Yesssss! First sponsor! We're honored. Stoked. Let's do it again, eh?

Hey! This is Emily from the video! This was an amazing experience for me and I love the video! I never really wear nails a lot, but this was definitely hard to do with them on. I’m not a big knife person, so it was interesting to find so many different ways knives open! You guys are so awesome and keep doing what your doing! I would love to see you guys put on some stick on nails to do an experimental video lol! So nice to have met you guys!!!

I think one of the overlooked considerations is, these aren't their knifes. So they want to show you how careful they are being with your property which may explain the 2 hand open/close. Sometimes snapping someone else's knife open or closed feels like you are dry firing someone's gun.

I bought my friend a liner lock knife for their 18th birthday. They apparently opened the knife, never figured out how to close it, and put it in a drawer open. Years later I visited them and watched them open the drawer and pull out the open knife to open a box, then put it away. I asked them why they didn’t close the knife and they said it “doesn’t close.” They lost their mind when I closed it for them.

The guys describing Emily: "I was so worried about her beautiful nails, she was a champion, she was so excited, she was very nice and respectful" The guys describing a fan: "Yeah, he was a cool guy I guess."

Im one of Cheryl's daughters "the rad mom" and it was very amusing to watch her open these knifes 😂 (I honestly wanted my brother to stop helping so it would be a little bit more funny)

I will literally pay money to have the two of you to get manicures with long nails to try this $10 each with your names on it. This may be one of the most interesting videos on knives I have seen in years!

I would say even for someone who is mechanically inclined, the expectation for a spring loaded contraption is that it will only spring in one direction and that you will have to apply force against the spring in some way to reverse the action. Devices that spring both ways are definitely the exception, not the rule.

I have handled knives since I was maybe 5 years old, but dont consider myself a knife guy. All these standard locking mechanisms just make sense to me and are pretty obvious. Never would have thought that my understanding of these is actually a learned behaviour, always felt kinda natural to me. Thanks for teaching people about this topic!

Great to see Ben and Zac back together, we need more of this.

I think one reason why people where quicker to figure out the OTF knife is that the action is similar to what you get with a box cutter. You hold it the same way and you extend and retract the blade the same way. Love the video, hope to see more.

In my experience, most people that hand back a liner lock have tried a few ways and would get it with looking at it but think "this is someone elses property and I don't want to damage it or mess it up, hand it back". I usually encourage them to give it a second try and tell them not to worry its a knife, and they get it fairly quick. The learning curve is that they don't want to experiment on someone else property, without permission.

I've carried a knife since I was like 9?? I still have my first knife. It's strange to me that people don't intuitively know how to open mechanical objects. If I can hold something My brain goes oh okay cool it does this by doing that. This was a cool experiment guys. Love the Chanel

Guys. You don't miss in the Blade HQ videos. The BHQ videos miss YOU. You two,plus Jamie editting... Just awesome, original and unique content and a lot and lot of fun ! Thank you for your time and entertainment. :)

As a non-knife person I learned a lot from this video! I remember once when I was handed a closed liner lock knife, and I couldn't figure out how to close it because I didn't think to look into the handle from the right perspective. The thing is, if I didn't have the guy I lent it from right there I probably would've spent more time with it before asking him how to close it. I guess having the option to take the easy way out made me less motivated to try figuring it out myself. Props to him though for telling me how to do it instead of just doing it himself. I think there's another thing to the two handed closing pattern you saw; it's a tool they're unfamiliar with so they in part want keep it slow so they don't cut themselves if it turns out to be spring loaded (like you said they handle the knives as if they were sharp), and in part to study the mechanism as it closes. It sounds silly but the curious caution with new sharp things is probably why most people go through their entire lives with all fingers still attached. :)

A fun game I have been able to play a few times in the past, is trying to explain to someone who is not familiar with them, how to close a backlock knife without actually showing them. It's a remarkable challenge in effective communication; because in your head, the answer is to simply "push the thing and it will let you close it," but trying to describe what that means, with words alone, quickly shows you the very real limitations of natural language.

