Tip up or tip down ?

[kmanct3]

How do you guys prefer to carry ? I carry my Leek tip down , my Spidies are usually up and my Mini Grip I like down, Just my personal preference 

[icculus]

I can do either but almost exclusively tip up for me if the clip will allow it.  It just puts the knife in a more natural position in my hand.  If its tip down then I usually have to flip the knife around in my hand before I can open it anyway so why not just start with it the right way to begin with to avoid fumbling and dropping.  I've only had one knife that a carried tip down and thats because it had a nasty tendency of opening in my pocket and I once got a nasty slice going to retrieve it when it was tip up.  Needless to say basically never carry that knife anymore.

[powernoodle]

For me, it is more natural to deploy the knife from tip up carry.  But I carry tip down whenever possible, because I have been stabbed too many times by  tip-up blades that have opened in my pocket.

[Gryffin]

Tip up.

I try to keep my carry consistent; when I grab for my knife, I don't want to have to think if it's tip-up or tip-down. So my EDC rotation is tip up, with very few exceptions for knives I like very, VERY much otherwise.

Plus, I just find it easier to deploy. Tip-down, I have to shift my grip and then locate the thumb stud or hole. With tip-up, the whole handle is gripped between palm and thumb naturally, my index finger* is right by the stud or hole, flick the blade open, close my fingers around the handle, and I'm done, in about 1/10th the time it took you to read that. I actually try to slow it down around strangers, lest they think i'm packin' an illegal auto.

(* Yes, index finger, not thumb. Not only is my finger more nimble than my thumb, it's longer; checkout the photo, that's how the knife comes out of my pocket, which digit has more reach?


)

[toolguy]

Tip up or the knife gets sheathed or modified.

[Top-Gear-24]

I'm surprised that this thread hasn't gone awfully wrong already, since it has a lot of potential to go downhill very fast ... 

 

[captain spaulding]

For me, it is more natural to deploy the knife from tip up carry.  But I carry tip down whenever possible, because I have been stabbed too many times by  tip-up blades that have opened in my pocket.

Well yea if you position the clip to have the blade face the inside of your pocket. I have been sliced by tip down knives clipped to my pocket before. What matters is facing the blade to the seam of the pocket. You will never get cut either tip up or tip down.

Oh and tip up almost exclusively for me. There are very few exceptions.

[HarleyXJGuy]

For me, it is more natural to deploy the knife from tip up carry.  But I carry tip down whenever possible, because I have been stabbed too many times by  tip-up blades that have opened in my pocket.

This has happened to you more then one time? Some bad luck there. Never in all my many years of knife carrying has it happens to me.

I like tip down because that is the only way to carry a Spyderco Military. Not for safety but just because I am so use to it. Brain melts when I carry a different way.

[Kampfer]

Depends on the knife and the size of your hands.
Waveable knives have to be tip up, that the way it is.
Tip up also works well with knives that can be shake open.
Other than that tip down works better with my small hands, because where I grab the knife is where the opening mechanism locates, not need to reposition my fingers.   

[kmanct3]

I tried carrying my Leek tip up , it just doesn't work the same

[Gryffin]

For me, it is more natural to deploy the knife from tip up carry.  But I carry tip down whenever possible, because I have been stabbed too many times by  tip-up blades that have opened in my pocket.

This has happened to you more then one time? Some bad luck there. Never in all my many years of knife carrying has it happens to me.

I've carried for decades now, and it happened to me once. *Once*…

I forget which knife, but it was an assisted opener. I was rushing and stressed; I used the knife for whatever, closed it with one hand in a hurry, and sloppily shoved it back in my pocket, not all the way back against the seam like I should. Went to grab it again, shoving my hand down in my pocket, my finger its the thumb stud, and *sproing* the damn thing opens up in my pocket. To make things worth, I yanked my hand out, and another finger slid up the edge, giving me a good slice.   

OK, so, bandage the finger, moving ever-so-carefully to avoid the blade cutting either out through my pants, or into my leg; then, try ever-so-carefully to get the knife out without cutting anything else, with the blade sticking out about 45° from the handle.

