How many people have lost fingers because their knife locks failed?

W

Wirebender

Joined
Dec 19, 2000
Messages
345
I don't care about the theory of spine whack tests, I want to hear real stories of real fingers cut off. How many nine-fingered people are there out there, really?
 
Take no offense here, I aint laughing AT you, I'm laughing WITH you.

You hear it all the time in a variety of posts:

"I chose this Spyderco model because it has the lockback instead of the weaker liner lock," or....

"I'd say get the Benchmade because it has the Axis lock, which will probably be less likely to fail on you..."

I could personally give a rat's rectum what kind of lock is on a knife. If the job is really so big that ANY lock is likely to fail, I'm using a fixed blade any way. In my book, it all comes down to materials and construction. Take a Spyderco next to one of it's cheapo gun show knockoffs. One of these is going to fail, and it is the knockoff. Not because of what lock system it uses, but because of the materials and construction.

Bottom line, buy QUALITY and you'll most likely keep all your extremities. Use a knife with a $1.89 price tag and you'll be one of the 9 digit nosepickers you seek.
 
Amen.

You are much more likely to cut your self opening and closing the knife blade than through lock failure, IMO.


With the carry options for fixed blades being what they are, there is NO REASON to not have the proper tool for the job at your side. If you are in a real emergency, then you take your chances. But again, I can't see what it is that people are doing with their knives that are going to make them fail unless they are using them as prybars. Their mistake.
 
I have wondered about actual amputation myself.I would think the bone would stop the blade.I hope I don't ever find out.I have, however, recieved a nasty cut on my finger from a cheap Buck110 copy folding up on me during a sharpening session.(after I got it sharp I turned around and the tip of the blade hit the cabinet door and it closed on my finger)
troy
 
Actually, I don't think the Spyderco knockoffs or any of those
other cheap knives are SHARP enough to cut a finger off,
let alone cut it period. I am sure there are exceptions,
but they are few and far between-:rolleyes:
 
Good point, fossilhunter. Some of the Pakistani manufacturers out there are bound to get a good Chevy fender to work with now and then.

"Diamonds in the rough" I think they call 'em.
 
Given enough force anything is possible. It always amazes me that during a tornado blades of grass have been known to pierce telephone poles....:eek:
 
A co-worker tried really hard to amputate her finger using a CRK&T Kiss (not the 'stiff' kiss).

I found about it after the fact unfortunately. Amazing someone would do an Ice Pick stab with a Kiss into the top of a steel can :eek:

She did keep the finger but, suffered a very nasty cut - thank goodness for dull knives :) , a sharp one might have been successful :(
 
Same as Troy above..... happened while sharpening a Puma 4 Star lock back in a lansky sharpener about 13 years ago..it folded shut on me and my right index finger carries a scar and has some nerve damage..messed around by not going to a DR. and ended up with an infection that made it worse..

The plus side is that episode started my search for the "perfect" folder.. one that would not close on me......ended up with one of CRK'S first handmade Sebenza's (H10)....

...have still managed to cut that same finger two more times!!..5 stitches for one of them:( but those cuts were due to my own stupidity:D

still have all "ahem" 8 fingers and 2 thumbs though.........

(so far)........................:cool:
 
while i have 10 fingers still, one of them has a decent scar from when my sifu folded up on me, was sharpening, and flicking it around, did a back stroke, and it closed up on me, and cut the piss outta me - really needed stitches, but didnt go to dr - believe me have a 5.5" blade, already razor sharp, close on your hand, it will get your attention.............the back edge of a sifu, is a squared off, and will cut ya, believe me.........


sifu
 
I once stabbed myself in the arm with a Gerber Mark 1 knockoff. I have all my fingers.
 
I got my Totin' Chip back in scouts and have never had a knife close on my. (Sounds like a smart a$$ answer, but I'm serious - practice basic knife safety always and you'll be fine.)
 
That's a very good question. I have never heard of anyone losing their finger to a folding knife closing on their finger(s). I have heard of lock failures (for whatever reason) and people being cut. After I had my knife accident, I asked my surgeon about this same thing. He told me it would be very difficult (not impossible) for a folding knife to close with enough force to cut a finger off. It would have to be sharp enough and go through a joint at the correct angle. He said give up on it going through the bone, it would require tremendous force to do that.
 
