Liner Lock vs Lock Back

Uncle Timbo

Uncle Timbo

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I figure this has been done before but help me out here. I think, based on everything I've read that most people prefer lock backs. As the proud owner of a Sage 1 I love the liner lock. I like the ability to reach into my pocket, open the blade, use the knife, and close the blade all with one hand. This way I don't have to let go or set down what I'm cutting to close the blade. Is it that lock backs are stouter? As in the blade won't close up on you in extreme hard use?
Please give me some feedback. Maybe you can teach an old dog some new tricks.
 
Lock backs are said to be the stronger of the two but neither is safer than the other. If you get into hard use you can depress the lock back with your palm enough to release it and if you squeeze hard enough the index finger usually pushes on the liner of a liner lock. Having proper grip and a properly fitted lock I don't see much of a difference between any lock on any folding knife. Folders can fold and mechanical devices can break.
 
Thanks knifenut.
Maybe the lock back is cheaper to make thus a cheaper knife to purchase?
 
Hi porkbilly.
If you plan to buy a spyderco, you can see the rating of their knives (light/medium/heavy or very heavy duty), i love lock back but only because all my spyderco are lock back ^^.
A well made linerlock can be as tough as the lock back (eg. Military and Police model are both heavy duty knives).
Lock back on spyderco knives can be closed with one hand easily if you want, you can even flick them by using your index figer to depress the lock (need some skill but not too mutch)
 
This is a pretty subjective question and a lot of people have strong feelings one way or another. I have a couple knife friends who HATE liner locks as they had a poorly engineered liner lock fail on them. Both can be released under a tight grip IF you aren't paying attention to your fingers. One way this has been combated with lock backs is the addition of the Boye dent, which I find pretty useful, while the new Bradley folder doesn't have a cutout for the liner lock so you cant release it while getting a tight grip.
 
Porkbilly.223 said:
I figure this has been done before but help me out here. I think, based on everything I've read that most people prefer lock backs. As the proud owner of a Sage 1 I love the liner lock. I like the ability to reach into my pocket, open the blade, use the knife, and close the blade all with one hand. This way I don't have to let go or set down what I'm cutting to close the blade. Is it that lock backs are stouter? As in the blade won't close up on you in extreme hard use?
Please give me some feedback. Maybe you can teach an old dog some new tricks.
Click to expand...
I'll take a Spyderco midlock over any and all other locks. I can perform the series of actions you describe with any of them which I own. For me, their main advantage over handed locks, such as the Walker, Reeve, and compression lock, is the ability to perform those actions equally well with either hand. Haven't found another hand-neutral lock that's as easy and reliable either.

Paul
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My Personal Website ---- Beginners Guide to Spyderco Collecting ---- Kiwimania ---- Spydiewiki
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Porkbilly.223 said:
Thanks knifenut.
Maybe the lock back is cheaper to make thus a cheaper knife to purchase?
Click to expand...
Other way around. Darn near every knifemaker who does folders offers liner liner locks, quality ranges from total crap to excellent. Very few build lockbacks and midlocks because they're much more difficult to make.

Paul
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My Personal Website ---- Beginners Guide to Spyderco Collecting ---- Kiwimania ---- Spydiewiki
Dead horses beaten, sacred cows tipped, chimeras hunted when time permits.
WTC # 1458 - 1504 - 1508 - Never Forget, Never Forgive!
It's easy to grin when your ship comes in and good fortune and fame are your lot, but the man worthwhile is the man who can smile with his shorts twsited up in a knot. - Morey Amsterdam
 
I close my lockbacks with one hand by pressing the spine against the side of my leg. It's intuitive for me to do it that way. Lockbacks in general seem like a sturdier design but I don't really have a preference either way. I own knives in both and usually don't let it be a factor when considering a new knife.
 
Both have their pros and cons.

Backlocks are easier for me to operate left handed. I also like that they keep the blade held in the closed position much better than a liner lock, and have a smoother feel when opening. They don't require a cut-out in the handle to make them easy to close, which means a comfier handle IMO.

However one point I think is often missed about a liner lock is in regard to failure. If a lockback fails, there will be nothing to stop the blade from closing on your hand. If a liner lock fails, there is a good chance it will be jammed under the tang still and while the lock is done for, the knife won't fold.

Not that I ever plan to get any of my Spydercos to that point...

