Broken folders in the real world

I had no idea there had been so many bad experiences with linerlocks.

So are there knives with liners that seem less likely to fold in? What should we look for?

What about experiences with other locking mechanisms? I know that any lock can be made to fail, but do you have a favorite that you trust for harder use than others?

If you are playing with knives to keep your hands busy, then your female companionship may need updating....
 
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The only knife I have had fail on me due to the lock was a Kershaw Blackout with a liner lock. The lock face had peened from heavy rope cutting and the blade tang slipped off and closed with any type of pressure on the blade. I also have a Byrd Rescue II that if I hold it in a certain grip with heavy gloves on the lock disengages. This I believe is due to the Boye dent being too shallow.

Back to the Kershaw, however. It is a noticeable failure in the lock and the knife is unsafe to use anymore. I won't send it back to Kershaw for a replacement as someone gave it to me to test, and would not feel right getting a free knife out of the deal. If they want it back to look at it I will be more than happy to send it though. This is the only knife from a reputable company that I own that has ever failed under hard use. (I used it commercial fishing for several months)

I have never had a blade of a folding knife break (aside from tip damage or bent or broken off serrations) nor have any knives that I own had any major damage (that leads to failure) from rust or seawater exposure.
 
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most of the knives Ive had dont generally fail thankfully, one the blade broke on a spider web, but it had been sitting in an old wet box for 20ys. and the cross section showed rust had grown from the spine down leaving next to nothing for the intregrity of the blade.

anything else was either done by stupidity via myself or my friends
 
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CRKT Rollock. The lock failed when I was using it harshly, cutting a hole in 1/8 MDF.
The knife failed safe, the blade slid back into the handle.
It still worked, & I finished the job, but a month later the spring broke & is now unusable.
 
I had a $25 110 clone made by some company named "Coast" fail me.

I believe it was my fault more than the knife... Happened years ago so I don't remember what I was doing, but I was trying to press down on the back with the tip in between some wood so that it would make kind of a fulcrum... Well, it stressed the knife too much and the lock-back failed. Lucky for me since the knife was already in the wood pretty good, my hand just flew forward and slammed against the wood and not even enough to get the blade.
 
I had a few CS LTC kukris shatter or warp. A Benchmade Rukus blade broke with minimal downward pressure. A Becker Patrol Machete, snapped. Others I'm sure. None of the above knives were broken because of abuse.
 
Not all linerlocks are made the same. A Mini pocket rock from benchmade vs a smith and wesson extreme ops hawkbill. One will fail witha tap one you can go at it with a baseball bat.
 
arrowhd said:
So I'm not the only person that does this to keep my hands "busy"?
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You are most certainly not, If i'm not out or doing something around the house, my knife is in my hand. Annoys some of my family members hearing the "Click" of the lockbar over and over and over but i have to or i will go crazy.

Only knife i had "break" didn't really break at all. My buddy decided to use my kershaw blur to pry an empty shell out of his shotgun and broke the tip off.
 
I read that J. Ankerson managed a failure with the ball-lock of a Spyderco Manix2, but am not familiar with the details.
Sonny
 
Sonnydaze said:
I read that J. Ankerson managed a failure with the ball-lock of a Spyderco Manix2, but am not familiar with the details.
Sonny
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The title of this thread was Broken folders in the real world. Ankerson's test was hardly a "real world" breakage. Anyone can break any folder if they hit it hard enough. YMMV
 
Pete1977 said:
The title of this thread was Broken folders in the real world. Ankerson's test was hardly a "real world" breakage. Anyone can break any folder if they hit it hard enough. YMMV
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Spyderco fixed the issue that caused the failure, anyway. It's a moot point.
 
Yeah, that was the idea. You can make a knife fail, but I wondered about knives that broke/folded/failed in some way, when that wasn't what the intended goal was.

Apparently, it happens often enough to justify our collective fascination with blades and locks.

I remembered I broke another one; busted the pivot pin by dropping it about three feet onto a concrete floor. Cheap folder.
 
CrimsonTideShooter said:
Spyderco fixed the issue that caused the failure, anyway. It's a moot point.
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yeah but you know how when some clown (not ankerson, his test actually aided in finding a flaw in the lock mechanism of the Manix 2) with a sledgehammer and a hockey mask breaks a "hard use knife" during a "destruction test" that instance gets spread around the internet like wildfire and people won't trust their folding knife for batoning zombies any more. ZOMG! :eek:
 
Pete1977 said:
yeah but you know how when some clown (not ankerson, his test actually aided in finding a flaw in the lock mechanism of the Manix 2) with a sledgehammer and a hockey mask breaks a "hard use knife" during a "destruction test" that instance gets spread around the internet like wildfire and people won't trust their folding knife for batoning zombies any more. ZOMG! :eek:
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I have my opinion of the type of people that buy into that garbage, but for the sake of my account I'll keep it to myself.


One thing I can say is that I have noticed that the people who are hyper concerned about how much abuse a knife can take are the same people who brag about using their knife to open a letter.

They never really use the knife for anything, yet they won't buy a knife if they see it fail some abusive test. It's hilarious, honestly.
 
CrimsonTideShooter said:
I have my opinion of the type of people that buy into that garbage, but for the sake of my account I'll keep it to myself.


One thing I can say is that I have noticed that the people who are hyper concerned about how much abuse a knife can take are the same people who brag about using their knife to open a letter.

They never really use the knife for anything, yet they won't buy a knife if they see it fail some abusive test. It's hilarious, honestly.
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agreed!

for many people, a spyderco kiwi3 would suffice. it cant handle a whole lot of hard tasks, but many people wouldn't realistically use it for such anyhow.

still doesnt keep me from loving my gayle bradley though :)
 
If I, and a whole lot of other people, were to be totally honest, we would have to admit we're overcompensating.

That would also stall the knife industry. Personally, I choose not to address the phsychological issues hinted at by my endless fascination with ever-stronger iterations of folding knives, on the basis of the grounds that it helps contribute to the economy.

Walks Away Laughing.
 
S&W tanto folder liner lock failed on me big time, lock disengaged from the grip, cost me 12 stitches.I melted it down into a ball that now sits at the bottom of lake Ontario.
 
TriviaMonster said:
I had a massive fail on a Gerber Remix, the knife with a finger hole basically. The sliding lock portion broke and no longer works. Very poor design where the lock is held onto the blade by plastic. Failed opening a clamshell package of sorts. Worst knife ever.

-Chris-
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Yes, the Remix with the slide "lock" was crap. Dangerous crap. They did redesign it to a linerlock, which isn't bad.
 
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