Frame lock failure?

bleedingfinger · Apr 5, 2015

Last night I had my titanium frame lock knife on the table in the opened locked position. I was moving stuff around and my knife fell of the edge of my dining table,onto the hard stone floor.
When I picked it up I was surprised to see the lock had disengaged!
Is a waist high drop onto the equivalent of concrete really that much?
I'm used to axis, triad and back locks.. I don't think they would have closed.
What do you guys think?

egally08 · Apr 5, 2015

Sounds more like a safety feature to me. I sure wouldn't want an open knife bouncing around my feet.

asdf12345 · Apr 5, 2015

egally08 said:
Sounds more like a safety feature to me. I sure wouldn't want an open knife bouncing around my feet.

Is this comment in jest? I honestly can't tell.

Krissig12 · Apr 5, 2015

Yay a lock strength thread!

asdf12345 · Apr 5, 2015

Does your framelock disengage after gentle impacts? Don't worry about that - it's just a "safety feature" for the rare case in which you "accidentally drop your knife and don't want an open knife bouncing around your feet"! It's still a strong, overbuilt knife who don't need no design improvements!

In any case I don't think this would happen to a framelock with late lockup. In addition, linerlocks with early lockup could potentially be disengaged by impacts as well. To OP: is the lockup on your framelock early?

unit · Apr 5, 2015

I think no knife should be dropped or left unattended. I also think that there is a VERY wide range in quality that could be expected of a "titanium frame lock".

There have been highly sought after and high priced knives come onto the market after much hype and expectation, only to find that they were executed very poorly and the frame locks could be defeated by tapping the spine with your knuckle. That does not mean that frame locks are bad, it means that those particular examples were very poorly executed.

egally08 · Apr 5, 2015

asdf12345 said:
I honestly can't tell.

That says a lot.

Any lock could fail under the right circumstances. Falling just right and jolting it a certain way isn't indicative of much.

asdf12345 · Apr 5, 2015

egally08 said:
That says a lot.

Any lock could fail under the right circumstances. Falling just right and jolting it a certain way isn't indicative of much.

No, that was my bad, you're absolutely right. Actually come to think of it a knife I once owned had a similar safety feature - if you accidentally put some pressure on the spine it would close and cut your finger.

PURPLEDC · Apr 5, 2015

asdf12345 said:
Does your framelock disengage after gentle impacts? Don't worry about that - it's just a "safety feature" for the rare case in which you "accidentally drop your knife and don't want an open knife bouncing around your feet"! It's still a strong, overbuilt knife who don't need no design improvements!

In any case I don't think this would happen to a framelock with late lockup. In addition, linerlocks with early lockup could potentially be disengaged by impacts as well. To OP: is the lockup on your framelock early?

This is not that thread and its a completely different set of circumstances. But I understand the desire to rehash relentlessly.

asdf12345 · Apr 5, 2015

PURPLEDC said:
This is not that thread and its a completely different set of circumstances. But I understand the desire to rehash relentlessly.

To which thread was I referring? I'm talking about what happened to the OP: his knife took a short fall and the lock disengaged.

egally08 · Apr 5, 2015

asdf12345 said:
No, that was my bad, you're absolutely right. Actually come to think of it a knife I once owned had a similar safety feature - if you accidentally put some pressure on the spine it would close and cut your finger.

A recent study has shown that complex cognitive skills are required to understand sarcasm.

pinecraft · Apr 5, 2015

If I owned a knife that the lock failed from a short drop, I would throw it in the trash where it belongs. And be thankful it didn't happen in use on my hand.

bleedingfinger · Apr 5, 2015

asdf12345 said:
In any case I don't think this would happen to a framelock with late lockup. In addition, linerlocks with early lockup could potentially be disengaged by impacts as well. To OP: is the lockup on your framelock early?

It's pretty perfect, not early or late maybe 40%.
This is no safety feature.
As egally said, maybe it hit just right. I would duplicate this but it's an expensive knife.
I was surprised because it locks up STRONG zero play in any direction.
However will be watching it closer now

clearkevin · Apr 5, 2015

Have you been able to get the lock to fail again?

Krissig12 · Apr 5, 2015

pinecraft said:
If I owned a knife that the lock failed from a short drop, I would throw it in the trash where it belongs. And be thankful it didn't happen in use on my hand.

And how exactly do you think this would have happened if the knife was in your hand?

Do you use the spine as a hammer?

Paka · Apr 5, 2015

pinecraft said:
If I owned a knife that the lock failed from a short drop, I would throw it in the trash where it belongs. And be thankful it didn't happen in use on my hand.

Send it to me! I'll pay postage!

omgomgyouguys · Apr 5, 2015

clearkevin said:
Have you been able to get the lock to fail again?

For science! You have to replicate results.

Which knife?

pinecraft · Apr 5, 2015

Krissig12 said:
And how exactly do you think this would have happened if the knife was in your hand?

Do you use the spine as a hammer?

Hard to tell as the op isn't even sure how it happened on the drop. Just off the top of my head force on the blade, relief pressure on the lock causing the fail? You cant rule it out happening in your hand if you can't figure out how it happened on the drop. And safety first, I wouldn't use a knife based on a guess. I am a use the correct tool kind of guy, I don't abuse my knives, but I use them. Hard and a lot, and I like my fingers

bleedingfinger · Apr 5, 2015

I use my knives hard and buy quality for peace of mind.
The knife is my beloved edc.. techno.
The reason I didn't specify is the knife has shown no other signs of a lock problem at ALL.
And I was thinking someone with frame lock experience might say "ya if you drop a frame lock, it disengages due to... Xyz"
I want to trust this, my first frame lock, like I trust my tri ads.
I have a rajah 1,and it's tri ad.. Now if that fails good lord watch out. I trust it though.
I'm not sure how I feel about frame locks and this incident didn't help.

asdf12345 · Apr 5, 2015

Krissig12 said:
And how exactly do you think this would have happened if the knife was in your hand?

Do you use the spine as a hammer?

Stop with this "spine as a hammer" nonsense.

No one's faulting framelocks for failing when violent, destructive, spinewhacks are involved, and those that do are quickly called out on it.

Prying a blade free from wood puts force on the blade similar to constant pressure on the spine.

A situation where you accidentally bump something with your blade is another scenario where disengagement is an issue.

If a knife falls three feet and the lock disengages I wouldn't trust that knife to do heavier tasks.