I have a small SOGWinder I folder which is very thick relative to its grind angle and has an unusually high distal taper. It also has the problem of offering very little surface on which to clamp. I remove the thumb stud and clamp on the only areas on which I can get a bite. I’ve run into a number of knives which seem to be configured specifically to annoy me, but there always seems to be a way. Here’s a photo of the knife with the thumb stud:
And if you look close enough, here’s a photo of the knife in my Gen 1 vise:
It’s important to keep the blade from moving, so I normally use a tape (foil or masking) to prevent slippage. You don’t need to make full contact with the entire face of the vise, but you’ll need to make sure the jaws make contact with the blade at their top edge .
From a physics standpoint, the area of contact between two surfaces which will slip relative to one another is not a factor. What does matter is the force applied between the two surfaces and the coefficient of friction between them. Contact area matters when the two surfaces are in traction with each other, as in a rubber tire on a porous concrete surface – the more area, the greater the amount of traction.
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