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Switch Knife to Switch Blade: Get in Line for Manual to Auto Conversion

August 21, 2015

If your thumb nail is receding into your flesh from flicking the stud, maybe it’s time to get that knife converted into an automatic. Demand for manual to automatic conversions is growing fast according to the Vallottons, a 3 generation family shop that specializes in producing custom automatics and performing manual to automatic conversions.

“The requests are growing – we’ve been doing this for a long-time – the better part of 18 years. We use to be able to get a knife back to you in 2 days – now it takes at least a month,” says Rainy Vallotton, himself renowned among automatic aficionados for his custom automatic eye candy and for sparking the double action scale release craze – a covert automatic knife mechanism. It’s double action because you can open the knife either manually or automatically – scale release means you engage the automatic function by sliding the scale up as demonstrated in this video:

“The conversion king is my father [Butch Vallotton]”, said Rainy. While Butch focusses on conversions, he is known to Spyderco fans for his collaboration with the company on the Vallotton Sub-Hilt, a 2011 BLADE Show award winner – a knife Butch himself “worked on directly with Eric and Sal [Glesser]”.

The shop most often performs conversions of the Emerson CQC-6, the Al Mar SERE 2000 and the Spyderco Vallotton Sub-Hilt. “Not every knife is easily converted to an automatic” Vallotton explains. “It comes down to the construction method of the knife.” How do you find out if your knife is able to be converted? “The best way is to call us here at the shop“. A manual to automatic conversion will set you back about $160.

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