Locks: Benchmade Axis vs Cold Steel Ultralock

A

Alvin Hom

Joined
May 6, 2004
Messages
171
I'm partial towards Benchmade Axis locks.

Someone who was partial towards Cold Steel said that the Cold Steel locks are the best in the industry even stronger than the Axis.

While I had my doubts on this, I had no facts/sources on any tests comparing these 2.

Any info out there?

TIA.
 
A friend who had a Recon 1 found that the blade got pretty loose - the lock also got rather difficult to disengage. My AFCK remain absolutely tight and smooth. Stick with the Axis lock!
 
Esav Benyamin said in an earlier thread, "The Benchmade axis lock and the SOG arc lock engage a notch at the back of the tang. The Cold Steel ultralock engages a cutout in the tang itself. I don't like this at all. I doubt it will last as long as the others and I think it will collect and hold crud that the others shrug off every time you close them."

I have several benchmades (Ares and 921) with the Axis lock. I'm happy with all of them, and I'd get another one in a heartbeat.
 
I bought one of the first Cold Steel UltraLocks, when they first showed up in their catalog. I was very impressed with the knife as far as sharpness and lockup. UNTIL I actually cut something that required putting pressure on the blade. I was whittling on a piece of wood, and it wasn't even necessarily a hard wood. Green stick I found laying in the woods. When I got done whittling, I closed the knife and opened it later. The blade had(still has) a lot of blade play after that point.
 
Alvin Hom said:
Someone who was partial towards Cold Steel said that the Cold Steel locks are the best in the industry even stronger than the Axis.
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Was he referring specifically to the UltraLock, or to CS locks generally? CS likes to boast about its "rocker locks" -- lockbacks -- and lockbacks are usually strng and reliable, not just those from CS.

I really wish CS had picked another name for the UltraLock, because they already used that name about 20 years ago for a modified linerlock with a friction-grooved tang that could be rotated open by thumbing it. Great little knives, but nothing like the current offering.
 
Was he referring specifically to the UltraLock, or to CS locks generally? CS likes to boast about its "rocker locks" -- lockbacks -- and lockbacks are usually strng and reliable, not just those from CS.
Click to expand...

Cold Steel likes to brag about ALL of it's locks, though their lockbacks in particular. This is why they have actually published the results of their weight tests, unlike most other knife companies.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Was he referring specifically to the UltraLock, or to CS locks generally?
Click to expand...
She never specified what kind of lock now that I that about it. But, her comment came right after I told someone to give one of the Benchmade Axis Locks a try instead of replacing his retired CS. So I assumed we were comparing Axis vs Ultra since it's a fair compairson.

But for arguments sake, what about the lockbacks? Aren't lockbacks weaker than the Axis lock? From looking at the design, you'd have to shear off the pins on an Axis for it to fail. On a lockback, failure occurs if the lockback slips out of the notch in the tang. This has happenned to me. However, it did occur while putting way too much pressure on an Italian stilleto, so I admit it was a stupid move. :D
 
Less parts means less to go wrong, but it seems to me such things would vary from knife to knife. Still, the Axis is an all-around more useful lock if you ask me.
 
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