Hmmm...interesting, Will, I coulda sworn I first handled a Parabellum at around age 14 or so...and I'm almost 34. Was the Para one of the first Bolt Actions?
So OK. Let's think a sec. The Axis was licensed from William Henry, a small semi-custom shop doing VERY high end "gent's folder" pieces. Probably exclusive license to BM, and for sure BM couldn't sublicense. Possible you could deal with WH.
Somehow Microtech, BM's Pinnacle and a Columbia River model are all using the "Sebenza Integral Lock" which in my opinion COULD power a megafolder as long as it was understood by the users that proper grip is part of what reinforces the lock. That means written, detailed instructions. See, with a megafolder you're gonna have so much grip length going on that someone could "choke way up on it" with the hand several inches from the pivot, and at that point you're at linerlock strength levels. Not terrible but..not great for combat. Although "choking up" on a fighter (in a fight) would be extremely stupid. People who chop with a Cold Steel Vaquero Grande (for utility use) DO use the technique.
So you might do some digging on the patent status and whether or not the copies of the Chris Reeve lock are actually legal.
Other possibles: nobody's actually using the bolt-action right now, so it might be available for peanuts. Worth thinking about...what the heck is Blackie Collins even doing these days?
Microtech might license the linerbar. They seem totally uninterested in doing megafolders, they might let you have it *only* for big pieces or something. For pictures, commentary and such see also:
http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum12/HTML/000088.html
There's a crazy design I came up with a while ago for my so-far-hypothetical folding Katana project: Set up the tang of the blade so that it's "long" by about an inch or so, and has a second hole in it. As the blade swings into battery you hit a switch and drive a pin into the second hole. STRONG as hell, but unfortunately it means that closed, it's an inch longer than it otherwise might be. It might be possible to drop that to only 1/2" longer...but strength goes down a bit. I know, it's nuts...it's the only thing strong enough for a 20" Black Wind Katana converted to "ohmygodfolder", at at that point the "excess tang length" would need to be around 4", mebbe more. Totally sick and twisted. I'll build it eventually.
Back to the world of the sane
you could also license the REKAT Rolling Lock like Spyderco's done.
Another option: do a seriously upswept "Persian style" tip sorta like the new Cold Steel Scimitar but MORE radical, and go with a GOOD linerlock. On a straight-thrust stab it'll drive the force up onto the spine stop and away from the linerlock, rendering it "combat capable" despite a weak lock. This is NOT a terrible option, if you do it RIGHT you could still end up with a heluva good knife that way.
There's a crazy lock you could think of as a "double linerlock" - TWO linerlocks just like what you've got that "meet in the middle". The only way you could unlock such an oddity is with a special thumb-ring with a protrusion designed to be slipped in between and unlock both liners at once. Weird, I know, but VERY strong. Probably too nuts.
There's always the lockback variant whereby the lock release is at the FRONT, right on top of the pivot. You push something like an ambi thumbstud "upwards" to unlock; that same thumbstud could have a flattened area on top so that in the Saber grip your thumb reinforces the lock in "Sebenzaish" fashion.
What else...I'm rackin' my poor brain here trying to think of every weird lock I've ever heard of. Between the Axis, Rolling and Bolt Actions, the BA will probably prove the cheapest to license. Might be expensive to produce though...but...if you do it with CNC processes in aluminum, maybe not so bad. Gerber gave up on the bolt action due to manufacturing costs but...production techniques may have improved to where it's feasible again. It's at least as good as the Axis if not better.
Jim March
(lit. long road)
