SHOULD YOUR FOLDING KNIFE BE CARRIED TIP UP OR TIP DOWN?

1. Whether it’s tip up or tip down, my folding knives are always carried in sheaths, regardless of their operating designs. A little bulky when carried in the pocket, and not fast to open, but much safer.

2. I carry a folder in a sheath on my belt tip down and one in my pocket also tip down

3. Tip up doesn’t concern me greatly. I always clip at the extreme outside edge of the pocket.

4. Spring assisted with flipper tab, carried weak side (left) point up at the back of the front or cargo pocket. The blade is at the rear, the flipper tab is forward at the bottom. It’s very easy to deploy, just reach thumb (and optionally first finger) into pocket along side the knife and pull against the clip with the side of the middle finger and pressure from the thumb on the side of the knife. It’s very much like pulling a mag. The knife comes right out with the index finger on or near the flipper tab and an almost perfect grip position. I also have a second clip installed on the other side in case I need to carry it strong side. The second clip also adds additional traction for the thumb during deployment.

5. Tip up on each side with the blade at the back of the pocket. Mirror image if you will. pocket helps maintain closed position if released unawares.

6. Tip-up, clipped to the back of my left front pocket, with the blade nestled into the back edge of the pocket.

   Drawing consists of sliding my left thumb inside the pocket along the handle. The rest of my hand stays outside on the clip. Pull up on the clip and thumb friction. This places the back of the knife handle directly into the palm of my hand with the thumb placed to deploy via the hole or stud.

   If the blade did partially deploy in my pocket, it’s tip would catch on the pocket edge and not my hand. Never had it happen though.

7. To tell the truth, I have always gone with the way the knife was set up by the manufacturer. For example:

   1) Some of my folders (Kershaw, CRKT) the clip is set up for point down.
   2) Some of my folders (Cold Steel, SOG) are set up for point up.
   3) Some folders are old-style small “pocket” knives and do not have a clip at all. Traditionally, they are intended for “loose” carry in the pocket.
   4) Some of my folders (CASE) and all of my fixed blade knives, have belt sheaths.

   In my youth, I carried traditional pocket knives loose in my pockets. However, I don’t usually do this anymore. Not so much for safety but rather to prevent the knife from wearing a hole in my pants pocket. Usually, nowadays, I carry a knife clipped to my pocket. I have never switched the clip on a knife. In many cases, it is not possible to do so. For example, Cold Steel knives have the clip molded into the handle.

   I have never had any problems with cutting myself because the point was up. My knives all seem to have a strong enough spring that they won’t open in the pocket. One Kershaw knife even has a sliding lock so that the blade CANNOT move when the lock is engaged. It is an “assisted” opening model that can be “flicked” open very easily. Therefore, the lock is really useful to prevent accidental opening.

   All the clips are set up for right hand, front pocket carry. This works fine for me despite the fact that I am left-handed. I usually carry a small pistol (typically a snub-nose revolver) in my left front pocket (I DO USE a pocket holster). So, the folder is a secondary weapon which works fine carried on my “weak” side.

8. I prefer my knife tip up, but the blade opening must face my 3:00 position (right pocket carry). If the blade were to open, it is stopped by my pocket. For the folders that Do not accommodate that position, I will only carry tip down when the blade faces 3:00.
   I’ve had down and up blades open on my hand when they faced 12:00….never at 3:00.

9. Delica 4 Wave, tip up, left pocket. Knife comes out, hooks rear top of pocket, pops open. I can use the right hand to control my firearm and open the knife one handed to offer an assailant one or two (or a dozen) good reasons to desist immediately.

10. Went from EDCing a Spyderco Native 5 to a Manix 2 XL. Neither have a provision for tip-down carry (perhaps because neither are liner or frame locks), which is fine with me because that’s my preferred method. Like aczarnowski, my method of carry and the way I remove the knife from my pocket would make it unlikely that I’d get cut by a partially open blade anyway.

11. I don’t carry a knife but a leatherman tool instead and I carry it so that the most commonly used knife is point down. I am also meticulous about placing it back into the sheath in EXACTLY the same position. That means I can deploy the tool and know exactly where every item I need is. Great for single handed use in an urgent situation.