The only *good* thing is, I was alone, nobody got to see me do my "sprung knife in my pants" dance. 

So yeah, you'd think I woulda sworn off tip-up, but I guess it taught me a lesson about knife handling, and I haven't had a problem since. 

[powernoodle]

What matters is facing the blade to the seam of the pocket. You will never get cut either tip up or tip down.

I carry a knife solely on my "weak"/left side, because I carry a gun in the RF pocket.  This causes many tip up configurations, like a Sebenza for example, to have the blade toward my pocket and not back toward the seam.  If that makes sense.

Now days, I just will not carry a knife that configured in such a way that it may open in my pocket. 

[HarleyXJGuy]

What matters is facing the blade to the seam of the pocket. You will never get cut either tip up or tip down.

I carry a knife solely on my "weak"/left side, because I carry a gun in the RF pocket.  This causes many tip up configurations, like a Sebenza for example, to have the blade toward my pocket and not back toward the seam.  If that makes sense.

Now days, I just will not carry a knife that configured in such a way that it may open in my pocket.

Gun in your pocket? And here I just thought you were happy to see me.

[Toolslinger]

For me, it is more natural to deploy the knife from tip up carry.  But I carry tip down whenever possible, because I have been stabbed too many times by  tip-up blades that have opened in my pocket.

Well yea if you position the clip to have the blade face the inside of your pocket. I have been sliced by tip down knives clipped to my pocket before. What matters is facing the blade to the seam of the pocket. You will never get cut either tip up or tip down.

Oh and tip up almost exclusively for me. There are very few exceptions.

I find this tends to get omitted from discussions about tip up/down for a knife. Where you carry it (which pocket) and what the orientation of the blade is make a difference.

For me, I always carry right front pocket. This means I prefer tip-up carry as the knife cannot open accidentally as the blade is against the outer seam of the pocket. It also makes it easy and natural to deploy the blade when I pull it out of the pocket.

[Yalius]

Depends on my pants.

For jeans or something with a similarly mostly-horizontal pocket opening, it doesn't matter to me, tip up or tip down.

For dress pants or anything where the pocket opening is vertical and aligned with the pant leg seam, tip up. In those circumstances, I can't draw the knife forwards.

[Alan K.]

What matters is facing the blade to the seam of the pocket. You will never get cut either tip up or tip down.

I carry a knife solely on my "weak"/left side, because I carry a gun in the RF pocket.  This causes many tip up configurations, like a Sebenza for example, to have the blade toward my pocket and not back toward the seam.  If that makes sense.

Now days, I just will not carry a knife that configured in such a way that it may open in my pocket.

I also carry a pistol on my right side, so knives go in the left pocket.  Doesn't matter to me if it is tip up or down as the knife is drawn left handed then transferred to my right hand for opening, and I've never had a knife open in my pocket in nearly 40 years of carrying knives.  My favorite folder happens to carry tip down with the blade towards the seam in my left pocket, but it would carry the blade towards the pocket if I was carrying it in the right pocket.  I didn't get it on purpose because of that, it just happened to work out that way.  It's the assisted opening, frame lock, flipper, rescue knife in the picture.  It's made in China and they used to be about 6 bucks from Wild Bill's.  Holds a great edge and I wish I had more of them, but they're no longer made.

[shark_za]

Normally tip up unless the knife is really long and you cant immediately access the opening stud or hole in that position.
Then tip down.

[metasyntax]

Tip up, especially if it's assisted. I only have a couple knives that are assisted and carry tip up (like the Leek and Blur — which I carry in my left pocket even though I'm right handed, to keep the blade in the outside seam of the pocket). At this point I just wouldn't buy another if it only worked well in that configuration. Unassisted, it doesn't matter as much.

Aside from early testimonials about questionable QC, this is the reason why I won't be getting a SOG Reactor. I know it's got a safety, but still...

[ljnoble]

Tip up for me as my favourite knives at the moment are Emerson's, but I always just seam to prefer it .


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