An open letter to CRKT

General, I think the factors keeping current prices down are the Taiwanese manufacturing location, the AUS6 steel, the bead-blast finish and probably the level of machine manufacturing involved.

None of that has anything to do with the lockwork. I suspect that aside from royalty issues, a Rolling or Axis lock system would be no more expensive than the current liner and LAWKS combination. Possibly even cheaper.

I seem to recall patents running out in 17 years. If so, the type of Bolt Action used on the old Parabellum is about to be free and clear if it isn't already(?), and it's really just as effective as the Axis.

Hey Brad, when you say the Bolt Action isn't going to become free for another eight years, are you sure that isn't a later variant of the original? I really thought 17 years was the limit, in which case I'm very surprised the lock used in the Parabellum isn't already free...somebody else said it'll come due this summer.

If so, CRKT really oughta think about it...

Jim
 
Guys: Keep in mind that "freedom" has a price. Any patent-holder can license another (for a price) to use it's designs. Look at what BM did with the Sypderco "hole". Note that BM now uses an oval rather than a "hole" . I'll bet it doesn't pay any more licensing fees to Sypderco. It's amazing how one can patent "empty space"
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Jim,

Great point. But why the emphasis on self defense?

Don't get me wrong; I see nothing wrong with carrying a knife for self defense. But, I suspect, that the day a lock fails on me, will probably be the day I pull out a knife to slice a couple of lemons for a lemonade. We are likely to be more careless when we are doing the common everyday stuff.

The self defense language and the political/philosophical debate detracts from your point. CRK and other makers should work on developing simple reliable locks that perform even when the user is distracted. They should do this to improve the safety of their product, and to develop a better all around tool.

Yes, the tool will be better for self defense, and better coring an apple, and better for everything we would normally use the knife for. The tool is either safe or unsafe, it either works or it fails to work. There is nothing unique in a knife used for self defense.
 
I emphasize defense because a mechanical failure in that role can get you killed. Not just a minor or even major cut to the hand: dead.

That combined with the necessary "speed of deployment" issues means that if it works for defense, it'll work for everything else.

I believe that a daily carry folder should be chosen for it's defensive abilities first (unless it's a second-stringer utility piece so that you won't have to draw a fighter in "polite company"). If it meets defensove needs, it'll handle anything else within the limits of edgeholding needed (or that you can afford).

Jim
 
A quick note on the patent part of it. The patent laws actually changed a few years ago, extending the life of some types of patents and reducing the life of others. However, no patent lasts longer than 20 years.

Regarding the Bolt Action lock that Gerber used to use, there are several possibilities:
1) Blackie didn't apply for the patent at the time. In the US, if you can prove date of invention, and apply at at least the same time someone else does, you win. Since this mode is risky, I doubt it is the case.

2) It took several years to get the patent approved. This is much more likely. It is really tough to get a patent on a locking mechanism. (I know I have one) Even with something really different, it can take a year or two. From the standpoint of arguing the difference between the Bolt Action lock and the standard lock back, it could have taken quite a long time before it was issued.

3) Blackie managed to get a variation patented in '92, with the original being patented or not previously when the Parabellum was more active.

Incidentally, I also like that lock. Also, I remember an article in Blade magazine from last year which reviewed a Grant Hawk folder called the "D.O.G." folder where he inadvertently redeveloped the Bolt Action lock. In that article it implied that Grant had to talk to Gerber about licencing the patent rather than Blackie, so I'm not sure who actually owns it at this point. As an aside, it looked like a pretty nice folder. Does anyone have one?
 
Jim a couple of questions if thats ok with you!

1. Is a sabre grip where you grip with your fingers and place thumb on spine or thumb ramp?
2. Is a hammer grip when you close your hand over the handle and try to emulate a closed fist, with the thumb over the first two fingers?

Cheers!

------------------
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

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General, in answer to question #1, yep, that's a Saber grip.

On #2, even with the thumb curled under, we don't generally call a grip a "hammer" unless there's serious clench going on with all four fingers plus thumb AND the blade comes out of the grip at a 90degree angle from the forearm, or close to it.

It's sometimes referred to as the "Gorilla grip", or "hammer". It's known for "crude brute power"...if you ever get a chance, handle a Larry Harley Battle Bowie, either a handmade original or the Paragon licensed production version. It's designed exclusively for the hammer grip. Larry does guided wild boar hunts where his dogs pin a large pig and you stab it to death...Larry himself sometimes does it without the dogs. That knife is the ultimate in hard-target brute force stabbing power, there's nothing else even close
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. Hell of a knife, for it's purpose.

