Anyone make a flipper with Axis lock?

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I've been carrying a Kershaw Groove for awhile and recently picked up a Benchmade Rift. So far, I love a lot about the Benchmade - the steel, the blade shape, the axis lock.... but I am really missing the convenience of a flipper.

One thing I did not appreciate until recently is how I can drop my Groove in my pocket and tip up/tip down, right or left side, it is easy to operate and open regardless of how I grab it.

I would really be interested in a knife that combined the sturdiness of the Axis lock with the easy ambidexterity of the flipper. Does anyone make such a knife?
 
Whats so great about the axis lock?

1.You can flip them open and flip them closed without putting undue stress on the knife.
2.You can close the knife without putting your fingers in the path of the closing blade.
3.They work great with gloves.
4. They are hell-for-stout with positive lockup.
5. Most are very very smoooooth.
6. I've never managed to get one dirty enough to keep it from working.
 
In short, the Axis is a spring loaded locking bar that is pushed into a slot in the tang to positively lock the blade open.
 
While it isn't exactly the Axis lock the Kershaw Ram 1910 has the Hawk lock which is somewhat similar, along with a flipper and thumb studs. I have two of these knives and really like them. I do prefer the Axis lock, especially the location of the lock over the lock on the Ram, but it is a very nice knife nonetheless. Lighter on the wallet yet well built. Overall I prefer Benchmades, but Kershaw does a nice job.

Here it is: http://www.kershaw-knives.net/Kershaw-RAM-1910.php
 
That BM 300 is cool, but the thumb stud ruins it for me. I'm wondering if I just take off the stud. I'm not interested in functionality, as the flipper will be how I open anyway.
 
If you go with an Axis-Lock, there is hardly a need for a thumb-stud, or a flipper.

You pull back the Axis-Lock and hold the knife blade down?
The blade falls open.

Give it a wrest flip and it opens faster then a switch-blade.
Pull the lock back and flip it the other way and it closes.

Unlike liner-locks, spine-locks, etc?
The Axis-Lock is totally frictionless when you pull it back away from blade contact.

If the hinge screw is properly adjusted?
The blade almost falls open, or closed when you release it and do the proper wrest motion.

rc
 
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Thanks for the tip, rcmodel. This is my first Axis lock and it didn't even occur to me to try opening like that. I am used to having to overcome the initial bias towards closing. A quick not, you want to release the Axis lock after the blade drops free because if you continue to hold it back it can slap open hard enough to rebound and close again if it doesn't lock ;)

I still like the flipper just for familiar muscle memory though.
 
sog vulcan? You're not going to find very many options. The flipper wants to go the same place the axis lock wants to be in a knife. Though I've never felt the need for a flipper on an axis. typically I just hold the lock back and flick/sling the blade in and out.

there are some chinese knives by enlan, sanremnu, or ganzo that have the axis lock and can be picked up very reasonably if you want to play with the lock before you buy the real deal.
 
Spyderco Manix2 is another awesome knife with an Axis style lock, but no flipper, however, the spyder hole is pretty well regarded for ambi use
 
Spyderco Manix2 is another awesome knife with an Axis style lock, but no flipper, however, the spyder hole is pretty well regarded for ambi use

I have tried various flipper knives and don't like them one bit. The opening method is the least robust one I know of from a standpoint of complexity and grip adjustment etc.

The manual awkwardness can be mitigated by a speedsafe type opening mechanism but then you just introduce needless manual complexity, Imo.

Just my 2 cents.
 
conw,
Have you tried a Buck Vantage?Its a fast opening knife.Slim easy to manipulate.Not an axis lock tho.
 
I haven't, actually.

I probably sounded overly harsh on flippers. For a gentleman's knife they're fine and for 99.999% of what I'm likely to do they're also fine.

I just don't see them as necessary or a elegant technology and I wouldn't buy one (or an AO knife for similar reasons). Like a solution in search of a problem. More disconcertingly I see some knives people may want to press into "tactical" roles that are equipped with flipper mechanisms and I think it is a very poor choice for that role.

Still just my 2 cents, mostly pure preference aside from the last part.
 
I want a manually robust mechanism more than I want a fast mechanism.

This pic - http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/PaulWiggins888/Folders/DSC_8213.jpg - pretty much sums up my issue with flippers (male bangle bracelets and denim jackets are a whole other ball of wax :D).

Compared for example to this http://questknives.4mg.com/377_04.jpg it is even less robust.

What the pics don't capture is the shift before opening (after accessing it from the pocket) and after opening (to achieve a full grip) which are also both negatively affected by the flipper tech IMO.

Folding knives are already pretty hard to deploy (sorry JShirley, I mean open :p)...I don't see a reason to "invent" a way to make them even trickier if the goal is a knife that might be pressed into a defensive role.
 
Well, if you don't like the Carlson Flipper on the CRKT?

You can use the thumb studs.

Unless you don't like them either.

rc
 
Well, if you don't like the Carlson Flipper on the CRKT?

You can use the thumb studs.

Unless you don't like them either.

rc

Thumb studs are objectively better for sure. This isn't really about my preference, just clarifying a statement some may have found confusing.

If I were to get into my preference I'd comment on crkt, thumb studs vs other similar devices, etc, but that's really not the same as my issues with "tactical flippers."

Anyway sorry OP for the thread derailment.
 
Well, doing some research, it seems like the flipper/axis lock combo gives you a lethargic, spongy flipper. Nothing like the Kershaw or ZT flippers in terms of opening. I've got more pocketknives now than I have pockets to carry them in...
 
It's not a solid opening. I tried one in store, and liked it though. The thing I hate about most of the Kershaw flippers is the speed assist. The BM300 makes you use a flip of the wrist with the opening, but so does my Buck Vantage.

Overall, with it in my hand, I ordered one. The pictures on the net make the handle look much more vibrant than it really is.
 
I've got more pocketknives now than I have pockets to carry them in...

So? Your point is...? :)

I passed that point long ago and it doesn't stop me from getting more, although I do have to hear the wife complain about "another" knife. I just agreed to let her buy earrings for $1700 (marked down from $6000) so hopefully I can buy in peace!
 
I am not a big fan of flippers, for whatever thats worth. It's not that I simply don't like them, it's just... I dunno exactly. I have a few knives with flippers, and RC, I DON'T like the flipper on my CRKT M16. I think I might have just gotten a dud, but it just doesn't work. I have two Vantages, and they work better, but still not any better than a thumbhole. The closest to a flipper that I find genuinely useful is on a CRKT Ripple with the bearing system. That opens smooth and fast and is nice to use. Cheap, too. I bought mine at Walmart for around 30 bucks. I don't carry it all that often for a variety of reasons, but the flipper on that does work like a charm.

By the same token, I would rather have a thumbhole a'la Spyderco than studs, but that is really just my bias towards Spyderco showing. My favorite EDC knife, a Kershaw Blur has studs and the speed assist, and I find it to be about perfect for what I want in a EDC knife.
 
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