Locks Compared: Which is "Best"?

K

Klappmesser

Joined
Oct 19, 2002
Messages
4
Pardon me, in case this topic has already been thoroughly discussed on this forum, but I'm new here and haven't been able to find a comprehensive lock comparison on the Internet. Also, since the Search function is disabled in my case, I haven't been able to dig very far back here.

I've read various claims about some of the following locking mechanisms, for non-automatic folding knives, being the "strongest" or most "solid". A few of these designs may be relatively new on the market and thus only available on limited knife styles.

Here are the six locking mechanisms, aside from the traditional "Liner Lock", that I've read about:

* "AXIS" by Bill McHenry and Jason Williams -- Benchmade

* "MattLock" by Matt Conable -- William Henry

* "Microbar" by (? Unknown ?) -- MicroTech

* "BladeLock" by Michael Walker -- CRKT

* "LAWKS" (Lake and Walker Knife Safety) -- CRKT

* "Integral Lock" by Chris Reeve


So here are a few questions:

* Have I missed any additional important ones?

* Which is/are most and least likely to accidentally disengage?

* Which is/are most difficult to manufacture to the necessary tolerances?

* Which can accept the most weight or torque stress, as implemented?

* Which allow(s) the blade to be opened and fully locked most quickly?

* Which might also keep a closed blade locked or shut most securely?

* Which is/are most impervious to excessive flicking of the wrist to snap open the blade rapidly?

* Which would tend to allow the design of the most lightweight knife?


Thanks in advance for your comments.

KLAPPMESSER
 
I'm not good enough to explain the more specific stuff, but you've missed the compression lock from Spyderco
Arc lock is quite similar to the Axis lock and it belongs to SOG
Spyderco will be coming out with the Ball Bearing lock, and I think SOG's Flash may use a different lock system.
HTH
 
Tinives has some of the most modern locking mechanisms:

-Ti Lock (supposed to be very smooth)
-Speedroller Lock (Larry Chew's I believe, also reputed to be very smooth)

Also, I don't see the old Swiss Army standard (although I guess it's hardly a "lock"):

-The Slip Joint.

For the most part, if you are thinking of doing heavy twisting or prying with a folding blade knife, I would advise you to get a fixed blade for the job. Folding blades are for strictly light to medium duty.

EnkiduEOT
 
my favorite is the axis lock. a sebbie with a axis lock would be great. but that won't happen since bm owns the patent. the only problems with it is that it makes the knife thicker then it needs to be and it is pretty complex. if you take apart your bm axis knife it voids the warranty. i can understand why. many people might not get it back together due to so many parts. i do not honestly know if having more parts makes it more prone to failure. although, it is the best functioning lock in my opinion. keeps your fingers out of the blade path, easy to disengage and sounds nice when it clicks. if they could simplify it in some way and retain the basic design, that in my opinion would be the ultimate lock. now, many would argue that a axis lock doesnt belong on a "great" knife like a umfaan or small seb, but how strong does the lock need to be on such a small knife anyways? i wish bm could up their overall design and quality, because their lock is already a winner, imho.


holdanedge.
 
Among popular lock formats I could add Rolling Lock by REKAT (Bob Brothers and Bob Tailor, no ideas are they still in business or not).

LAWKS is not locking device as itself, it is additional safety what works with liner lock. GERBER also use very similar device on some their knives.

In my honest opinion it is not too much sense to compare lock formats as themselves, in isolation from particular knife designs. You buy and use the knife and the lock is only part of its design, by all means important buy no way the only important one.
 
Serg> I take it you're not a leftie?

ever try using a liner lock designed to ONLY be used by a rightie with your left? I have 2 liner locks I can operate left handed: Spyderco Military and tufram Cricket... The rest of my knives are either lockback or fixed.

I've only handled an Axis once, a BM Osborne... wasn't paying complete attention to finger placement(thin handle), and the end of the blade swung down into my fingertip, right behind the nail.

