All About Pocket Knives

Orvet..I use to store all mine open and I have seen this topic discussed over and over with people never fully agreeing to whats best. I have found switchblades that have been stored for 50 years even 100 years that have always had there blades stored closed and they work fine with no issues. I know collectors and repairmen who says it does not hurt to store them closed.I think its all in how there springs are tempered.I collect vintage knives so I can not really say about the newer ones. I'm kinda even up in the air about it. I have knives stored both ways and bout don't think it matters.I only try to collect really nice examples that have not been opened enough to have any parts worn on them. Once a knife gets loose and perhaps develops weak points then perhaps it could matter.Most automatic knives were designed to be stored shut . I think most makers took this into consideration when they were nothing more then designs on paper or even just steel in hand. Think about a leaf spring on a old car or truck they always have tension on them . Spring steel when tempered right has memory. It will return to its starting point when compressed then released.Its not always about how thick a leaf spring is that determines the kick but the temper .Compressing a spring then decompressing to many times to fast builds up heat and can remove the temper. You ever bent a coat hanger back and forth real quick to get it to snap the hook off.Then felt the heat on it. It can bout burn you. So if a switchblade falls into the wrong hands of someone who clicks it over and over then the spring gets heated and either loses some temper or can even break. If the temper is ever damaged then it could snap at any point as its been weakened.This is part of why I look for good knives that don't look wore. Apart this is just my theory .So I'm no expert, but several experts say it doesn't madder. I know of no switchblades that ever came with directions that say store open either.Duel Action OTF's there always pressure on the springs rather open or closed.
My biggest concern is to make sure I push the button or lever to not let the sear pin drag against the blade when closing. When not pushed this causes wear to the sear pin and or the blade .You ever notice a small line cut on a blade going into the hole in the blade on old stilettos.Think you can see a small one on the Omega I have pictured.You cant usually see this on knives that are BO/BC or lever knives but parts get wore rubbing against each other.This can cause peek issue when those parts are wore just a little wear ads up.The little difference just inside the hole travels and increases moving down the blade.By the time it reaches the tip of the blade it could cause it to peek.Switchblades have to have tight tolerance in the sear pin and the hole.Not much room for give at all. I hate watching someone close a switchblade and hear that double click of it clicking against the sear pin.Its always good to extra precautions to preserve any knife. Still you have to be careful what advice you take. I have seen collections where people have there switchblades stored open standing up or down with the blades pointing up or down held by a concealed bar magnet cover by wood or plastic all of this inside a glass case.Kinda like in a restaurant how they have the magnet bars to hang knives in the kitchen but there hidden. I wonder if they will become magnetized and if that has any effect on temper ? I would love to hear any ones thoughts on this and not try to hijack this thread. Perhaps start a new topic about it. I guess the best question for this thread would be how is the best way to store celluloid knives to prevent them from gassing............Wayne.

Thanks Wayne.
I have heard both ways too.
I was just curious as to what your preference was.

This was a discussion in the Shell Handle Knives thread about how to store your switchblade knives, Open or Closed.

I will transfer those posts over to this thread where it can be discussed without hijacking that thread.

I will post my opinion and would like to hear yours as well

dragon25 wrote:Most automatic knives were designed to be stored shut . I think most makers took this into consideration when they were nothing more then designs on paper or even just steel in hand.

Most knives were used up, lost, or broken after a few years. The last thing a manufacturer was worried about 80 years ago was how long the spring was going to last. They were in business to sell knives, not make them last forever. Nobody back then would have ever thought crazy people like us would be collecting these knives.

dragon25 wrote:Think about a leaf spring on a old car or truck they always have tension on them . Spring steel when tempered right has memory. It will return to its starting point when compressed then released.Its not always about how thick a leaf spring is that determines the kick but the temper .

A spring on a car, when new has memory, but after 30 years or so they flatten out and lose their arch. I have restored many an old car and had to replace all of the leaf springs on the heavy old 1960`s cars. So in fact a spring that is flattened, compressed, or under a heavy load for a long period of time will lose its arch and spring action. A spring in a switchblade knife is flattened when closed quite a bit.

Yes, the temper has everything to do with how a spring will perform, it has to be just right, too soft it won`t spring, too hard it will snap.

dragon25 wrote:So I'm no expert, but several experts say it doesn't madder. I know of no switchblades that ever came with directions that say store open either.Duel Action OTF's there always pressure on the springs rather open or closed.

I`m not either, but I think it does matter. I purchased, about 20 years ago, two vintage 1950`s Schrade switchblade knives that were never used, they were put behind the drawer of an old cash register in 1958 by the store owner as they were illegal to sell in his store after that time. Fast forward 20 plus years, the family was selling all the contents of the old store that had been closed all them years. The son remembers his father putting these away and forgotten about, till the sale. I bought both of them, they have been closed all those years. The springs still opens the blade but they are both weak.

dragon25 wrote:I have seen collections where people have there switchblades stored open standing up or down with the blades pointing up or down held by a concealed bar magnet cover by wood or plastic all of this inside a glass case.Kinda like in a restaurant how they have the magnet bars to hang knives in the kitchen but there hidden. I wonder if they will become magnetized and if that has any effect on temper ?

Not to my knowledge, I magnetized knives all the time, never had it affect the Temper.

dragon25 wrote:I would love to hear any ones thoughts on this and not try to hijack this thread.

I own more "Parts" switchblade knives than I do Good ones. From my experience and the ones in my posession, about 95% of them have broken, weak or missing kick springs.

Now if the blades were left open on a switchblade the spring would never fail, because it was never used, all the ones I have seen with bad springs were used, using the spring eventually makes it fail. So if you have a vintage switchblade why risk damaging the spring by keeping it closed?? It don`t cost anything to keep it stored open!

These are my thoughts, any other opinions?

As soon as you press that button it snaps open so there must be tension on the back spring all the time. Not good for the back spring and it also puts pressure on the lower pins holding the bone. As for leaf springs, I put my boat trailer on jacks all winter to save the springs and tires.