With a typical Asian martial art grip, the blade still extends forward at some angle closer to 45degrees in relation to the forearm bones, with the wrist straight. The tip won't be quite as extended as in a Saber, but there's still a lot of reach available...and on a hard target stab, people using such grips will often transition in an instant to a full hammer as we make contact or as otherwise appropriate - the hammer brings the tip further "up" and can therefore counter a wrist grab really well sometimes.

It's that ability to shift the tip way up and down through just finger motion that gives the Asian grips their flexibility. The Saber relies on wrist motion.

Fillipine grip variants rely on the rearmost three fingers more than the Japanese knife grips, which still tend to use a bit of thumb and forefinger for control. But the basic direction the blade comes out of the hand is the same, the basic mechanics are the same, and the thumb mostly hangs out down underneath the knife's grip unless it comes up to do grappling as Gaucho describes.

So far we're talking purely about "forward grips" versus anything in reverse. The reverse family of grips are a whole 'nuther subject.

Jim
 
Ooooo k!

So to clafify for a dumb formite like me
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The hammer grip keeps the thumb over the fingers and when I look down my arm, it is straight all the way and my wrist is straight. The blade is pointing straight up. The grip is very strong as well.

This asian grip is looser but with the closed fist grip pointing more forwards and not straight up. Thus the tip is at an angle of about 30-45 degrees from vertical pointing away from the body. My Sabre grip has the blade at about 65-70% from vertical.

Is this right? And what you say is that the hammer grip is more about keeping the thumb out of cutting view and keeping the tip near vertical?

Cheers!

W.A.

------------------
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
Founding president and member number 1! Wana join?
 
You've got the angles absolutely correct on the blade directions for each grip. With the arm straight out horizontal, a Hammer will put the tip straight up.

With the various intermediate "Asian reach" grips, the thumb may in fact be down as low as it is in the Hammer, or close to it, but even in the Japanese variant there won't be anywhere near as much thumb/forefinger pressure going on. Asian grip power always comes out of the back three fingers. It may be difficult or impossible to see that, mind you. The FMA variant grip styles will be even more radically biased away from thumb/forefinger use, sometimes so much so that they're not even touching the knife at all.

It's even possible to "fake a Saber grip" to make an Asian martial arts practitioner think you're a total idiot
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. Such trickery might be worth trying if you ever get in a dang knife-fight in the Phillipines (or Daly City
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) and don't want to give away where your skill level is by doing an obvious FMA grip
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. Now, when you start side-stepping properly with the footwork matched to the bladework, he's gonna get a clue...
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.

Good news is, competent MA practitioners don't *usually* try and mug you...
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Jim

PS: Daly City, California, in the SF Bay Area for some reason has the biggest Fillipino community outside the actual islands anywhere in the world. They publish a Fillipino newspaper there, there's even a Fillipino fast-food franchise (the only one outside of the actual Phillipines), etc. Also quite a few good FMA dojos in the area
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. Soon as I can get my knees back together again, I plan on finding one...

Jim
 
CRKT now has several great knives that I won't buy becuse of the LAWKS. It's just too much mechanical silliness.

I want the KFF with an Axis lock.

 
Got it. I will have a much closer look at my style. Oh and I see your point about the last 3 fingers doing most of the work. It does make sense, but feels weird having the index and thumb loose. Thanks though!

W.A.

------------------
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
Founding president and member number 1! Wana join?
 
FYI...I had a chance to speak with Rod Bremer and he's going to send me the first Bladelock off the production line to performance test. I'll post a formal review once its done.

BTW, Jim, its hilarious that you should mention Daly City. I grew up in SF- Inner Market next to Chinatown first, then the Mission, then migrated out with all my Chinese and Filipino friends to Daly City for High School. We were in the first wave
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.

Man, what with the sudden influx of inner city Asian kids, the gangs, the busing, was Daly City ever a training ground for good fighters in those days. I believe I can honestly say that I had to fight virtually every day of the first six months of high school until every punk and gang finally got the message that I was best left alone.

I moved my parents out of the Fog Belt as soon as I could afford it, so I haven't been back in Daly City since the early '80s. Its interesting to hear that more Pinoy families continued moved in. Its probably a nice community nowadays. But, I'm sure that you will still find a lot of good escrimadors there, just as I did.

Mario

[This message has been edited by Gaucho (edited 03-15-2001).]
 
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