CRKT LAWKS Strength

C

Confederate

Joined
Sep 5, 2005
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I have a few CRKT liner lock folders with the Lake And Walker Knife Safety (LAWKS®). Although this safety provides some strength to the lockup, I've never seen it tested, nor do I know how easily it can be defeated.

Has anyone ever seen a LAWKS fail and, if so, under what circumstances did it happen?

Although I don't have any, I understand that the auto-LAWKS knives don't work very well. Also, the materials in the CRKT folders have been seriously downgraded. I have an M16 with AUS6 that I carry when I'm in Washington, D.C., and think I may run into a hostile metal detector. (It's something I don't mind hiding under a Bush (no pun intended) until later.)
.

Bigdog8.jpg


The ad says: "When open, with LAWKS actuated,
it offers the strength, rigidity and safety of a hilted
fixed blade. Release the LAWKS lever, release the
locking liner, and it folds to an easily carried length.
You have the advantages of a fixed blade without
the disadvantage a costly sheath carry system."
Yeah, right.
 
I have a M16-13Z. So many people seem to have problems with CRKT lockups. Its been the opposite for me though. I have yet to have any problems with my knife. I usually engage the LAWKS but i have yet to really depend on it since the liner itself hasnt failed yet. I dont really see how it can fail either unless the LAWKS doesnt engage in the first place.
 
The ones I have see are unhardened steel. They are not strength functional, but will prevent security related unlocks, white knuckling and that type of thing.

-Cliff
 
Right now I have a CRKT mt whitney folder in my EDC lineup and I often use the LAWKS system when using the knife...I never had a problem with the liner failign in the 1st palce but its good to know there is a little something extra there to prevent the knife from taking off a finger if the lock ever failed...
 
There are numerous M16 with better than AUS6 as the blade steel.
Perhaps consider an upgrade.
 
I have an M16 10k with AUS 8 steel, it's pretty cheap at Wal-Mart. The LAWKS system engages automatically on mine, and works just fine. A little slip fo metal slides behind the liner so it can't be pushed out of the way, the only way to disengage it is to push down a lever before pressing the liner lock. It works fine everytime. There isn't a really way you can accidently power your way past the LAWK system, it'd be like taking a penny, and laying it flat on the ground, and trying to smash it even flatter with just your foot, you can't do it., the LAWK system doesn't actually touch any part of the blade, just the liner.
 
Blade steel is one of those things that have made CRKT, Gerber, and others problematic at best. To actually downgrade the blade steel from AUS6 to AUS4 is one thing. Cheapening the other materials may actually cause catastrophic failure. And though I've heard of LAWKS failures, I've yet to see a picture of such a failure here.

I haven't heard much good about auto-LAWKS, but I've never had a LAWKS fail on me in the past. I did stop buying the damn knives after they began using junk steel as blades, so I don't trust the knives made over the past year or so.

One of the best CRKT offerings was the S-2. It had a solid titanium handle and a 4-inch ATS-34 blade. Great lockup, too. But the knife never really caught on. New ones were going about a year ago for about $25 in one of the most astounding knife bargains ever.

CRKTTitaniumBigDogNet.jpg


The CRKT "Big Dog" with tanto blade and titanium
frame. An attractive knife, it also was strong because
of its LAWKS lockup.

CR-7502.jpg

The CRKT S-2 sans LAWKS, but it still had a remarkably
strong locking mechanism.
 
I have the m16-14sf, and it's AUS8. I really like it. It doesn't have the auto-lawks system, it just has the normal m16 lock. My friend has the desert version and it has the auto-lawks. It is more of a hassle than anything else as you have to pull it back as you disengage the linear lock to close the knife. What m16s are AUS6 or AUS4?
 
calder100 said:
I have the m16-14sf, and it's AUS8. I really like it. It doesn't have the auto-lawks system, it just has the normal m16 lock. My friend has the desert version and it has the auto-lawks. It is more of a hassle than anything else as you have to pull it back as you disengage the linear lock to close the knife. What m16s are AUS6 or AUS4?
Click to expand...

The Zytel handled EDC are AUS 4, the rest are AUS 8.
Some cheaper Special Forces are 420HC.
 
I had a Crawford/Kasper folder that made use of the LAWKS sytem. It was extremely strong in every way, and felt more solid than my tanto style M-16. The LAWKS on the M-16 never failed but had a slight bit of wiggle room after about 3 years.
 
I've got an M16 LE (about 4-inch blade, aluminum scales), and I have beaten that thing beyond what's reasonable. I've used it as a chisel (23 ounce waffle-faced hammer included), prybar, a punch that's been driven through flat 1/8" aluminum stock many times, a drill, to basically carve small holes in various 1/8 and 1/16" aluminum many times, pushed, smashed, banged, thrown, tossed, dropped, hammered, bludgeoned, and everything else that one can do without actually meaning to break a knife. One small compaint: the rubber O-ring underneath the pivot screw finally broke and fell out. So replace it. That knife (AUS 8) is unquestionably the best $80 some I've ever spend. And if you bitch about having to sharpen a knife, then switch to another hobby/obsession. Yes, I sharpened it almost every other night after work, and sometimes every night, but I also refuse to use dull knives. Also, I cut things like aluminum (as mentioned) often. The LAWKS system is one of the best innovations the knife community has ever seen. It works. I've beaten it, and it's never even hinted at failure. It was recently retired, but I'm strongly considering getting another AUS 8 CRKT to replace it. That's what I think.
 
Never had one fail (have a few crkt knives), but I've been using the same m16 14 big dog since (I think) '98 and the linerlock has never failed on me either.
I've also "beaten that thing beyond what's reasonable"

CRKT will send you a bunch of parts for free (replace that o ring ;) )
http://crkt.com/partintr.html
 
I own quite a few CRKT's , I'm really starting to think their QC is hit and miss at best from reading all the failure stories , although none of mine have failed me.
 
I've got a CRKT pointguard as part of my standard EDC rotation. It's a great knife and honestly I'm not sure how it's possible for the LAWKS system to fail. The auto-LAWKS I could see if maybe it never engaged in the first place, but after engages unless the knife just disentegrates in your hand I don't know who it could fail. If the knife disentegrates in your hand due to something you are doing, you are probably using the wrong tool in the first place.
 
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