Top: The sub-3-inch
blade features a
high-saber grind, an
unsharpened swedge
and a centered tip.The Action
While the P671 has ambidextrous thumb
studs, it is designed to be a front flipper.
I have several knives in my personal
collection that use a flipper design.
However, they are all traditional flipper
designs that place the apex of the flipper
at a 90° angle to the plane of the blade.
This means that when the blade is closed,
the flipper sticks out from the opening
side of the handle. With the blade locked
open, the traditional flipper acts as a
small finger guard. This design keeps the
closed length of the knife as compact
as possible and adds a measure of
protection for the user’s hand when open.
With a front flipper design, the apex of the
flipper is parallel to the plane of the blade.When closed, the apex sits in front of the
pivot adding length, not width. While
open, the front flipper disappears into the
handle. Closed, the front flipper presents
a narrow profile while adding minimal
length to the knife.The Ruike P671 was my first exposure
to a front flipper design and at first, I
wasn’t sure if I liked it. In the beginning,
trying the use the flipper on the Ruike
felt awkward; it often did not flipthe knife open in one motion. The
knife’s action is smooth, and the
detent is strong, but it was di
cult to
consistently find the motion needed to
get the blade to fly open.My di
culty with the action of the P671
is not an indictment of the design. Over
the course of a few days of playing
with the knife, I learned how the action
wanted to be used. It is now just as easy
for me to deploy this front flipper design“RELATIVELY THICK HANDLES FILL MY HAND
WELL, WHILE NON-AGGRESSIVE JIMPING SERVES
TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL TRACTION WITHOUT
BEING UNCOMFORTABLE.”
Bottom Left: The P671
can be opened with
either the low-profile
front flipper or the
oversized thumb studs.
Each thumb stud is
overlaid with a textured
G-10 disc.Bottom Right: The
stainless steel liners
are milled for weight
reduction.76 KNIVES ILLUSTRATED • JULY/AUGUST 2019 knivesillustrated.com