12. I often carry a short, very sturdy fixed-blade with a gut hook, easily my fastest knife, in a tunnel loop sheath, partly in case I bag another unavoidable deer with my front bumper. I have a real sturdy deer bumper on my pickup, now, too. No more easy front end damage for me! I took the clip off my 17-year-old CRKT M-16 assisted one-hand Tanto-blade folder because I use the knife so much, mainly for cutting cords. I carry it point-down (and closed) in a durable Cordura sheath with a Velcroed folding top. The M-16 is the folder I would least like to lose, and a good seat-belt cutter. I also like my Eddie Bauer folder, a gift from China, with the clip for point-down folded carry of the closed Teflon-coated blade. A very secure lock.

13. It depends on which knife I’m carrying. My two primaries are a Kershaw Leek and a Cold Steel Voyager. I carry the Leek tip-down with the safety engaged (which I understand is a fairly new addition; not everyone’s will have one, but mine does). I carry the Voyager tip-up … mostly because it’s an older iteration of the design and the clip only goes on one way.

    After a little practice, I can deploy either knife one-handed — even off-handed — pretty quickly.

14. Kershaw 1660 tip down – mostly because the knife sits farther down in my pocket. The knife opens via spring assist flipper and is locked by the frame. Since I don’t use the blade lock, the tip down is probably a good idea in case the blade opened in my pocket.

15. This is off-topic except, perhaps, to the extent that there are Remington-brand pocket knives on the market (I own one). However, Remington just received some more bad news. See this link:

    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/court-rules-gun-maker-can-be-sued-over-sandy-hook-shooting-2019-03-14?mod=newsviewer_click

    The leftist gun-grabbers dream of the day when they can destroy the 2nd Amendment and disarm the people by suing firearm and ammunition manufacturers into oblivion. Leftist judges give them all the help that they can as this story shows.

    Remington has had a lot of trouble in recent years. Some of it was just bad luck. However, they brought a lot of their problems onto themselves. They let their quality control slide. They stopped innovating. They tried to expand too much and took on too much debt. President Obama was the greatest seller of firearms and ammunition in World History and yet Remington had to declare bankruptcy not long after he left office. If they had been well-managed, they would have been rolling with cash at the end of his term!

    One mistake that they made is not getting out from behind enemy lines quickly enough and moving to Free America. While they moved a lot of their manufacturing to Red States, they maintained this links to New York, especially in financial terms, much too long.

    If you manufacture firearms and ammunition nowadays, you had better get the hell out of the Blue States. The leftists are OUT to DESTROY firearms companies and the NRA. The fact that they will damage a sector of the economy and lose jobs in the process means absolutely nothing to them. From their point of view, those are acceptable losses in order to advance the Leftist Ideology and secure long-term government power.

    • It’s notable that all the lawsuit’s allegations were dismissed … except for the marketing/advertising claim.

      The suit is being allowed to proceed under the theory that Remington advertised Bushmaster AR-15 rifles as deadlier than competitors’ similar rifles, and that that “more deadlier” claim appealed to the Sandy Hook shooter, and that such advertising violates a state product/consumer safety statute. It’s a direct attack on firearms manufacturers’ legal ability to advertise their products; a First Amendment question.

      The dissenting opinion is pretty harsh with that theory.

      My question: Did the scumbag select that rifle based on “more deadlier” marketing, or did he select it because it was what was available in the home? For a follow-up: as the purchaser and owner of record, did his mother buy it because of “more deadlier” marketing, or for some other reason also stated in marketing (say, it was affordable and decent quality, and easy to use/shoot)?

      Either is a logical and legal contortion worthy of a Cirque du Soleil acrobat. It’s almost like the CT Supreme Court is daring SCOTUS to take the case.

      It’s also interesting that the anti-gun crowd is calling this a victory for their cause, saying that it’s one step closer to the courts stopping the manufacture of “dangerous military-style assault weapons”, when the reality is that claim was part of what just got tossed out. But they needed a victory lap, so….