I was thinking about it and thought... why hasnt anyone made a frame lock and just screwed on a couple of slabs of carbon fiber on each side or in other words, a liner lock with the liner being as thick as it would be on a frame lock. Now wouldnt that solve most of everyones problems?

Am i good or what:D
(even if you dont like the idea say i'm good anyway:D )
 
Originally posted by Chris-T
I was thinking about it and thought... why hasnt anyone made a frame lock and just screwed on a couple of slabs of carbon fiber on each side or in other words, a liner lock with the liner being as thick as it would be on a frame lock. Now wouldnt that solve most of everyones problems?

Am i good or what:D
(even if you dont like the idea say i'm good anyway:D )
Click to expand...

Okay, two answers to this!

1. Some people have. Allen Elishewitz's bolster lock is sort of a variant on what you're saying. However, it's a bit more complicated than what you described, because Allen's bolster lock gets around objection #2 below.

2. Just having a super-thick liner doesn't buy you everything. The problem with this type of lock remains the same: the tang/lock geometry has to be perfect, otherwise it is susceptible to torquing or spine pressure. Merely having a thicker liner will not guarantee you that the lock won't fail. The main reason the frame lock is safer than the liner lock is not because it is thicker, it's because your fingers are wrapped around the lock itself, reinforcing the lockup. With a liner lock, in the very best case, your fingers aren't touching the lock at all, and in the worst case, the flesh of your skin can sink down around the lock and actually degrade the lock-up.

So, if you implement what you're saying without thinking about it, I'd claim you'd have an ultra-thick handle, but the handle slabs would compromise the lock-up. So you'd have a knife with a handle that's thicker than a frame lock, but a lock-up that's not as reliable.

Getting back to how Allen Elishewitz took the same idea as you, but worked out a solution to the reliability problem... it's probably best to look at a picture on his web site. But a brief description: from the back of the handle until you get near the pivot, the bolster lock looks like a regular liner lock: that is, a thin scale covering a thin liner. Then, the scale simply stops short about an inch from the pivot itself, and the liner thickens up to full thickness. So the part of the liner that actually engages the blade tang is full frame-lock thickness, and because the scale stops short, your fingers still wrap around the lock to reinforce the lockup ala a framelock. But the rest of the handle looks like a normal liner lock, so Allen has all the aesthetic options that any liner-with-scales knife has.
Cool, huh?

Joe
 
Originally posted by Razoredj
I once stabbed myself in the arm with a Gerber Mark 1 knockoff. I have all my fingers.
Click to expand...


I once stabbed myself in my left arm with a GERBER TAC-II.

Wasn't bad, but bled like a stuck piggy.

Thank God for butterfly Band-Aids and gauze.....:D :eek:
 
...out of a possible 14,000 respondents, to date the answer to the original question would be...

0.

Except for Lefty, of course.

Sounds about right to me.

-w
 
I have been cut when locks released doing very heavy cutting in dynamic situations, and have witnessed the same happen to friends. It is the primary reason I stopped doing serious work with folders. Never had that happen with a slip joint as they were never used in that manner, they are light use only, in controlled situations.

Joe Talmadge has described other incidents that he has been made aware of and I can recall several posts/threads on the forum. A search will turn them up, it has been discussed many times before. The last one I recall was back cuts done with a SIFI (I think, it was some REKAT folder anyway).

As for the argument "you should be using a fixed blade", that is a moot point, if you could be carrying a fixed blade there is no reason to be using a folder as they are directly inferior. The primary reason for folders is that they can be carried where fixed blades are illegal or simply to be more friendly to non-knife people.

The thing that I find most ironic is that locks are being promoted as having break points in excess of 1000 in.lbs of torque, yet can be released with simple torquing or a light spine whack. That strength is of no value, besides obvious promotional purposes, when the security is *far* inferior.

-Cliff
 
Originally posted by WILL YORK
...out of a possible 14,000 respondents, to date the answer to the original question would be...

0.

Except for Lefty, of course.

Sounds about right to me.

-w
Click to expand...

Ya! Except for me!

The original question was about fingers being cut clean off. I'd expect the answer to be 0 there, too. Asking about getting cut would raise that number considerably, assuming enough people are reading this particular thread.

BTW, I've only had one real lock failure (liner lock) in use. After that, I wised up, first by thoroughly testing my locks in advance to weed out the bad ones, and then lowering my risk further by swearing off liner locks completely.

-- Lefty
 
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