Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
After reading the recent thread by Frank/Rage in which he described breaking several locks including the Axis and Rolling, I became interested in where the break points were on some of my folders and how difficult it would be to reach them. I chose the CS VG to use as a decent benchmark as while it is hardly high end, it was noted by Sal Glesser that the large CS lockbacks are among the strongest they have seen and can exceed Spyderco's current heavy duty standard.
I put the blade in a vice and with one hand on the vice I put my right on the handle, and pressed down lightly. Surprisingly the lock started to give right away and open up. I was actually only intending this part to give me an idea of how the stress would effect the lock. Increasing the force the lock gave way. I was not straining myself and had a couple of friends around who were very surprised to see the lock fail so easily. The vice was actually on a stool and I was keeping it stable with my left hand.
The end result was that one of the pins that keep the blade together (the second one from the top) bent about 45 degrees on both sides and the folder simply spread apart and unlocked. Fixing it was not overly difficult, I just straightened the pins and hammered the folder back together. It will not open and close fairly smoothly, including with a soft wrist flick.
I did some thrusts to estimate the amount of force I was using and it was about 150 +/- 25 lbs. I was pressing down on the handle about 5 +/- .5" from the pin. Note that since this break was not actually caused by a failure in the lock mechanism but a shearing of one of the pins in the handle, if the handle was clamped and force subjected it by a press, its strength rating would be much higher but unrealistic.
What does this mean in terms of a sensible standard for lock strength? Good question. Sal Glesser of Spyderco once noted that the 600 in.lbs region was out of the range of most of the current folders and yet what I applied above would have exceed that. As for practical use, the lock on the VG is easily strong enough to stand up to most cutting chores and I have even done light chopping with it. For survival type uses you could easily general such stresses using the folder to split wood or in prying. Sudden impacts could generate that level of force as well, for example hard thrusts into a dense targets or strikes from a stick or similar.
-Cliff
[This message has been edited by Cliff Stamp (edited 04-02-2000).]
I put the blade in a vice and with one hand on the vice I put my right on the handle, and pressed down lightly. Surprisingly the lock started to give right away and open up. I was actually only intending this part to give me an idea of how the stress would effect the lock. Increasing the force the lock gave way. I was not straining myself and had a couple of friends around who were very surprised to see the lock fail so easily. The vice was actually on a stool and I was keeping it stable with my left hand.
The end result was that one of the pins that keep the blade together (the second one from the top) bent about 45 degrees on both sides and the folder simply spread apart and unlocked. Fixing it was not overly difficult, I just straightened the pins and hammered the folder back together. It will not open and close fairly smoothly, including with a soft wrist flick.
I did some thrusts to estimate the amount of force I was using and it was about 150 +/- 25 lbs. I was pressing down on the handle about 5 +/- .5" from the pin. Note that since this break was not actually caused by a failure in the lock mechanism but a shearing of one of the pins in the handle, if the handle was clamped and force subjected it by a press, its strength rating would be much higher but unrealistic.
What does this mean in terms of a sensible standard for lock strength? Good question. Sal Glesser of Spyderco once noted that the 600 in.lbs region was out of the range of most of the current folders and yet what I applied above would have exceed that. As for practical use, the lock on the VG is easily strong enough to stand up to most cutting chores and I have even done light chopping with it. For survival type uses you could easily general such stresses using the folder to split wood or in prying. Sudden impacts could generate that level of force as well, for example hard thrusts into a dense targets or strikes from a stick or similar.
-Cliff
[This message has been edited by Cliff Stamp (edited 04-02-2000).]
