I tried that, is a little closer, but its just the long handle that is a problem. Honestly, I am not sure how you get a REI grip on a knife carried horizontally at 11:00 if you are right-handed anyway. Pulling straight up from 3:00 accomplishes that quite well. This is one of the many things I hope to learn more about if/when I can someday get into your class. Seeing if I can work the MDTS class in July, but three days is a tough sell to my home supervisor.