Switchblade Storage

stick · Post by **stick** » Tue May 11, 2004 1:44 pm

Which is the best way to store a switchblade... open or closed?

Greyblade · Post by **Greyblade** » Tue May 11, 2004 3:02 pm

stick,

Copius postings of opinions regarding your question have come and gone on this forum. The consensus appears to be that it doesn't matter. Lots and lots of expereince derived from members of this forum indicate that open or closed for leaf or coil springs doesn't seem to make any difference at all. Some of mine are stored open, and some stored closed. Store yours whichever way you think that you and they will be happiest.

Go in peace,
Greyblade

JerrBear · Post by **JerrBear** » Tue May 11, 2004 3:14 pm

stick wrote: Which is the best way to store a switchblade... open or closed?

Mr. stick,

You don't realize it, but you have just asked the "Mother of All Spring Steel Questions."

Mr. Greyblade sums it up quite nicely - The answer to your question is YES!

Teddy · Post by **Teddy** » Tue May 11, 2004 3:32 pm

Mr. Stick,

The natural "gut feeling" is not to store them closed because of the fear that the spring will weaken over time... and that is why many collectors including myself store them open, But in truth.. as has just been said ... it really doesn't matter. People have stored their knives closed for many years with no ill effects whatsoever. Leaf or coil... it makes little if any difference.

Best wishes
Teddy

Pushbutton · Post by **Pushbutton** » Tue May 11, 2004 4:12 pm

Open
PB

Vagrant · Post by **Vagrant** » Tue May 11, 2004 5:49 pm

Common sense vs metalurgy

From a metalugical standpoint it should NOT matter

Common sense indicates store them closed

Store them they way you want

Teddy · Post by **Teddy** » Tue May 11, 2004 6:01 pm

Vagrant wrote:Common sense indicates store them closed

????? Like why?? this is a new one to me....

Curious
Teddy

stepdaddy · Post by **stepdaddy** » Tue May 11, 2004 6:15 pm

Copius postings

I like that

SD

Greyblade · Post by **Greyblade** » Tue May 11, 2004 8:24 pm

stepdaddy wrote:
Copius postings

I like that

SD

Er...thanks, stepdaddy.

I think that you need to get out more.

Copious good wishes

,
Greyblade

mr_edge · Post by **mr_edge** » Tue May 11, 2004 10:48 pm

But won't storing them closed contribute to a proud blade eventually? Particularily with brass liners?

JAGMAN · Post by **JAGMAN** » Tue May 11, 2004 11:01 pm

I keep mine open when stored, but they take up a lot more room...
It seems to me that when closed the knife is under tension and on some of the longer ones I have, 11'' and 13'', you can see a gap in the liners which is not there when open. Im sure the springs can handle being closed and will not lose thier spring tension if stored this way, but why bother putting the rest of the knife (button mechanism,pins,liners and scales) under tension while it is stored away?
0.2c
Jagman

Teddy · Post by **Teddy** » Tue May 11, 2004 11:02 pm

mr_edge wrote:But won't storing them closed contribute to a proud blade eventually? Particularily with brass liners?

No. That's a myth. The constant pressure of the spring pushing the locking pin against the liner will do no harm at all. Wear is caused by opening and closing the knife.

Best wishes
Teddy

switchman1 · Post by **switchman1** » Wed May 12, 2004 12:27 am

We can go on and on about this forever, I have collected knives for over 40 yrs ,and I feel if you have a knife with a leaf spring it's always better to store it open, thats just the way I was told to do it a long time ago. I know other collectors will say i'm wrong or it doesn't matter but I digress......I stored one of my favorite knives closed for almost a year and when I went to fire it, it just barely made the lock tab (it was a picklock) so I used WD40and a prayer and it came back to life but certainly not as fast as it was, the blade was no banana, or scraping the liners, it was spring fatigue, now if this only happened to me, well Iguess that after 40 yrs of collecting I must be unique, is there anyone else that has or had the same problem out there, or I am the only one?
Best Wishes
Switchman1

Roccomo · Post by **Roccomo** » Wed May 12, 2004 1:33 am

I love this topic, I store all of mine open. I do, however, have an old Imperial shell handled cheapie that my uncle got new way back when they were still available in every hardware store. I inherited it in 1987...closed. It had been in a drawer for nearly 30 years, closed, and was in near mint condition. I cleaned it up when I got it and its been closed ever since. The thing fires like a gun. I think the reason that it still works so well is that the spring is actually made of good spring steel and not pot metal like some recent knives use. The spring in that knife is definately not the same as what you get in a stiletto.

The Falcon · Post by **The Falcon** » Wed May 12, 2004 1:51 am

I have a 1985 Ford 150 pick-up and it's been putting a couple of tons pressure on its' springs for almost 2 decades.
If the steel "fatigues", wouldn't it be quite a bit closer to the ground by now?

TalkBlade.Info Knife Forums

Switchblade Storage

Switchblade Storage

Re: Switchblade Storage