Folding knife; tip up or down?

[PAcanis]

I just picked up a new EDC at the gunshop to spell my old Spyderco, a Kershaw Ken Onion Blur. Nice knife So I'm sitting here playing with it and it seems to me that if I reverse the clip, which I just saw I could do, it would be a lot handier (read faster) getting it out of my rt front pocket and opening. I'm pretty sure I have an allen wrench that small if it's not metric, but I don't know if those little screws are held in with loctite or anything.
Has anyone else switched the clip to carry the knife tip up? Do you like it better? Do I need loctite when I put them back in?

Thanks

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[tokerblue]

I'm right handed and I always carry tip up knives. Since the blade rests against the edge of my pocket, there is no possibility of the blade deploying accidently. The only knife that I ever carreid that was tip down was the Benchmade Aphid. I actually got spiked one day when the blade partially deployed in my pocket and I reached in to grab my keys. I don't carry that knive any longer.

I also usually carry an Emerson CQC-10 and it's only available in tip up carry.

[PAcanis]

Hey! Thanks for the quick reply. The thought of the blade against the edge of my pocket came to mind, too, since that is my change pocket.
Thanks again.

[MinistrMalic]

I carry a Benchmade 730S Elishewitz and it is tip up. I carry it weak side clipped in my front pocket and have never had a problem with it. Tip up deploys quicker in a long hold as well.

[gasmitty]

I'm fond of the CRKT offerings and I have several. It always bugged me that the pocket clip is oriented opposite to how I carry, i.e., once I unclip the knife I have to rotate it end for end in my hand to get the actuating stud in position under my thumb. After investing a few hundred bucks in their products I felt like I was family, so after some email exchanges I found myself on the phone with one of their product design people. I asked "what am I missing or doing wrong" with respect to their clip mounting location. The answer was simple: their design philosophy has the point of the knife blade pointed down while it's clipped to the pocket, so that if the knife opens for any reason, you will never thrust your hand onto an exposed blade in your pocket.

The guy was kind enough to mention that if I wanted to reverse the clip, he would send me an adaptor that would allow the clip to be mounted opposite to its standard orientation. I didn't bother.

My observation is that there are a fair number of knives available these days that allow the clip mounting to be reversed. You should be able to tell on disassembly if loc-tite had been used initially; if so, definitely use it for reassembly, but clean all mating parts with alcohol or mineral spirits first. Stick with blue loc-tite or you may never get it apart again!

BTW those little screws may actually be Torx... look carefully under magnification. You don't want to bugger them up.

[Guantes]

It depends on the knife I am carrying. If I am carrying say my CQC7, it is point down to put the thumb stud close to my thumb when drawn. IF I am carrying my Buck 426 (BuckLite-110) I carry it point up, as I snap it from the pont end to open the blade.

[Threadbare]

Tip up in stero(one on each side)

[TheShadow]

I believe Smitty is correct on the screws being torx that's whats on my Kershaw Cyclone.

I carry tip up on the weak side to keep my gun side free in case I have to draw. I clip mine high on my left pocket as this allows me to place my hand in my pocket (looking normal) with my fingers around the knife and my index on the spring assisted flipper. I showed a buddy my quick knife deployment and he said" you could grease a rattlesnakes tongue tie it to a bolt of lightning and it wouldn't be any faster" yep he's pure country and always cracks me up lol.

[PAcanis]

Shadow, what do you mean by clipping it "high"? I can't get my head around how you get your fingers around, lol.

Yep, they're torx. The allen wrench wasn't quite seating right, so it was either metric or torx, so the cheaters came out ;^) I'm going to swing by the hardware store today and see if they've got one this small. Then I can switch it back if I don't like it.

Thanks for your input folks.

[unloved]

I'm going to swing by the hardware store today and see if they've got one this small.

Is there a Home Depot nearby?

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...0051&langId=-1

[shockwave]

I'm going to swing by the hardware store today and see if they've got one this small.

The standard size seems to be torx 8. Most hardware stores carry down to torx 10. I got lucky at Sears in their hardware section, otherwise would have had to get a set of drivers off E-bay.

Of course, I use the driver to remove the stupid clips from my knives.

Which brings me to a little rant I have on this subject... What kind of idiotic numbskull came up with the idea of putting a silly "clip" on knives? Seems like most of them have this unwanted, unneeded, unhelpful gewgaw of a gimcrack slapped on, and you have to spend money to get a specialty tool in order to get it off so you can throw it in the garbage. Note to knife owners: That thing called a "pocket knife"? You may be interested to know that there is a clue embedded in the term "pocket knife." You may be no Sherlock Holmes, maybe you won't make the next season of CSI, but put on your thinking cap and ponder the term "pocket knife" and should the muse attend you with a visitation, you'll notice why the stupid clip is a superfluous accessory.

Any decent knife has a handle, and there's ergonomics, and stuff. The last thing you want is a strip of metal grinding on your fingers and palm. What? Would you repeat that? "No, you don't understand - the clip enables a fast-draw from my pocket and..." OK, gunslinger, let's make a little bet: You find me all the people who successfully used a knife for defense and for whom the stupid clip made a big difference, and without it they would have been SOL, and I'll find all the people who lost their Spyderco, Griptilian, Benchmade, CRKT, Ken Onion cutie because it fell out of their pocket while they were sitting somewhere. My group will be larger than yours. By several orders of magnitude.

Thank you.

[unloved]

The standard size seems to be torx 8.

Whose standard? Every folder I own has at least two different sizes. That's why I recommended the $6.00 Husky 8-in-1 Torx screwdriver.

...rant...

I'll be sure to run right out and get me a 6" Ti-Lite for intimidation purposes, and I'll remove the clip first thing.

[retsupt99]

I have four Kershaws (assisted openers), and the first thing I did to them was to tighten down the 'lock' to 'open' so that it would not be used. (It's a tiny T-screw/torx?) I did not want to deploy my knife only to find out that the lock had popped itself into the 'on' position.

[NY27]

I only carry tip up. Faster deployment. My Spyderco Delica came with the clip mounted for tip down. I switched it as it was reversibel. It had become a little loose, so I hit it with some blue loctite and now it is good to go.

[psychophipps]

I used to be a strict tip-down guy until I found my Benchmade Griptilian. After a bit of FoF practice with some friends, I decided that I prefer tip-up carry of my knives.

This said, I would add that if the knife is going to be for SD at all, and it's legal in your jurisdiction, I would carry a small fixed blade instead. Easier access, easy to conceal, and you don't have to fumble around with it to make it work.