What's so Great About OTF "Out the Front" Automatic Knives?

what's going on YouTube metal complex here and today I wanted to share my thoughts with you guys about OTF knives or out the front automatic knives in general I realized that I currently have in my possession five very popular models of OTS and I thought this might be a good opportunity to talk about these one because you know OTF knives are interesting they're interesting because they are illegal in a lot of places and in my opinion shouldn't be but that's different that's a different topic and you know there's a there's a draw to them right they you know movies made these things kind of popular because they're scary and they're interesting and they shoot out the front right now I'm gonna be talking about OTF knives in the sense of a utility cutting tool and I'm also gonna talk about how my opinions changed over time if you've been watching my channel for a long time you'll know that my first video on the Lightning OTF I've waved OTF off as moreso novelty toys that gave people the wrong impression about color in general and then I actually changed my thoughts on that and we reviewed the lightening F and now have really come around to them especially with the acquisition of this guy right here that's the Guardian tactical recon 35 and I just have a lot to say if you are new to my channel I like to knife reviews and I've overused unboxings discussion topics like the ones you've seen here I upload content every single day so if you like knife related content please subscribe and make sure notifications are set to all because there's a lot of content coming I also have patreon so if you'd like to support this channel and at the same time get yourself one of these cool stickers you can join one of the lower tiers and those are available to you as well as once a week patreon exclusive content available to all tiers even the $1 tier and then also if you like me to shout out your YouTube channel or your Instagram or you just want me to say something funny ridiculous that's totally fine too so link in the description if you want to check out my patreon the support would absolutely mean the world to me anyways what do we have here we have the micro tech UTX 85 a knife that I have by the way some of these have reviews on my channel currently and some of them don't any that don't will have reviews the UT x85 is a micro tech knife it is made in the United States the 85 represents I believe 85% of what I consider to be their flagship model the micro tech ultratech which is I know shameful that I don't have one out here but this is how it ended up and then I have the Guardian tactical recon 35 a very recent acquisition a knife that I fit he much like a little bit larger in my opinion this is right around the size and a lot of people prefer for reference points it's very very close to the size of the Lightning OTF this is probably the most famous budget OTF in existence so smaller than the mikrotik scarab people are wondering those of you who own a scarab it's a little bit smaller that's right around the same size of this the benchmade infidel this is the large infidel this not this model has been very popular for a very long time and then I have a micro tech combat Troodon which is I believe I think I could be wrong I think this is the largest double action OTF in existence but I could be wrong so these are all very popular models and you know I one of the things that I want to talk about or that I will at some point talk about is you know there's nothing wrong with budget OTF by the way you know what we're looking at here this is american-made american-made Chinese made american-made american-made you're looking at 270 ish between these two you're looking at 400 425 ish for this guy and for the combat Troodon and its base form you're looking at 465 if you want this hellhound blade it's gonna cost you 650 to 700 that that's another thing but you know this this lightning here's $40 there's nothing wrong with the Lightning OTF it does not have anywhere near the same quality of materials as these other american-made oh tf's but this is my brother's lightning OTF and I asked him today I said you know because I sharpen this at least once on the channel and I said is this thing ever failed and he said no actually it has never failed he uses it often in fact the edge that I put on it is already he's already beaten up but this is regular ol it's 440c and some sort of cast aluminum I don't know he said it's never failed but once somebody asked to see it one of his co-workers and they clicked it out and they didn't know how to put it back in so they started jamming the blade the tip of the blade into a table to get it put away and it it derailed and and failed in a way that he had to actually take it apart and put it back together but it still works and he has had this thing for I want to say at least a year and a half maybe two years and he carries it with him every single day so knives like this are plenty durable they just don't have the high quality steel they don't have the high quality you know handle material fit and finish is very subpar compared to these guys you're gonna have a little a little bit more rattle everything's just kind of put together in a more clunky way so just as the case with anything oh and sometimes you also get this can you hear that I can feel it reverberating you get a little clang in there so just as the case with anything you are definitely gonna get what you pay for when it comes down to it there are companies right now I want to take this opportunity early on the video there are companies out there not ones that I'm not going to name