Now that you know what makes assisted opening knives special and desirable for everyday carry, you might be wondering what are the best spring assisted knives. But as always, do your own research and check your local laws to make sure a spring assisted knife is legal to carry where you live. And while t he technology in assisted-opening EDC knives now a rival the speed of automatic knives, that mechanical difference makes spring assisted blades generally easier to EDC and legal to carry in more locales compared to automatic knives, which are usually more restricted. With an automatic knife, all you have to do is press a switch or button that’s completely separate from the actual blade to get it open.
While spring assist mechanisms are faster than a standard manual opening knife, these type of EDC knives should not be confused with automatic knives (also known as “switchblades”). The end result is a blade that you can open up quickly and conveniently, usually only with a single hand. Once you get to a certain point manually, the stored energy in the spring assist mechanism causes the blade to fully flip open without you having to manipulate the knife all the way. Basically, to operate an assisted opening knife you start the process of opening it up, usually with the thumbstud or with a flipper index tab. Spring assisted knives (also called assisted opening knives) feature a spring mechanism built into the pivot or handle of the tool that takes over and speeds up the process of opening everything up. If speed is important, and you’re the kind of person who wants to bring a knife to bear on a task quickly, you’re going to want to EDC a spring assisted knife. It’s easy to see why having a reliable and sharp blade can be so useful, but not all knives are built the same. That’s because a good knife serves you well whether you’re performing everyday utility cutting and slicing tasks to leveraging a sharp edge in critical life-saving applications during emergency situations. For many people in the EDC community, the pocket knife is their most used tool.