Anyone ever broken a lockback?

I had a Spyderco Ladybug fail after about 4 years. I used it all the time to cut those little nylon tie wraps used to hold wires and cables together. I used to slide the blade in between the tie wrap and push until it cut through. It still has a little bit of a positive lock in the open position but you can close it without pressing down on the lockback button. I now use a pair of wire cutter nippers for cutting those little buggers. BTW, my wife now has this knife in her purse:eek:! -Rick
 
I've never broken a lockback, but I have had failures. IN fact, I've had two or three this year, and it seems like otherwise I get one of these failures every year or so. All of them happened with lockbacks that I had in my pocket (rather than held up with a pocket clip), and were the mid-lock variety. In each case, I pulled out the knife, opened it, and ... no click! A bit of fuzz had gotten in the little niche on the blade tang that the locking bar fits into, so the knife didn't lock. I've never had a failure like this with an axis lock, and only one liner lock I've ever owned seemed susceptible to this. As a result, for mid-lockers, I clip them on my pants. If I just drop them in my pocket, I consider them slip joints until such time as I pull them out and they actually lock. If I'm carrying for self defense, either my lockback is clipped on me, or I'm carrying another knife whose lockup after pocket carry I'm more sure about.

I do, BTW, like the lockback as a format.
 
I have had several very good quality lockbacks close on me just from gripping them tightly and also from lint or dirt getting in the works.
 
From the list of companies in the first post in this thread, I have had ....

1 lock back fail in the field with a broken lock bar. No injury.

1 lock back fail in the field causing serious injury[stitches] due to foriegn matter in the lock notch.

2 lock backs from different companies on the list that would fold up with pressure on the spine of the blade due to miss mismatched locking surfaces in the lock.

We don't have bandwidth to list how many I've broken in testing...

Nope, liner locks aren't perfect, but neither are lockbacks. Remember, folders are just "pre-broken fixed blades".
 
Er,ah,I meant close on me.But not literaly close on my fingers since I try to keep them out of the way.
 
Not really responsive to your posted question, but yet another opportunity to express my view that the best folder is a full tang, fixed blade!
 
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