Folding or Fixed for EDC

[ChaoSS]

Both, of course.

I don't see how a fixed blade draws attention to yourself. As much as I've carried one in my life, I've never had anyone say anything about it, until it was out and I was using it. (and that was some ignoramus who was convinced that California has a length restriction on blades)

Now, I suppose if you carrying a really large or really tacticool looking blade, it might draw a little attention. But most people, by and large, simply do not pay attention.


I carry a folder because it is easier for me to pull out, open, use, fold, and put back away with one hand than a fixed blade. Specifically, the putting it away bit. Since it's closed, it's easier to get it back into where it goes without worrying about cutting anything up. Plus all my fixed blade knives have a snap loop that can be a pain to close with one hand sometimes.

I carry a fixed knife because it's sturdier, and I like them better. I ride a motorcycle to work every day, and I always wear armored pants over my work pants. If I ever need to get at my knife really quickly, I can get at it right now, with my gloves still on. To get at my folder, it's pull off the gloves, undo my riding pants, reach inside of them, and then pull it out. If I need to be able to move, I have to be able to button my riding pants back up as well. Much easier to have the riding pants ride just under my belt so that my fixed blade can be on the outside of my riding gear. (which is required to be legal in California.)

 

[9mmforMe]

Lots of good stories and witty moderator banter (grin) let's keep this one going gentlemen.

The one thing I wonder about carrying a fixed blade in the pocket, in a sheath, is how well it works when seated. Does it feel comfortable to sit properly?


Geoffry

 

[Sam Cade]

Does it feel comfortable to sit properly?

Sure. Provided that there is plenty of room in the pocket and the knife/sheath combo isn't overly heavy.

The Hultafors in the pictures I posted weighs just over 4.5oz including the sheath.
http://www.hultafors.com/products/cutting/knives/craftsmans-knives/heavy-duty-knife-gk/

By comparison a Rat-1 folder is something like 5.25oz.

Apologies for the late night snap-shot quality.

 

[shadow9]

I carry a Victorinox Trekker NS (non-serrated) and a Buck Nobleman. The Buck gets 90% of the cutting duties (and does them splendidly well) whereas the Trekker was a gift and is thus engraved, and I'd rather keep the blade sharp and available for less abusive tasks.

Fixed vs. Folder - personal preference. Folder IS easier to conceal/carry, and are largely grab-and-go. Plus, if you keep them in the same spot on your pocket all the time, they're accessible very quickly. I find very few situations where having the added length of a fixed blade would have made the situation any easier - however I work in an office environment 90% of my day.

As far as "reliability" on a fixed - yes, if you want to boil it down, there's less moving parts. But any of us who are serious about EDC responsibilities CHECK our equipment EVERY day. I have a micro torx driver that stays in my everywhere-backpack that I occasionally tighten the screw on my Buck with. My Victorinox is a Victorinox - 'nuff said.

I find Fixed knives are better knives, but they are harder to conceal. It's like saying that a 1911 is concealable, which is is, and it's certainly a better overall pick than a J-frame - but to have to "finagle" with a 1911 (dress, holster, positioning, etc.) vs dropping a J-frame in the pocket - J-frame wins. Same reason for most EDC, a folder is the better pick - it's got the clip, it hides easier, and it still does what most people are ever going to need it to do.

If you live on a farm where you don't have onlookers, and you're dealing with heavier duty tasks (hunting, too), chances are a folder isn't up to the task, and the fixed blade hidden works much better.
Likewise, it's not sensible to take a poppy J-frame into the woods when you can just as easily carry a GP100 or Redhawk instead (or a G21, 1911, Desert Eagle, .460XVR...)

 

[olderguns]

I change my carry knife quite often and being in florida with a ccdw license gives me a lot of options, right now I,m carrying this J. Neilson in a crossdraw rig, very comfortable, not too heavy and for me the perfect size.

 

[9mmforMe]

Nice looking knife.

 

[4kbeard]

Both!
A 3.5 inch clip point or drop point fixed blade for food, apples and such, and a small collection of folders at all times.
I've gotten plenty of sideways glances and questions about my fixed blade. Mostly those questions are of the "Is that legal?" type. Though, I was once accused of bringing a machete onto a college campus. The size of the knife got bigger and bigger in each telling by the time security heard about it they were afraid I was going on a rampage. The guard was cool once he found out it was indeed just a knife and not a small sword.

