Ever been cut by a folder whose liner lock failed?

Liner locks without an additional safety are an accident waiting to happen. If you use one with the attitude that it is a slip joint, then you are safe. Reliance on the lock beyond that causes accidents. Light chopping will cause most LLs to disengage. It should be obvious by the number of ayes in the thread that there is a problem with the design. The vast majority of LLs, with the lock disengaged, offer little or no resistance to swinging closed. I own many, to include some by what are considered the finest custom builders in the world. I no longer use LLs. There are so many more reliable systems available, why do so? An injury by one at home is one thing. But how about a nasty failure while in a survival situation. As for myself, having used knives since 1965, LLs are not to be relied upon. Ask yourself a question - why do so many now have a secondary lock?
 
I love trying to read through all the replies. HALF OF THEM STATE NO IT NEVER HAPPENED TO ME. Do I have to read all those.

Yes I had a lock back fail once while trying to pry open the lid off of a 5 gallon plastic pale. Probably my fault, small knife, large job = lock failure. Bit me good, but I recovered.

Bill
 
HAKnPocket said:
I was cutting some tape between a door that had been taped shut and with a quick up stroke the blade hit the door latch and the lock gave out and closed one my finger. While this was the cut it was about 5 months later I was using the knife for the first time since I had the stitches to cut up a car tire. It was eating away and when I pulled the knife out it gave out without any force on the lock. So I tried it again and off it went. I called kershaw and was treated like a king just can't do liner locks again. (unless it my leatherman wave or skeletool but I am easy on the blades)
Click to expand...

Wow... sorry to hear all that happened to you!

Sounds like the first failure was caused by the equivalent of a spine whack. Is that correct?
 
I don't own any linerlocks except for 2 Rat-1 folders which are soon to be gifted away. They are quite stout as well as my Military, Tenacious & Persistance were before I sold them.

I can't feel good about trusting a linerlock to use or carry. Bad medicine - accidents looking for a place to happen IMO.
 
Last edited:
Boozoo Chavis said:
Yep. Several years ago I ended up with wicked gash across my finger when the lock on a CRKT K.I.S.S. gave way. Actually, the lock didn't fail, it was a faulty design that a hard grip on the knife could cause the lock to disengage.
Click to expand...

Worst POS knife I ever bought. What was I thinking ?:mad:
Single bevel :thumbdn: fully serrated :thumbdn: frame lock:thumbdn:
The first hour I had it , I reached into my pocket to get it and sliced the end of my finger open because the knife failed to stay closed. Patched my finger, jumped in the truck , and went back to the store to return it and get my money back. A knife not remaining closed under normal conditions is a total fail in my book ,never mind the crap design. The Peck by CRKT is another loser.
 
the kiss opening in your pocket happened to me too, its because it has weak blade retention...other frame locks seem to be better in that regard.
 
Kershaw Skyline failed on me. My fault - as I was not using it for its intended purpose, i.e. cutting. Didn't bite me thankfully. After it failed I tested the knife serval times to make sure it was locked in the first place. To recreate how it failed - I locked knife, placed about 10-15 pounds of presure on the spine and twisted the handle (with blade staying straight) - it popped the lock every time. I really like my Kershaw knives and cast no stones at the knives or the company. Just use them for tasks they are designed.
 
spiderco police model
disscussin lockback failure with other knife geeks and called bull
grabbed my pm and gripped hard
luckily it was only weight of blade cut but still have a scar(think it was 95/96)
switched to afck 8 to 10 days later
still had police model for couple of years as backup until it walked
 
Joeninja said:
spiderco police model
disscussin lockback failure with other knife geeks and called bull
grabbed my pm and gripped hard
luckily it was only weight of blade cut but still have a scar(think it was 95/96)
switched to afck 8 to 10 days later
still had police model for couple of years as backup until it walked
Click to expand...

I did some pretty hard spine wacks on my Police 3 G-10 and it was like a rock. Never heard of a problem with this knife. :confused:
 
cziv said:
I did some pretty hard spine wacks on my Police 3 G-10 and it was like a rock. Never heard of a problem with this knife. :confused:
Click to expand...

that lock will not fail to stress with out a huge amount of stress
the issue was the position of the lock on the spine
it was activated by the pressure of my palm so not actualy a failure but more of a accidental disengage
for one thing i hold my knife in a fairly unique grip for knife fighting
not a standard point up and not epee', considering the arch of the spine, a standard point up might even be worse for this knife. this incident was 15 years ago and i just might have been holding it standard point up because i was trying to create the problem. any way...
totaly against point down in face to face knife to knife combat btw, range is reduced and your fingers get cut off with out getting in range to bite the bad guy.
any way my grip ends up with the pad of my palm beneath my thumb directly on the lock back mech of a police model and the flex of the muscle during very tight grip(like im scared cause im about to get cut) creates the danger of activation and disengage of the lock so considering the title of this thread perhaps my comment was misplaced

if anyone wants to talk knife to knife combat im in;)
wow i kinda ramble when im talkin knives and my punctuation is really bad:D
 
Hey Joeninja, are you any relation to Joedirt? Anyway there are a lot of guys into FMA Silat Streetfighting - that stuff goes in the Practical Tactical section. You go to the main page of this forum, click here http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=670 then here after that page loads http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=680
and you're there.

