How Tough are the Tri-Ad™ Lock Knives Compared to the Usual Suspects?

If you want to define "the strongest folder", wouldn't you also want to consider the force to failure with side loads?
 
it looks like its time for a show down!
really the tri-ad is very strong and even more durable. Much more so than all of Cold Steels other offerings, which were very good also. I made overbuild frames locks for a long time and none come close to my new folders.
I was at Cold Steel a while back and LT showed me a giant box with tested folders (not CS folders). I dug through the box and was blown away by the tags on the folders. Many of our favorite folders marked "failed impact tests" or "held 60lbs".
 
Great idea!

The 2010 Knife Olympics, ... we have no champion YET. ;)

Some guy named Sal has gone into hiding [joke]. ;)
 
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DemkoKnives said:
it looks like its time for a show down!
really the tri-ad is very strong and even more durable. Much more so than all of Cold Steels other offerings, which were very good also. I made overbuild frames locks for a long time and none come close to my new folders.
I was at Cold Steel a while back and LT showed me a giant box with tested folders (not CS folders). I dug through the box and was blown away by the tags on the folders. Many of our favorite folders marked "failed impact tests" or "held 60lbs".
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I would love to dig through that box. :D :eek: :thumbup:
 
Yup, Spydies are are OK :thumbup:, no bashing here at all. Just a little friendly competition would be nice to see though, especially since Spyderco's market share is probably not going to be in trouble anytime soon.
 
TheCarbideRat said:
Yup, Spydies are are OK :thumbup:, no bashing here at all. Just a little friendly competition would be nice to see though.
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I just want to see what was in LCT's box. :D :thumbup:

Yes Sal is a class act for sure, I don't care for his designs personally, but that is just my personal opinion and takes nothing away from how good his knives are. :)

It's the same as I don't like everything CS, ZT, Strider, Busse, and many other makers produce, it's just personal preference, nothing to do with quality. :)
 
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mmarkh said:
Actually the negative force is transfered to the backlock which happens to butt against the stop pin on the opposite the blade does. that is where the Triad gets it's tremendous strength. The combination of backlock and stop pin keeping the blade from closing. Scroll to the bottom of the page for a diagram.

http://www.coldsteel.com/triadlock1.html
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I know how it works. I left out the backlock bar because I figured it was hard to explain with words and didn't make much difference left out. So instead of being transferred to the stop pin like I said, it is transferred to a piece of the back lock that acts like a spacer, and is then transferred to the stop pin. The back lock has play in the hole that the pin goes through to mount it. This allows the bar to move a little back and forth so it slides forward a little bit so that it can butt up tight with the stop pin. The back lock won't provide strength unless the stop pin fails, and acts as a spacer that is pinched between blade tang and stop pin. If the stop pin failed then the blade tang would pull on the backlock and the mounting pin would take the forces instead of it butting against the stop pin.

A lack of videos does not mean anything. I will trust engineering design until I see some sort of proof from an independent tester. If knives have similar size pivots and stop pins then all the locks should have very similar overall strength. Who wants to donate an American Lawman, Large Bone collector, Manix 2, and Paramilitary all of which are similar in size? A sample size of one, of a over sized knife doesn't tell a whole lot other than about that one knife.

I also don't care who makes the lock. I have said nothing bad about the Triad lock. Who makes it has nothing to do with how strong it is. Saying that the only reason the Triad lock is being challenged is because of who makes it is, well, childish especially when nothing bad has been said about it. The only thing that I have read that is challenging anything, is the claim that 'nothing out there will touch the Triad lock in terms of strength' that is based on the viewing of some you tube videos.
 
