The versatility of a pocket knife makes it a perfect problem solver. It can be used on wild adventures, setting up a tent, slicing food, opening envelopes, and even as a shield from modern risk. The design of the pocket knife offers you to fold the blade into the handle for safety issues.
Some pocket knives are easy to fold and some demand a bit of skill. Therefore, read the following instructions to fold a pocket knife easily.
How to Fold a Pocket Knife
There are some different ways to fold a pocket knife. This article will help you provide different ways of opening mechanisms. Some different ways of folding a pocket knife are:
The Nail Nick
The nail nick is usually used on manually opened knives or classic folding knives. The swiss army knife is famous for nail nick. A nail nick is a small groove in the blade of a knife that helps its users to fold it. It needs both hands to open a nail nick knife.
As nail nick demands both hands to fold, it ensures the secured opening. There are a few different variations, among them the crescent nick is the most common one. Others are file cut, and French cut designs that also give great services. You can check out our picks for Traditional Pocket Knives as well.
The Thumb Stud
Thumb stud is comparatively the easiest way to open a pocket knife. It replaces the nail nick or manual opening.
The method is pretty simple- grip the folded knife in a way that your fingers are not one the lock bar, settle the tip of your thumb on the stud and flick your thumb to swing the blade between its arch until the blade is fully open.
Thumb stud allows arguably faster opening than the other and it takes one hand. In some cases, studs are featured on both sides of the blade for anyone left or right-handed.
The Flipper Tab
Apparently, the flipper tab is one of the easiest quick opening methods. It is simply executable by one hand. Additionally, with the gloves in hand, one can use this comfortably. Unlike the thumb stud, the flipper tab has a flipper in front of the knife that’s why it is pretty simple to fold.
To open the blade, at first grasp the knife so that your fingers are not on the lock bar. Then use your index finger and generate pressure on the knife’s flipper pulling it down and it will cause the blade to come out. Look! You have learned the flipper tab!
The Front Flipper
The front flipper is another easy and quick opening method. One can quickly master this technique of folding.
There are two ways of opening the front flipper. Like the other opening techniques, hold the knife carefully and make sure that your fingers are not on the lock bar. The first method requires to choke down a bit on the knife, then place the thumb on the tab and roll your thumb quickly over the top of the knife.
The second method, unlike the first one, also demands to choke up the knife a bit. Then settle your index finger over the top of the knife and draw the tab back towards your hand quickly, and find the blade to be open. One can comfortably fold this knife with one hand.
Why is my pocket knife so hard to fold
A pocket knife is necessary in everyday use. For hunter, campaigner, soldier, and outdoorsman a pocket knife is much necessary. The conveniences of pocket knives are so many. But sometimes it gets hard to open a pocket knife due to goop, rust, and gunk.
These are the issues that cause aversion in terms of folding. Again, new knives are hard to open because of hard screws. Besides, the small groove in the swiss army knife also causes a hard opening. You may use quick-release oil or can lose the pivot screws to quick opening.
How do you clean a pocket knife?
A pocket knife is a useful thing in daily life, but a dirty and dull knife can not be fully useful. So, one should take care of a pocket knife to get the proper advantages.
To clean lint and gunk stuck inside the handle, use toothpicks. This will fix the locking mechanism. When cleaning a multi-tool knife or a swiss army knife, scrub every single tool one by one and close them. Then open all the tools together again and scrub and clean them with water.
Sometimes blades suffer from rust problems. There are many rust removing ingredients in the market, among them, Metal Glo is most recommended. Pour the glue directly on the blade and scrub it for a few moments. After a while wash the blade and you will find it ready to use.
Cleaning your knife is not a difficult task. Proper caring for a knife ensures its function as well as it ascertains your protection.
What are the uses of a pocket knife?
A pocket knife has thousands of uses. You can use it to slice fruits and vegetables. It can also be used in opening packages or a can as an alternative to can remover. You can use it to cut through your fishing wire or slice up your bait and gut a fish. Further, it can also be used as a quick-acting pruner on a small tree. Moreover, in time of camping, it offers you a great service. Most importantly a pocket knife can be used as a shield from danger.
Final Words
Folding a knife is a very easy task. You can easily master how to fold a knife following the instructions. Whether you prefer a nail nick, thumb stud, or flipper tab, knife opening mechanisms are intended to help you use your knife more successfully and competently.