How Important Are Liners in a Folding Knife?

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numbersman

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Nov 28, 2010
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So I'm looking at adding to my collection of Spyderco's. I love my Native 5 and was considering, for the first time ever, adding a different variety of the same knife, something with G10 handle scales. But I am kinda put off by the fact that the new Natives appear to all be linerless. I do like the strength that liners bring to a knife, and the Native isn't all that heavy. Are liners all that important to the strength and integrity of the knife, or not? Are modern handles and materials so strong that the liners are a bit redundant?
Cheers, numbersman.
 
From what I’ve read, the linerless Spydies are plenty rigid and strong. I wouldn’t worry, but for more information I’d suggest going on the Spyderco forum and asking or looking up a thread on the subject.
I’ve got a couple full liner knives that I find way too flexible, steel will cutjack being one of them so it’s more than just having liners that make for a solid handle.
 
Frame locks often use one side with g10 or carbon and it's plenty strong enough, most lockbacks have no liners. Lots of liner locks use one side only too.
 
I guess I might ask if the Spyderco Delica is too weak with FRN handles? I personally don't think so. How strong does a pocket knife have to be to be useful for most knife tasks?
 
I prefer folders without liners. Ideally i want carbonfiber scales and a steel or ti lock bar.
Liners only if you abuse knives for tasks a knife was never ment for in the first place.
 
Liners add weight. Not much, but they do. That being said I do like me some liner locks.
 
For me, it depends on the materials used for the handle scales. 6000 series and 7000 series Aluminum alloys, 6Al4V Titanium alloy, I prefer to skip the liners, as they're just unnecessary weight and complexity in my opinion. FRN, G10 and Carbon fibre, I prefer to have liners.
 
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Mo2 said:
I prefer folders without liners. Ideally i want carbonfiber scales and a steel or ti lock bar.
Liners only if you abuse knives for tasks a knife was never ment for in the first place.
Click to expand...

This is my new favourite type of Linerlocks. Minimal liners as much as possible please.
 
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The native 5 lightweight is a great knife. It is very sturdy and i personally dont think it needs liners. Im waiting for the para 3 lightweight to be released so i can pick one up. Liners sometimes make a knife feel more sturdy and heavy duty ,but if you are using a knife to cut with as it is intended to be used i dont think liners are necessary.
I think it really is just personal preference
 
NLCKQu4.jpg

Note the first and last in the group are carbonfiber integrals. The left most is a backlock and the right most is a subframe lock. Just being integrals helps even more. And the backlock feels even more heavy duty.

The military does have some liners though it's minimal in comparison to fill size scale liners. My bad for including it in the photo.

Heres a bunch of linerless carbonfiber knives. All extremely usable without any issues. Some I like better than the others, but all are high quality materials.
 
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While I don't think a lot of EDC knives need liners, I prefer having them. They add that feeling of security when I'm using it even if I'm only cutting open boxes. The ZT 0850 is a good example, I really want to carry it more but it's mostly CF and my 0393 glcf is full ti with that awesome glow carbon fiber. So the 0393 finds its way into my pocket a lot more.
 
Cold Steel Recon 1, which are made to be durable knives with their Triad lock are linerless as well, they're marketing has a pretty large dude using a couple with the blade imbedded in one to do pullups on. The blade would break way before a linerless handle broke in almost all cases.
 
I've got all kinds of folders both with full liners and w/o.

I'm not a knife maker but it seems obvious that liners should add strength and weight depending on the nature/quality of the materials used to make them.

Eliminating liners entirely and just inlaying a sub-frame in a G10 or CF scale should provide sufficient strength for "normal" use of any knife. I've got quite a few built like that. On the other hand, I've got some other folders with very thick and heavy liners that I just feel more substantial in my hand and that I have no doubt could be put to heavy use. However, were I thinking about doing anything like that w/my knives, I'd probably choose a more durable and less expensive tool instead than any of the $100+ Spydercos or other knives that I own.

It's just a matter of choosing the right too for the job.
 
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A friend of mine is wickedly abusive to his pocketknives. His first generation Delica has the blade worn to a nub, but the pivot and lock still function properly, despite the lack of liners. Based on this one case, I think that liners may not always add that much structural integrity.
 
Don't think I would be interested in a knife that had FRN scales with no liners.

That being said, I used my Cold Steel American Lawman and my Cold Steel Ultimate Hunter for anything and everything out on the construction site. Was pretty skeptical about no liners until a strong suggestion from one of the folks here that I give the American Lawman a try.

That was about five or six year ago and I have never missed the liners for a second. The g-10 scales/handles on both of my Cold Steel linerless knives has proven to make the knives as sturdy as any of the knives I own.

Robert
 
Bionic79 said:
Surely the Delica has liners? :)
Click to expand...

The original Delicas and Enduras were linerless. My first Delica was just a blade between two pieces of plastic. I was an old-school Buck knife kind of guy, so I wondered how it would hold up. It never was a problem, that I can recall.
 
Liners will make a knife stiffer but knives can work without them. Knives that are molded in one piece will be laterally much stronger, knives with separate scales need the liners. From my experience knives with liners are smoother operating than knives without, and can have less operating friction.
 
Fiber-reinforced fibers make liners not a necessity, as long as the handle is designed to be robust enough. My Recon 1 is all G10, and it's easily one of the toughest knives I own.

I think it can be hard to escape the mentality of "plastic handles" and be concerned about brittleness or deformation under stress, but I'd challenge you to snap 1/4" thick piece of G10 with your bare hands. FRN and G10 are 100% suited to basically anything but a bearing-pivot knife, and all the latter would require is a metal washer between the bearings and the polymer handle.
 
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