who are taking advantage of the cool factor in OTF knives it is not the lightening you'll pay about $40 for this and that's a darn good price you can get those at grind works or lightning OTF calm then there are companies using the exact same materials the subpar aluminum or sometimes it's listed as zinc alloy and then 440c and charging as much as $300 no that is that's not okay that's a scam they they bolster you know the false and the the confidence are trying to create and saying like oh we've got like this lifetime warranty in our our knives are so durable listen so is the lightning but it's 40 bucks and it's using the same material so make sure if you are somebody who's new to the knife world right and you don't know anything about the handle materials the blade internals that's okay but let me let me help everybody out here read what it's made out of if it says 440c for the blade steel and it doesn't list where it's manufactured hint it's China and the handle material says you know they kind of dance around exactly what it is it's not that's not a $300 OTF it's not a 200 ROTF it's not a $100 OTF you're gonna end up paying between two and three hundred and fifty dollars for a $40 knife one that is designed basically in the shadow of the real ones the microtext the Guardian tacticals the bench maids you know there's some other brands out there those are the US made ones so this is my warning to everybody be careful who you are giving your money to they're getting very crafty with this they're not technically clones but they are they're not they're not $300 knives so anyways okay I've done enough preaching what is the what's the advantage of an OT f so OTF I've stated many times the advantage is that the knife deploys automatically and retracts automatically with one hand on a knife that's you know it's is manual there's nothing wrong with that but there are extra movements involved and you know in my original video of the Lightning I was like well you know people kind of have this sort of Maul ninja at it towards the attitude towards and where they think that the speed in which the knife deploys is giving them some sort of tactical advantage and people still argue with me about that listen the speed in which an OTF deploys versus the speed at which a manual folding knife deploys is it's the same it's I don't care what anybody says it's the same it's the convenience out of your pocket to make sure it's not not definite but it's it's very likely because of how these are put together that when you deploy them it will deploy and then when you are done without having to reposition your hands or use two hands as is the case with a slip joint you can simply pull back and retract it now obviously you guys have probably figured out today we're just talking about double action OT maybe at some point the future I can talk about single-action Oh tf's those are automatic knives where they are primed and then you push a button and it releases the blade and you have to manually [ __ ] or reload the knife to you know to retract it and respring so this is a convenience thing right a lot of people are you know driven to buy things like these because they they're very weapony and cool and people think that you can take them and you can hold them up to an object and deploy it and that the blade will go right through it that's not the case with the lightning it's not the case with the benchmade it's not the case with the Guardian tactical and it's not the case with a 700 though that one did fire pretty hard it's not the case with a $700 micro tech comm at Troodon I I couldn't imagine there are still people out there who think that oh and it's also it's not the case with the UTS 85 I could imagine that there are still people out there poor CRKT box who think that that is the case but just in case that there are people out there who think that that is the case if it's not they they derail and then you pull them here click it out and you are good to go once again that's it that's a safety feature these are not designed as stealth ninja tools where you can go up to a surface organic or inorganic and push the button and it goes through that's safe for movies video games comic books that's not real life these are designed as tools they do give the appearance of something that's very weapony and aggressive and that's the that's the draw to them but you know initially I just I was under the impression you know after becoming this the knife snob you know for a little bit I was like well I don't like OTS because of the crowd the types of people that they attract to the upper tiers of the knife world then I was like you're kind of being a gigantic snob there are a lot of people who carry OTS as convenient tools and that's I've realized that that's absolutely the case and I realized that after you know I thought lightning attempts are very inexpensive they make great gifts so we can carry them here in Kansas so I brought my brother and bought my brother sister and dad won and after two years of all of them using and my sister doesn't use it hers as much so my dad and brother using theirs all the time I was like and that's that's cool you know maybe there's something a little more to them and I learned this a long time ago so for a while now I had been kind of on a quest to get myself on OTF and I found it's here recently in the combat true and on except that thing is gigantic and then I thought well maybe I'll get one that's a little bit smaller and more my size or a more reasonable size for everyday carry but that's still made out of premium materials and they don't carry and I've found very much you're just in the last few days