So what makes a flipper a flipper?

J S Machine

J S Machine

Well-Known Member
I have a friend of mine wanting me to make him a flipper. While I have heard of them, I am not exactly sure what constitutes a "flipper".

What features must be incorporated into the knife in order for it to be a flipper?

Thanks
 
Well, without sounding like a knucklehead, what makes a flipper a flipper is a flipper.
Check out the knife in the AVO raffle #9, it is a flipper by Les Voorhees. The "flipper" is a small tang near the butt of the blade that protrudes through the scales when closed. Your index finger depresses it which starts the blade in motion to open. Some are spring assisted and some, like Les', are just built so well that they open right up.

This makes it a human assisted opener and is legal where autos aren't.

Hope this helps.
Steve
 
Steve is right on. A flipper generally has a lever that is part of the blade that protrudes on top of the knife when closed. When you press it, the blade flips open into position.
 
This is gona sound corny, but there are "flippers" in name, and then there are knives that are truly "Flippers". I'm still working on making them a true Flipper.

Of course Steve and Tracy are right on, but there are many nuances that make a Flipper work well. The position of the "small tang" when the knife is in the closed position makes a huge difference in the action....I'm redesigning one right now, in order to move the "small tang" further in front of the pivot, when the blade is in the closed position. Washers on a pivot cause a lot of drag, and make for a poor flipping action. Bearings are the direction I'm going for the pivots. I've also learned that a "floating" stop pin causes too much drag on a flipper....I'm also redesigning that area so the stop pin is stationary, and the blade is slotted. Finally, believe it or not, the position of the detent ball on the lock makes a difference. Most folders have the detent ball in the upper corner of the lock......I've discovered that positioning the detent ball as low as possible on the lock enhances the "flipping" action. The glitch there is that you can only position the detent so far before the detent track will show up from the outside........I've made folders for years, and thought I had it all figured out....but flippers that work well, are a whole new ballgame......I'm loving the challenges involved!
 
Thanks yall.

I had a hunch that it had something to do with the tang that protrudes from the back of the handle when closed. I am confident that I can pull that off, but the area in question that will be a challenge for me is the pivot action. I don't think I have made a knife yet that opened as smooth as I wanted it to, and even then it was light years away from being smooth enough to be called a flipper.

I think maybe the best approach will be to use bearings. Now that I have a mill, the installation should be a simple task. Making everything jive will be the hard part.
 
Ed, I just went back and checked out your flipper WIP. Rex McClellan suggested I do so, -so thanks to him for that link :)

Ironically, the first knife I ever made incorprated alot of those design aspects, more specificly the floating pin. I have done that, so I guess I should just try to focus on the tang that the index finger rests on, and the action itself. I'll see if I can dig up some pictures of the build of that knife.
 
I don't seem to have any pictures of all the pieces as they were unassembled before it was put together, but this is a half way pic. Unfortunately, you can't see the slots in the liners for the floating pin which are hidden by the outer aluminum handle scales-

12.jpg


You can see some of the liner lock here-

11.jpg


I followed a tutorial to build this knife, and I can't find it to this day. It was a small blue handled version, and very detailed. I wish I could find it again.
 
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