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Esav Benyamin said:
At what point is the exceptional strength of the "best" lock so far beyond need, that even lesser lock are still beyond need? The rest of the knife would fail, the blade would snap, your grip would shift, before a Strider framelock would give way.
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That's exactly what I've been thinking this whole time hearing about how strong the triad is. I would be willing to bet the average well made slip joint is more than strong enough for most normal or even hard use folder chores. I mean yes it's a improvement and that's always good but IMO it is extreme over kill for most users that don't go out of their way to find uses for a lock that strong.
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
A
I also don't care who makes the lock. I have said nothing bad about the Triad lock. Who makes it has nothing to do with how strong it is. Saying that the only reason the Triad lock is being challenged is because of who makes it is, well, childish especially when nothing bad has been said about it. The only thing that I have read that is challenging anything, is the claim that nothing out there will touch the Triad lock in terms of strength that is based on the viewing of some you tube videos.
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Except in my past 30+ years of using a lot of different knives (Hundreds) I haven't seen anything yet that is stronger in folders. ;)

And it's durable even under hard use (Abuse) as in it won't loosen up or fall apart like some others have over the years. ;)

I won't point fingers though at any makers.
 
Ankerson said:
Except in my past 30+ years of using a lot of different knives (Hundreds) I haven't seen anything yet that is stronger in folders. ;)

And it's durable even under hard use (Abuse) as in it won't loosen up or fall apart like some others have over the years. ;)

I won't point fingers though at any makers.
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Well I think the oldest lock I am taking into consideration is the AXIS lock and it is 9 years old? All the others are newer.

Just curious but have you abused an AXIS, compression, or ball bearing lock? Have you abused a Triad lock?
 
hardheart said:
here is an explanation of the Spyderco rating system
http://www.spyderco.com/forums/showpost.php?p=77904&postcount=11

I think this means it takes at least 750 pounds one inch from the pivot to break the Chinook (3.75" blade, 200 lb/in rating for MBC/extra heavy duty) I do not know how much it actually takes, just that this is the minimum to achieve the rating.
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All that means is that once you get farther away from the pivot than one inch the force (Leverage) is increased.

If one is breaking at say 750 Ibs one inch from the pivot it would take less weight (Pressure) to break it the farther away from the pivot you get because of the increased leverage on the lock.
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
Well I think the oldest lock I am taking into consideration is the AXIS lock and it is 9 years old? All the others are newer.

Just curious but have you abused an AXIS, compression, or ball bearing lock? Have you abused a Triad lock?
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Yep, Axis, Tri-Ad, Rocker, Ultra, Liner, Frame.....
 
One complaint I have is that if they are so confident with the tri-ad lock then why is the warranty still only 1 year on their folders?
 
Ankerson said:
All that means is that once you get farther away from the pivot than one inch the force (Leverage) is increased.

If one is breaking at say 750 Ibs one inch from the pivot it would take less weight (Pressure) to break it the farther away from the pivot you get because of the increased leverage on the lock.
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Naturally, it would require a minimum 187.5 lbs 4 inches from the pivot for the Chinook to have an MBC rating.

In Andrew's XL Espada video, he stops at 658 lbs 4 inches from the pivot - 2632 lbs/inch, and it hadn't broken yet. And the large Espada held 300 lbs 4.5" from the pivot for 95 hours - 1350 lbs/in (in-lbs?).
 
mongomondo said:
One complaint I have is that if they are so confident with the tri-ad lock then why is the warranty still only 1 year on their folders?
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That you would have to ask LCT about. :)

I personally have never had to send back any CS folder due to breakage etc. :)
 
hardheart said:
Naturally, it would require a minimum 187.5 lbs 4 inches from the pivot for the Chinook to have an MBC rating.

In Andrew's XL Espada video, he stops at 658 lbs 4 inches from the pivot - 2632 lbs/inch, and it hadn't broken yet. And the large Espada held 300 lbs 4.5" from the pivot for 95 hours - 1350 lbs/in (in-lbs?).
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That's what I was getting at. :) :thumbup:
 
TheCarbideRat said:
I'm good with the 1 year, it keeps the original cost of the knives down.
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Then why are knives made over seas with AUS-8A steel going for $80-$300? I have a knife that acts like a piece of mild steel I bought at home depot. It burrs something terrible and once the burr is removed the edge rolls cutting a piece of plastic. I asked if they could just take a look at it and I was told no, but I could send it in to be sharpened for $20 bucks. Beautiful customer service.
 
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