Are frame locks considered stronger than liner locks?

[Silent H]

There are two different, albeit related modes of failure here: the lock face slipping off the tang (forcing the lock to open) and the lockbar itself folding in on itself. The first mode of failure (lock face slip) can happen for a bunch of different reasons, including insufficient lock tension or poor geometry/fit. The second one is likely only going to be caused by a (hopefully) significant amount of force on the lock, would also result in the lock face slipping because the lockbar ends up out of alignment.

Yes, and my comment covered both failure modes. The second sentence covered catastrophic failure, and the third covered lock slip. Unless you don't consider lock slip to be a defect.

 

[stabman]

I'm sorry, but this is another wild misconception with no basis in reality. Any force that's strong enough to bend steel or titanium isn't going to be stopped by your grip strength. And if your grip strength is the only thing holding that frame lock from slipping, then you have a defective frame lock.

The main way that type of lock fails is by slipping, not the lock-bar bending.
And yes, a lock prone to slippage would indeed be defective.

Grip can keep slippage from happening on a frame-lock...

Many years ago, my brother had a cheap steel frame-lock knife.
REALLY cheap.
The lock would fail with insanely light pressure on the spine...so I did a test.
I tied a rope to a 20 pound weight and, while gripping the handle tightly, lifted the weight with the spine of the blade. No slippage.

It was years ago, so I forget if I dulled the blade first, or used a cut-resistant glove. I also sort of forget if it was 20 or 30 pounds; I remember it was at least 20 though.

I have some frame-lock knives where a normal grip will put pressure that would prevent slippage; I have others where the way the handle is designed means that your grip does NOT put any significant pressure that would prevent lock slip.

The best thing to do is buy quality frame-locks or liner locks, and throw the crappy ones in the river.
Pretty sure I threw that cheap, defective frame-lock knife in the river, if I recall correctly.

 

[MBG]

I haven't owned very many knives with a well-ballenced framelock. They always seem to have too much tension or not enough. I have rarely experienced this issue with liner lock knives from $30 and up.

Those over tensioned framelocks may be marginally stronger, but they ruin the user experience. If I want to carry a knife that has excessive resistance to opening and chews up my thumb disengaging the lock, there are much stronger alternatives.

IMO titanium is a suboptimal material for most knife applications.

 

[353]

I haven't owned very many knives with a well-ballenced framelock. They always seem to have too much tension or not enough. I have rarely experienced this issue with liner lock knives from $30 and up.

Those over tensioned framelocks may be marginally stronger, but they ruin the user experience. If I want to carry a knife that has excessive resistance to opening and chews up my thumb disengaging the lock, there are much stronger alternatives.

IMO titanium is a suboptimal material for most knife applications.

I can somewhat agree to this.

But then again my two 21’s are pretty much just perfect.

So it CAN be done right.

 

[OrangeBlueOrangeBlue]

Yes, and my comment covered both failure modes. The second sentence covered catastrophic failure, and the third covered lock slip. Unless you don't consider lock slip to be a defect.

It depends on how much force it takes for the lock to slip. If it doesn't take a significant amount of force, that'd be defective. I'd agree that if you have to apply additional force to the lock to keep it from slipping under "normal" use, it's defective. But I wouldn't say that a lock is defective solely because it slips at a the force below than what's required to buckle the lock bar. If the hypothetical knives had a lock that slips just a few lb/ft short of the force needed to buckle the lockbar, adding tension would eliminate lock slip as a failure mode, which making it a little bit "stronger."

Either way, I'm pretty sure the potential increase in strength is more academic than practical. That probably goes for most lock strength testing. Last year, Cold Steel did a failure test of one of their knives and a Bugout using hanging weights (bolted to the end of the handle for maximum torque). The plastic handle on the Bugout failed at 160 lbs. As someone who weighs about 160 lbs, knowing that the lock could probably support my entire body makes me think it's "strong enough" for cutting.

 

[jstn]

I've had famelocks and liner locks that would fail under thumb pressure. The framelocks were an ADV Butcher, a Guardian Tactical sub frame lock, and the liner lock was a Zero Tolerance. In all three cases, I think the locks were not fitted properly. My Hinderer XM 18 on the other hand seems like it would stand up to anything a folding knife should be expected to. It has more to do with quality control and fit than the actual locks.