      • Archer – You are absolutely correct. The Left is going after the 1st Amendment with just as much gusto as they are going after the 2nd. They are doing everything in their power to shut down the speech of anyone who holds a position contrary to left-wing dogma. Look at how they use the false claim of “hate speech” to drive conservatives off of internet platforms and to prevent them from speaking on university campuses.

        As you note, if this lawsuit against Remington succeeds, it will have a chilling effect on the free speech rights of all firearm and ammunition manufacturers when they advertise their products.

        Honestly, I don’t see how this case can win if limited to the Sandy Hook murders. The type of advertising that Remington or Bushmaster used would seem, on its very face, to be irrelevant and immaterial. The murderer did not “purchase” the firearm that he used. Instead, he stole it. The selection of an item to steal is almost always based upon availability rather then advertised characteristics. So, what does the advertising have to do with it? The answer is: nothing at all. At least, nothing in a sane and logical world!

        You can see the validity of my point about “Leftist judges giving the gun-grabbers all the help that they can”. A judge REALLY has to twist logic and REACH in order to come up with this kind of decision.

16. I carry my knife point up in a Raven Concealment Pocket Shield. For added safety my knife (with a reversible clip) is configured so the top of the blade is against the seam of the pocket rather than where my hand will slide past it.

17. I used to carry a CRKT Drifter, and now I carry a Kershaw Speedsafe. I carry it point down, and with an assisted flipper, I can draw it out of my pocket and have it opened and in hand very quickly. The CRKT Drifter was the same, but I gave it to a young man who I was training to work on maintenance of mobile homes in a trailer park, that had never even owned a pocket knife. I was stunned, and gave him my knife right then and there.
    I have been carrying a pocket knife since I was 9 years old, and as far as I can remember, I have never spent a day without one on my person, even in school. I am the king of the 20-30 dollar knife. I don’t spend much more than that, but I bet I have ten or fifteen of them, stashed away all over. They work just fantastically and I don’t feel TOO badly if I abuse one, or maybe I should say WHEN I abuse one. The thing about Remington getting sued is disturbing. I hope they take it to a high court, and the SCOTUS says no, that they cannot sue due to that law protecting them when they make a safe product.

    • Only ONE claim in the suit against Remington is being allowed to proceed, and it’s a marketing/advertising claim. Not even the CT Supreme Court could find a way to kill the manufacture of semi-automatic rifles.

      • I understand the reason that CT SCOTUS let it proceed but I disagree with their reasoning. Even in selling used cars, they allow what is called “puffery”. Meaning that you can advertise things like laundry soap making your clothes whiter than white. Or some car setting a new standard in luxury, without any proof backing it up.
        I would assume that would be the tactics that the defense will use if they take it to court, but I hope they take it to the U.S. SCOTUS on 1st amendment grounds. Or as a part of the protection of selling a product that works in a fashion that is how it is supposed to work. But you actually cannot know what will happen in the court system. I just hope that they don’t go bankrupt, which I don’t think the government will allow, and I hope they don’t settle with the families suing. That would be a bad example.
        The government has skin in the game, since it is not just anyone who can step in and start to make a hundred thousand battle rifles, or M4 carbines, to be more accurate, at a moments notice. If we were thrust into a very unwanted but big war, we very well could be ordering a very large amount of personal weapons. We would be counting on our existing suppliers who already have the ability and the expertise to make them, rather than wait for someone new to build a plant and train workers, due to a bankruptcy of Remington or some other major weapons manufacture. I would like to think that the smart people in the Pentagon have already thought of that, and are watching closely. If you wonder who really makes things run in DC, just look at the military budget.

18. Used and own both and while tip down is best. I’ll not use one that does not lock closed!

19. Get a Benchmade Axis lock and don’t worry about it.

20. I’ve been carrying the old model Benchmade AFCK (liner lock), tip down, for over 20 years. Never had a problem, despite its age and well-worn easy operation. Personally, I’ve never been able to see much difference in deployment time, despite a lot of experimentation. Although tip down seems a bit faster, that’s probably my familiarity with the procedure.

21. Tip down. And I still have all my fingers.

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