Framelock thickness

Charlie Mike

Charlie Mike

Sober since 1-7-14 (still a Paranoid Nutjob)
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Nov 1, 2000
Messages
28,365
Do you think a Ti framelock with a slab thickness of .125" would be sufficient for a knife with a 4.5" blade at .156" thick?

What is the thinnest you could accept? What is your preferred thickness?
 
I think that would work fine. I'm not much of a fan of super thick frames honestly. You have something interesting planned?
 
I prefer overbuilt folders. I like the handles at 3/16" and the blade as well. While I like the look of 1/4" its not very efficient for the lenght and width of folder handles with my hand size. Anything less doesn't give me the grip I like for hard use tasks.
 
I also prefer a thin profile, that just means it will carry nicely.
 
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Thinner is better.

What I can never wrap my head around is the people who INSIST on early lockup and then buy knives with a thick lockbar. Why does it matter how thick the lockbar is if you are only going to engage the first half a mil or so?
 
To be honest if you work on alot of frame locks. You will eventually realize that the thickness of the lock bar has nothing to due with stability or reliability. The Execution is what matters. And most of the time if you look from the rear the whole face of the Ti lock does not make contact with the blade tang. If the lock up is proper then dont worry about it. Im sorry I dont have time to write a full paragraph, my daughter needs a baba.
 
seelow123 said:
I think that would work fine. I'm not much of a fan of super thick frames honestly. You have something interesting planned?
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Due tomorrow.

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My next Dalton purchase will have to wait til next month. CA legal belt buckle switchblade.

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I don't remember what the ti scale thickness is on the spyderco lionspy, but it was pretty thin, around .140 or so; and an extremely thick blade. It worked very well for that knife and had an insanely solid lockup.
 
I was not disappointed!

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It all depends on the thickness and design of the lockbar cutout. Even though the Spyderco Gayle Bradley isn't a framelock, its linerlock is a lot stronger than most framelocks because of the very shallow cutout. Doesn't matter how thick the framelock or blade is, that cutout is often a weak link in the design of many framelocks.
 
I work with Neil Blackwood and his Bruiser has .125 Ti scales and a .160 or bigger blade and it will never fail. 3/16th is not overkill, it's wasted material and weight. The user will fail long before the knife will. I know a lot of folks won't like that, but how many have ever caused critical failure in a folder? There;s a lot more to it than scale thickness as well. Neil uses 1/4 inch pivot pins and blade stop pins which is where 99% of folders fail. Oh yea...even with a 3/16th thickness, you have to mill in lock relief which lowers the thickness to 1/16th 0r 3/32....and a knife is only as strong as it's weakest part.....things to ponder...
 
tidefan said:
I work with Neil Blackwood and his Bruiser has .125 Ti scales and a .160 or bigger blade and it will never fail. 3/16th is not overkill, it's wasted material and weight. The user will fail long before the knife will. I know a lot of folks won't like that, but how many have ever caused critical failure in a folder? There;s a lot more to it than scale thickness as well. Neil uses 1/4 inch pivot pins and blade stop pins which is where 99% of folders fail. Oh yea...even with a 3/16th thickness, you have to mill in lock relief which lowers the thickness to 1/16th 0r 3/32....and a knife is only as strong as it's weakest part.....things to ponder...
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Tomorrow, Neil should be receiving a Jody Samson weehawk balisong I sent him to take measurements from. If you've never handled one, you should drop by.
 
gooeytek said:
It all depends on the thickness and design of the lockbar cutout. Even though the Spyderco Gayle Bradley isn't a framelock, its linerlock is a lot stronger than most framelocks because of the very shallow cutout. Doesn't matter how thick the framelock or blade is, that cutout is often a weak link in the design of many framelocks.
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This.

No matter how thick your frame lock is, the weak point is the cutout. I have seen many many super thick frame lock with very thin cutout, make absolutely no sense...
 
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