 

[GLOOB]

I find folders aren't much slower to deploy.. sometimes faster, really. But they're usually faster and easier to put away, safely. With a fixed blade, you often need both hands and/or have to look at what you're doing.

 

[Sam Cade]

But they're always much faster to put away, safely.

Please expound.

 

[GLOOB]

Putting away a fixed blade, you're putting the knife tip-first into a sheath. Unless you want a hole in your leg (or a sliced up sheath), it is usually helpful to either secure the sheath with one hand while you guide the tip home. Or at least to stop and look down to make sure the knife is going where you want it. And many retaining devices require extra futzing to secure - snap loops or whatnot. In some forms of fixed blade carry - say, neck knife - it's awkward or impossible to resheath with one hand, at all.

With modern folding knives, you "sheath" the knife with a simple motion of the hand, no looking. Your eyes and your off-hand are still on whatever you just cut... your package, your food, your bag of chicken feed, etc. Clipping the knife back into your pocket doesn't require any special care. After you're done, say, cutting up that cardboard box, you're already walking back from the dumpster while putting the knife away without a second thought.

Tell me you've never set down a fixed blade knife while doing something, where you might have easily put a folding knife back in your pocket.

 

[Sam Cade]

Clipping the knife back into your pocket doesn't require any special care.

...but closing the knife does. One of the more common serious lacerations I see are from folks trying to close a locking folder one handed.

 

[Sam Cade]

In some forms of fixed blade carry - say, neck knife - it's awkward or impossible to resheath with one hand, at all.

An example of just how awkward...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qram2XxePk&feature=youtu.be

 

[GLOOB]

It all depends on the knife. With some of the injection molded wide-mouth plastic sheaths (thinking Mora), sheathing a fixed knife can be second-nature.

With the frame or liner lock folding knives, closing the knife is very easy with one hand.

There's some grey area between, in both cases. Obviously, lock-backs take two hands to close. And strong slip joints can be dicey. I guess I over-generalized.

That neck knife, sure looks super easy when he's standing straight and still with nothing in his hands. And I don't suppose he was looking down in order to thread the needle, there. This is still not close to the ease of folding a liner lock.

There's nothing wrong with carrying a fixed blade knife, or a lock-back. Carry w/e you want and be happy. I'm truly sorry for sharing my point of view, in the first place. So go ahead and add more posts to invalidate my opinion.

 

[Sam Cade]

That neck knife, sure looks super easy when he's standing straight and still with nothing in his hands.

That was me. Just now. For this thread.
Holding a camera in one hand and and fending off the cat with one foot.

And still isn't as easy as folding a liner lock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngIUmtZ8tyo&feature=youtu.be

 

[Noah]

Call me crazy, but my favorite folder to close one handed is my Endura- a lockback. Press the lockbar with my index finger at the very front of the handle, and the unsharpened base of the blade that *should* be a choil falls neatly onto my index finger, then I rotate the knife and bring it closed with all 4 fingers.


To the actual topic, I carry a folder because I can't EDC a fixed blade due to the state laws. If I lived in a different state, I would probably still carry a folder, and a small, hard use fixed blade as well for emergencies of every kind. The folder would still do EDC tasks.

 

[mdauben]

True EDC its always a folder. The only time I'll carry a fixed blade on my person is while camping, hunting, or sometimes hiking.

I do have a small custome fixed blade with a "pocket sheath" that clips in my pants pocket much like a modern folder. Its a neat little knife but I was worried about falling afoul of some LEOs interperetation of a concealed weapon . In AL law its illegal to conceal a "bowie knife" but case law is rather loose in its definition as to what a "bowie knife" actually is. So, I gave up on carrying it and just keep it in the knife drawer now.

 

[ChaoSS]

...but closing the knife does. One of the more common serious lacerations I see are from folks trying to close a locking folder one handed.

You may need to be careful, but I have yet to own a folder that could not be closed safely with one hand, excepting the cheap pieces of junk that were just too tight to be done that way. My first pocket knife, when I was a kid, was a knockoff of a buck 110. After my first time of cutting myself closing it, (fortunately not too badly) I learned to close it one handed, with no part of my hand in the way of the blade, even if it were to snap shut suddenly for some reason.

