Justin Gingrich (GTI) "Delta Lock" Folder

SpySmasher

SpySmasher

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Announced this year at Blade was a new folder from Justin Gingrich which features a new evolution of the liner lock that he calls the "Delta Lock."

It features a "V" or "W" shaped lock bar interface with the blade tang that he explains provides for four points of contact instead of the usual one. Additionally, the liner is milled in such a way that it is inset into the frame with a similar four-point, "V"-shaped interface. There are multiple videos about it from Blade but here is a brief one:


At 1:12 you can see two wear spots on the blade tang:

Delta_Lock.jpg


I am truly interested in whether this represents a "stronger" (by which I mean "less prone to fail") liner lock. This seems like it adds a LOT of longitudinal strength but liner locks were never prone to fail in that direction. They are prone to failure by overtravel, especially in an inward direction. I wonder if this design relieves that issue to any degree?

The knife itself is a 3.25" CTS-BD1 hollow-ground drop point with titanium frames. Interestingly, it is manufactured in the U.S. by Jeff Freeman of Freeman Outdoor Gear. If you've ever held a Freeman 451 you know that he can build a heck of a knife.

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Excellent question! I don't buy the anybody's "effectively a fixed blade" claims, but, I have dealt with Justin Girgrich going way back, and, if he does anything, it's make a bombproof strong knife that he stands behind. He really does make stuff for his fellow Rangers. Crazy, stupid abuse stuff.

Be interesting to see the reviews as they come out.
 
marcinek said:
Excellent question! I don't buy the anybody's "effectively a fixed blade" claims, but, I have dealt with Justin Girgrich going way back, and, if he does anything, it's make a bombproof strong knife that he stands behind. He really does make stuff for his fellow Rangers. Crazy, stupid abuse stuff.

Be interesting to see the reviews as they come out.
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haven't you seen the tri-ad?;)

it looks pretty neat. not sure if it works any better.....got to do some reading. thanks for posting spysmasher.
 
I found it even more interesting how badly inefficient that video was, 2 min 30 seconds, it starts 45 seconds in and ends after 90 seconds, almost 50% being intro and outro. Jeez.
The lock is interesting enough, curious to see who he is licensing it to especially in a (decent) production level format.
 
jbmonkey said:
haven't you seen the tri-ad?;)

it looks pretty neat. not sure if it works any better.....got to do some reading. thanks for posting spysmasher.
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Hey, I've seen the FFB Folding Fixed Blade. :D Anybody remember that one? Yeesh.

Honestly, if I am even thinking what I am doing may cause lock failure, I go fixed blade.

That said, again, Justin's stuff is nothing if not strong. So...watch this space, I guess. Would love to see read some real use reviews (no unboxing, no spine whacking :D).

To say nothing of a exploded view of the mechanism.
 
b00n said:
I found it even more interesting how badly inefficient that video was, 2 min 30 seconds, it starts 45 seconds in and ends after 90 seconds, almost 50% being intro and outro. Jeez.
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More interesting than the lock. o_O To each his own I guess! :thumbsup:
 
I don't get the point of this lock. More contact surface isn't the way to solve the liner/frame lock slipping or deformation issue. This sounds like it would be a nightmare to get the surfaces to all contact at the same time, not even considering what happens once it wears.

Liner locks seem to fail mostly because of poor engagement geometry, not buckling. This does nothing to help that, and makes it much more complicated and difficult to achieve instead. I don't know why anyone would want that.
 
First off I would like to thank Justin Gingrich for his service if he should ever stop BF. The knife looks like a tank,truly Tactical instead of Tacticool and I get the idea of the lock function but I don't like the way the part of the blade sticks out of the end of the knife. I know it's part of the blade lock up and doubles as a glass breaker but it looks sharp, like destroy my cell phone screen sharp or the back of my hand when I reach into my pocket sharp. I would love to hear from some one after they carried one.
 
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Night Rider said:
First off I would like to thank Justin Gingrich for his service if he should ever stop BF. The knife looks like a tank,truly Tactical instead of Tacticool and I get the idea of the lock function but I don't like the way the part of the blade sticks out of the end of the knife. I know it's part of the blade lock up and doubles as a glass breaker but it looks sharp, like destroy my cell phone screen or the back of my hand when I reach into my pocket sharp. I would love to hear from some one after they carried one.
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I had the same thought and as far as I can tell from what I can see (which is not much), it doesn't seem necessary for the lock to work.
 
b00n said:
The lock is interesting enough, curious to see who he is licensing it to especially in a (decent) production level format.
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Definitely. If a Spyderco Manix comes out with this lock, I’m interested. If he’s licensing to CRKT so they can make it in China with 3cr and add it to their list of “this was a cool idea and we did our best to kill it with shoddy materials” then no thanks.
 
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I like new locks, and I hope the CTS-BD1 steel means the price will be reasonable so I can check this out. The glassbreaker looks pretty ineffective to me, in the Knifecenter video, it looks like the tip of the glassbreaker doesn't clear the end of the frame of the knife.
 
19-3ben said:
Definitely. If a Spyderco Manix comes out with this lock, I’m interested. If he’s licensing to CRKT so they can make it in China with 3cr and add it to their list of “this was a cool idea and we did our best to kill it with shoddy materials” than no thanks.
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CRKT - The Company Where Cool Mechanisms Go To Die

Silent H said:
I like new locks, and I hope the CTS-BD1 steel means the price will be reasonable so I can check this out. The glassbreaker looks pretty ineffective to me, in the Knifecenter video, it looks like the tip of the glassbreaker doesn't clear the end of the frame of the knife.
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It's up for preorder at a supporting dealer (I think) for $225.
 
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marcinek said:
And just for the record, and this has zero to do with the lock....he's scary....but a really nice guy. Real deal Ranger. Those guys are something.
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Not a dude any sane person would mess with, for sure. :D When I had him make me my custom RD-9 before he sold Ranger to Ontario, I called him and we talked for a short time and went over what I wanted, and I agree, a very cool and nice guy. :thumbsup:
 
Doesn't look like much of a glass-breaker, but it does look like something that would gouge the heck out of your hand and/or contents of your pocket.
 
b00n said:
I found it even more interesting how badly inefficient that video was, 2 min 30 seconds, it starts 45 seconds in and ends after 90 seconds, almost 50% being intro and outro. Jeez.
The lock is interesting enough, curious to see who he is licensing it to especially in a (decent) production level format.
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Watch, it’ll get liscensed to CRKT who will build a poor example of it.

Hoback is working on an updated linerlock as well which features more contact surface. I can’t remember what its called but basically a U shaped tab on the end of the lockbar fits into a U shaped cutout on the back of the blade. That U shape cuout progressively gets tighter as the tab goes deeper into it supposedly providing a surface of contact around the perimiter of the U.

SpySmasher SpySmasher thanks for sharing this. Unless I am mistaken this Gingritch lock contacts at the spineside of the blade as well as on the edge side potentially meaning no stop pin.

Other knives have done something where there is no stop pin like the Ontario Dozier Arrow and CRK 45 lock. I believe the Arrow tended to develop lockup issues from this arrangement.
 
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