Lock back is stronger than liner lock correct?

M

M.vashon

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Aug 22, 2022
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Lock back knife is stronger than liner lock right?..I have liner lock rat 2, and cresent tool D2 liner lock knives but i don't fully trust them thrusting
 
I think it depends on the lock back in question. I've had lockbacks slip where liners held up fine. A good liner will hold up to most abuse. However, if we are just talking a lockback inasmuch as it has a lock on the back of the handle, you can lump Triad locks in there. That's a hellova lock.

In short, if I bought a $15 liner lock, I wouldn't trust it much. I have a super beefy ZT 0909 that has held up better than frame locks in terms of slipping. However, as I have gotten older, almost nothing I do with a folding knife will cause it to fail. Anything that possibly could is regulated to being handled by a fixed blade....or ignored. A lot of folks forget you can just NOT do something because it requires more tool/effort than you want to put in :)
 
Short answer is yes.

To consider:
What do you plan to use your knife for? Both of your knives are for cutting. If you cut something hard enough for the lock to fail, which doesn't make sense, then I think you used wrong tool for the job.

Back lock also has dozen of sub type with slight difference in strength.

In my construction job, people use liner lock because if they need to poke something hard, they use other tool.

In military job, I'm the only guy in my platoon to use back lock actually. Liner is easier to use, cutting is a specific task. Using a knife not for what it intended for is a good way for the boys to watch out for you.
 
Depends on the make. I wouldn't trust very many lock backs as I have seen many with broken backs even buck. A good liner lock or frame lock has a better leverage advantage aside from better BL like cold steel. As noted above lion steel and Dpx have additional frame lock devices that cannot be beat.
 
I really think that it depends on the lock in question. If I remember my engineering materials class from college, steel is stronger in tension than it is in compression. That is the reason steel strength is typically reported in tensile strength.

Please keep in mind it has been a long time since that class and I do know that there are other ways to describe steel such as Young's Modulus of Elasticity and of course the Charpy Test. I may be completely wrong.
 
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As a kid, I had a wornout liner bend on me once, some crappy Japanese throwdown. (Kinda tells my age, that the cheap stuff was made in Japan.) Clearly a case of abuse - trying to pry open my dad’s locked toolbox - it didn’t hurt me but it kinda jammed the knife so it wouldn’t close all the way, giant PITA. (Don’t recall the knife all that well, but the a$$-whippin lingers in my memory.)

Later I carried a 110 for decades, or the Case equivalent. Used them hard, occasionally abused them. Did lots of stupid stunts with them, but never broke a lock.

Take this anecdotal, apples-to-oranges, discrepancy-riddled comparison with a carton of salt, and let the curious perform their own investigations.

Parker
 
I'd say the correct answer is- It depends on the design of the knife. Not all folding knives are designed for stabbing. But some are.

I didn't count how many times Lynn Thomson stabbed the steel table with the Cold Steel Ti-Lite 6 in this video, but it was quite a few, and the lock (liner lock) never failed.



And I didn't count how many times Joe X stabbed the roof of the car with a Ti-Lite 6 in this video, but it was quite a few, and the lock (liner lock) didn't fail.



Of course a classic Buck 110 can also survive a bit of stabbing.

 
killgar said:
I'd say the correct answer is- It depends on the design of the knife. Not all folding knives are designed for stabbing. But some are.

I didn't count how many times Lynn Thomson stabbed the steel table with the Cold Steel Ti-Lite 6 in this video, but it was quite a few, and the lock (liner lock) never failed.



And I didn't count how many times Joe X stabbed the roof of the car with a Ti-Lite 6 in this video, but it was quite a few, and the lock (liner lock) didn't fail.



Of course a classic Buck 110 can also survive a bit of stabbing.

Click to expand...
The Ti-Lite liner lock design is my favorite of the liner locks. Always wondered why it’s not used more, it provides a lot of contact area.
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100% I think a lockback is stronger and 1000% more trustworthy than a liner lock. I once had a serrated Kershaw punch it's serrated teeth through my fingernail when it's liner lock inadvertently released on me while cutting cardboard. I absolutely refuse to buy or use a linerlock ever again. Life's to short to be using knives risking closing on my fingers again. There's so many amazing knives out there with different locking mechanisms.

Crkt has a modified linerlock that has a redundant secondary safety you have to release first.

I would recommend any lockback, or axis lock/axis lock copy, and or a spyderco compression lock. Essentially a lock thats strong and reliable and not being touched on as you use the knife. As far as lockbacks go, they aint all the same. I have a crkt noma lockback that's a big PITA to one hand close. I just got a spyderco delica lockback that's one slick machine, it's very easy to flip open and close with one hand.
 
In my opinion it's not the structural strength of liner locks that make them dangerous. It's the fact that it is right where your fingers go and all it takes is a slight side pressure and you disengage the lock while using the knife. It's not a matter of it failing by not being strong enough or doing tests to Stab a table for strength. Its when your fingers unlock it, but your fingers are still in the way.

I realize I'm probably in the unpopular side on this one, as the market probably has more liner locks than anything else, especially the cheaper side of things, even alot of expensive knives use liner or frame locks. They're easy to produce and folks like how easy it is to unlock and close the knife. But I've been cut once by a linerlock releasing and as sharp as I strop my knives these days, really don't feel like cutting a finger to the bone.
 
Depends on the design. You could make a wimpy liner lock and a very beefy back lock or you could make the reverse. If I had to trust a lock when doing something stupid, a tri-ad is probably at the top of my list. I imagine the Spyderco Military liner lock would hold up to some abuse as well, though. As another example, the Spyderco Gayle Bradley has a very thick liner lock that is not likely to disengage accidentally.
 
The only lockback I’ve personally had fail was a small zytel-handled kershaw. Had a few (equally cheap) liner locks fail with the exception of a CRKT (which some people consider cheap). I did see a video of a buck 110 vs a Spyderco Tenacious. Both DIDN’T fail under something like 380 Lbs of weight against their locks. Personally, I prefer the 110 but I wouldn’t be worried if I had a decent liner lock. My $.02
 
M.vashon said:
Lock back knife is stronger than liner lock right?..I have liner lock rat 2, and cresent tool D2 liner lock knives but i don't fully trust them thrusting
Click to expand...
Basically , I'd say yes . But some liner locks are better than others . Same for back locks .

My favorite lock ,for strength and safety, is a modified back lock : the Cold Steel Tri-ad lock . :cool::thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
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