What the heck are you guys doing that would make a liner lock fail? When you cut something do you also use a hammer blow? Do you stick your knife into something and twist it with a vise-grip? In normal use it is hard to get a liner to fail! I have used knives with liner locks (AFCK-Mini AFCK-spyderco's-Emersons) on a daily basis and never EVER had a failure.So why is everyone so hung up on how far a knife has to be abused in order to break it.
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liner lock failure-itis
- Thread starter Mi.Mike
- Start date
What the heck are you guys doing that would make a liner lock fail? When you cut something do you also use a hammer blow? Do you stick your knife into something and twist it with a vise-grip? In normal use it is hard to get a liner to fail! I have used knives with liner locks (AFCK-Mini AFCK-spyderco's-Emersons) on a daily basis and never EVER had a failure.So why is everyone so hung up on how far a knife has to be abused in order to break it.
- Joined
- Oct 9, 1998
- Messages
- 1,767
It makes me uncomfortable to have a knife that has even the slightest chance of closing on my fingers. Better safe than sorry. I don't want to have stumps for fingers. I'm not too obsessed about making sure it won't fail when I beat it repeatedly on the spine, but I don't like having a knife that has the liners give when you tap it.
-Chang the Asian Janitorial Apparatus
-Chang the Asian Janitorial Apparatus
- Joined
- Nov 8, 1998
- Messages
- 770
If I am paying for technology, I expect it to work. A lock should make a knife EXTREMELY difficult to close unintentionally.
That is what a LOCK is for.
In response to the original question.....another question :
Do YOU have a standard by which you judge the efficiency of a blade lock ?
If so, what is it?
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BrianWE
That is what a LOCK is for.
In response to the original question.....another question :
Do YOU have a standard by which you judge the efficiency of a blade lock ?
If so, what is it?
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BrianWE
Hello,
I like the idea of testing any sort of lock for strength. But here is a question: Even if the lock passes a test, how can you be sure the trauma of the test did not weaken the mechanism leading to its ultimate failure during normal use at a later date?
Later,
MBS
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Nevermind the dog...beware of owner!
I like the idea of testing any sort of lock for strength. But here is a question: Even if the lock passes a test, how can you be sure the trauma of the test did not weaken the mechanism leading to its ultimate failure during normal use at a later date?
Later,
MBS
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Nevermind the dog...beware of owner!
A retailer steerd me away from a EDI Genesis1. He banged the back of the blade with the palm of his hand and the lock failed. The amount of force he used didn't constitute abuse in my oppinion. I wouldn't have paid a dime for it after seeing that.
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"Fear the man who has nothing to lose"
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"Fear the man who has nothing to lose"
I have 3 good liner locks. I've never even seen one fail.
Any locking mechanism is an added safety device to help prevent unintentional closing of a folding knife. Presumably, you have folders for the convenience of pocket carry. NO liner lock is meant to turn a folder into a fixed blade.
Sounds like some of y'all should be using fixed blades.
Any locking mechanism is an added safety device to help prevent unintentional closing of a folding knife. Presumably, you have folders for the convenience of pocket carry. NO liner lock is meant to turn a folder into a fixed blade.
Sounds like some of y'all should be using fixed blades.
A friend of mine cut himself badly with an old timer 2 blade slip joint knife while he was cleaning a deer. It closed on his fingers. I think it was a 225H. This fellow was a true outdoorsman and one hell of a hunter. Never seen anyone nail mourning doves with a 20 guage like him. He's cleaned an awful lot of deer.
The point is that if it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone. And a lock that is unreliable is much worse than an old slipjoint. At least with a slipjoint, you should know to be careful. With a locking blade, you tend to develop some confidence in the lockup. If you can't be confident in the lock, then what's the point? Might as well go back to slipjoints.
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Hoodoo
The low, hoarse purr of the whirling stonethe light-pressd blade,
Diffusing, dropping, sideways-darting, in tiny showers of gold,
Sparkles from the wheel.
Walt Whitman
The point is that if it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone. And a lock that is unreliable is much worse than an old slipjoint. At least with a slipjoint, you should know to be careful. With a locking blade, you tend to develop some confidence in the lockup. If you can't be confident in the lock, then what's the point? Might as well go back to slipjoints.
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Hoodoo
The low, hoarse purr of the whirling stonethe light-pressd blade,
Diffusing, dropping, sideways-darting, in tiny showers of gold,
Sparkles from the wheel.
Walt Whitman
JW,
snip:
Any locking mechanism is an added safety device to help prevent unintentional closing of a folding knife.
snip:
A faulty safety device is worse than no safety device at all because it inspires false confidence.
I don't know anyone who advocates abusive force when performing the Spine Tap test. In my experience the knife being tested is usually held with only the Thunb and Forefinger and is therefore subject to much less force than it might encounter in a stabbing situation with a firm grip.
I will submit that the ideal situation is for the Lock to be Secure enough that the knife would be knocked out of my hand before it would fail.
If it is weaker than this I face an unacceptable risk of having the knife fold on me unexpectedly cutting my fingers.
The question is what is the best way to determine if a Lock is stronger than my ability to grip the knife without cutting myself or damaging the knife?
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AKTI Member No. A000370
snip:
Any locking mechanism is an added safety device to help prevent unintentional closing of a folding knife.
snip:
A faulty safety device is worse than no safety device at all because it inspires false confidence.
I don't know anyone who advocates abusive force when performing the Spine Tap test. In my experience the knife being tested is usually held with only the Thunb and Forefinger and is therefore subject to much less force than it might encounter in a stabbing situation with a firm grip.
I will submit that the ideal situation is for the Lock to be Secure enough that the knife would be knocked out of my hand before it would fail.
If it is weaker than this I face an unacceptable risk of having the knife fold on me unexpectedly cutting my fingers.
The question is what is the best way to determine if a Lock is stronger than my ability to grip the knife without cutting myself or damaging the knife?
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AKTI Member No. A000370
- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 4,842
Interesting timing!
About a year ago, I had lunch with two friends. Those friends were talking about their liner locks, and I told them about my misgivings with liner locks. They were very sceptical, and insisted I test out their knives. Between the two of them, there were 4 or 5 liner locks, of which, none of them failed. So they looked at me as if I'm an idiot, and kept buying liner locks.
Yesterday, one of 'em tells me he just got after one of his liner locks failed on him.
Luckily, only a minor cut.
He's asking what I recommend instead.
It's good to be right once in a while
Just wish people didn't get cut in the process!
About a year ago, I had lunch with two friends. Those friends were talking about their liner locks, and I told them about my misgivings with liner locks. They were very sceptical, and insisted I test out their knives. Between the two of them, there were 4 or 5 liner locks, of which, none of them failed. So they looked at me as if I'm an idiot, and kept buying liner locks.
Yesterday, one of 'em tells me he just got after one of his liner locks failed on him.
Luckily, only a minor cut.
He's asking what I recommend instead.
It's good to be right once in a while
sevenedges
BANNED
- Joined
- Sep 14, 1999
- Messages
- 992
Because when they fail you will get stitches like me. I own only one folder now, a sebenza inlay. And I only use it lightly, I now have busses for everything else. I'm not saying it doesnt have a strong lock, I'm saying it doesnt even come close to a fixed blade. No folder does in my opinion. Folders have their place and it isn't in hard use. Love the inlay though. Take care, Jeff