Give the people what they want - a loud and resounding “yes” to the fake nails video! It would give “Ben blue” a whole new meaning!!

If you guys don’t get Maria a Banter or button lock knife😂 I feel like with time she would totally be into the knife scene, she had a natural curiosity. Great video guys! Love when you and Ben are on camera together 🔪🙌🏻

Funny story, this video remembered me, of: At the end of of my school career, I was at a technical school, were the emphasis was learning a well rounded mixture of different engineering and craftsmanship topics, like mechanical engineering, metallurgy, metal working and so on. One of the teachers was a mechanical engineer and metallurgist, that taught those topics. One day, he had a package on his desk, he wanted to open and asked us students, if one of us could lend a knife to him. I gave him my Buck 110 Folding Hunter. He opened it and cut the package open. Then he tried to close it, by pulling at the metal bar of the back lock and so on, and didn't manage to close it, for half a minute, or so. Thus he gave it back to me opened. So even some guys with degrees and extensive knowledge in mechanical engineering, metal processing, tool design, metallurgy, ... can't close such a simple knife immediately, if they never used one of this type before. Maybe it was in part, because the whole class of mechanical engineering pupils were watching him. I want to add, that he was one of the best teachers, maybe the best teacher, I ever had. Incredible at explaining complicated things, with an impeccable script. But he was a bit shy. On that basis, I would argue that in many such experiments, not the people with the highest technical knowledge and experience of the experiments topic do best, but the people with sufficient technical knowledge, but more importantly with a character of being comfortable around people they don't know. 25:34 "... I don't know, that there's actually any science here ..." Maybe. If you give knives with a locking mechanism to a lot of people on the streets, there will be some amongst them, that are somewhat uncomfortable with unknown people and thus a bit stressed. So if you find a mechanism, that all people operate reliably, after they initially figured it out, you found a design, that is at least decently usable under some stress. But to be sure, you probably need a bigger sample size.

I usually carry liner lock knives (usually because they're cheap and readily available at most auto parts stores), and I have had to explain how to close the blade to most coworkers when they ask to borrow my knife. My knives are also usually pretty dull from cutting cardboard/tape/plastic wrap all day, so I'm not too worried about someone hurting themselves. It's interesting to me that you guys saw the same thing across a wider group of people.

I'm a lefty and I feel like most of us are just conditioned to work with right handed knives. I've grown to love the button/axis lock style for one handed ambi opening

Fantastic video! Sometimes I feel guilty for ‘judging’ someone’s ability to handle my knives before handing them one, but my knives are always sharp (people aren’t always) and I honestly don’t want anyone to get hurt! I’ve come to expect a cautious 2-handed approach, but I sure do get a kick out of someone who knows exactly how to handle and deploy with one hand... I get goosebumps when they comment on the action and the cutting performance! Did I just make a friend? 🤣 ❤️

As a lefty, I love open carrying fixed blades. I don’t like pocket clips because of my left-handedness, they’re uncomfortable and never are manufactured for my usage. But, I like fixed blades.

It's amazing to see you and Ben in a video together again. Old school banter vibes for sure.

Slip joint scars made me laugh. My Grandad gave me a Barlow when I was around 10-years old, and my mom was not sure if I was ready. It closed on my finger, and I kept it a secret for at least a day, but later she asked why my finger had something wrapped around it. I ended up in the emergency ward. I have this and many other scars from that Barlow, I wish I still had it.

This video is pure gold! Thanks for the entertainment gents 🤘🏼

Lefty here! While I would say 90% of life as a lefty is about adapting your dominant hand in unorthodox ways, I absolutely love the lock bar like the Benchmade Bugout has. Ambidextrous, flippable, closable with one hand, it is the chef's kiss for leftys. And it has double studs too!

love it :) I carried an otf for my daily for years. I think the best part about it, was how great of a conversation starter it was. plus gave me a chance to be a knife ambassador and debunk all the "switchblade" misunderstandings.

