All About Pocket Knives

I bought a bag of assorted knives, and it had a pair like the one pictured Can anyone tell me what they are?

Commonly called “slide opener knives”. Been around for decades, inexpensive to manufacture and often given away as advertising (with the company name printed on one or both sides). Do an eBay search for “slide knives” - you’ll see lots of them.

Ken

They made a ton of these, and are still making them. Around here, a company called Virginia Metal Products (located on the other end of my county, now known as Consolidated Steel), I swear, gave two to every man working in the mining industry. They're everywhere! I have two advertising VMP, one advertising a fab shop less than a mile from my house, and another for a motor shop in KY. I think it's because it's pretty much the simplest locking mechanism that exists, and they can be produced cheaply due to having no backspring and only four parts counting blade. I had found the patent here somewhere, and it listed the inventor. Older ones are USA-made and carbon steel. Today's are China-made and stainless steel.

They used to be called the "Flip It", and from what I'm seeing now, the name most promo products companies use now is something like "Flip and Slide".


The patent should be in the blade well, visible when the blade is deployed. Let me check the one in my toolbox (which is pretty late production, I'm thinking last of the USA) and see if it's got the patent.

I have one of these also from a car dealership. It’s one of those items that you see can be personalized in catalogs with promo products. Use to get two or three companies offering these every year at the office.