Liner locks can also result in a lighter knife than a lockback can. Also if you chop with a liner lock folder, it stresses the stop pin, while a lockback has the whole lock assembly stressed.

The way Spyderco does them, I'll carry either, but I have a slight preferance for their lockbacks. I can close either one handed multiple ways without issue.
 
I have found lockbacks to be harder to disengage. When I was a kid I used to beat the crap out of cheap imported lockbacks as well as deliberately try to break the lock (thick gloves combined with cheap crap stainless super dull blades made it possible).

I could not recall one lockback that disengaged without a great deal of force and abuse. Ironically the one lockback that did fail me by surprise later on in life was a quality one and that was fixed by stiffening the lockback spring.

I have however had lockbacks fail due to lint from my pocket getting in the lock contact area with lockbacks it's harder to notice and clean. When the same happened with my compression lock I was able to immediately see the lint due to the more open design.
 
I don't mind either, both have advantages and disadvantages. Liner locks (and sometimes frame lock) tend to push the blade off center (although Spydercos rarely have this problem-my Tenacious has developed it but it was centered perfectly when it was new, and it's the only Spyderco I've had with an off centered blade). Lock backs don't have this tendency, but they are a lot stiffer to open most of the time. An exception to this is the Stretch (and others, I'm sure) which has a very smooth, good feeling upon opening. Strength isn't something I ever really consider with locks, maybe because I've never had one fail on me but I don't really use knives in a manner which puts my fingers at risk-lock or no lock.
 
Once the walker liner lock came out I was hooked way back then. Then the RIL really got me. I can open/close them much faster than any other, and there fun to play with.

I like the looks of a lockback, and have a few spyderco's that are lockbacks, but always put a liner or framelock in pocket(along with a small slipjoint).
 
Vivi said:
If a liner lock fails, there is a good chance it will be jammed under the tang still and while the lock is done for, the knife won't fold.
Click to expand...

Most liner-lock failures I've seen involved the liner sliding off the tang.
Nothing in the way of your fingers then.:eek:
 
I prefer liner locks, but I have some lockbacks too. Six one, half dozen the other I guess. I tend to use both equally as often.

-Tye
 
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stabman said:
Most liner-lock failures I've seen involved the liner sliding off the tang.
Nothing in the way of your fingers then.:eek:
Click to expand...

That's certainly possible...I wouldn't want to experience it again. My first encounter with lock failure was a no name 1$ liner lock where that happened. It was so dull I got a bruise instead of a cut, but it wasn't fun.

I think I recall cliff stamp testing a Spyderco Military to destruction where the tang did what I described. I guess it could go either way? Not something worth gambling on...
 
I'm having a hard time trying to understand why a locking mechanism would fail under normal use, be it linerlock or lockback. I'm not being a smart aleck, just really trying to understand. I often carried a slip joint and blade lock has never been an issue. Granted, a locking blade is safer, it's common sense. Everything else being the same, I prefer a locking blade than not. But I never regarded the locking mechanism as being a problem (air quotes). Aesthetically, they can change the look of a knife and that has been my only criterion to pick one over the other.

I guess my point is that I'm looking for more information and enlightenment.:)
 
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Cisco Kid said:
I'm having a hard time trying to understand why a locking mechanism would fail under normal use, be it linerlock or lockback. I'm not being a smart aleck, just really trying to understand. I often carried a slip joint and blade lock has never been an issue. Granted, a locking blade is safer, it's common sense. Everything else being the same, I prefer a locking blade than not. But I never regarded the locking mechanism as being a problem (air quotes). Aesthetically, they can change the look of a knife and that has been my only criterion to pick one over the other.

I guess my point is that I'm looking for more information and enlightenment.:)
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Do you stab a knife into a cardboard box to start cuts? I've had and dealt with liner lock knives that failed in such trivial loadings. Totally unexpected failure in a knife that previously and after the incident worked just fine.

That type of failure is all too common with liner-lock equipped knives.

And, no, the price and maker do not seem to make a difference.

Thick liner-locks are closer to frame-locks, but the same issues are present.

The strongest lockback at the moment is probably the 'Triadlock".
 
I'll say it again... As long as you don't cut with the spine, a liner lock isn't going to fail you. Honestly, I can see something in a lockback breaking before the stop pin in a liner lock does (when pushing against the edge.)
 
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