This is mainly what I took away from Michael’s original post. And I agree.
I don’t know what or when the next big innovation will be. But I am sure when it happens, all of us will say to ourselves, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
This is mainly what I took away from Michael’s original post. And I agree.
I carry a fixed blade quite often (more than half the time). I usually carry a folder to accompany it, because I cannot re sheath the fixed blade as quickly and safely as I can fold and stow the folder.Sharp Guy wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 8:35 amBecause it's much more handy for me to keep a folder in my pocket where I have access to it all the time. I will not carry a fixed blade on my waste and they don't fit in my pocket very well.MichaelScott wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 7:51 amLooked at another way, the modern one-handed opening knife strives to be a fixed blade when open and a folder in your pocket. If one frequently encounters the need for one-handed opening knives in work, why not attach a suitable fixed blade to the ladder or toss one in the tool box? That argument does not hold up.
I have several friends who work at a company called Kitty Hawk, which sells VTOL aircraft that can fit into parking spaces (so they can be used like cars). They are developing autopilot drones that can carry passengers, and will work on an Uber-like app system, utilizing google maps. The company is actually owned by Larry Page (one of the partners at Google). So yes, I think maybe we can (eventually) re-invent the airplane and the automobile, perhaps by merging them.
Exactly!Ez556 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 10:08 amAll the fields you listed are just that: fields. A field of technology or work/study is very different than an object. When you bring an object into a different “paradigm” it becomes a different object. There are already cutting tools in a different “paradigm” than knives. They are called scissors, axes, rotary tools, chain saws, nibblers, scalpels, plasma cutters, water jets, and nail clippers.
MichaelScott wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 7:51 amLooked at another way, the modern one-handed opening knife strives to be a fixed blade when open and a folder in your pocket.
MichaelScott wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 7:51 am
If one frequently encounters the need for one-handed opening knives in work, why not attach a suitable fixed blade to the ladder or toss one in the tool box? That argument does not hold up.
One-hand open blades have been innovated on for what, 40 years now? Older style folding knives were innovated for a couple thousand years (there are examples from ancient rome). Fixed blades were innovated on for several tens of thousands of years. I don't think you've done a good enough job of showing that there is actually room for innovation in non-one-hand open knives. You claim that the one-hand-open folding knife is stifling innovation, but there is an implication there that there is room for innovation that is being missed out on in favor of a specific design path, and I don't think you've supported that claim with evidence.MichaelScott wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 10:03 pmThe OP says, “The Swayback was designed as a one-handed knife. It didn’t meet even that basic requirement.” I have a two-handed swayback slip joint which, in addition to having two blades, works much better and quicker than the Spyderco SwayBack.JRinFL wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 9:18 pmIt’s interesting that the OP brings this up considering his critique of the Swayback. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=87377
While most of you have expressed why you like a one-handed knife, no one has addressed my claim of stunted innovation other than small changes to that basic design. The fact that you like them isn’t the point.
And, yes, our ancestors are dead. That is why they are ancestors.
Those features aren't restrictions or limitations, they ARE innovations. They are the evolution of pocket knife design. To eliminate a lock or a one handed opening mechanism would be a step backwards. We don't want to see inferior designs just to because they're different. "Hey look at my new knife, it's different than anything on the market, it requires TWO hands to open instead of one!" Not exactly a selling point. Innovations will come, but discarding modern improvements to the folding knife wouldn'tMichaelScott wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 8:37 pmEvery modern folder design must have these elements: bearings or washers of some type, an opening and closing mechanism that can be operated with one hand, a lock (in the majority of cases) that can be released with one hand, some kind of pocket clip, and a single blade.
Battles rage about the best clip, where it must, or must not be placed. Which lock is best, strongest, easiest to operate. Not to mention steels and steel-like blade material,grinds, shapes and scales.
As we all know our ancestors functioned very capably with none of these. A handle, one or more blades for different types of cutting tasks, interesting shapes and scale materials from bone to micarta. Bolsters are common on traditional knives, as is 1095 carbon steel.
I suspect it is exceptionally rare for a knife cutting task to require all that a modern one-handed knife offers. If one is in a situation that frequently requires that, a fixed blade knife is often a good choice.
Why do I say this? My thinking is that, in contrast to quality traditional knife makers, these one-handed requirements continue to stifle innovation except in the narrowest sense. Ceremaic detent balls are not earth shaking events. Nor are ball bearing washers.
I’d like to see Spyderco and other top companies break out and show us some real innovative (dare I say multiple blade) designs.
It's interesting to bring Kuhn into this.MichaelScott wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 1:43 pmThe core definition of “paradigm”. Not from a dictionary but from the man who discovered it:
“For well-integrated members of a particular discipline, its paradigm is so convincing that it normally renders even the possibility of alternatives unconvincing and counter-intuitive. Such a paradigm is opaque, appearing to be a direct view of the bedrock of reality itself, and obscuring the possibility that there might be other, alternative imageries hidden behind it.”
Seems at play here.
A knife collector you run into at the larger shows today, with a few $20,000 pieces and no interest in cutting anything with any of them, is far removed from our ancestors who invented edged tools. Someone with a Walker Zipper would recognize a connection to the early man with a knapped flint blade, but the early man would not recognize the collector.Ez556 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 10:08 amWhen you bring an object into a different “paradigm” it becomes a different object. There are already cutting tools in a different “paradigm” than knives. They are called scissors, axes, rotary tools, chain saws, nibblers, scalpels, plasma cutters, water jets, and nail clippers.
Probably more like 140 years.metaphoricalsimile wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 12:29 pmOne-hand open blades have been innovated on for what, 40 years now?
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switchblade#HistoryThe advent of mass production methods enabled folding knives with multiple components to be produced in large numbers at lower cost. By 1890, US knife sales of all types were on the increase, buoyed by catalog mail order sales as well as mass marketing campaigns utilizing advertisements in periodicals and newspapers. In consequence, knife manufacturers began marketing new and much more affordable automatic knives to the general public. In Europe as well as the United States, automatic knife sales were never more than a fraction of sales generated by conventional folding knives, yet the type enjoyed consistent if modest sales from year to year.
In 1892, George Schrade, a toolmaker and machinist from New York City developed and patented the first of several practical automatic knife designs. The following year, Schrade founded the New York Press Button Knife Company to manufacture his switchblade knife pattern, which had a unique release button mounted in the knife bolster. Schrade's company operated out of a small workshop in New York City and employed about a dozen workmen.
I don’t get your point. Can you please clarify?VooDooChild wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 10:21 amEinstein was educated in math and physics. Just because his job wasnt in a position in those fields, doesnt mean his research was outside of those fields. He didnt come up with relativity theory by studying poetry.