Lock bar over travel and lockbar inserts

[Apalachicola]

Lock bar over travel stops seem unnecessary and I do not know why a lockbar insert matters at all. Educate me!

 

[Tsujigiri]

The insert is supposed to slow down lock wear by mating the tang with something harder than titanium. According to Tim Reeve, the newer supersteels with a lot of carbides were causing accelerated lock wear (they ended up coming up with the ceramic ball interface as a different solution to the same issue).

You'd have to open and close your knife a lot for that to be an issue, though. There are still a lot of companies making titanium framelocks with no insert and that works fine for most people.

The overtravel stop I believe was popularized by Rick Hinderer, who claimed that he once damaged one of his knives by unlocking it overexuberantly and permanently bending the lockbar. Shouldn't be an issue if you close your knives carefully, but a lot of knife companies don't like to make easy for customers to mess up their knives and send them back under warranty.

 

[brownshoe]

You are right. It’s marketing BS. Just a “discriminator” w/o a need, like wipers on headlights

 

[tony281sc2]

I like the inserts. If it wears out too much it can be replaced, whereas if you don’t have one you’re stuck with lock rock.
Probably not an issue unless you like to fidget, or you plan to EDC it for 5+ years.

I see quite a few of the Zero Tolerance 0560/0561s for sale that are engaging like 80%
I see no downside to having both, unless you’re a spine whacker, the frame locks w/out seem to do better at that “test”

 

[sharp_edge]

I agree with tony281sc2 on the lockbar insert. Plus it also eliminates gailing between steel and titanium. I also like where Hinderer puts the overtravel stop tab on regular sized folders, which is where the pocket clip tab touches the lockbar side.

 

[sanglant]

pick up a kershaw hinderer, it's like they're designed to demonstrate the usefulness of a stop.