Slipjoint

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A slipjoint knife is one of the most ubiquitous types of pocketknives. A slipjoint knife consists of a handle with one or more folding blades. These blades are held in position by a strong "backspring" which biases them towards the open and closed position (that is the spring tries to hold the blade closed until it has been pulled past a 90 degree arc from the handle, when the spring force reverses and the blade is inclined to spring to the open position - or at least resists closing once open. Some knife blades feature a "neutral" position where when opened to 90 degrees from the handle the blade enters a third detent and neither tries to open or close.) Contrast this with the penny knife, which has no locking mechanism other than friction, or locking knives which mechanically lock the blade in position.

Contents

Variants

The United States produced a massive array of slipjoint knife models from the mid-19th century to the present day. The following is a list of representative models and their defining features:

In several countries, such as the United Kingdom, slipjoints are used over locking folders due to laws regarding carrying knives for general use. In Germany, because the use of locking one handed opening (OHO) knives is restricted, [1] slipjoint knives are a viable alternative.

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A utility knife is any type of knife used for general manual work purposes. Such knives were originally fixed-blade knives with durable cutting edges suitable for rough work such as cutting cordage, cutting/scraping hides, butchering animals, cleaning fish scales, reshaping timber, and other tasks. Craft knives are small utility knives used as precision-oriented tools for finer, more delicate tasks such as carving and papercutting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knife</span> Tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade

A knife is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools. Originally made of wood, bone, and stone, over the centuries, in step with improvements in both metallurgy and manufacturing, knife blades have been made from copper, bronze, iron, steel, ceramic, and titanium. Most modern knives have either fixed or folding blades; blade patterns and styles vary by maker and country of origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swiss Army knife</span> Multi-tool pocketknife manufactured by Victorinox

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blade</span> Sharp cutting part of a weapon or tool

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Switchblade</span> Type of knife

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Butterfly knife</span> Type of folding knife

A butterfly knife, also known as a balisong, fan knife or Batangas knife, is a type of folding pocketknife that originated in the Philippines. Its distinct features are two handles counter-rotating around the tang such that, when closed, the blade is concealed within grooves in the handles. A latch sometimes holds the handles together, typically mounted on the one facing the cutting edge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pocketknife</span> Knife that can be carried in a pocket

A pocketknife is a knife with one or more blades that fold into the handle. They are also known as jackknives (jack-knife), folding knives, EDC knife, or may be referred to as a penknife, though a penknife may also be a specific kind of pocketknife. Blade lengths typically range from 5 to 15 centimetres. Some pocketknives have multiple tools in addition to one or more blades.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opinel</span> Brand of pocket knife

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The Laguiole knife is a traditional Occitan pocketknife, originally produced in the "knife city" of Thiers, source of 70% of France's cutting tool production, as well as the small village of Laguiole, both located in the Massif central region of France. Laguiole in this instance does not refer to the French knife brand but to a generic type of traditional slipjoint knife associated with this region of France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerber Legendary Blades</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liner lock</span> Locking mechanism for folding pocket knives

The Linerlock is a locking mechanism for folding pocket knives. A Linerlock is a folding knife with a side-spring lock that can be opened and closed with one hand without repositioning the knife in the hand. The lock is self-adjusting for wear. The modern Linerlock traces its lineage to the late 19th century, but in the 1980s the design was improved by American custom knifemaker Michael Walker.

The "Jacob's ladder" is a type of pocketknife consisting of two handle segments joined by a pivot, with a blade connected by a second pivot to the end of one handle segment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douk-Douk</span> French-made pocket knife

The douk-douk is a French-made pocket knife of simple sheet-metal construction. It has been manufactured by the M. C. Cognet cutlery firm in Thiers, France, since 1929.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercator K55K</span>

The Mercator K55K is a type of pocketknife produced in Germany since around 1867. Mercator knives were primarily produced by Hy. Kauffmann, which was operational from 1856 to 1995. The Mercator K55K knife is still produced in Germany by Mercator, now a division of Otter-Messer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sliding knife</span>

An OTF Knife, also known as an out-the-front knife, sliding knife, telescoping knife, or angel blade, is a pocketknife with a blade that opens and closes through a hole in one end of the handle. This design contrasts with the majority of utility knives, which are either standard folding knives or are "fixed blade" sheath knives.

Chris Reeve Knives is an American knife manufacturing corporation with international sales and distribution headquartered in Boise, Idaho, that designs, develops, and sells folding pocket knives and fixed-blade knives. Its products include the Sebenza, Inkosi, Umnumzaan, TiLock, Mnandi folding knives, Impinda slip joint, and the Green Beret, Pacific, Professional Soldier, Nyala, and Sikayo fixed blade knives. Chris Reeve Knives' industry contributions include the Integral Lock, contributions to the blade steels CPM-S30V and CPM-S35VN, and has won Blade Magazine's Blade Show Manufacturing Quality Award 15 times. Their motto is Think Twice, Cut Once.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia River Knife & Tool</span>

Columbia River Knife & Tool, Inc. (CRKT) is an American knife company established in 1994, and currently based in Tualatin, Oregon, United States. The company's president and sales executive is Rod Bremer and the finance executive is Peggy Bremer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SARK</span> Folding Knife

The SARK or NSAR is a folding knife designed by knifemaker Ernest Emerson for use as a search and rescue knife by the US military. It has a hawkbill with a blunt tip in order to cut free trapped victims without cutting them in the process. There is a variant with a pointed-tip designed for police, known as the P-SARK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commander (knife)</span> Folding Knife

The Commander (knife) is a large recurve folding knife made by Emerson Knives, Inc. that was based on a custom design, the ES1-M, by Ernest Emerson that he originally built for a West Coast Navy SEAL Team. It was winner of the Blade Magazine Overall Knife of the Year Award for 1999.

References

  1. "§ 42a WaffG - Einzelnorm". www.gesetze-im-internet.de (in German). Retrieved 2018-09-18.