Much has been written in a recent thread about the spine whack test, most of it in reference to liner locks. Anyone have any experience or opinions about the strength of lock backs under adverse conditions? Cold Steel hangs weights on their Voyager lock backs in their advertising and touts their strength. I carry a Voyager myself. Buck 110's are the most common knife I see in Kansas. Are lock backs inherently stronger than liner locks, or about the same?
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Lock Backs & Spine Whack Test
- Thread starter Raver
- Start date
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- Apr 3, 2001
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- 485
i don't really think that strength is the purpose of the spine whack test. the idea is to determine under which different kind of stresses the lock will hold without disengaging. however, you never hear about lockbacks disengaging accidentally, so the test may not be as useful.
hope this helped
- Pete
hope this helped
- Pete
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2000
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- 1,556
- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 4,842
I don't think one of these formats is inherently stronger than the other; rather, it's a matter of execution. There are some very strong liner locks and lockbacks out there. Where they differ, IMO, is in reliability, one aspect of which the spine whack is supposed to test.
Any lock type can fail the spine whack test, which is why you should test all your knives regardless of lock type. However, no lock type, including lockbacks, seem to fail the spine whack in the epidemic proportions liner locks do. Lockbacks can have problems of their own, of course. They may be less susceptible to spine whacks and torquing than liner locks are, but some lockback failure modes to watch out for are:
All in all, I feel the lockback is a sound lock format. But you should test all your folders regardless of lock format.
Any lock type can fail the spine whack test, which is why you should test all your knives regardless of lock type. However, no lock type, including lockbacks, seem to fail the spine whack in the epidemic proportions liner locks do. Lockbacks can have problems of their own, of course. They may be less susceptible to spine whacks and torquing than liner locks are, but some lockback failure modes to watch out for are:
- Failure to fully lock open because a bit of dirt has gotten in the locking notch. For me, this happens to lockbacks when I carry them in my pockets, more than any other lock types. As a result, I tend to use the pocket clip with my lockbacks instead of just dropping them in a linty pocket.
- Palm pressure can accidently hit the release button, causing an accidental release. It's never happened to me, but some people tend to have hands that hit the lock release button on mid- or rear-locks.
- Failure due to wear on the locking notch. As the lockback wears a long time, the lock notch can get rounded a little. Typically, it will take many years for this to happen, and you can avoid it somewhat but fully releasing the spring before closing the blade.
All in all, I feel the lockback is a sound lock format. But you should test all your folders regardless of lock format.