How bad is spine whack lock failure?

[longbeachguy]

Hi, newbie question here.

I just received my Kershaw Talon 1422ST that I bought mint in box on ebay. I was pretty thrilled with it (G10 handles, ATS 34 blade) until I spine whacked it and the lock disengaged. The blade is very tight in the open position, and I've not been able to get the lock to fail by just applying pressure. However, I repeatedly and consistenly fails with hard spine whacks. It's a liner lock.

I'm not exactly sure what this means. Do I have to be very concerned about this knife closing on my hand if I subject it to hard use?

Please tell me I didn't by a $50 letter opener. :grumpy:

 

[GarageBoy]

Send back to kershaw

 

[Artfully Martial]

I'm sure Kershaw will fix things for you. Good that you tested the knife ahead of time.

 

[OneKnifeMan]

Send it back. With so many batter locks available I don't buy knife with liner lock any more.

 

[wwells20]

I've got an Avalanche that "seems" to be solid as a tank. It passes the open hand test but is easily defeated on a hard surface. It turned out to be a bit large and heavy for EDC so I didn't worry about it. Just posting this to warn about both tests.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

The Talon is an old model that's out of production now. $50 is not a bad price for it.

I have one that will also fail a fairly light spine whack, but it's not a knife I'd use in a situation where it would be a problem. If you rotate the blade open until it locks, it will fail. If you open it slightly, then centrifuge it fully open, hard, it should lock securely enough to pass a spine whack.