Frame locks and Compression locks are leftie friendly(for the most part), the bladelock(CRKT) is certainly not leftie friendly.

I'd say the best all around lock would be the basic backlock. It has stood the test of time, and I haven't had any problems yet(through a <i>bit</i> of abuse in some cases).

Linerlocks are the easiest to take apart and clean though.
 
In my not so humble opinion, I would have to say the AXIS lock is the best. I love my Benchmade 806D2! :D
 
* Have I missed any additional important ones?

The bailsong


* Which is/are most and least likely to accidentally disengage?

Least: The balisong.

Most: ???

* Which is/are most difficult to manufacture to the necessary tolerances?

I don't know. The balisong is "deceptively simple." At first glance, it looks very simple. But everything has to fit correctly. Many try. Few succeed.


* Which can accept the most weight or torque stress, as implemented?

The balisong

* Which allow(s) the blade to be opened and fully locked most quickly?

The balisong.


* Which might also keep a closed blade locked or shut most securely?

The balisong.

* Which is/are most impervious to excessive flicking of the wrist to snap open the blade rapidly?

The balisong, obviously.


* Which would tend to allow the design of the most lightweight knife?

Most lightweight? I don't know. Balisongs with Titanium or aluminum handles end up begin pretty light.
 
Originally posted by Gollnick
* Have I missed any additional important ones?
The bailsong
<snip>
Click to expand...

You missed one:
Which one has the most legal problems?

The balisong, of course.

Lots of people can't own them because of stupid knife laws. :(
 
Timberline's Discovery lock by Butch Volloton. I love it. Technicaly its not a switchblade..."spring assisted opener"...so its legal up here in Canada. The locking mechanism is also the opening mechanism. If you ever get a chance to examine one I think you'll be impressed.

The blade locks up like an armored truck and even beating the back of the blade on the edge of my bench didn't force the lock to open. Only intentionally sliding the lock button toward the blade will disengage the lock.

BUT...should the assisted opening spring break, the lock's security will be compromised as well. Of course you'll know of such a failure because the blade will not snap open.:(

Leverlocks and linerlocks IMHO suck big. The AXIS lock, Arc Lock and the BladeLock seem to be mechanicly sound designs. Thats M2C.
 
Originally posted by holdanedge
my favorite is the axis lock. a sebbie with a axis lock would be great. but that won't happen since bm owns the patent. the only problems with it is that it makes the knife thicker then it needs to be and it is pretty complex. if you take apart your bm axis knife it voids the warranty. i can understand why. many people might not get it back together due to so many parts. i do not honestly know if having more parts makes it more prone to failure.
Click to expand...

The Axis lock is very simple, and very strong. Look at the pictures that T. Erdelyi posted, and you'll see the Axis lock disassembled. It consists of 2 omega springs, and the lock bar itself. Nothing complex about it at all. The Axis has 2 Omega springs, so if one fails, the other keeps the lock engaged. Failure rates have been low, and the last I knew it centered around broken Omega springs, and that was because of a poor heat treat on some.

I hope this clarifies the simplicity of the Axis lock.

ADDED:

to answer the original question, IMHO, the best lock available is the Axis, followed by the frame (or integral) lock.
 
Chris Reeve made the frame lock, and then made it popular. But the best frame lock is in my opinion made by Darrel Ralph.
 
VampireWolf,
You are right, I’m not lefty. However I can do pretty much with my left hand so I can evaluate how lefty friendly each lock is. If we would evaluate them from this point the most lefty friendly inherently are BENCHMADE Axis Lock, SOG Arc Lock and old Back Lock.
Ooopppsss, sorry Chuck, balisong also :)

Less lefty friendly are SPYDERCO Compression Lock and REKAT Rolling Lock. Less but not completely. Bram Frank’s Gunting has Compression Lock turned into opposite direction than the rest of CL equipped Spydies but I do not have any problems to operate it both with my right as well as my left hand.

