Automatic Knives

Fellas,

For a while now, years really, I never put much thought towards automatic knives. Up until a few years ago they were illegal to carry here, though you could own them. So I just never really thought much about them. But now the laws have changed, the state statute that made them legal to carry explicitly says it that it overrides any local/city/district laws, this was explicitly stated in the law itself and was perfectly clear to the legislature that passed it, meaning it’s completely legal to carry them in the entire state.

So I ordered one, one to try. A Pro-Tech Godson, the standard black anodized handle and bead-blasted blade/hardware. Just a sort of regular or mid-sized knife, very symmetrical design, low profile, and an very very pointy tip. It looks cool to me, Pro-Tech generally has a very good track record with side-opening automatics, and I thought the price was very fair for what it is, on equal footing with Spyderco and not as outrageous as many of the Benchmade prices.

Have any of you used autos with regularity? Either OTF’s or side-opening ones like the Pro-Tech? I’d be curious about your experiences with them and your views on the practicality of various automatic mechanisms as compared to the standard manual ones, or assisted knives like the many Kershaw ones. I’ll post my observations, thoughts, uses, etc. of the Pro-Tech here, as well as any other automatics I get in the future.

Ryan,
I bought a Lightning Elite a few years ago, just to have as part of my collection. It is a Chinese copy of the Microtech OTF designs I think. I got a Western/American style Tanto, as I find it very nice for EDC. I plan on getting some nicer ones as soon as I have the money. I really like automatics, it is a shame they were basically outlawed decades ago, and it is awesome they are becoming legal again. Basically all the thumb opening knives and now flippers were all workarounds for automatics being illegal in most jurisdictions. Along with Balisongs/Butterfly knives, I find them to be very practical/useful, as well as safe because of their locks. I really want a double action knife, were it can act like an automatic or a regular thumb-opener.

The knife came in this morning. Here’s a few pictures alongside the Spyderco Native and a very short (25 seconds, no talking) video showing the action.












[www.bitchute.com]



Initial impressions are that it’s clearly very well-made, the fit/finish is very good (no edges are sharp/square, nothing is unfinished, grind lines very symmetrical, no flats or hollows on the edge), and there’s not a hint of blade play in any direction.

My only two complaints are that the edge was over-buffed from the factory, and the edge thickness is 0.025” to 0.030”, so it’s cutting ability isn’t very high and neither is the as-boxed sharpness. The apex was definitely rounded over by the buffer and this really reduced both the slicing aggression and the overall sharpness. I’ll have to fix that with a few passes on the DMT plate. Edge angle is also quite high at about 22 degrees per side.

Between the thickness of the edge, the edge angle, and the short flat grind, I would call this an extremely durable cross-section in a folding knife. Considering that, you might ask if the rest of the knife (pivot, handles, lock) can actually handle that durability. Obviously I haven’t tested it yet but I would suspect that it certainly can. You’ve got solid aluminum handles, a button lock that’s got as much engagement surface or more than a typical liner lock, what appears to be a pretty large and solid pivot, and very few parts despite the automatic opening system. It’s really quite minimalist and robust, by all appearances.

We’ll see how it plays out, I’ll be comparing it to the Spyderco Native. The Native is similar in overall size, but has far better cutting ability (0.020” edge, lower edge angle, much higher grind) and a basic lockback mechanism. Is the slim, pointy, symmetrical/neutral shape, and automatic opening enough to make the knife preferable as an EDC to the Native despite the latter’s much higher cutting ability? We’ll see. At the very least I’d say the Godson is a far better defensive knife and a lot more robust.

if you put all the tactical nature of the auto aside its actually a fairly clean simply utility style knife that if the edge was thinner would be a pretty good daily user

Yes cKc, that was part of what drew me to this particular design. Clean neutral lines, slender point, looked pretty good. Kinda similar to the Al Mar Eagle knives I like.

The Eagle Classic, the bone scales knife in the second picture, is far thinner than the Pro-Tech. Slightly thinner stock, full-height grind, distal taper, and it’s about 0.012” at the edge. Even my old Eagle Ultralight, the one I’ve carried and used more than any other folder, is still merely 0.018” or 0.020” at 12 DPS, it had to be around 0.010” when new.

Ryan,
It kind of reminds me of the Emerson A100:

Yeah it’s similar to that in some ways.

