flipper causing premature wear on linerlocks?

harkamus

harkamus

Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
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I was talking to another knife nut the other day and showed him my ZT 0350 that I flipped open. He said it was cool but mentioned that using the flipper causes the linerlocks to wear faster. Is there any truth to that?
 
I disagree... I know my flipper knives beg to be 'flipped' - so they get opened a lot more often. Really, they probably have the same life-cycles - you just go thru it more quickly with a flipper. Semantics. I'm not worried... I have done my darndest to wear out my Buck 347 Vantage and Kershaw JYDIIs. To quote the OOD when I, the radar operator, told him we were headed for a lighthouse - and it couldn't move, "It won't happen on my watch!". I'm more likely to shorten my fingers closing the $#@&^ things!

Stainz
 
harkamus said:
I was talking to another knife nut the other day and showed him my ZT 0350 that I flipped open. He said it was cool but mentioned that using the flipper causes the linerlocks to wear faster. Is there any truth to that?
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I take "faster" to mean in a shorter time not fewer cycles so yes it will wear out "faster" if you develop that annoyingly nervous habit of opening and closing the knife constantly. If you open it only when you need to use the knife, using the flipper won't make it wear out any "faster".
 
harkamus said:
I was talking to another knife nut the other day and showed him my ZT 0350 that I flipped open. He said it was cool but mentioned that using the flipper causes the linerlocks to wear faster. Is there any truth to that?
Click to expand...

No...
 
I don' t hink so either. Or atleast I can' t think of any reason why using a flipper should wear a liner lock quicker than a thumbstud.
 
antonio_luiz said:
I take "faster" to mean in a shorter time not fewer cycles so yes it will wear out "faster" if you develop that annoyingly nervous habit of opening and closing the knife constantly. If you open it only when you need to use the knife, using the flipper won't make it wear out any "faster".
Click to expand...

Yup.

The flipper makes the knife fun to, uh, flip. You might end up flipping that knife a couple of hundred times in a week just for fun, whereas you're unlikely to cycle non-flipper knife more than a couple dozen times. I know I'm guilty of this, especially with assisted opening flippers.
 
harkamus said:
I was talking to another knife nut the other day and showed him my ZT 0350 that I flipped open. He said it was cool but mentioned that using the flipper causes the linerlocks to wear faster. Is there any truth to that?
Click to expand...

You have two choices , 1- you can enjoy flipping your 0350 until the cows come home, and if you manage to wear it out, it has lifetime warranty. or-
2- you can buy some ugly knife and put it in your drawer and it will never wear out.

which will you enjoy ??
 
kershawguy said:
You have two choices , 1- you can enjoy flipping your 0350 until the cows come home, and if you manage to wear it out, it has lifetime warranty. or-
2- you can buy some ugly knife and put it in your drawer and it will never wear out.

which will you enjoy ??
Click to expand...

You make a great point.:thumbup: I do enjoy flipping open my 0350. I do it a couple times daily, but probably not to the point where it's anywhere close to 100 cycles a week.

I completely forgot about the warranty. I don't buy ugly knives (to me). ;)
 
I can see why he would say that. I've heard other people mention similar things.
When you flip open the knife, it usually opens "harder" than if you were to open it another way. Therefore some people think it would cause more wear. If you open the knife slowly the liner and tang do not rub against each other so hard, so there is less wear caused.

It makes some sense. Whether you can tell the difference the additional wear might be causing is another matter entirely.
 
antonio_luiz said:
I take "faster" to mean in a shorter time not fewer cycles so yes it will wear out "faster" if you develop that annoyingly nervous habit of opening and closing the knife constantly. If you open it only when you need to use the knife, using the flipper won't make it wear out any "faster".
Click to expand...

:thumbup:+1 I concur :)








Nice new name & avatar 2Brothers!:thumbup:;)
 
i wouldn't worry.

the flipper is not going to stress the lock any more than other liner/frame locks. constant flipping may stress the stop pin, but since stop pins tend to be solid metal im not concerned about breaking one.
 
Here is a pic of my ZT 300 close to the time of purchase
Picture403.jpg


And after much abuse including chopping on tree branches and hundreds of random openings this is what it looks like today.
Picture598.jpg
 
Interesting pics. Maybe it's just the angle, but the second pic after hundreds of uses, the lock bar looks like it's seated less than when you bought it, but that can't be correct. Must just be from the angle.
 
harkamus said:
Interesting pics. Maybe it's just the angle, but the second pic after hundreds of uses, the lock bar looks like it's seated less than when you bought it, but that can't be correct. Must just be from the angle.
Click to expand...

A combo of lighting and not being able to be in the exact same position have a effect on how the picture looks but use points of reference and you will see it has not moved. Tried to get it as close as I could though.
 
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