Left-Handed Cutlery
by Dennis Ellingsen
I am not left handed. I am very much right handed, with a keen awareness of left-handed people. My son Ray is left handed, and I have always believed that there were reasons for this which are beyond my comprehension. I did nothing to discourage Ray’s left-handed tendency. As Ray grew older, his interest in wilderness survival and martial arts directed him to devices that could be easily used as left-handed tools. The advent of the thumb tab on folding knife blades was a real boon to Ray, as now he could easily open a knife in an unencumbered manner. That is, if he could find a model that had the thumb tab extended in either direction or a hole which could be used to open with either hand.
Years ago, I wanted Ray to have a special knife that would be ideal for a left-handed user. I went to one of my favorite knifemakers, Bill Harsey, and contracted a titanium handled folding fighting knife with a left-hand thumb knob to open the blade and a left-hand liner lock. “Not a problem,” sezs right handed Bill, “if I keep reminding myself that I am making a left-handed variety of this model.”
This article appears in the September 2021 issue of KNIFE Magazine. Premium Online Members can read the whole thing by clicking the blue button below: