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Liner Lock Strength
- Thread starter CQC86
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infinitesimally small likelihood.
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2008
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Really? I think it can sorta kinda maybe be something to look into when carrying an emerson for sd purposes.
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What super answers guys.
Are we showing some bias or what? Strength has little to do with a liner lock defeating. Liner locks are plenty strong. Reliability is the issue at hand and in question with them when one defeats and that can tie into several things including how well it mates to the blade, how well its made and more. Ask any tester why he will rarely if ever hard stab a liner lock. The words unpredictable outcome are usually associated with it. You place a lot of faith in a knife to do this with any lock but some have a track record in some uses that causes you to be very respectful of them to say the least. In most uses they are fine. Some have been pushed successfully. Some have defeated too. You can find a number of posts and threads in these forums of people reporting defeats of various locks, liner locks included. Use the search engine. You can't predict the outcome or the odds of this happening with any knife. No one here can tell you it is unlikely or likely. Thats a bogus answer and your question is a loaded question. Each knife is different. Emerson makes a fine knife but like any company no one is flawless. Most lock defeats come from user error from doing something they probably shouldn't be doing but sometimes they can show problems from simple tasks let alone challenging ones. Either way its not really much at all associated with the knife at times but again with what you or someone else does with it, what may have been done with it in the past and so on. It is true some are flawed from the beginning. Usually you can tell by some simple tests. Open it normally and get your fingers out of the way. Then push up on the spine of the blade with your hands holding it firmly underneath as you twist with some strength pushing into the locked spine. Try to make the lock move or defeat if you can. Try it with gloves. If it fails here it will surely fail when someone taps the blade in a fight. If the spine of the blade gets a good whack in a fight you may find out the hard way your knife was an accident waiting to happen so its best to know how it might behave in advance if you plan to do that. If it was done right it may impress you. If not? Well, you get the picture. Personally your best weapon in a knife fight is your legs to get you the heck out of there. Use them and run! 
STR
Are we showing some bias or what? Strength has little to do with a liner lock defeating. Liner locks are plenty strong. Reliability is the issue at hand and in question with them when one defeats and that can tie into several things including how well it mates to the blade, how well its made and more. Ask any tester why he will rarely if ever hard stab a liner lock. The words unpredictable outcome are usually associated with it. You place a lot of faith in a knife to do this with any lock but some have a track record in some uses that causes you to be very respectful of them to say the least. In most uses they are fine. Some have been pushed successfully. Some have defeated too. You can find a number of posts and threads in these forums of people reporting defeats of various locks, liner locks included. Use the search engine. You can't predict the outcome or the odds of this happening with any knife. No one here can tell you it is unlikely or likely. Thats a bogus answer and your question is a loaded question. Each knife is different. Emerson makes a fine knife but like any company no one is flawless. Most lock defeats come from user error from doing something they probably shouldn't be doing but sometimes they can show problems from simple tasks let alone challenging ones. Either way its not really much at all associated with the knife at times but again with what you or someone else does with it, what may have been done with it in the past and so on. It is true some are flawed from the beginning. Usually you can tell by some simple tests. Open it normally and get your fingers out of the way. Then push up on the spine of the blade with your hands holding it firmly underneath as you twist with some strength pushing into the locked spine. Try to make the lock move or defeat if you can. Try it with gloves. If it fails here it will surely fail when someone taps the blade in a fight. If the spine of the blade gets a good whack in a fight you may find out the hard way your knife was an accident waiting to happen so its best to know how it might behave in advance if you plan to do that. If it was done right it may impress you. If not? Well, you get the picture. Personally your best weapon in a knife fight is your legs to get you the heck out of there. Use them and run! STR
Esav Benyamin
MidniteSuperMod
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Personally your best weapon in a knife fight is your legs to get you the heck out of there. Use them and run!
STR
I can't run. So my best bet is to beat the other guy into the ground.
To answer the OP's question: get a good knife, play with it, use it for as many different tasks as possible, under different conditions, test the lockup from time to time by tapping the back of the blade, and develop some confidence in it based on your experience with your knife.
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It was funny Tye. :thumbup:
My take is that you occasionally test the brakes on your car so test your lock too. Better safe than sorry as they say.
STR
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It's always a pleasure to read well thought out constuctive comments on any subject, thank you for your more than worth while contribution.
:thumbup:STR as usual covers things nicely, IMO liner locks are perfectly safe and strong as long as they are fitted properly. The only "achilles heal" in a liner lock is that you can sometimes disengage the lock with a twisting motion when gripping the knife.
I hate spine bash tests but I do find that securing the blade in a bench vice and trying to disengage the lock by manipulating the handle is a more realistic way of finding a fail point.
Why do you even post?
Anyways, test your lock if you really want to know. In almost every situation, a liner lock made by a reputable company will hold up to stabbing and slashing. EKC's liner locks are pretty solid, and their frame locks are legit.
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Good luck brutha!!!
+1 on STR's saying ---> unpredictable outcome
PS - maybe its time to consider carrying a small fixed blade
+1 on STR's saying ---> unpredictable outcome
PS - maybe its time to consider carrying a small fixed blade
I have never thought of using a folder for SD. I have worked in ER's most of my life and seen the damage a failed lock can do and never want to be on the recieving end of that situation. If you have the confidence to take your folder and stab it with all your might into a tree multiple times then you have answered your own question. If you think that is a crazy suggestion then you also have your answer.
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I don`t think I would ever have the confidence to stab a knife into a tree with all my might once let alone multiple times
. My 2 edc knives are Axis locks so I am not worried about the lock failing, I am more concerned about my grip failingIf it ever came to the point that I felt I needed to use my knife for self defense, I would use it in a slashing motion instead of a stabbing motion.
oops maybe I shouldn't have mentioned the lock type
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Not a bad idea. Aslo, Thanks for the more then worth suggestions guys I appriciate it a lot. Some of you have caused me to think a lot more about the subject in a very unbiased manner. I have thought about getting a fixed blade such as the spyderco warrior. I have also been looking into the large espada by cold steel.
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Spyderco is a great company and one of my favorites. There is probably nothing wrong with the Emerson you have either though. I'm not an Espada fan per say for that model but I do respect the lock design and trust it.
In testing most of the time a phone book was used or a stack of leather to hard stab down in a straight line using a seriously over gloved hand. Testers started seeing certain locks defeating more than others at times from this and even more so in harder materials after Cold Steel and others started using 50 gallon steel drums and later car hoods. At first it became habit for a while%2