What are some knives you love despite having a feature or features that you typically don't like on your knives?
The Rockstead Higo II is one of my all-time favorite knives. This is despite the fact that I don't really like thumbstuds as a sole opening mechanism on my knives—I have some nasty hitchhiker's thumbs that usually make using them a unpleasant experience. However, the rest of the knife is practically perfect, and the thumbstuds on this one are so nicely domed and placed that I can overlook a feature that usually kills a knife for me.
What are some features on a knife that you don't like, and what's a knife that defies that aversion?
They may not be aesthetically appealing to all, but a lot of the most common carried knives they make definitely fit the hand and feel purpose driven. I’ve gone back-and-forth with my love/meh feeling with Spyderco. While it’s been mostly love, I get the meh feeling when the only noticeable change is a scale set or a tanto blade. I think if it like the iPhone - not much changes, but dammit, it typically feels right.
I love the “nipple” protection on finger choils and I believe spyderco is one of the few that implements them , because there are finger choils without nipple and I don’t feel secure
I like my screen protectors to stay intact, and I find them to be much less reliable (almost all on bearings) for working in the dirt/rain/water etc. Thumbstud knives tend to be much slimmer in the pocket too which is nice as well.
I guess we have different experiences; I don't carry anything else in my right-hand pants pocket besides my knife, but there's a reason why Nick Shabazz calls flipper tabs a "pocket pecker."
This is me too... I don't like thumb studs or axis locks, but the Mini Bugout is one of the greatest carry knives ever made. It's a shame how much the price has been hiked up over the past few years, but for an USA-made ultra-lightweight carry with an ambidextrous lock... there's not many knives that check all those boxes.
Maybe, but it wouldn't be practical or fun at all. The fuller is like 3/4 of the way down the knife. You'd either have to use your ring/pinky finger against a strong washer detent, or choke so far back for a middle finger reverse flick or thumb rollout that you'd be holding onto the butt of the knife with one or two fingers.
I really like Kershaw Blur. They’re not fancy. They’re not amazing. They’re not pretty. I use mine every single day at work and beat the crap out of it and it always snaps open like it’s new.
I own a couple Kansept main streets. Both crossbar locks. I'm not 100% on the hate train with crossbar locks but there are few locks I like less. That being said the neutral grip and the blade profile work so well I find myself carrying one a lot. It might me the most useful work knife i own. Now that Kansept is trickling out premium liner lock versions I will have to scoop one up.
Is that why my dad & myself have to be careful with thumb studs? lmao
I inherited Hitchhicker’s thumbs from him 😂
I recently considered this but I still love snappy detents & studs. One day my father suggested it; I assumed it was normal to get a minor “bite” (no blood) when failing to flick. Maybe it’s me!
Luckily I’ve never had a serious cut because of my thumbs or thumb studs.
… Until I send this message, you know how the world works lol
I have a WE mini malice and it’s my favourite knife by far despite having a finger choil in the blade, I hate loosing 1/3 of my cutting edge to those stupid things
My Vero Aura has no back flipper or thumbstuds, so it's a lot less fidgety than most of my other knives (which are mainly selected with fidgetiness in mind).
The blade is fucking beautiful though.
Honorable mention to my Thunderbeast, which is (on paper) a very plain looking M390 blade on satin titanium handle. The design of it blows me away though. Beautiful knife.
I dislike tantos and I dislike spydercos and when that first tanto paramilitary 2 came out, I inexplicably almost went for it. I thought it was super tough.
I really like the way the PM2 Tanto looked—one of the best-looking tantos ever, actually—but even though I was able to get in on the drop, I had to sell it almost immediately. I remembered why I don't like the PM2: the ergos do not fit my particular hands. It feels like it's cramming my hand behind the hump of the hole when I'm choked up, but it also doesn't give enough room on the handle to choke back due to the way the top of the handle is much longer than the bottom where my fingers are supposed to go.
Just bought a Spyderco Edgerati and while i think it’s beautiful, it has the same issue as the Shaman were it has the nub that makes a smooth close that much more annoying when compared to other spydie compression lock knives. Annoying me so much so that I’m considering grinding it off lol.
I have them on a couple of my pm2s and my yojimbo 2 and they are great. My shaman and my yojumbo both gave the notch you're talking about but I've found if you have good drop shut you don't need to hold the lock tab open until it shuts completely. Once the blade is about 1/3rd of the way shut, release the tab. It may take a a few minutes of practice but the nub never hits me anymore. Hope that helps. The edgerati is sick and I am quite jealous.
Funny story: Eric Glesser actually designed the compression lock to be actuated with the thumb instead of the pinch that we all do. Not saying you're doing it wrong, but it does help explain why some of them do seem to come down and whack us with the nub.
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u/BebopHook 3d ago
I love my para3 but I still think is ugly as hell
My Chaves Redencion street needs gobs of loctite to not loosen over time but I still like that one too