The evolution of the tool.

[Carlos]

The folding pocket knife has come a long way in the 20th century, with an every increasing rate of development that has brought great change in the last 20 years. Now that we stand upon the cusp of the 21st century (Jan. 1, 2001), I see a host of new trends and pressures upon knife design and manufacture, all of which will continue to force the tool to change and evolve.



Some New Trends: Complexity vs. Simplicity.



There is one move towards greater simplicity in knife construction likr the Sebenza with integral one piece "frame" locks, and simple utlitarian blade shapes and grinds.



This move is opposed by a new increase in the complexity of many new knife designs -- fanciful but pretty blade grinds, strong but complicated new locking systems, and the reintroduction of "bolsters" to knife handles.



The trend towards mechanical complexity also includes the resurgence of automatic knives, and the new "assisted opening" folders.



There also seems to be a curious move towards non-stainless steels in folding knives.





A New Pressure:



Increasing legal restrictions on blade size worldwide seem to indicate a trend that will result in smaller and smaller knives for us poor civilians, or "Gunting" style knives with full-size handles and short blades.





What do imagine knives will be like 100 years from now?

[sal]

A knife handle that emits a lazer;

Adjustable in length, aggression, turns off when it touches a living animal, can create multiple slices at once (like an automatic slicer or a Mandolin). etc.

sal

[ian]

It's a pretty good idea, but I can't really see a laser-knife being much of a general use tool. Even supposing radically superior technology for dense energy storage (ie. way better batteries), heat would suddenly become a real problem (you could never cut cheese with a laser, for example), and you'd have to worry about the reflectivity of the object you were to cut, or possibly wear eye protection. Also, it's impossible to adjust the "length" of a beam of light without something present to interrupt it (not that this couldn't be done).

I'm not saying it's a bad idea - it just won't replace the metal blade. Ceramics seem like they could become a whole lot more useful in the future, or with significant advances in nanotech, we could see blades constructed from diamond, one atom at a time.

The "living-flesh-detector" is a good idea, though. I've heard that there are power tools available now with meat detectors to stop the blades when they come in contact with flesh. Interesting stuff...

[Carlos]

I am a bit less radical than Sal. With the acceleration of high-tech, we may eventually see ways to functionally integrate diamondoids with less brittle metal strata, for an edge that lasts forever and that won't chip or snap (the present problem of ceramics.)

I think that legal pressures may result in the average knife blade size coming in under 2" and perhaps with restrictions even on locks that keep the knife open. They'll probably find a wy to legistate the addition of locks to keep the knife closed (think of the children!).

Maybe the man of of the year 2100 will be carrying a small slipjoint knife with an MMC handle, a 1.8" cobalt-diamond blade, and a electronic thumb-print lock to keep the blade locked closed except for the person licensed to carry it.

[sal]

Ian, Carlos. I think both of you are at least as radical as I am.

Ian, think of the lazer as a comb with the end of each tooth of the comb being the hot point.

Titanium is also coming of age. We tested some sintered titanium with edge reetention as good as good steel.

The thumbprint to prevent opeing is novel. What about a warning "beep, beep, beep" like a truck backing up when the blade closes?

sal

[Carlos]

Hi sal,

Make it simpler -- a knife that beeps whenever the blade is rotating -- whether to close or open; it might serve a social function. But considering how fast most of us open and close our knives it wouldn't get much a chance to beep. <img src="wink.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle>

How about a pocket clip that retracts into the handle scale as you open the knife, and extends automatically as you close the blade? That way when the knife is open the clip is recessed flush with the scale, and you have a smooth, comfortable handle to work with. When you close the knife the clip pops back out again and you are ready to clip-it and go. <img src="smile.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle>

[sal]

hi Carlos. We have a clip design that does just that. soon.

