Favorite Lock

[shane45-1911]

The axis lock simply sounds and feels solid. Like the difference between opening and shutting a Merecedes door, and opening and shutting a Chevette door.

No offense to any Chevette drivers.

 

[stjames]

Well, so far no one prefers an Opinel or slipjoint, the balisong is making a shockingly weak showing, with the lock back and liner lock barely holding there heads up and the REKAT Rolling Lock being thoroughly crushed by the overwhelming popularity of the Axis Lock!

At least those of us in the know have kept the integral lock from an embarrassing performance.

 

[stjames]

I'm still shocked; two measely votes for the balisong!

Don't you flippers ever visit the main forum?

 

[Keith Montgomery]

Gotta go with Cougar on this one. The best lock is no lock.

 

[Xian]

Could someone outline a few of these locks:

Intergral/Frame (is it just a liner lock using the frame?)
Twist and Plunge (never heard of these)
Rolling/Arc (just how are they different from Axis?)

Thanks... a lot of this info seems to be taken for granted so I can't really find anything on these through a google search.

 

[Waktasz]

the balisong is widely know as the strongest locking folding knife made.

 

[Samurai6]

Nothing wrong with a good integral lock. The only thing I don't like about the integral lock right now is that they tend to come on skinny, slab sided handles that are not the most comfortable for hard use without gloves. Allen Elishewitz has his Bolster lock, which is essentially an integral lock partly covered up by a handle scale which seems to solve the comfort problem, but the grip of the hand no longer holds the lock engaged, so it is a trade off.

My actual favorite lock is the balisong, but you don't get a lot of ergonomics with a balisong either, so I had to go with the Axis. It is very reliable, strong, and lets you do anything you want with handle ergonomics.

Honorable mention must go to the Spyderco Compression lock. I really like it, but there isn't much of a selection of Compression lock knives to choose from yet, it's the Gunting or the Vesuvious, and neither of them floats my boat.

 

[cpirtle]

Originally posted by stjames
...the REKAT Rolling Lock being thoroughly crushed...

While I voted for the Lock Back, it's in almost a dead heat with the integral. Compare my CS Voyager to My Sebenza, integral wins. Now if CRK made a lockback... woohooo

Anyway, back to the quote... Do you think that the Rolling Lock scored lower because of the bad press surrounding REKAT in general? I still think that when properly implemented the Rolling lock is one of the best going.

One might say that the lock is 50% of the knife and the rest of the parts makes up the other 50%, so if REKAT aces the lock and the rest is garbage, they still fail the test...

Personally, I don't care how good or expensive a knife is, if I don't trust the locking mechanism I won't own it.

 

[cpirtle]

Originally posted by Xian
Could someone outline a few of these locks:

Intergral/Frame (is it just a liner lock using the frame?)
Twist and Plunge (never heard of these)
Rolling/Arc (just how are they different from Axis?)

Thanks... a lot of this info seems to be taken for granted so I can't really find anything on these through a google search.

Integral/Frame: An integral lock uses the entire slab of the handle to lock the blade in place. Effectively doubleing, tripling or more the thickness of the steel behind the tang of the blade and also increasing the strength of the "spring". ala: Sebenza

Twist: A Twist lock is basically a circular loop with a slit cut into it. In order to open the blade you rotate the loop so that the slit is over the blade and the blade passes through it, once the blade is open you rotate the loop back over top of the blade, effectively disabling it's ability to close. Very simple to implement but you need to be a rocket scientist to describe it without pictures ala: Opinel

Plunge: A plunge lock is basically a button that is spring loaded, when the knife is open the spring pushes the button up behind the tang of the blade to lock it in place. To unlock you push the button down which removes the block from the tang and you can close the blade. ala: MOD CQD

Rolling Lock; The Rolling lock is a bar permanantly mounted in place behind the tang of the blade with a notch cut in it. The bar is spring loaded so that when the blade is open the bar rotates around the blade, via the notch, and places the full length of the bar behind the tang of the blade. Another tough one to explain, but very effective when done right. ala: REKAT

Arc: Basically the Arc lock is SOG's answer to the Axis Lock. They have enough differences to make them different locks but in function and safety they are very similar. ala: Vision series

Hope that helps, others may be able to explainthem a little better than me though.

 

[Donald]

To be perverse, , and because I like a lock that was not mentioned I voted for "Something I missed (Let us know what it is!)"

The axial lock as found on the Paul Series II Model 2 knife by Gerber (e.g. final production run 1997 or the earlier Paul Model 2P (which I purchased in 1979). I refer to the dates this way as it gives an idea as to time period without worrying about ones made slightly earlier than when I purchased my first one or the ones put together from parts, by/for A.G. Russell, after the "final production run." This is United States Patent 3,942,249 issued on 9 March 1976.

This can be viewed here: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-...&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1='3,942,249'.WKU.&OS=PN/3,942,249&RS=PN/3,942,249 .

This is such a long link I am not sure it will work, but if you go to the http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html and search using the patent number it is easy to find, as opposed to searching using other methods. If you want to view the images, you may need to view the associated help file and get the suggested free download to get them to work.

To be fair and as a warning, I note that there have been some complaints that pocket lint can defeat this lock. Perhaps so, but if it locks, it seems to stay locked. I have used knives with intregal locks, axis locks, lock backs, slip joints, liner locks, automatic knives, and none seem any faster or more convenient than this lock. It locks the knife open or closed and is ambidexterous. A simple squeeze allows one to open AND close the knife quickly and conveniently.

 

[RGRAY]

James, since the small Sebenza is my EVERY day care; I will have to say frame lock.

 

[bandaidman]

frame lock is my favorite: as long as its lefty!

the axis lock is very nice as well