what I carry in tuxes or nice suits. Other then that, no, I don't carry one.

[theotherryan]

Good old basic swiss army knife or my boyscout equivalent.

[Raven927]

I carry a victorinox recruit, I like it i use the toothpick and big blade often. The two blades are very sharp right out of the box and stay sharp. I've cut boxes and whittled sticks and they can still save hair.

[111t]

I've been edc ing a svord peasant for several months. It's certainly based on very old folding knife design. Super cheap. Carbon steel. What's not to love?

[SRO1911]

I have a non locking case 'Texas toothpick' as part of my EDC, its sole purpose in life is to trim the kids drinking straws down in very public restaurants and pick splinters from little hands. It stays shaving sharp, with just the perfect no ouch point.
I also carry a fixed benchmade activator and a monochrome. Different tools for different jobs - my daughters will scream bloody murder if you try to come at them with a pin or tweezers for a sticker, but pull out grandpas old case and they just relax.

In my tackle box I keep an old timer, two worn down blades and handles that used to be bone. Just seems like the right thing to use for cutting lines, slicing liver, enjoying the sunshine. Maybe its a bit of nostalgia, but its what I do. I would not want to be in a knife fight if all I had was a trapper, I wouldn't want ot be in a knife fight period. But if I was stuck out in the shinnery with nothing for cutting but an old Case or heaven forbid a, old I brand - I wouldn't give up or feel incapable of getting by.

[gun toting monkeyboy]

Non-locking knives are tools, not weapons. If you look at the package insert in any Case knife, it says that quite clearly. I don't mind non-locking folders for specific tasks. In fact, I like them for their simplicity. And their relatively low cost compared to similar "tactical folders". I have gone hunting many times with an old bolt action and a 2 bladed trapper as my only hunting equipment. And it was more than up to the task. You can even clean a deer with it if you need to. I would rather use something larges, but if it is what I had... I was also very happy when Bokker came out with their locking blade trapper, which is the best of both worlds as far as I am concerned, when it comes to classic pocket knives. As long as it isn't needed as a weapon, I have no problem with just about any kind of sharp impliment.

-Mb

p.s. The one and only time I had used a firearm in a confrontation, it was a single action revolver. A Ruger, not a SAA. I never even had to pull it out of my waistband. But I had no problem grabing it to go talk to a guy standing outside of our house at the end of a country road screaming late at night. Just because something is an older design doesn't mean that it isn't useful. I spent a LOT of time doing Cowboy Action Shooting back then. I knew exactly what I could do with 6 rounds of .45 colt. Trust me, 6 rounds would have been plenty.

[Gaston]

My favorite is a large stockman, second choice a "swayback" 4-blade, both in high-carbon steel. I carried both for many years. Both, though, are very susceptible to sweat if you don't clean and oil them lightly everyday, and this is "sweat country" here in the southern Appalachians (besides, I live next to a creek which cranks up the humidity even more). Because of that I carry a Kabar Dozier drop-point locking folder, and I like the clip for keeping it in place in my pocket and it's very lightweight. When I was a surveyor we did a lot of cross country, through the woods surveys, and I really appreciated a sturdy multibladed knife as often even after the rodmen cut brush to put in a shot there'd be a limb or two in the way, and on my end of the shot. Having multiple blades meant I didn't need to stop and sharpen my knife if I turned the edge on one blade.

While I don't own one right now (mine all burned up in a house fire), I'm a big Buck fan. They're a pain in the ass to sharpen to the angle I like when new because the steel is so hard, but they really hold an edge and won't rust unless extremely neglected. I have a gorgeous Case large stockman in carbon steel with stag scales, but the damned thing will rust if a drop of sweat touches it. The steel is softer than a Buck, which leads to the question - would you rather have a knife that takes a long time to sharpen, but stays sharp a long time ... or, would you rather have one that both sharpens and dulls quickly? Just a matter of tastes, I guess.

[Maverick299]

I sometimes find myself in settings, where it might seem a bit excessive to whip out my Griptilian. Whipping out an old gentleman's folder attacts much less attention.

^^^^This right here^^^^^

I carry a locking knife but have a soft spot in my heart for a good stockman. On more than one occasion I have seen "old boys" pull a non-locking knife out of their pockets, fumble a bit to get them open and have never once given them a second glance. When I am in public and my ears hear that distinct and audible "click" of a tactical folder my head is on a swival until I have located the knife and see who and why they have it open. I've been called out several times on my knife when I "click" it open and people wonder why on earth I would carry such a thing. After reading this thread I might have to go drool a bit over the Case display at Bass Pro.

[bltjr1951]

Love my Case knives, only one is a lockback and it fits in my BOAT.
None of my Old Timers or SAKs are lockbacks either.
Last time a knife closed on my thumb was when I was 12.
I do EDC a Gerber FAST draw once in awhile.

OP keeps saying models of knives, no brand names.
A cheap trapper could close on you big time.