Another Tr-ad lock question

snow and steel

snow and steel

Joined
Mar 5, 2011
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561
When cold steel very first came out with the tri-ad lock, I remember going to a brick and mortar store and handling several cold steel knives.

I handled three voyagers [these were not tri-ad locks] and TWO of the three would lock open but you had to press the lock against the counter to unlock them - it was stupid tight.

I then handled the new AK-47 and the spartan, and I found that both locks locked up tight and could be closed, but were amazingly stiff [at least to me]. The guy behind the counter told me it was best to let them sit open for a day, and then to spend a couple hours watching TV and flipping it open/closed - esseitially this would "wear in" the knife and it would then be smooth.

I'm curious if;

A) Anyone else has any experience with this? locks break in true/false? Break in works/doesn't work?
b) I'm considering a large folder, and so Cold Steel's Large Espada, Large Voyager, and Rajah II look good, but feature these tri-ad locks - in referance to these specific blades, do these blades work better, worse, or no differance in regards to the tri-ad lock.
C) Are the Tri-ad locks coming out these days still super stiff like that, or was it a "first run" bump in the road?

Thanks in advance!~
 
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Different Tri-Ad knives have different stiffness. The Spartan is crazy stiff, and yes, it does break in and get easier. Either that, or it broke my thumb in, and I now have one of the strongest thumbs around :D

The new Voyagers are supposed to be a lot more reasonable, and the Espadas I've seen reviewed are supposed to be easy to unlock as well.
 
They are not too difficult at all, the Voyagers are very easy on the thumb - little more stiff and longer engagement than 90's Voyagers with traditional lockback mechanism. I just shift my thumb back and give the lock bar a nice press all the way down to let the blade tang fall against my index finger, then move fingers and ease the rest of the way with my thumb on the thumb-stud or blade. You can do an open and close cycle about 8-10 times in 15 seconds and still won't get to the point where your thumb is sore or fatigued. It can depend on the tolerances of the one you get and the condition of your thumb.
 
When I first got my American Lawman it took two men and a boy to open the sucker, and it was pretty difficult to unlock it. I opened and closed it until it wore in and kept the lock well oiled. Eventually it became easy to use one-handed - maybe a little stiffer than your average lockback, but not much.

Not for nothing, but it looks like you got pretty sauced before logging in today. :D :thumbup:
 
snow and steel said:
When cold steel very first came out with teh tri-ad lock, I remember going to a brick adn mortor store and handling seeral cold steel knives.

I handled three voyagers [these were not tri-ad locks] and TWO of the three would lokc open but you had to press the lock against teh counter to unlock them - it was stupid tight.

I then handled the new AK-47 and the spartan, and I found that both locks locke dup tight and could be closed, but were amazingly stiff [at least to me]. The guy behind the counter told me it was bets to let them sit open for a day, and then to spend a couple hours watching TV and flipping it open/closed - esseitially this would "wear in" the knife and it would eb smooth then.

I curious if;

A) anyone else has any experience with this? locks break in true/false? break in works/Doesn't work?
b)I'm considering a large folder, and so Cold Steel's large espada, Large voyager, and Rajah II look good, but feature these locks - in referance to these specific blades, do these blades work better, worse, or no differance inr egards to the tri-ad lock.
C) are the Tri-ad locks coming out thee days still super stiff like that, or was it a "first run" bump in the road?

Thanks in advance!~
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A) locks do break in a bit, but I think more importantly, you just get more used to the action and your thumbs get stronger
B) The voyager probably has the "least stiff" lock, but they are all pretty close. Like I said, after a while you get so used to it, that it doesn't matter. Spartan feels easy to disengage now
C) The 2011 models have (in general) less stiff locks than the 2010 models. Buying a newly manufactured 2010 model will still be a bit stiffer than 2011 model knives
 
Dorito Monk said:
Not for nothing, but it looks like you got pretty sauced before logging in today. :D :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Would you believe I havent touch a drop of alchohol in several years? I gave it up, and smoking, in the same week.

Nope - just have like ten thumbs and trying to type quick without proofreading! ha ha ha!
 
Depends on the knife, but they do break in a fair amount.