how much I love just having a lightweight convenient automatic knife right yes the blade is aggressive looking right the dagger style blade which is a blade shape blade style in and of itself it's um you know is illegal in a lot of areas but having two completely different edges it's great because you know once it's deployed it doesn't matter which side I'm cutting what what I'm you know how I'm approaching the thing that I'm about to cut both sides are sharp right it's not the most ideal blade shape or grind for shaving an apple or a grape or toilet paper or whatever but is it gonna cut yeah and is it going to do it conveniently and quickly to where I can deploy it cut put it back in my pocket perhaps faster and in a more convenient fashion than any other type of folding knife on the planet now is that type of convenience always necessary no I wouldn't say that it's always necessary but man it just makes it makes some things a lot easier this sounds stupid but there have been times where I've gone to pull a knife out of my pocket I deploy it and I make a cut and then for whatever reason my the message that my brain is trying to send to my limbs despite having handled hundreds if not over a thousand knives just I just missed the lock bar and I whoops and I almost go to drop it and then the blade comes down on my hand and I cut my I literally have a fresh cuts up here somewhere on my thumb from doing something like that here recently and most of the time yeah on a knife like this thumb studs if it's designed properly it's very easy to retract and put away but there are extra movements so that convenience is something that I very much appreciate now of course the glaring issue is with legality right these are simply not legal in a lot of places and I'm sure that there there's a lot more to it then whether or not politicians actually think that someone is going to someone is more likely to use this style of knife as a weapon or be attacked by door whatever it's to me it kind of seems like a lot of these areas have laws like that in place because it allows them to it gives it gives law enforcement an opportunity to shake people down now that may or may not be the case I don't know this isn't a political channel I don't care to get into political discussions coming from the view point you know with my viewpoint viewing knives as tools I hear about laws like that and I'm like that's stupid right so like a a gigantic folding knife right can be legal something like this but an automatic knife like this it's it's not legal I mean this is no more or less dangerous than something like that so anyways that's my rant about that and that's what stinks is that not everybody can enjoy the convenience of these knives in some areas it's not even legal to own them oh boy that's crazy so I don't know I don't know what that what the heck's going on there hopefully that loosens up in the future but I'd say the way that things are going it's not likely in fact it's likely to go backwards but hopefully hopefully that's not the case so I've got a bunch of different models out here that I think are very good examples of you know good OTF I mean generally what you're gonna see is aluminum 6061 t6 aluminum which is going to be these guys right here this is something else it's not the same aluminum and it's also cast these are I believe that handles are seen see they're also precision main the tolerances are taking it something like this part of the reason it why it cost so much less money it's I think people are quick to assume you know the Lightning ODF company is just you know a charitable charitable organization and they're not interested in corporate greed so out of the kindness of their hearts they reduce the price on this to only 40 dollars versus you know greedy microtext 400 or 600 or Benchmade no that's not the case these are American knives and it costs more labor and production costs more in the United States the materials that the knives are made out of 204 P L max the some of the newer or some of the blade HQ exclusive versions of these RS 30 V and I think this is 204 P as well those are powder metallurgical 's and it's all except for L max which I believe is made my bowler in Sweden art USA steels they cost more money to make they cost more money to grind and then they have to make sure that all the tolerances meet up there's a whole bunch of steps that go into making these American OT FS that are not that they don't they're not in the the lightning and the lighting the lightnings made in China so there's a million reasons why the Lightning costs less and that doesn't make it bad I mean like like I said you know some people don't need that all these extra touches some people don't need to spend that much money and I can't really say exactly you know where the line is as far as how much people should spend I don't think anybody means this maybe soldiers but so I could definitely make a case for this area down here absolutely this about two hundred and fifty to two hundred eighty five dollar mark in my opinion just just in terms of edge retention and overall fitment and quality of the item that I'm carrying I am more than happy to spend somewhere between two and three hundred dollars on an item like this especially one where every last line was taken into consideration right where you put your hands where your finger rests on the switch the shape of the switch the final grind in the blade the blade material right the position of the pocket clip the material of the pocket clip right in the case of the Guardian tactical which we will eventually talk about in death review that's one of the most innovative knives out there in