I agree with you on the beep. have to be a very fast beep.

sal

[Carlos]

Hi Sal,

Evidently great minds think alike. <img src="smile.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle>

Okay, here is one more: A folding knife that you can take apart and reassemble without using any tools. Might be a neat engineering trick. Would have to simple (few parts), idiot proof (can only be assembled one way), and no small parts. But might make the most advanced &quot;field folder&quot; for a hunter/camper of the year 2100.

[sal]

Hi Carlos. interesting notion.

sal

[storyville]

Happy holidays all,

My own feeling is that, excepting the laser idea, these developments discussed so far will be tried and tested in the next ten-twenty years. *One hundred years* from now is a different ball of wax altogether. Here goes my sci-fi speculation.

In the year 2100, I imagine the &quot;folding pocket knife&quot; as we know it will be an extinct species. It will be an outmoded device whose basic concepts and functions will have been eclipsed by the successful synthesis of newer technologies, materials, and forms fifty or sixty years earlier. No doubt, however, antiquarians and 22nd c. &quot;gadget guys&quot; will continue to nostalgically &quot;collect&quot; them as the purest, preeminent examples of &quot;human practicality&quot; during the late Cenozoic Era. And they will marvel over its refined simplicity, ingenuity, and extraordinary degree and quality of hand-craftsmanship (&quot;assisted only by early computer graphing and CNC milling!&quot; ) , even amidst a post-industrial era characterized by increasing automation and an ethos of &quot;disposability.&quot;

At the same time, they will shake their heads at the technological retardation of the folding pocket knife. Imagine a weekend visit to a museum of science and technology: &quot;It's true, my gender-neutral child: people needed to retrieve these from a pocket -- inside it or clipped to it -- or from a 'sheath,' a special pocket designed to retain the 'knife.' Some also carried it 'IWB,' or 'in the waistband.' The relative advantages or limits of its various carry modes remained hotly debated until the development of [???] rendered it moot. After retrieving the 'knife,' users then had to manually extend its cutting edge by depressing a release button, or by thumb with the assistance of a stud or the famous Spyderco hole <img src="smile.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle>, or even by pinching the blade's spine between the other hand's thumb and index finger. In use, it could be guided or directed within a range of possibilities limited by the fact that its 'handle/blade casing' needed to be held within wrapped fingers! Besides its opening and locking mechanisms, it was completely inert.&quot;

By the mid-21st c., the folding knife will be supplanted by a wireless electronic device that retains several blades and tool implements (scissors, drivers, etc.), variable-powered advanced LED (or &quot;post-LED&quot; ) flashlight, and an electronically coded opener that replaces keys for home, workplace, mode of transportation. Mass/volume will be dramatically reduced by new materials that allow blades and other tools to be made of extremely thin (1/32&quot; ) , wear- and fracture-resistant composites (80+ RC). Each tool, light, opener, etc., would activate by use of a small touchpad via a sequence of programmed taps and/or finger motions. Its power source may be recharged by solar means, or even thermally by body heat.

Over the next two to four decades, that genre of tools will be slowly eclipsed by devices that ergonomically adapt to its user's hand or fingers: possibly a glove, finger sheath, or palm-strap. The base materials for its blades and other tools will be made of increasingly malleable composites with increasingly sophisticated &quot;memories&quot; (think of this as a primitive iteration of the &quot;liquid metal&quot; body of the T1000 android in _Terminator 2_). Softened and retracted, it would conform to the shape of a finger or become a thin strip that extends from wrist to finger tip, for example. It could extend to varying lengths with varying degrees of hardness, with a limited range of shapes. They would be activated by nerve and muscle sensors.

By the dawn of the 22nd c., year 2101, these technologies will be increasingly embodied as *implants*. For better or worse (probably both, as with the way of nearly all technology), we will have the capability to extend a talon (Wolverine-like), sense temperature and spatial location, activate night vision, or wave open an entranceway as easily as we blink or move our fingers today.

