How come everyone likes framelocks and nobody like linerlocks?

For me, it's mostly a thickness thing. I ALMOST trust linerlocks that are 0.1" thick. Almost. Frame locks fail by the lockbar uniformally bending until it slips off the tang. Although some will argue this, I suppose it does depend on design specifics. This gives a frame lock user the added security of a warning at it's limit. No instant snap. Then again, maybe it's all in my mind...
 
I like linerlocks very much. There is a tremendous amount of misinformation in this thread, IMHO. I guess if you really beat it up any kind of knife will fail the lock test. Few if any folks have the strength to compress a break the liner of a linerlock knife.

Here is what a known knife expert has to say about them.

http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/liners.txt

I'll put my D2 titanium liners Benchmade Stryker #910 linerlock up against any other knife for strength of lock. You will not break this puppy. My CF Millie by Spyderco is another strong rascal that I have no worry about using.

http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=910

Bob Terzuola is one of the finest knife makers using liner locks. He has written a very good book on the topic of tactical folders and discusses linerlock technology at length. Well worth the read if you are a serious knife owner/user.

http://www.knifeart.com/bobterzuola.html

http://www.knifeworld.com/tacfolknif.html
 
DGG said:
I like linerlocks very much. There is a tremendous amount of misinformation in this thread, IMHO. I guess if you really beat it up any kind of knife will fail the lock test. Few if any folks have the strength to compress a break the liner of a linerlock knife.
Click to expand...

Speak for yourself about the strength, Doug, but seriously, it's not a question of strength; it's a question of reliability. You can like them all you want, but they're one of the least reliable lock formats. Well known experts (neither of which make a person right; something that should matter if you're clearing up misinformation) don't change the format's lack of reliability. Some people make very reliable linerlocks, but they are a minority. We must clone them.

For the record, I don't like framelocks. :)
 
a2d2 said:
maybe during spinewhacking the knife made contact more towards the pivot,or behind it causing the blade to rock in the other direction,allowing the lock to travel farther than usual?
Click to expand...

During the impact there will be a compressive force between liner and tang, this will have an elastic component which causes the liner to rebound and lose contact with the tang. Since the forces are not perfectly compressive it can move laterally. If that movement is enough to the left then when the liner returns from the rebound it won't make contact with the tang and the lock collapses, otherwise the liner and tang just suffer wear/compression. For example with moderate spine whacks which didn't disengage a Point Guard I induced the liner to travel quickly all the way to the right.

Note that this rebounding after the impact is also why you can "jackhammer impact" pretty much any liner lock into failure. If you time the impacts so the frequency closely matchs the natural frequency of the rebounds of the liner/tang then the oscillations will grow in magnitude and the liner will fail. You are basically inducing responant behavior. This usually takes a moderate to large number of impacts depending on the security of the lock, the strength of the impacts, etc. .

-Cliff
 
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