Unlike a regular utility knife, where the blade is unsheathed, deployed, and exposed when you put it down, Starrett’s Hidden Edge utility knife (model S011) does something different.
Regular utility knives must be closed, or the blades must be manually retracted, if you want to put the blade away safely within the knife. With the Starrett Hidden Edge knife, the blade retracts automatically when you let go of the handle, and it won’t deploy again until you release its safety lock and squeeze the handle lever.
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Read More: Discussion on Safety Utility Knives
This aluminum-cased knife comes with some of the same features of better utility knives, such as on-board storage for extra blades and a tool-less blade change mechanism, but it also possesses a thumb-wheel for letting you adjust how far the blade protrudes from the body.
With other retractable knives, you must set the cutting depth each time you deploy the blade. With the Hidden Edge, the desired blade extension can be set and locked in. This way, the blade extends to the same setting each time you squeeze the handle to deploy the blade.
Given the Hidden Edge’s features, it might not fit into pouches and pockets sized for standard utility knives. Starret does offer an optional leather belt holster that can hold this extra wide utility knife (model 968), and it’s available separately.
The Hidden Edge Utilty Knife is available through Amazon for about $13 with free shipping for Prime members or orders over $35.
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Buy Now(Hidden Edge Utility Knife via Amazon)
Check out Starrett’s YouTube video to see these features in action.
First Thoughts
When I was but a wee lad, I was at a job site with my dad and somebody left a utility knife open out on the floor. Being young and curious, I grabbed it and sliced my thumb open. I remember that traumatic experience like it was yesterday, and it has stuck with me so well in fact that I still sometimes wince picking up a utility knife.
Sure, not everybody has kids working around the job site, but I wonder how many people are hurt every year because they fail to retract the blade before they put their utility knife down or worse throw it in their pocket.
I know this isn’t a brand new tool, and the fact that I had a difficult time finding any notable retailers besides Amazon means it probably hasn’t been very popular. Yet, a safer utility knife really strikes me as a good idea that maybe hasn’t been implemented the right way.
I like the Starrett Hidden Edge’s automatically-retractable blade, but I have not put my hands on one yet. It could be that the extra bulk of the lever makes you less likely to carry this knife, or that the extra effort to open the knife dissuades you from even picking it up. More likely, nobody wants to pay $13 for a safer product when for a only a few bucks you can get a disposable utility knife that does the job.
cody
Hey Stuart check out hilti’s new 18 volt drill. Model (SF 10W-A18) it has 1,062 in Lbs. 2,100 RpMs and a 4 speed gear box. There are 3 videos of it on HiltiNorthAmerica YouTube channel.
Stuart
Thanks, I’ll take a look! You could just email me, you know. =)
Robert
Many of us, myself included, have erroneously chuckled at things like this because we think we’re immune. Only people who don’t exercise general safety protocol have problems. Those of us who “know better,” don’t have problems, don’t ya know? We believe that until we suffer our first big mishap. Sometimes the school of hard knocks is the best, since we learn it right the first time. Safety is in no way synonymous with convenience. Nobody wants to be inconvenienced. The truth is that many people hold their convenience in much higher regard than their personal safety. Worse yet, even over the safety of others.
This may not be the most convenient thing, but I applaud any company that takes risks to make strides in safety. My hats off to this tool. When working on a given project, we have to divert enough mental energy to the project itself.
For the mechanism to be built in to the extent that you don’t have to think about it, let alone dwell on it, I think it’s great. I could see why some companies would require a tool like this. I work in safety and security for a living. I inconvenience people on a daily basis to keep them safe. I couldn’t care less about their convenience. The best ideas always start with people who think outside the box. This is definitely forward thinking.
firefly
“I work in safety and security for a living. I inconvenience people on a daily basis to keep them safe. I couldn’t care less about their convenience.”
That’s definitely the wrong attitude to have for somebody who supposed care so much about other safety. In fact, it’s a delicate balance and your safely implementation is only as strong as your weakest link.
I used to be an network security admin and the first lesson I teach the new guys is that people convenient is one of the key factor to network security. Certainly I can enforce the strictest password policy but if I make it too hard to remember then people will just put their password on a post-it note somewhere.