Ben, Zac and Jamie...the world is right again. Do more of these please and continue to bring peace and order to the galaxy.

More Zac and Ben content after just watching Ben's video on this same thing? YES PLEASE!!!! More Zac and Ben content for sure!! It's such a great combo of friends and hilariousness! Cannot wait to get the Micarta Banter

Lefty here! My favourite knife I own is my Mini-Grip with sheeps foot blade. Reversible clip and the axis lock is inherently ambidextrous. I can however manage most frame/liner locks with my left hand only, never tried a button lock knife, but looking at the one in this video I'm 99% sure I could open and close that lefty as well. Just takes a little extra work and is slightly more awkward. My biggest issue with knives and being a lefty is fixed blades and the extreme rarity of left hand compatible sheaths. Basically limited to the kydex multi-position type ones. Thanks for shouting us out, don't get asked what we think too often! 😂

Great video. I’m a lefty and glad to see I can get the Banter micarta with left hand pocket clip. You have restored my faith in left handed knife love.

This channel is head and shoulders above than the BHQ channel. Keep up the great work guys.

This was great! The idea behind this video was genius. It really did go to prove how much we in the knife community take for granted the things that make knives so great to us. Plus, Zac and Ben together were the perfect two guys to do this! This should become required watching for all knife enthusiasts. Also, I'm so glad Knafs is sponsoring this channel. It's a match "made in heaven" and I'm looking forward to what you all will do next.

Honestly love the concept of this video. I think a lot of us take our "expertise" for granted but most people don't understand. Great to teach others!

This is such a fun video. I’m an old lady with a little knowledge about knives, learned the hard way, scars to prove it. I loved watching folks learn about knives. I think you performed a great public service! Awesome.

I’m also a left handed user. I carry in right pocket, and open with either my left or right hand. When I’m done with the knife I can close liner lock with right hand, but with compression or axis locks, I close with either left of right hand. I regularly use a 940, Shaman, Sage 5 LW, or a Civivi Pintail.

Great to see you, Jamie, and Ben making videos again! You should try to get Kurt on sometime.

Thanks for just going out and making knife stuff feel friendly to random regular folks.

I appreciate that your analysis of the results included questions about the order in which you presented the knives and that the first three knives may have conditioned people and made the others harder to find out.

Man it's so good together see you two making videos together, actually think it's better it's your own channel gives you creative control. Loved the video keep up the amazing work

Like in good old times Zac and Ben together and Jamie of course) More of this guys! Cheers!)

So good to see you two collaborating.

I grew up around knives, obviously some newer mechanisms I didn’t, but lockbacks and slip joints have always been easy to me. Sometimes I forget that others don’t have that experience though and I commend y’all for getting out there and educating, especially hands on.

LOVE THIS! So good to see you guys back together, please keep em coming! You've always been my go-to since I started collecting and EDCing, so If I lever learned anything, it all came from you. Always in debt, always a follower. Always the best to you and Ben!!

Zac, you had the most influence in me getting into knives. I would watch your video reviews and Ben's as well. I bought the Benchmade bugout because of you. You guys made the videos enjoyable and exciting.

Great video! Fun to watch!

Great video! Always entertaining to watch.

Lefty here! Yes, Chris Reeve has been amazing to us. Almost every model and version has a left handed option. I wish a few other companies would take notes. Hinderer has released a lefty xm18 and that’s nice too, but we only got one blade option and we probably won’t see anything new for a while. Vero is starting to look out for us. They released a lefty Axon a while ago and recently, Joseph Vero made a poll in a lefty edc group asking what we wanted next. We voted and the Synapse won. So that’s coming soon. Liong Mah has also released several lefty models. The Field Duty EDC, KUF 3.0 & 4.0, as well as a new model coming out soon. Demko has always been great for us. They are completely ambidextrous.

Hi Ben, Zac, Jamie! This video is so cool! You guys have to do more videos! Congratulations on Knafs sponsorship! It’s amazing to see there reactions on different knifes! I agree with you guys about which knife to hand out to a non knife person!

