Growing Fear of Liner Locks

I got started thinking about liner lock reliability when I was a huge fan of the AFCK. I started talking to people who don't just market "tactical folders", but spend their spare time training with a knife as a defensive tool. These are the kind of guys who train knife against stick, knife against chain, knife against pipe, and so on. They were the ones who started telling me that most of the folders they had been buying weren't holding up, both production and hand made.

So I started testing things for myself. My primary test is to tape the open knife to a stick and do full force jams into a board. If the lock holds, I then clamp the blade in a vice and do all kinds of gorilla grip twisting and torqueing.

There are quite a few liner locks that I get along with pretty well. I just keep their limitations in mind. I have several lock backs that I really like too.

The thing with liner locks is that I have encountered so many of them that would simply slip off the blade tang and disengage under moderate closing pressure. Same with lock backs. They are both tricky to make so that they hold reliably.

The biggest drawback to liner lock folders right now is that there are some really good alternatives available, the Axis Lock, Rolling Lock, and several integral side locks, even a couple of liner locks with secondary safety locks (Gerber Covert and Spyderco Centofante). These are so much more reliable than even the best liner lock that it just makes no sense to buy a liner lock hard use folder anymore. To my way of thinking, if there are better locks, high dollar hand mades should come with 'em too.

Just my outlook. I still consider my M-2 AFCKs, Darrel Ralph Krait, and John W. Smith liner locks to be great knives, just not as bulletproof as my Apogee, Axis, or Crawford Carnivore.

Harv
 
David,
I swear, on a bat! Check it out! Here's the link to the review (I'll try it anyway)

<A HREF="http://bbs.ipass.net/~stringb/Carnivour.html">Carnivour Test</A>

It's actually a pretty good review. But a couple of knives sure took a beating.

P.s. This is my 100th post. I should officially be a senior member!!! Yea

------------------
"May you live in interesting times"

AKTI - A000389


[This message has been edited by Kingknives (edited 14 July 1999).]
 
As I said (implied) on the Socom thread, there are better mousetraps (locks) out there right now. And, is not like there is a big price differential from the higher end linerlocks and the Axis, RL, and integral locks.

It's a matter of time, but I think folders marketed for hard use will increasingly come with a lock other than a linerlock. I mean just pick up a REKAT pioneer or carnivour, a pinnacle (I can't afford the Sebenza right now), an Axis and really bang and torque these around... They inspired a confidence that just don't have for a linerlock anymore.

Besides buying a knife for cutting, we also want it for a number of other factors, the look, the feel, whatever. For me, a large folder also has to have a "confidence" factor, without which the others just don't count nearly enough.

sing
 
Kingknives,

Holy sh*t I won't doubt you again. Why would they do that? If you need something that extreme it is time for a fixed blade! I'll read the article now, wow 14 pages to print out.

Congrats on senior member status.
 
Sing,

I agree that the RL and Axis may be "better mousetraps" and as their numbers increase they will gain an importanat share of the market. But I doubt that they will displace liner-locks entirely, for these reasons:

1) Design is still a factor. I don't care for any of the current RL or Axis models, and not everything will be "converted" to this lock. If you want the shape of an AFCK, for example, you will probably always have a linerlock.

2) Linerlocks can and do work! I own several that have never failed and are up to any test I want to do. They also have nicer action and easier one-handed closing than any RL or Axis I have played with. So the new designs aren't always a "better mousetrap" if the old mousetrap works fine, which the better linerlocks do.

3) Many companies and most makers will continue to make liner-locks. This is because the new locks are trickier for a single-person shop, and they also have patents and royalties attached to them. Most folks will continue to produce liner-locks.

I am as concerned about linerlock problems as anyone, but I fear that in all of this paranoia we will lose sight of the fact that there are liner-lock knives with excellent designs and proven records. "Stronger" or "more reliable" means very little if the old method was "strong enough" or "reliable enough" for all reasonable use. And I have yet to play with another knife type that worked as smoothly or as easily as a nice linerlock.

------------------
-Drew Gleason
Little Bear Knives
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top