Same as safety, if you inconvenience people too much they’ll find a way to work around that inconvenience even at the cost of their own safety. Nobody win in that case even though at least you can protect the company from a liability lawsuit. If that the only thing you care about then by all mean; But if you truly care about people safely then I strongly urge you to put people convenience as one of the key factor into any safety implementation.
Jerry
I think this is a good product from the standpoint of extra safety, and I also really like the idea of infinite and repeatable depth of cut.
I put one on my wish list at Amazon, and may wind up buying one. I have an 8 year old that wants to help where they can, and a knife with a blade that retracts every time I put it down is appealing to me. If I read right, it even has a safety catch, so a kid simply squeezing the handle should not deploy the blade, either.
Negatives I can see, would be not just the higher initial purchase price, but that it will not fit in a standard utility knife pocket, and a holster to fit it, will cost another $18 or so. I’m hoping it will fit in one of my smaller extra pockets on my tool belt.
Paul
I have used this type of knife for a few years. The similar one I use is made by Altrade tools (Amazon link below) but I see that they make a similar knife for the SnapOn brand as well. I highly recommend my Altrade to others and have quite a few converts. The features are slightly different between the Altrade and this model but I do prefer the one-handed squeeze over the thumb push open especially while wearing gloves.
http://www.amazon.com/Alltrade-150003-Auto-Loading-Squeeze-Utility/dp/B0000TMLX0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421166211&sr=8-1&keywords=altrade+knife
John Sullivan
I’m going to pick up one of these, mostly to determine how likely it is to accidentally trigger the blade when squeezing the entire knife into a too-tight pocket. If anyone has already performed this test, please post your results!
Seth
Looks to me like the user would be trading a reduced risk of cuts for a higher likelihood of RSI on their ring and pinkie fingers. Most of the lever movement is at the far end, so unless it was trivially easy to open (defeating the purpose) it could lead to problems down the road.
Garrick
Starrett also has a safer blade dispenser for the break-away type of blades. It is designed to be easy to get out a new blade, without having to slide apart the blades. It slides out one at a time… much like a switch blade.
I had to take to reading the quick instructions on the dispenser at first to figure it out. But it will probably save me a cut or two over the years, as well being more convenient. Amazon sells it… 10 blades for $4.21
I lost track of how many times I’ve cut myself seriously with utility knives, but the incident rate has gone down since I learned to remember to never cut towards myself. I do violate this rule, but with extra applied caution. I think I have more fear of utility blades than I do of table saw blades.
Mike
I like how this solves the problem of most safety knives. On most, it opens like a regular knife, then simply retracts as soon as you release the slide lever. The problem is you have to keep your thumb on that lever all the time. You can’t adjust how you’re holding it and you can’t hold it in an odd position. If I was inclined to use a safety knife it would be one like this.
The fact that it’s Starrett probably has more to do with the limited retail representation than the price. Not a lot of retail chains sell their products but genuine tool stores do.
JMG
When I look at this knife, the first thing I see is some kid picking it up by the blade end with one hand and squeezing the handle with the other. It begs the question; Is there some type of safety to keep the blade from plunging into the hand that is holding the sharp end of the knife?
I am also someone who has had experiences as a child with unattended tools and the painful consequences that resulted. Sometimes the simple solutions in tool design and safety are preferable to something that might be thought of as a puzzle to be solved or explored.
My opinion on this item, without actually having one in hand, is that it looks like a neat toy, that as a kid, I would have loved to play with, having always been fascinated by things with moving or hidden parts. It is not something I would consider for my current tool set though, as I prefer items that take up a minimum of space to transport, store, or carry in my tool belt.
Nathan
on the surface it looks like a great idea and I too wondered about that stabbing problem.
might pick one up – if nothing else it would be nice on the workbench but I might get complacent with other style utility knives when I don’t have to retract and extend it all the time.
Mahalo
This is an interesting improvement on the spring return safety utility knives. On those, you have to keep your thumb in the same position to hold the blade out, otherwise it retracts. Holding your thumb that way is not always natural or intuitive when you’re trying to gain a secure grip on the knife as you slice. The Starrett model seems to improve on this issue by using your secure grip to keep the blade out, and I like that idea. Hopefully, future models can reduce the form factor.