The Okapi Ratchet Knife - Question

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samuel
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Re: The Okapi Ratchet Knife - Question

Post by samuel »

I definetly know how to flick it out :D but dont hav any clue as to how that guy flicked it back :?
samuel
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Re: The Okapi Ratchet Knife - Question

Post by samuel »

With my way you can forget about using the pull-ring.I bought myself a 907E four days ago(what a beauty 8) )at first i couldnt flick it open at all, but now I've got the hang of it.

The way i go about flicking the knife is to hold the knife up vertically with my thumb on one side of the handle and my other four fingers on the other side, just covering moon and star inlay. The back of the blade should be pionting away from you,and your pinky finger should be just above the pull-ring, if you were to open the knife the blade should be pointing down, with the sharp side facing away from you. if that is so and you understand how to hold the knife,you're good to go :)
now just lift your arm above your head and swing your arm downwards, and then as your arm straightens out flick your wrist (as if you doing that thing where you put your middle finger and thumb together thing, the other guy spoke about it earlier)

but first practice with a normal lock-back folder, simply because you first need to get the correct motion,the blades on these kinds of knives are also alot more easier to flick out than the okapi knives. And once you've got the method right, you can start focusing on the power and speed needed to flick the okapi.
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JerrBear
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Re: The Okapi Ratchet Knife - Question

Post by JerrBear »

DarkReaven wrote:Are you practicing to use a knife for your self defense?
Why do you axe?
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samuel
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Re: The Okapi Ratchet Knife - Question

Post by samuel »

DarkReaven wrote:Are you practicing to use a knife for your self defense?
Using a knife for self defence doesnt require any practice. And a lets face it if you're being held at gun point and the punk happens to turn his head for long enough, you just happen to have a knife in your pocket and then you realise'' :o OMG this isnt a switchblade, how the hell am i going to open this knife in time to save my life :!: :?: ,'' now if you can dodge a bullet you've got nothing to worry about. or to be more realistic...what if you are on safari but you're dumb enough to jump into a crocodile infested river,one of them gets a firm hold on your arm, right now would be the perfect time to be able to open a knife with just one hand...

So this flicking a knife open business would be a great help if you dont exactly have alot of time on your hands.
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JerrBear
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Re: The Okapi Ratchet Knife - Question

Post by JerrBear »

samuel wrote:what if you are on safari but you're dumb enough to jump into a crocodile infested river,one of them gets a firm hold on your arm, right now would be the perfect time to be able to open a knife with just one hand...
Yeah, you never can tell when THAT'S gonna happen... :P HO! HO! :P
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Vagrant
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Re: The Okapi Ratchet Knife - Question

Post by Vagrant »

JerrBear wrote:
samuel wrote:what if you are on safari but you're dumb enough to jump into a crocodile infested river,one of them gets a firm hold on your arm, right now would be the perfect time to be able to open a knife with just one hand...
Yeah, you never can tell when THAT'S gonna happen... :P HO! HO! :P
IF it did a switch [or the more logical sawed off double barrel twelve] would both get you in deep [legal] do-do :wink:
samuel
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Re: The Okapi Ratchet Knife - Question

Post by samuel »

by the way how much did you pay for each okapi :?:
Cryptomecanic
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Re: The Okapi Ratchet Knife - Question

Post by Cryptomecanic »

about $10.00 ea from Ragweed Forge
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Vagrant
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Re: The Okapi Ratchet Knife - Question

Post by Vagrant »

On page THREE the "secret" of flicking them, was revealed :idea:
[quote] -
79spitfire wrote:Watched the Keith Richards video about 15 times, I'm sure that is the knife he is opening and closing.

Apparently he filed off the ratchets: http://www.imeem.com/people/IYOwl_Y/mus ... het_knife/
the link is no longer current :(
TWO YEARS and many pages will do that :lol:
jam1production
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Re: The Okapi Ratchet Knife - Question

Post by jam1production »

Hey guys. Good for you I'm Jamaican and I've had these knives all my life. I saw your questions after trying to figure out how to get one in the us. But there's three ways to do this it's not impossible. So the first way is how I used to do it when I was younger. It's really cheating but first you just open the knife to the first thing on the back and flash it back. The second way is to slightly bend the backbone which would make it more free. The third most intense and fun way is tricky so pay attention. 1 you put your index finger in the ring and the rest of your fingers except the thumb gripping the side. Then you use your index finger and pull up the ring. With the support at the side this should be easy. Then you point the ring downwards and flash the knife. You should have absolutely no problems with these steps but it does take practice. If I had one I would make a video but hope this help and enjoy.
skinny
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Re: The Okapi Ratchet Knife - Question

Post by skinny »

Well, I've got mine to open one-handed. After years of forgetting about it, today I was bored and stumbled upon my Okapi, and thought "I'm going to figure this out."

My trick is... to slightly weaken the saddle spring. Open the knife, then lift the spring to unlock the blade. Over-extend the blade, opening it farther than it's supposed to go, and apply some pressure. This will bend the saddle spring, so that it is applying less pressure on the blade.

Once I did that, I was able to flick it open one-handed. Now I can't stop playing with it, and my wife is getting annoyed. ;)

I hope some of the folks who initially wondered about it read this and benefit.
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daddyloko
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Re: The Okapi Ratchet Knife - Question

Post by daddyloko »

There's a couple of videos on Youtube showing how they do it. It appears they have no problem doing it.
Thanks for your input jam1production.
grant gilbert
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Re: The Okapi Ratchet Knife - Question

Post by grant gilbert »

Hi everyone im new to the forum and joined specifically because of the Opaki ratchet question.

The Okapi was made in Germany until 1988 when the trademark and tooling was bought by a South African company ( where i live) because of the huge popularity of the knife in this country.
The Okapi folder gained a nasty reputation as more people have been killed by this knife than all the others put together.

Clearly if its as wildly popular as ive mentioned then certain skill have been developed around the knife.

The first thing thats not mentioned on the forum, although i possibly missed it, is there are two versions of this knife, one with and one without the ratchet then variations of them.

One of the first things these township guys will do to the knife is knock a wedge in behind the pivot to gently spread the handle wider so theres very little if any friction.
So a rapid flick of the wrist snaps that blade open.
the second mod they very often do is to cut short the handle at the rear until theres about i quater of an inch of the blade sticking out.
This bit of blade is left as blunt as possible.
now when the knife has been placed in the back pocket they whip it out hooking the point into the side of the pocket and opening the blade in the process.
They do this and stab always for the neck /face area, and they're fast, very very fast.
They also sometimes grind down the ratchet on cement.
I've fought a good few and should have kept the knives for photos. But each time I've broken them into pieces out of anger
grant gilbert
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Re: The Okapi Ratchet Knife - Question

Post by grant gilbert »

Ps: another question I saw, was what are the blades made from.
The high carbon blades are made from 1055
georgyboy
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Re: The Okapi Ratchet Knife - Question

Post by georgyboy »

w/ unmodified okapi https://youtu.be/nuF1Dd09Eeo
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