A good quality folder can be drawn and opened in the same about of time as a fixed blade knife.
How so? To deploy a folder, you have to remove it from its carry location, then open it, then establish your grip. With a fixed blade, you remove it and its ready to go.
It appears to have a hook on the back of the blade. So when you draw, you drag it against your pocket and it gets pulled open as you pull it out. I'm not that impressed with it really as an opening mech if i'm seeing correctly
Yo are seeing it correctly, but I'm not sure why you're underwhelmed. What would impress you more, if it were some sort of fancy mechanical doodad instead of a simple hook? It shouldn't be HOW it gets open so fast, it should be the fact that it just opens that fast that impresses you.
I've played with several different opening styles - auto, assisted open, inertia open, wave, fixed blade - and the fastest from a strict deployment is the fixed blade. The fastest folder option, bar none, is a "waved" knife. It doesn't have to be an Emerson -- it could be a modded Spyderco, but a waved knife is open the moment it clears the pocket. Anything else has to be removed from the pocket before it's open. Shoot, I could probably be on target with my Emerson SOCFK faster than I could with a concealed fixed blade.
If you're serious about carrying a knife for defensive purposes and you can do so legally, go with a fixed blade. Barring that, take a look at the Emerson demo video. Look at it again, and think about some sort of "waved" knife.
I agree and know first hand how fast a knife from 25 yards can become a deadly weapon.
The Tueller Drill, the study everyone is thinking about gives us a distance of 21 FEET. 25 YARDs is over three times that distance. IIRC it is also based on the knife being already deployed and the firearm being holstered. In real life terms it should really mean something more like: If they're within ten yards, they're a threat.
Not trying to needle you on the above point, but there's a big difference in 25 feet and 25 yards. If you're worried about guys 25 yards away you'd better start watching people halfway down the block.
Don't carry a knife for self-defence unless you are very skilled in knife-combat. Otherwise your own knife might quickly turn against you.
So we shouldn't carry our pistols if we aren't an expert gunfighter? If we aren't going to let the anti's use that against us in regards to handguns, how can you apply it to knives? We aren't talking about formal, polite blade dueling here people. Knife fights aren't going to be long and drawn out like in the movies -- they're going to be short, brutal, and messy.
- Jon -