Fixed blades, by their very nature, require you to put the blade close to your clothing/self to put them away. Smaller blades are probably easier to sheath without looking, but I think I would be uncomfortable doing so without a finger on the blade, at the tip, guiding it in. If your clothes are bunched up in the wrong way, you can't just wiggle it around and try to force it in, because you'll cut something. With a folder, once it's closed, you can fight with the clothing if needed to get it where it belongs.



Although, to be honest, part of the reason I find folders easier is simply the fact that I've always carried them, and haven't always carried fixed blades. I have some mora knives and a becker remora coming in the mail soon, so I'll see how I like using those for EDC.

 

[9mmforMe]

I'm not that high on folding/replacing a blade, be it fixed or folder, one handed. I'ts nice to be able to do and I'm fairly adept to accomplish the task, but I try to use two hands at all times for reasons of safety.

 

[GLOOB]

I remember finding my father's Puma lockback when I was maybe 10 or 12. It was a beast. That knife was sprung so tight, it was pretty painful to even get the knife opened. It had two locking blades side-by-side, which made it even harder to unlock. It was also razor sharp. Basically, it was a beartrap in my youthful, thin-skinned hands. Somehow I managed to lose interest in it before I cut myself.

I'm not that high on folding/replacing a blade, be it fixed or folder, one handed. I'ts nice to be able to do and I'm fairly adept to accomplish the task, but I try to use two hands at all times for reasons of safety.

I'm the same, although it's not necessarily a conscious decision. I might play with a new knife for the first couple of days, opening and closing it one-handed hundreds of times. But when I actually use it as a tool to perform some task which is occupying my mind, I find myself closing these knives with two hands without even thinking about it, unless my off hand is busy with something. So, two-handed operation isn't often a big deal. (OTOH, I have yet to catch myself sheathing a fixed blade without consciously thinking about it and looking.)

Perhaps the only exceptions so far are of the liner/frame lock variety. Using two hands to close my Kershaw Selectfire (or the CKRT M16 I had before that) is pretty much redundant. The only thing that is remotely in the path of the unsprung blade, at any time, is the tip of the back of my thumbnail for the first 10-20 degrees of closing. And even if you use two hands, you can't avoid that.

 

[9mmforMe]

I'm at a phase in which my EDC is a back-lock. I still have some liner locks in my possession, but feel most comfortable with said design. It seems to be more robust as I have had some liner locks fail recently when very minor demands were placed upon them (very mild spine strike). I know that test is not truly a qualifier of how the tool was designed to be used, but then one may encounter force in that direction and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy having this locking mechanism.

I can close these knives one or two handed but prefer two hands. I like to play with opening and closing as well, Gloob, when just "playing around" but for any work task, two hands are utilized.

 

[Esoxchaser]

Work EDC CRKT M16-14T
Other will vary by activity, but usually a CRKT M16-13T or Kershaw Leek.

 

[rbernie]

Daily carry includes a Benchmade MiniGrip folder in the back right pocket of my work trousers or jeans - it's my 'every single day that's I'm vertical' EDC because it can be opened and closed with one hand, weighs less than three ounces, disappears in the pocket of a suit or work trousers once you remove the clip, and is pretty strong for a wee folder.

I can often also be found with a small utility fixed blade in a front pocket, a la Sam Cade, or around my neck. Once the fixed blade gets over a certain size, I find front pocket carry cumbersome if I'm doing a lot of sitting because of the relatively large size of my legs. In fact, I tend to carry fixed blades in my front pocket pretty much only when there's not much sitting on the agenda. When on me, the neck knives (and even the pocketed fixed knives) get used less often than the MiniGrip because they're not as convenient to sheath; I can draw, open, close, and repocket the MiniGrip without every once having to look at it and with no worries about cutting myself in the process.

 

[9mmforMe]

I must say that the axis lock on the Benchmades seem quite well done. Though I think I read here that another company has a similar lock which is better...SOG?

 

[Speedo66]

I like the minimalist approach, so it's a small spring assisted lock back folder, the SOG Twitch II. The smaller, the lighter, the better, just like my LCP.

I haven't really found anything it couldn't handle in my normal regimen.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Right now I'm carrying both - CRKT/Folts SPEW in one pocket and a Benchmade Rift in the other. The fixed blade is actually lighter and less obtrusive than the Rift (folder).