my opinion it's just you know carrying it my appreciation for it is just his has gone just way through the roof the other nice thing about OTS is they are arguably the only design where it's truly safe to have a dagger style blade yes there are folding knives out there and have dagger style blades with false edges this is truly sharp on both sides why because it gets sucked back into the handle yes there are even some custom knives and even some just unsafe inexpensive knives that are sharpened on both sides that are folding knives those are tricky to get put away without cutting yourself the Hinderer Maximus dagger is truly sharp on both sides but he's got it set up to where you can use the flipper tab to actually kick the blade back into place still not something that I would consider to be truly safe in a no TF is safe it goes out and it goes back in and you know you can't cut yourself on the blade because it's in the handle right so that's nice I mean you're truthfully getting two edges so if you've got premium steel I mean it's kind of like having two knives you know you could literally just dedicate yourself using one side of it and save the other side for when one side goes dull now the downside is is you cannot put your thumb on the spine of the blade and bear down on it like you could on one of these the drop point blade or this tanto here just depends on what you want I the the I think the main point that I want to make here is I've found after after you know handling and hearing so many different types of knives and you guys can go if you're new to my channel you go look I've got somewhere around 700 uploads at the time of this video I've handled many knives and I love my folding knives and I will not stop loving my standard manual folding knives but I found that you know you know my most precision ground folding knives right that are just like the edges that they had just round in a way that's so unbelievably razor sharp that I could shave the skin of a grape before I actually shave the skin of the grape off the grapes out like I could split it right you could split a hair with it I don't know that I need that what I really need a lot of times is just a convenient cutting tool and I've maintained that you know the best types of cutting tools are ones that you can simply pull out of your pocket deploy make a cut and conveniently put away like this rat one I love that and because of those qualities I'm not left you know my brain is not like focusing on getting the blade out and fumbling around with it and then and oh what am i cutting am i cut is it gonna leave a scratch on my blade is gonna now part of that is attributed to the fact that the rat is an inexpensive knife right but the the best thing about that is is I don't have to think about it very much but where I do have to stop and think after I make the cut is reposition position thumb here move it out of the way move the blade down move my thumb out of the way kick the blade back into place right or something of nature swing it down like this and put it back in my pocket no matter how you swing it this is just more convenient click it out cut goes back in you're done it's I mean in my opinion it's safer you're less likely to drop the knife I'm you're less likely to accidentally cut yourself the OTF looks more aggressive looks more dangerous looks less safe but in practice I'm finding it's it's actually more precision and where it might lack especially a blade like this a dagger stoplight where it might lack in cutting performance this is fairly thick especially on the Guardian tactical it's a hundred and forty eight thousands hundred and forty five thousands it is hollow ground but it doesn't come down to the sliced edge same thing with the utx eighty-five same thing with this guy here same thing with this guy you know because of the narrowness the necessity for the blade to be fairly narrow to go back into the handle even when even on like the true it on here the combat true it on that's only 125 thousand six there's simply not really all that much room for it to drop down to a super slicey edge i find that not having thus Lyceus edge in the world not having a blade like my let me find another one here PM 2 or para 3 oh my gosh fantastic some gunk on there fantastic performers right but I don't necessarily and I'll still carry these you know I said I mean my the Paris 3 was my most carry knife of 2019 but my day-to-day needs are less about precision slicing and more about sudden need of a cutting tool right and I enjoy being able to simply pull this out of my pocket make a cut put it away I enjoy that it's light I enjoy that it's compact that it has a good carry profile it just has a whole bunch of good features I mean it's it's a bonus that it's aesthetically pleasing and some people could argue that there was extra attention in the design to make it look pretty I would say in the case of knives like the UTX 85 the Guardian tactical recon 35 the ultra tech those are a 100% form they're just designed to be you know easy in and out of the pocket make your cut put it away you know whether or not they're gonna be worth the money it's every single person that's up to the individual you can tell me all day that nobody ever needs to spend more than $50 on a knife and I'm never gonna change my mind do i there are definitely people out there that I would recommend the lightning to over something like this right because not everybody I mean I'm not gonna say everybody needs to spend a whole bunch of money on a holding knife but either way OTS in general are just great knives to just get jobs done you have to consider where you live you have to