The least lefty friendly are Liner Lock and Integral (Mono, Frame) Lock. But – it seems pretty important for me – you are operating not lock as itself but the knife. Depending on its complete design you can operate liner or integral lock more or less comfortably. In another words it can be more or less lefty unfriendly :)

Naturally Blade Lock is not lefty friendly at all, opening the knife with left hand reminds more circus trick :)

BTW, this point was not touched by thread originator at all...
 
Another one is the Paul knife.Made in the past by Gerber 2x.Its comming out again this time by Lonewolf knives.I can't remmember Pauls last name but I handled his custom version years ago at a custom show.It was one of the smoothest opening and closing folders I handled.It also locks closed.
 
so i think most of you experts concede:
axis#1
framelock#2
is that right?
it is a shame because normally i prefer a sebenza. i just hate using my thumb "meat" to disengage the lock. mr. reeve maybe you could buy rights to the axis from bm? see my original post in this thread, that i think, would be ideal. well, my sebbies, are not in my pocket anymore. guess what is? yup, my bm limited run 770bc1. it is, in a word: nice! i think the implemantation of the lock depends on the particular knife. on my bm705 i think the axis is so/so. on my 941 it is pretty nice. but this 770, it is schweeet! i guess i got the good one. well, i think this one was hand made. that must be why. it was a limited run proto of 50 units. usually bm is sketchy on qc. i guess that is all that makes the seb better overall. oh, yeah, plus it is thinner, does not have a back spacer has les parts to fail and is titanium! titanium is a big plus! well, i guess no one knife(lock) does it all. so why not get them all?



holdanedge.
 
While there has been a flurry of activity in
the invention of newer folding knife locks it
is my humble opinion that the the winners by
virtue of actual use is the rear lockback and
the balisong.

Properly made these knives are both mechaniclly
simple and direct leading to extreme reliablity
in use.:cool:
 
Thanks for your comments. Of course I like Balisong knives too, but they're illegal to carry where I live.

Would anybody know how the Mattlock differs from the AXIS lock? Both operate with a spring, have a button for activation, are completely ambidextrous, and allow one-handed operation. Apparently both locks are so strong that the mechanism would break instead of incurring mechanical failure.

The Mattlock is available only on the William Henry Icon Interframe, with a 3.625" blade length (four different handle finishes, ranging from a suggest retail price of $450 to $550). Unfortunately, I haven't held one in my hand, but the pictures I've seen of them sure are nice. Also, the thickness is less than 3/8", which is even slimmer than the Benchmade 770.

Since the Mattlock has "Patent Pending" status, it's not clear whether this is essentially a refinement of Benchmade's patented AXIS lock or indeed a completely novel design that will, in due course, be patented.

I've also not been able to check out the ArcLock from SOG. How does this lock compare with the AXIS in terms of ease of one-handed operation and its resistance to quick wrist flicking?

KLAPPMESSER
 
Thanks for your comments. Of course I like Balisong knives too, but they're illegal to carry where I live.

Would anybody know how the Mattlock differs from the AXIS lock? Both operate with a spring, have a button for activation, are completely ambidextrous, and allow one-handed operation. Apparently both locks are so strong that the mechanism would break instead of incurring mechanical failure.

The Mattlock is available only on the William Henry Icon Interframe, with a 3.625" blade length (four different handle finishes, ranging from a suggest retail price of $450 to $550). Unfortunately, I haven't held one in my hand, but the pictures I've seen of them sure are nice. Also, the thickness is less than 3/8", which is even slimmer than the Benchmade 770.

Since the Mattlock has "Patent Pending" status, it's not clear whether this is essentially a refinement of Benchmade's patented AXIS lock or indeed a completely novel design that will, in due course, be patented.

I've also not been able to check out the ArcLock from SOG. How does this lock compare with the AXIS in terms of ease of one-handed operation and its resistance to quick wrist flicking?

KLAPPMESSER
 
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