This video is older but I’m watching all joy current videos and such a fan!! Keep them coming! Love your channel!! 👍👍👍

Love the analysis/questioning of the method.

So great to see the dynamic duo again. Hope it happens more.

Great episode! So awesome seeing all 3 of you guys together! Very interesting experiment and super-fun to watch. Keep up the great work. Hopefully see you all together again soon!

I'm just starting and loving the journey with you guys. Can't wait to get my real first knife!

This is the great start of a series! :)

Such great content guys!! Love the science behind this! Lol… can’t wait to see what’s next with you guys. Congrats to the sponsor of Knafs!!!

Zac and Ben were the reason I got into knives and metallury. I know this isn't the first collab/reunion, but it still fells like hanging out with your best friends from high school after being away at college/military. Alexa; play Graduation by Vitamin C

I think the colorway of the OTF also might have clued people in to the mechanism. The black switch stands out from the red frame, where I think some of the other mechanisms are a little more camouflaged (eg. black-on-black with the button lock). Also more Ben and Zac together please!

I worked for Walmart in the sporting goods department. I ran across more people who opened the knives with two hands than how knife people would normally. It is very interesting to see. Most people have no idea about the flipper on the knives.

Oh, that beginning hurt my insides. LOL Great video, I love the premise. And you guys are great, never get tired of your conversations. And congratulations on your first sponsor! (of many.) (PS, Ben didn't sound sure that you were going to "find a way" to fix the knives you had to ruin. PLEASE, if you don't fix them, don't throw them away! I'll buy them from you and use them practice putting an edge on a blade =)

I also think that the slip joint might be the most intuitive, but most dangerous. Probably safest and intuitive would be like a Byrd. The forward choil protects the fingers during the back lock release.

Incredible fun video! Love the content.

Great video keep them coming!

I’m a left handed person. I own 2 truly left handed knives. A Kizer Gemini, and PM2, both awesome. Love the axis lock for being ambitious and will be buying a few more Benchmade knives soon. Great video!

I don't really see myself as much of a knife collector. I have a few that I think are really interesting and neat but I never realized how many people are really unfamiliar with knives. I'd have to say my favorite knife is my folding Karambit. It's crazy but you guys gave everyone a fantastic opportunity to learn.

I really enjoyed this video. The interaction between both of you feels natural and is hilarious. I also got my 1st Banter today. Honestly it is too small for my hands, but I heard so many good things about it, had to make the purchase. I am really looking forward to the micarta version which is my favorite handle material by far. (If you ever make a Big Banter, I'd be purchasing that at well...) Thanks!

That was an excellent video. Very interesting to see what our non-knife friends do and handed such a variety. Honestly it's about what I expected.

Loved this. Its always fascinating when i hand a knife to a non knife person. The compression lock 🔐 seems to cause the most confusion. Also cool to see you guys working together!

You guys always made a good team. Love your channel and great to see your success. Peace.

Left reporting in! Former chef and someone with a LOVE of blades. I currently run a CRKT - Provoke! I've learned adapting is my best option.

Usually don't comment on any video's, but Zack and Ben back doing knife videos is super awesome. Great job 👍

This was a great watch and I enjoyed the video. My first knife was a liner lock and took me a good 13 minutes to figure out how to close it. It was a Gerber just like Zac. Thanks and keep up the great work fellas!

The dream team at it again! Love seeing the content!

great video.. something I had never thought of but I have definitely had to teach people in the past how to open or close certain knives.

I have been carrying a Milwaukee fastback for years, love the sound it makes when you give it a flick

As much as knife guys don't prefer the Elementum button lock, I think non knife folk would figure it out quick and have muscle memory built in for the close. Great subject guys!

When I was 17 a friend and I got pulled over for running a stop sign. We ended up being asked to step out of our car and if we had any weapons on us. I handed the cop my OG Spyderco Native... He opened it then tried for three minutes to close it... Then gave up and handed it back to me saying you better close this... I was shocked a grown man couldn't close a back lock.

Very entertaining user experience study on intuitive knife design.

