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Im no longer convinced

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ferider said:
Cool ! Do you have a reference for this, please ? I am collecting these kind of things ....

BTW, I assume the Opinel-type lock is pretty old, too.
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It's been a few years, most of it was internet searches, talking to Spanish knife dealers and reading Spanish knife forums. Unfortunately, I lost most of the links to that info when a previous phone was crushed in my couch a few years ago. There is some really good stuff if you follow the rabbit hole deep enough. 😀

On a side note, Italian knife makers were pretty closely on the heels of the Spanish and there are still some amazing traditional makers. The Italians have much higher standards when it comes to knife making. The disruption of WWII and then the fascist government that followed in Spain really crushed their knife making industry. Albacete and Santa Cruz de Medula were once renowned centers of knife making but now only shadows of the past.

I just grabbed the date time frame from wikipedia right now to double check myself. Probably better references out there than that, but most of what I've found out seems to match fairly well and when multiple sources say very similar things, it seems to be a bit more true than not.

I'm not sure about the Opinel ring lock. My understanding is that the Nontron knife, which is very similar, was first. Opinel is more widely known because they have much larger distribution.

Apologies for the long tangent, back to the OP's discussion!
 
DocJD said:
Interesting that many here kinda hate the whole idea of "hard use " folders .

They insist on a fixed blade for anything serious . "Folder = broken knife "

Lock becomes vitally important if you need your folder to do fixed blade stuff .

That kind of need may arise in an unexpected fashion , emergency / survival / SD .

Why carry a weaker, less capable folder than you have to ?
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vnvman said:
I wouldn't mind having someone pushing the envelope on non lockable folders, like making modern, high performance versions that are super thin, light and with a lot of blade and carry like a feather in your pocket.
But then I look at these Böker Atlas knives I have here:

View attachment 2960315

View attachment 2960316

View attachment 2960317

The grey one has a lock, the brass one doesn't, yet they have the exact same thickness and general size, and the same weight in the pocket.
They carry virtually the same way. Why would I give up the lock if simply not having it gives me no advantage at all?
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I like my Atlas as well! Although mine is locking and has a spear point blade.
 
Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Back on topic, I like locks on folders, “redundant” though they may be. It’s just an added layer of safety in addition to the safety between yer ears. If I know a knife is highly unlikely to close on me, I tend to use it with more confidence.

Nothing against slipjoints, they’re just not for me.
 
“…no longer convinced that I need a lock on a folding knife.”
The first time I handled the Cobalt Blue G10 / Spy27 version of Spyderco’s UK Pen Knife (C94GPCBL), was an ah hah moment that changed the way I view slip joints. This gets my nomination for the best way to invest $97.50 in a knife, Summer 2025. This knife deserves the high praise it gets -- an ambidextrous, ergonomic masterpiece that could replace most of my collection. No lock required. Bravo, Sal

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SharpBits said:
Bog steel blade glued in to a birch wood handle with glue made from deer, or go home. Better than that flint chip you carry in the leather pouch. ;)


Not sure why people need to get into the either/or mindset. Locks, no locks, fixed, folding, all good.
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Agreed. Many folks always seem to forget that people were using knives made of whatever steel (or iron, or copper, or obsidian, or, etc.) they could get their hands on for thousands of years to cut everything that needed cutting in their endlessly varied environments. Closer in time, a hundred years ago, people were using pocket knives with no lock at all, and seemed to get along fine.

Extremely few people have cutting needs in their daily lives these days that actually necessitate the super steels or lock strengths we are blessed with today, but that absolutely doesn't mean we shouldn't have those steels or locks or get to enjoy them.

There's room for both things to be ok.

Signed,

A guy sitting at a desk looking at a screen with a folding knife with a 15V blade in his pocket. Wild.
 
We must be getting really bored around here to be talking about whether locking folding knives are necessary.

I’m liquidating all these shiny locking knives and going back to some sharp slicey slate. It cuts after all and well that’s all I really need now isn’t it.
 
mitchnola said:
We must be getting really bored around here to be talking about whether locking folding knives are necessary.

I’m liquidating all these shiny locking knives and going back to some sharp slicey slate. It cuts after all and well that’s all I really need now isn’t it.
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One-Word-Plastics.jpg


"Are you listening, Mitch?"
"Yes sir, I am"
"I just want to say one word...obsidian!"
 
My first skeletool had a (flimsy) lock and somehow closed on my finger one day in my yard. Cut to the bone and got blood all over one of my favorite pairs of pants. I had to demote them to work pants because the blood never totally came out.

So I vote for locking folders and not just locking folders but folders with effective locks. Something unlocking unexpectedly is much worse than a slip joint where you know it doesn’t lock.

Btw, I was poking a hole in something. Next time I’ll use an awl or old screwdriver.
 
I needed stitches from a SAK Climber snapping shut, and got a bad cut from a half-stop on a GEC. Anything with a blade can cut you if you space out. I like both lock and non-lock knives and believe there’s room for both in my world.
 
DMG said:
My first skeletool had a (flimsy) lock and somehow closed on my finger one day in my yard. Cut to the bone and got blood all over one of my favorite pairs of pants. I had to demote them to work pants because the blood never totally came out.

So I vote for locking folders and not just locking folders but folders with effective locks. Something unlocking unexpectedly is much worse than a slip joint where you know it doesn’t lock.

Btw, I was poking a hole in something. Next time I’ll use an awl or old screwdriver.
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Sometimes I stab blocks of frozen ice that clumps up in ice bags with a swiss army knife, stupid? Sure, but it you go down on the ice at a controlled 90 degree angle and the back spring is strong i feel relatively confident it wont close, again stupid, but doable
 
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Ive used everything under the sun, big, small, all kinds of locks, autos and manuals and found myself with opinions i felt like airing out in the public breathing space for fun, some liked it others got upset.
c'est la vie
Thanks for everyone's ah, input However
Blues, do you mind closing out this thread?
 
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