Be patient: compression lock questions

G

Geoff in Philly

Joined
Mar 7, 2000
Messages
458
OK, first...what is an anvil? and how does it relate to a "stop pin"?
From the pictures I have seen, it looks like the meat of your thumb...the thenar eminence, ie your big fat (no offense) thumb muscle on your palm...could dislodge the lock if the handle twisted in your hand? I gotta be missing lots here...It appears that it is sort of an upside down framelock...so doesn't your grip "squeeze" the lock bar, which over time fatigues the bar?
I am really interested in the Paramilitary, but am not getting how this lock would work with G10 scales? can someone put me out of my well earned misery?
Yours in simplemindedness.

PS....ball bearing questions will be coming soon:p ;) :cool: :footinmou
 
The stop pin is located in the handles, somewhere near the pivot pin, close to the spine, and as the name implies, it stops the blade so it won't open more than it should. It is most common at linerlocks (eg. Lum Chinese Folder); some of the linerlocks use the thumbstud as a stop pin, (eg. Kershaw Leek).
The difference between the linerlock and the compression lock (though they may appear quite alike at a first glance), is that at a linerlock the blade tends to bend the lock, while at the compression lock, the lip of the lock is squeezed between the blade and the stop pin (or the anvil pin, if you like). Therefore, you need much more strength to break a compression lock.
Also due to the fact that the lock is situated on the back of the knife, it's more unlikely to disengage the lock accidentally. At least, it never occured to me, nor have I heard this to happen.
All the compression locks have dual steel liners. They may be nested in G-10 (see the Lil'T) therefore less obvious.
The Military had only one steel liner, while the ParaMillie has dual liners.
 
thanks..but what action moves the lip of the lock to wedge between the pin and the tang?..and what is going on at the rear of the knife?

any pix?
 
The lock has tension on it, like a liner lock would. Nothing is going on at the rear of the knife.

Take a look at this pic, it's the Ti Salsa, but you get the idea: (Thanks Sergiusz Mitin)



salsa_03.jpg
 
thank YOU...but why isn't it susceptible to disengaging under (in this case, clockwise) torque, as a linerlock/frame lock would? Also, doesn't squeezing that long lock bar mess with its ...stability? I imagine a grinding of it against the side slab under a tight grip....maybe I still don't get it...that has happened before

PS...hell of a photo
 
I think you may just not get it. :p :p

I have one in my hand right now. I'm right handed. I use two grips predominantly.

The first is with my thumb across the top and against the cobra hood. My thumb pushes down on the spine. Conceivably, I could position my thumb to the right and below the lock bar and torque counter clockwise, but to do that I would be holding the knife in a unnatural position.

Th other grip is with my thumb to the left side of the lock bar, against the left scale. In this case there are no hand parts near the lock bar so it shouldn't matter.

IMO, I think you find this lock harder to unlock accidently than either a liner or integral lock. (Left handers may be different)
 
geoff,

the brilliance of the compression lock is this:

1- the force of negative blade pressure (i.e. on the spine) does not translate to direct, face-on pressure on the tang/lockface junction, it's actually normal to that (i.e. think of a radiused tang like in a linerlock, but positioned parallel to the blade edge)

2- the lockbar is pinched between the stop pin and the tang mate face. pressure on the blade in any direction actually pushes and wedges the lockbar in both directions. this means that as you apply force, you're actually increasing the force working normal to the frictional surface and reducing the amount of slippage.

technically, it IS susceptible to the same torque-failure fault of the linerlock, but the directionality of force application makes it much, much less likely to budge the liner with that kind of motion.

it is also technically susceptible to the fat-palm syndrome, but as it's on the top, there's a lot less chance that something will budge it over.

check out:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=274568

that gives you the idea of how the lock works from the outside. from the inside, it's even more elegant.

there is one disadvantage to it, and it may be major depending on how important you find it. the closing "snap" can be extremely weak. on my gunting, it's almost nonexistent, even after increasing the lockbar tension. when you see how they cut out the detent portion, you'll see why.

it doesn't even compare to the linerlock's walker ball-bearing setup, much less a lockback or an axis lock.

-j
 
Good explanation biogon.
technically, it IS susceptible to the same torque-failure fault of the linerlock, but the directionality of force application makes it much, much less likely to budge the liner with that kind of motion.
Click to expand...

Not only the "directionality" of force application makes it harder to unlock but also that it´s on top of the handle where your palm makes contact instead of your fingers. It´s much easier to unlock a normal linerlock compared to a compression lock because you have a small contact area (a finger) that may move while the other fingers might keep the handle fixed in xyz.

The finger that touches the linerlock moves because it can (otherwise the knife would probably be a fixed blade) but the other fingers stay fixed in position. Result: liner lock failure.

I think the compression lock is the best out there so far compared to linerlocks, lockbacks, plungelocks, axislocks and even the framelock.

/Colinz
 
I have 2 Guntings, that I use all of the time, and with all of the training time that my drone has been through, especially, I have never had it fail or come close to failing. I cannot accidentally release the lock, whereas on Liners, it is easy, and I can even do it on Lockbacks, If I try. The Compression Lock is the best idea to come down the pipe in some time. Oh, and it's not backwards on Guntings, it's backwards on evertying else..:) --Joe
 
Jeez guys, thanks.
Picture this....knife in right hand, blade parallel to the ground,, slicing a chip out of a piece of wood, away from you...you hit a knot, the knife snags, your arm keeps moving forward....does that catch pose a risk?

or, slicing heavy cardboard, edge up, and you hit a dense part causing your wrist to rise up while the blade is sticking...any risk of disengagement?...I have popped liner locks that way easy...

does squeezing the lock cause it to grind against the slab?
 
i think in order for the lock to "grind", it would have to be moving, or the blade would have to exhibit a lot of play. i don't think either of these will ever be the case.

abe m.
 
Not a direct or definitive answer, but the nested Compression Lock feels more secure than the integral Compression Lock.
 
Never heard of an accidentally disengage of a compression lock so far. (OK, don't mention the first generation Vesuvius, you may consider those still prototypes) ;)
Trust me, it's reliable! A few hundreds ELUs can't be wrong. ;)
 
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