consider whether you want to or not OTF knives do make people uncomfortable some people are not uncomfortable around them some people are some people will immediately judge you as a criminal just for having it in your hand I have I run into people all the time Ehrlich maybe you're carrying an automatic knife those are illegal you could go to jail for that what are you planning to do with it and I'm like there's nothing you can do about people like that they're just gonna be that way I have a person in my life who's part of my family my extended family who will not change their minds about this they know me they know you know who I am my my habits they know that I am just a regular person who has an eight to five job and the fact that I carry a knife like this or even a knife it all makes me questionable um you can't do anything about that I'm sure you're wondering like 24 minutes in what's the point of this video not really anything it's just a ramble and to let everybody know that I've really come full circle on OTF knives I really like them I think the laws against them are ridiculous I think that there are some fantastic examples out there ranging from around this size to around this size and these are some some awesome examples I think these two are pretty expensive and I honestly think if you're going for a larger one I've said this before I think the combat true and on despite being a little bit more expensive in its base form than the larger benchmade infidel is a better buy both in materials and the final product but the benchmade infidel is still a good knife in my opinion you cannot beat the lightning OTF for a budget hard-working OTF right if you want an OTF and you can get any color or blade style you want these things you want dagger you want it to be yellow with a two-tone blade yeah that's fine they make that don't expect it to be incredibly durable and no matter what you hear it is not built as well as the more expensive stuff but is it a great knife for the money oh definitely and it'll last you know there's no warranty involved with it not really anyway I mean these other american-made wants to have a lifetime warranties but it's definitely great you know in my opinion the very best OTF knives that I have ever handled in my entire life most highly recommended ones that I've handled or I'm gonna definitely say these two here the Recon 35 which is the small it does have an older brother but it's a smaller one the utx 85 and then two other OT F's that are not on the table the standard troodon is a fantastic size somewhere in between the thickness of this guy in this guy and about the same length or in between this guy in this guy in length might be about the same size as this and then of course the ultra tech which is about as the same skinniness as this same skinniness of blade but much longer you know well it's about eight and a half inches over all those four are us-made they're between 250 and 300 dollars I believe the Troodon might be a little bit more expensive they're precision made there they're made to fit the average person's hand they're incredibly well built also recent videos from I believe his name's X ring a lot of people including me didn't really think that the locking mechanisms on knives like these were all that durable it turned I watched that guy pound and OTF a combat Troodon into a I think there's a big thick board with a tamping hammer and then he wrenched it back out and pulled it on me was fine I watched him set one on fire I mean you know after thinking about it it's like well maybe it really wouldn't do all that much damage but I'm pretty sure he doused it in gasoline or kerosene or something and set it on fire and there was minimal damage to the hard coat anodizing on the aluminum so yeah these are convenient they are precision made and they're very dependable and if you're going to you know if you're gonna go for one in my opinion you know especially if you're in this corner of the knife world I think it's worth spending a little bit more money maybe not this much these are cool and if you just you know if you know what you're buying and you're like I don't I don't care I just want something looks cool that's why I bought this guy then okay fine but as far as like where your money's really gonna go something around here or the Troodon or the ultra tech they are fantastic this was a crazy rambly ranty video and I hope you guys were at least mildly entertained by it I like doing videos like this I don't I don't like to do too much structure but this was fun to do and I had an opportunity to talk about it so anyways guys if you enjoyed this video please leave a like if you'd like to check out my other content I do of course have lots of videos of knives are either expensive or inexpensive that I do or don't like so check those out and if you enjoy all my content go and click on this metal complex they'll go right here and subscribe because there's definitely more coming thanks again for watching everybody and have a great day

Channel: Metal Complex

Views: 6,060

Rating: 4.8000002 out of 5

Keywords: otf knive, otf knife mechanism, otf knife torture test, otf knife collection, otf knife amazon, otf knife stab test, otf knive reveiw, automatic knives, automatic knife collection, automatic knife otf, automatic knife vs switchblade, switchblade knife, otf knives under $100, microtech otf, benchmade infidel, lightning otf, microtech ultratech, microtech combat troodon, guardian tactical recon 35, microtech utx 85, best otf knife, top 5 otf knives, top 10 otf knives

Id: ojrb4Gj0JG0

Length: 28min 18sec (1698 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 04 2020