In this case it might actually be a good thing that the cutting ability is low. It will make a stronger case for the utility of the automatic mechanism. If the cutting ability is lower than my usual choices, but I still find myself carrying it anyway because of the auto mechanism, it’s a pretty strong indication that the auto mechanism is very useful and not just a flashy or tactical thing.

Are you not sharpening it? Or does it not respond to sharpening?

I'm curious what you find is so appealing to the auto. I've never tried one. Not legal. Anywhere I live

I've never felt flippers or anything of the like to be an advantage over a normal one handed knife.

What's the appeal?

Easier to open, if you are wearing gloves, or have a disability. Or that is what people claim to try and distance themselves from the image of a street thug with a switch blade.

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Older Spice
Are you not sharpening it? Or does it not respond to sharpening?

Oh I’ll definitely be sharpening it and using it like I normally would. It just literally came in the mail this afternoon before I left for work.

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cKc (Kyley Harris)
I'm curious what you find is so appealing to the auto. I've never tried one. Not legal. Anywhere I live

I've never felt flippers or anything of the like to be an advantage over a normal one handed knife.

What's the appeal?

Basically what Older Spice said. This is an example of a thought I’ve been mulling over this week on the subject:

While it’s certainly true that things like thumb studs, the Spyderco hole, etc. aren’t what I would call difficult to use to open a knife, they do still require some dexterity and a deliberate/consistent motion to open it quickly or even open it at all. While a push-button automatic can be opened fully, consistently, and quickly, with what I would call the realistic bare minimum of dexterity and basically no requirement at all for consistency, you just find the the button and push it until the blade opens.

My questions are these:

How noticeable is that advantage for a general purpose knife? Is the convenience of enough practical utility to be worth other potential costs of the design?


I don’t know what the answers may be or not be, this is the first one I’ve ever even handled, let alone owned. But being that it’s perfectly legal for me to carry them, even if I didn’t have a concealed weapons license, I figured it’d be an interesting thing to find out.


Edited for grammar/sentence structure.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2022 10:25AM by Ryan Nafe.

I'm curious what the pivot design and strength is relative to a typical knife.

Need to find a video. Of the inner workings.

This is one thing I liked about the axis lock. I could. Manipulate it almost like an auto

Very easy to. Deploy and close

Check this one out, this is the same model of knife I got:






There’s really not a lot of parts. It’s more complicated than a liner lock or frame lock, but compared to things like a back lock, axis lock, or things analogous to the axis lock, it’s really not much different and may be simpler than several other mechanisms.

The Axis lock was originally an automatic design by McHenry and Williams if i recall correctly.

Nice and simple. Just no open lock in that design

Yup. Elegant simplicity all-around with this one, it’s just unfortunate that it’s ground so thickly.

Oh and an FYI to anyone who’s curious, the Benchmade 2551 Mini Reflex would be a great auto in the same size class as this Pro-Tech, but with MUCH better cutting ability. I handled one yesterday at a local store out of curiosity for a point of comparison, and there’s no question that the blade is far higher performance than this one’s. Thinner stock, full-height grind, distal taper, and an edge that looked and felt to be around 0.010” to 0.015”, it was quite surprising. It looks like a very solid small utility knife. The handle is the complete opposite of the Pro-Tech though, full of choils and contours and such, I’m not sure I’d recommend it to anyone with XL or larger hands.

The automatic action on that and two other Benchmades was definitely softer/slower than the Pro-Tech’s, and the overall fit and finish just wasn’t on par with Pro-Tech. The Pro-Tech looks and feels like a solid value for $150, you’re easily getting your money’s worth, but the Benchmade automatics I handled yesterday felt like quite a stretch and perhaps a bit of a ripoff for $200 or more. The only exception was the excellent blade geometry of the Mini Reflex.



I’m finding this knife interesting enough and convenient enough to make the next few folders I buy automatics. I’m gonna keep looking around for other designs and makers and just see if anything jumps out at me.

Ryan
I have wanted a Mini-Reflex for a while. I think they might be discontinued.

I think they’re still making them Jason, the model is still listed on the website and several online dealers have them.

Ryan,
Good. I think they might have discontinued the 2550 and replaced it with the 2551.

Yes I think that’s right. I don’t even know what actually changed between the two numbers but I think that’s right.

The Pro-Tech in 154CM tested at 59 HRC today.

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Ryan Nafe
The Pro-Tech in 154CM tested at 59 HRC today.

which is the advertised hardness. so i wonder if your spy27 is actually softer than intended.