Knife Pull Rating Goes (Somewhat) Scientific
In a somewhat obsessive fashion, I try to provide as much information in the description area as possible. Having said that, I will admit that I am lazy, thus will never get around to fixing all the products that pre-date any one of my “enhancements”. The latest tidbit of information that has bothered me is “Pull” weight on a folder. For a few years I have put my educated guess at a pull weight. But I have always known that is was a personal scale at best, and downright subjective at worst.
Well, I finally bit the bullet and bought a digital pull force meter. I am not going to show a picture of the setup – because it is pure redneck with duck tape and all. But, I will start listing the pull weight on a general run. And if I feel they changed it during the run, I will update the newer variants.
In order to avoid clamping anything on a closed blade in order to measure weight going from closed to 90degrees, I will instead use the pressure going from full open to 90degrees. I have tested and there is not a significant difference in these two numbers, although it feels easier to close a knife; I find that is just because of the physics of having full access to the blade instead of just a nail pull.
For example, the GEC #43 Frontier came in at 1.2lbs; the Maserin Plow at 1.5lbs; and an older GEC #23 at 4.2lbs. I think having these in conjunction with the existing “opinion” version might be helpful to those looking for specifics.
So going forward, on slipjoints, my intention is to list “Pull”, “Action”, and “Spring Pressure”. Pull is the perceived strength of the opening of the main blade from the designed nail nick, from 1 (blade flops in the wind) to 10 (blade is welded shut). Action is the perceived “walk” of the knife, the flow and spring force throughout the full motion of opening / closing; from 1 (the blade has to be pushed open/closed) to 5 (keep your fingers out of the way). Spring Pressure will be the actual maximum poundage reading to get the blade from full open to half open.