I missed seeing you guys together talking about knifes! You guys are truly a dynamic duo!

Lefty here. I own a lot of knives meant for right-handed people, but I mostly focus on lefty dedicated knives now. The most important thing for me is a reversible pocket clip. As far as locks go though, it's really hard to go wrong with the Axis lock, and most button locks are very doable left-handed too. Frame locks are the hardest, followed by liners. Both still doable one handed but less convenient than axis or buttons. I've never tried a compression lock either, so I'm unsure how that would go.

Lol... my wife wished my beard was your length 😄

Loved the video, I’m from the country(TN), but have lived in LA for about 14 years and have carried a knife in my pocket, even in elementary school since I was less than 10 years old. I have a version of every type of knife locking mechanism that you used in your study/video. My EDC is a ZT 0300, but sometimes carry a Benchmade or a Protech auto. I sometimes carry an OTF. If anyone ever asks if I have a knife they can use, I always show them how it opens and closes prior to handing it over to them, still half the time, that person will hand it back to me opened, telling me they weren’t sure how to close it. I’m gonna share this video with my buddies, who are all knife guys. Keep making great content, appreciate your work.

So excited about the knife roll Ben! I’ve been enjoying your knife burrito and putting it to good use! Gonna need some extra storage after buying a couple Landers and a baby banter ;)

This is cool! I think back locks are probably some of the most unintuitive, simply because of how much strength is needed to actually close it. My old man has a back lock Spyderco knife that's over 10 years old at this point and I struggle to close that thing when I open it and I'm in my mid 20's.

Great video guys, I wish you included a detail shot of each mechanism in action! It would make this video 1000% more interesting for non-knife people... Just subscribed, as I don't want to miss the video, where you handle sharp knives in long nails! :)

This was so fun!

I have childhood experience with knives but not much else, and found this very entertaining and informative. Excellent example on why companies do focus groups

This is an interesting social experiment and could be a good series. Gotta throw in a hidden bolster lock like the Protech magic or some odd ball ones like the rotary lock on my old vintage Kershaw by Kia.

As long as you show them how it works and it isn't too difficult to actuate I really do think an OTF is a good knife to hand someone. For the reasons you discussed and also because they are less likely to drop it with the blade out.

Thanks for once again reminding me of the gaping hole left in my knife bro heart without Zac and Ben content on the regular. Bonus points for Jaime's appearance from behind the camera. I spread out watching the half hour video over two days just to savor it.. and for that brief moment it was 2017 again and all was right in the world.

I just got my first OTF Lightning Elite white digi camo scales and 2 tone tanto blade coming from a kershaw filter and I love it.

I miss Jamie's edits. Such a good editer/camera work. I miss the F out you guys being together and hope y'all continue to make great content like this. If I had money out my ass, I'd pay y'all just to provide amazing, and just simply royal content as this. I'll start playing the lottery. 🤞🤞

I have a feeling the 2 handed operation is a measure of safety for a potentially dangerous object that is unfamiliar. I hand my Auto Benchmade to people all the time and they fumble and use it 2 handed.

This video was so interesting! Reminded me of when my dad first taught me how to use a pocketknife. Excited to see that new knife roll, I’ll definitely be getting one (maybe two lol). Great content, much love from Texas!

I’m 16 been watching knife videos for like 5 years and really started with you guys on blade hq my collection has expanded immensely first real knife I bought because of yall was a mini Bugout now I have cold steels spyderco knives Microtech more Benchmade’s a couple customs including hinder knives a couple chaves and about to get a Chris reeve

I didnt realise this was tough. Ive seen small children figure this out. Damn, are we becoming so dense, that simple tasks seem like award winning feats?

Very intuitive. I remember otf knives that you pushed the blade back in.

Lefty!! Love that axis lock on the bugout! Also carry a Keizer Feist regularly and a Protech Malibu as 3 most carried knives. Thanks for the videos!

Just found y’all channel, awesome loved you guys at Blade HQ and can’t wait to see all the awesome content.