It has been a while since I last posted to this thread.
Thanks to all who have contributed thus far. Oh and thanks Bill for schooling us on the evolution of the liner lock and its variations. I would add CNC equipment and advances in tooling right up there with the liner lock mechanism on the "big events in knife history" list. I and others could add more; this sounds like a good subject for another thread.
Getting back to the auto subject: you have all helped confirm and further reinforce many of my feelings towards automatic knives. But then what I have heard brings up more questions.....(of course).
It is a given that people in general like autos for various reasons. The sound, the feel, the look in the other person's eyes when you open the knife. But automatics, by nature, generally have more parts than your average folder. More parts means more chances for failure and when an auto fails, you are left with a manually-opening clip knife. Not just any clip knife, but a clip knife that doesn't have another means of single-handed opening.
If you use the "speed" factor as the reason to justify an auto, one would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the speed of opening of either a flipper, thumbstud-ed or thumb-holed knife. Add in the Emerson Wave feature and you lose any percieved advantage.
In certain conditions, for personal defense and such, I augment my firearm with a small fixed blade guardian back-up. Nothing to deploy, no mechanism to get fouled. Just pull the knife from the sheath and there you are. Doesn't work all that well for utility chores, but for those things I have my clip knife.
The US Army has specified an automatic knife to fill a need. The need being a one-handed
automatically deployable clip/sheath knife to be used for utility chores and personal defense if needed. But it seems here like the solution is outdated and/or is not the best solution for the need. There are many great clip knives on the market that would do the job. Probably the same goes for small fixed-blade knives. But we (the Army) still insists on specifiying and buying an automatic knife to fill the need.
Any thoughts on how to get around this issue? I do have a huge dog in the fight, as my company does a good business in selling autos directly to the military. But my conscience says that we can do better; I just don't know how to go about framing the question and starting the dialog. My goal here is to provide a better solution to the soldier's needs without pissing off the contracting officer while maintaining/upgrading the intent of the specifications.
This also makes me wonder if anyone else out there has had similar personal experiences with Army supply/purchasing/contracting. Or maybe I should ask if anyone has NOT had these experiences.
Have you ever been forced to buy something just because it is on some outdated "load-out" list? Everyone knows that the item is outdated (and in many cases a better version could be purchased through other channels for much less). I just gnaws at me that I am spending so much time and energy on providing something that could be so much better.
Regards and thanks for any insights,
Jeff