In regard to your grip. I tried it every way possible and can't duplicate what you say:
pad of my palm beneath my thumb directly on the lock back mech of a police model
Click to expand...
I can only get close to that if I wrap my thumb over top of my fingers (where else can they go?) and then the knife shifts in my hand.

Oh well, have fun in Prac / Tac. :thumbup:
 
I had a Kershaw Blur fail on me several times before I sent it in. I almost got cut the first time it happened I was lucky I was wearing thick gloves, or I would have had a nasty cut. I still really never trust that knife.
 
Liner locks get a bad rap because most failures are on cheap knives with a liner lock. I have never had a liner lock failure but I dont buy cheap knives. High end knives that use liner locks like the Zero Tolerance 0200 models are so over built, failures dont happen. In fact ZT has never had a liner lock fail on them. I have full faith in the ZT liner locks but I have seen some in better end brands that are just o.k. The handle design plays a big role in liner lock user error.
 
Last edited:
The handle design plays a big role in liner lock user error.
Click to expand...

Seems to be the case.

It looks like most cases cited here are cases of unintended disengagement of the lock rather than mechanical failure of the lock. Either way it's still a failure of course. But the difference is important.

If the section of the liner that acts as the disengagement tab is raised above the height of the scales than that can be a potential accident.

The hand squirming on the grip can accidentally disengage the lock.

Wacking the blade can possibly cause the lock, in recoil, to disengage if it is a bit weak.

Seems that in normal use the liner lock is a stouter slip joint and can be used in that capacity.

Safeties on knives strike me as odd. That is my prejudice though.

tipoc
 
My Emerson CQC14 bit me once. The knife has since been relegated to the desk drawer because the liner lock kept failing. Yes, it's been to EKI twice and still it fails.
 
jw2n said:
Liner locks without an additional safety are an accident waiting to happen. If you use one with the attitude that it is a slip joint, then you are safe. Reliance on the lock beyond that causes accidents. Light chopping will cause most LLs to disengage. It should be obvious by the number of ayes in the thread that there is a problem with the design. The vast majority of LLs, with the lock disengaged, offer little or no resistance to swinging closed. I own many, to include some by what are considered the finest custom builders in the world. I no longer use LLs. There are so many more reliable systems available, why do so? An injury by one at home is one thing. But how about a nasty failure while in a survival situation. As for myself, having used knives since 1965, LLs are not to be relied upon. Ask yourself a question - why do so many now have a secondary lock?
Click to expand...

If you get a piece of lint caught in the notch on a back lock - it can fail.

If the famelock doesn't engage far enough - it can fail.

If the AXIS lock springs break - it can fail.

I'm running out of lock types here, but you see my point.

A liner lock is no more dangerous then any type of lock once you realize that locks are a convenience, just like a safety on a gun.
 
cziv said:
In regard to your grip. I tried it every way possible and can't duplicate what you say: I can only get close to that if I wrap my thumb over top of my fingers (where else can they go?) and then the knife shifts in my hand.
:
Click to expand...
remember ive said before i have a chicom pos knife right now so please understand.....
point up allows up thrusts(underhand)short range and powerful cuts
img0097gs.jpg

what i call epee' allows straight thrusts poor for cuts
img0098qd.jpg

my grip point up allows up good range thrusts and good cuts but of course not as powerful a cut as point up and a couple of inches less range thrust than epee'
img0099fa.jpg

img0100gnk.jpg

on second pic i open the fingers to show pad of palm under thumb am i misremebering where the lock back is on the police? i probably just did not communicate very well
 
Thanks Joeninja,

I see what your'e saying. That's exactly what I practiced what you said. I can't understand why anyone would use the Police model in that manner.

If held firmly with the thumb locked into the thumb ramp and jimping - even with a "death grip" on it. You have powerful thrusts and a flull range of slashing cuts open to you. Oh well. No biggie - be careful, something in that grip & knife might get your knife to fail, but I don't think it would be the Spyderco Police 3. ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top