I bought a Rajah 2 over a year ago, and it had the stiffest lock, but now it's the easiest to close. Too easy. You barely touch it and the blade drops. Not good because most hand positions make it easy to hit the bar with your hand or thumb, and I'm afraid it might close on me if I use it the wrong way.

Spartan is the hardest, but still easily closeable with one hand.

G10 Espada L and XL are both very easy to close as well, but the Large has the perfect stiffness where it's not going to accidentally drop on your hand if you touch it, but can still be closed very easily.

They're excellent knives, good for the price, and any folder where you can hang a couple hundred pounds off of without failure or damage is worth it in my opinion, even if they only come in AUS 8 (which is perfectly fine anyway).
 
Maybe some grip training would help

[video=youtube;_ZSeXn6R9-k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZSeXn6R9-k[/video]
 
Vertebrae said:
Depends on the knife, but they do break in a fair amount.

I bought a Rajah 2 over a year ago, and it had the stiffest lock, but now it's the easiest to close. Too easy. You barely touch it and the blade drops. Not good because most hand positions make it easy to hit the bar with your hand or thumb, and I'm afraid it might close on me if I use it the wrong way.

Spartan is the hardest, but still easily closeable with one hand.

G10 Espada L and XL are both very easy to close as well, but the Large has the perfect stiffness where it's not going to accidentally drop on your hand if you touch it, but can still be closed very easily.

They're excellent knives, good for the price, and any folder where you can hang a couple hundred pounds off of without failure or damage is worth it in my opinion, even if they only come in AUS 8 (which is perfectly fine anyway).
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600lbs
 
I have 3 new Voyagers so far & none of them are stiff. I think that stupidly stiff deal was a bump in the road. My buddy's Recon 1 & AK-47 are smooth & far from stiff.
 
My two Voyagers seem easier to close than your average Spyderco lockback. They are some of the smoothest lockback type knives I have.
 
I bought a Recon 1 to try out the Triad-lock, was surprised by the stiffness of the spring-bar and impressed by the clearance distance to disengage the lock, and have no doubt that it will never become accidentally disengaged ;) It certainly takes some force to open fully and also to unlock, but the metal spring fatigues slightly with use/time, i.e. "wears in".
The Recon 1 is the largest folder I own and, imho, the thumb-stud is located too far from the pivot-point so that swift one-hand openning may require a wrist-flick to generate the proper force quickly, but I have relatively small hands and am used to Benchmades (whose pivots are near frictionless and the thumbstuds function almost like a switch-blade's button). To close the Recon 1 single-handed, I place my index finger in the handle-groove and depress the lock-button with my thumb, then flick the blade down so the ricasso stops against my index finger whereupon I pull my fingers out of the way and a tap on the spine or another flick completes closure of the knife (with assistance of the spring+lockbar)
 
I've got 5 American Lawman's, one in edc rotation and 4 extras. They all came easy to open/ close and surprisingly smooth overall straight from the knifecenter. I only say surprisingly as so many on here are always making claims about CS products being cheap, not well made, low quality, etc,, etc. I was expecting crap, but found quite the contrary and have numerous knives over $300 including 2 customs and the CS stuff I've bought so far has all been good, and I've bought 5 so odds are if they were as crappy as many around claim then I would have gotten a bad one.
 
MikeC said:
I've got 5 American Lawman's, one in edc rotation and 4 extras. They all came easy to open/ close and surprisingly smooth overall straight from the knifecenter. I only say surprisingly as so many on here are always making claims about CS products being cheap, not well made, low quality, etc,, etc. I was expecting crap, but found quite the contrary and have numerous knives over $300 including 2 customs and the CS stuff I've bought so far has all been good, and I've bought 5 so odds are if they were as crappy as many around claim then I would have gotten a bad one.
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You sound like me . . . when I find something good I like to stock up ! :) I have a couple American Lawman knives and three or four of the large AK-47 model. The AK-47 is now my favorite carry folder. The Triad lock is very impressive. I haven't found the locks that I've used to be excessively stiff. The only other lock that I trust equally is the framelock on the Sebenza. The wave action large AK-47 is the fastest deploying folder that I have run across. Its designed in such a way that it rests perfectly in hand as its deployed. Andrew Demko is a brilliant knife designer.
 
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