No ZT for me sorry

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Mossyhorn said:
So you're changing your comment. You stated that he whacks the absolute shit out of the spine.
I didn't miss your point at all.
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No sir my original comment as well as my secondary explanation are one and the same. Jesse posted a video on his YouTube some time ago where he takes his folders and literally slams the spine of the knife(open and locked position) in order to test the lock as well as force it to move over from the extreme early lockup position.
 
I am not a fan at all of frame/liner locks. It seems silly to me to actually have my thumb in the path of the closing blade just to unlock it. However, the only ZT I have is a flipper and if it accidentally closed (0450cf - it doesn't fail spine wacking, but I can push the lock bar from 20% over to 70% fairly easily) the flipper tab would stop it from cutting off my fingers.

I think, for me anyway, I'll stick with other style locks. At least try to, probably a futile exercise.
 
craytab said:
Just tried all of my ZTs after firmly flicking them open. Not one failed. It is a stupid test at best but any knife should pass I light whack. No way I am going to purposefully try to push a lock bar over on one of them.

Perhaps Jill is getting crappy knives from Thomas :eek: :D
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I've never bought or sold a knife. All except for two knives are still in their factory boxes. The only knife that has failed on me, which I reported earlier in this thread is a ZT 0450FCZDP.
 
Tommy-Chi said:
I've never bought or sold a knife. All except for two knives are still in their factory boxes. The only knife that has failed on me, which I reported earlier in this thread is a ZT 0450FCZDP.
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If you have never bought a knife, how did you get the ones you have? Gifts? Theft?:D

Besides the zts I have and tested, I've had 3x more. Not a problem with any of them either. Also, knives don't sit in factory boxes for me. All got used, some hard. Still no problems.
 
craytab said:
If you have never bought a knife, how did you get the ones you have? Gifts? Theft?:D

Besides the zts I have and tested, I've had 3x more. Not a problem with any of them either. Also, knives don't sit in factory boxes for me. All got used, some hard. Still no problems.
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I should have been more clear. I've never bought a used knife. I've never sold a knife to anyone. All of my knives are new from a factory or well established retailer.

I go though all of my knives at least once a month. None of my other ZTs or other folders have problems with lockup.
 
Tommy-Chi said:
I should have been more clear. I've never bought a used knife. I've never sold a knife to anyone. All of my knives are new from a factory or well established retailer.

I go though all of my knives at least once a month. None of my other ZTs or other folders have problems with lockup.
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That does make more sense. Thanks for the clarification.
 
In the minority here in this thread, but in the great majority in the real working world I presume. I have dozens of ZTs, and use them all in rotating service. I have never had a lock fail while I was cutting anything.

Maybe if I spent more time spine-whacking I could become more displeased with the knives.

best

mqqn
 
mqqn said:
In the minority here in this thread, but in the great majority in the real working world I presume. I have dozens of ZTs, and use them all in rotating service. I have never had a lock fail while I was cutting anything.

Maybe if I spent more time spine-whacking I could become more displeased with the knives.

best

mqqn
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I'm in the same boat. Never had a failure from a zt (or a Kershaw or a BM or a spyderco or a.....). I don't generally spine whack my knives. The test seems a bit ridiculous to me. Because of this thread I tested all of my frame/liner locks I had on hand in my office. Not one failed. Guess I am lucky. Then again, I cut with the sharp edge of the blade.
 
Just tried whacking a ZT0055. No problem.

Which I'm glad. This modded/customized knife is becoming a favorite. While I don't believe in heavy whacking, the light whacking demonstrated in SOME of these videos is exactly the accidental type of closure I carry locking knives to prevent.
 
finger choil or flipper tab only for me. that's why I do not own any Benchmades any more . there is no way I am carrying/using a knife that folds with an edge that comes down all the way to the handle. I know lots want all the edge they can get but the trade off is losing fingers . no thanx.
 
simple answer...use the edge to cut....don't use the spine as a hammer!
 
navman said:
simple answer...use the edge to cut....don't use the spine as a hammer!
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That's one way to look at it, here is another. Get a fixed blade is another.

"I don't care care what the lock is, I always give a new knife a couple of light to moderate spine wacks.

Nothing more anoying (and sometimes darn right painful) than having a knife fold when doing some cutting.

Thrust, stabbing, and twisting during cutting tasks can unlock unsound knives. Been there, done that, and hear about it regularly.

If the design and materials are good, there should be no damage to the lock unless you go to extreme force in the testing. Extreme force would be destructive testing.

Don't want to test, fine. Don't cry when your knife folds on you."
 
There's nothing wrong with that lock. According to Mike Walker, as described in this quote, "The liner's leading edge bears on the beveled end of the tang."
Source: http://www.knife-expert.com/liners.txt


jill jackson said:
This 0909 fails light spine taps very easily. You can see the lock is not fitted correctly. It has nowhere to go but out under stress. The liner locks I have that won't be defeated by spine taps are fitted flush and tight. Not just on the inside edge.

ofne5g.jpg
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dano said:
There's nothing wrong with that lock. According to Mike Walker, as described in this quote, "The liner's leading edge bears on the beveled end of the tang."
Source: http://www.knife-expert.com/liners.txt
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Nothing besides it folds up with very light spine taps. If people think that's fine more power to them.

And is this one that won't fail even harder spine whacks wrong? By comparison?
30xfk7r.jpg
30xfk7r.jpg
30xfk7r.jpg
 
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James Y said:
I agree. I also like how the Military's blade tang contact surface is ground concave instead of at a flat angle, for more gradual wear and much less chance of slipping off. The Military is my favorite liner-locking knife, and I've never had one even come close to slipping during use or with heavy hand pressure.

I don't own any frame lock ZTs, but I do have a couple frame lock Kershaws that barely engage and do not feel like the lockup is sturdy. Once in a store, I handled a couple of Kershaw Vapors, and both of them failed by unlocking with the same hand pressure I use to close a SAK. The frame lock would just slip right off. Obviously, I didn't buy one.

Jim
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The radiused tangs vs. the flat tangs actually has been an argument for a long time. The radiused tangs seem to result in lock rock more often as was the issue Strider was having with theirs. The trick is the radius has to be a section of a very large circle. If the circle it is part of is too small this will result in lock failure.

Edit: the length of the actual lockbar will also increase the likelihood of lockrock. The Spyderco Tuff apparently experienced more likelyhood of lockrock due to the lockbar arm being very short. This means that the hypothetical arc of motion the lockbar would draw as it wears in is much tighter and therefor more likely to pull away from the tang’s lockface.

Look how short that lockbar is.
sosrrp.jpg


Honestly I have had many knives I can push in the lockbar farther than it naturally locks up. Those knives haven’t worn any faster than examples that haven’t. Especially the ones that have steel lockbar tabs haven’t worn hardly at all.
 
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The old saying about the difference between a 2x4 and a 4x4 is that a 4x4 will get you stuck deeper in the middle of nowhere. We all know that we are not supposed to apply pressure to back of the blade, especially with a folding knife. Having confidence in your lock can only encourage you, to the kind of behavior that may put your digits at greater risk.

n2s
 
jill jackson said:
I have many framelocks and liner locks with much more solid lockup than that. Some are even ZT. I just prefer the ones without mushy lockup and that will hold up to spine taps. If it doesn't matter to someone else that is their business.
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Lock “mushiness” has seemed to have no corellation with failure of spine taps. For example my Spyderco Southard came with quite a “mushy” lock but functions perfectly besides that. The lock has worn very well settling into a sweet spot where it hasn’t moved from in a long time. This is a knife I carry very often.
 
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