Far-fetched? A hundred years is a long time. Take a Stealth Fighter, Palm Pilot, handheld GPS, current medical prosthetics, steroids, and crystal meth, and explain them -- and their attendant histories of development -- to an educated adult in 1901, or even 1951. Who would have guessed? Wishfully thinking --

Glen
(Who is still waiting, way back at the dawn of the 21c., for a Military Jr. in ancient BG-42 ...) <img src="smile.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle>

Edited by - Storyville on 12/27/00 1:47:49 PM

[sal]

Hi Glen. Carlos, Ian, looks like we got another one.

Interesting stuff. The imagination knows no limits.

I agree with the implants. If we go with the electronics, we'll have to have our &quot;safety beep&quot;.

sal

[Carlos]

You have some interesting concepts, but what about social and legal pressures? I suspect that much of what you've dreamed up may be possible in the technical sense, but I also suspect that the gap between what is possible and what is allowed will grow ever larger.

Many cutting edge technologies will probably get restricted to military (and to a lesser degree Police) applications. Direct &quot;enhancement&quot; of humans (in the mechanical sense) will probably be made illegal outright -- as has much genetic work.

In terms of cutting tools, I think that we'll (unfortunately) have to do more with less as time goes on.

[storyville]

Well, I'm glad someone appreciates a good fantasy <img src="smile.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle>

Carlos,

You bring up a good point -- that technological development is inextricable from social-political and legal (and, I would add, economic) forces. But I am less convinced of the long-term downward spiral of rights and freedoms (with regards to technology generally) that you appear to suggest. The influence between social views and legislation vis-&#224;-vis technology and economy is not a one-way street: they are &quot;mutually determining,&quot; as historians would say. In fact, social applications and extensions of technology *in general* are proliferating with increasing public acceptance, with no signs of turning back. (We can discuss this at greater length, if anyone is interested <img src="smile.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle>)

That said, I am very concerned about the increasing attempts to restrict knives and, moreover, firearms. (I live in Calif., where we are now facing the newest ill-conceived, and even more poorly written, &quot;assault weapons ban.&quot; ) But the effective enforcement of such hazy legislation will also be difficult and uneven, at best. The short term looks bleak, and many responsible citizens and consumers will get burned, to be sure. The longer term &quot;staying power&quot; of such restrictive legislation, however, remains unsettled. History shows that people do indeed respond, often imaginatively and unpredictably, to unfreedom and that social prohibitions are not immortal.

Sorry to stray from the spirit of the thread. That's my hasty .02; I need to run but can add more later -- in the New Millenium!

Glen

[sal]

Hi Glen. Yes, I would be interested to learn more about the historian point of view regarding public acceptance of technological advances.

Given each scenario, how would each develop?

1. Social law determines &quot;weapons&quot; are against the law...to carry? possess?.

antithesis: a large black market develops?

2. Social law determines &quot;Offensive weapons&quot; are illegal?

antithesis: knives get smaller, hidden knives become more prevalent (buckle, neck, belt, ring, etc.). Long coats and Highlander swords?

California seems to be a major factor in influencing the knife laws in the US. Their goal is to protect the LEO on the street from &quot;sudden potentially lethal knife attack&quot;.

Right now, that very question of &quot;public acceptance&quot; is being tested with the autos and semi-autos (spring assisted). It will be interesting to watch the legal vs public reaction. My guess is that Califorina will be the first to &quot;respond&quot;.

I agree with Carlos that the direction will ultimately be a smaller (2&quot; +/-). At least for the next 10-20 years.

I believe that &quot;control&quot; of the blade will be a trend. I know that's the direction I've been going. Ergos being essential.

The Navigator design is an example of a small, strong, light, relatively inoffensive model where &quot;control&quot; of the blade is key to the design.

sal

[Carlos]

Hi Sal,

As part of the advancement of ergos for small bladed knives, do you think we'll also see more knives following the Gunting mold, in having a &quot;full-size&quot; grip and shortened blade? (Like having an Endura handle with a Delica blade, or a Police handle with a Rookie blade). Or is this too strange/radical for the average ELU to accept?