No ZT for me sorry

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firefighterguy said:
My ZT 0393 came from the factory with some issues. My experience with their CS was fantastic. I sent the knife in and had it back within 2 weeks from the day I shipped it and that was including a holiday. The CS reps I spoke with were fantastic. While this is my only experience with a knife company CS I give it an A.

I recently saw that YouTube video and tried the spine whack test on my 0393 and it failed. Keep in mind I did the version in which I simply hit the blade on my opposite hand and the lock failed. My Slipjoint SAK doesn’t even do that.

Now it’s never failed during use but that is definitely alarming. I also tried in on my 0562 and it’s rock solid. Even a table whack didn’t do anything. Oddly enough I can push the lock bar over on the 0562 and the 0393 doesn’t move.
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My ZT 0620 cf was doing the same thing. The lock would fail very easily.

I am not necessarily recommending it as a fix for yours but bending my lockbar a little bit further in solved the issue in my 620.
 
All joking aside, I have two versions of the 0392 and two versions of the 0456 and none have ever had any problems and work perfectly. The 0393 I have up for sale is nice, but I just don't like it as much as my other ZT knives.
 
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I have, or have had at least eight ZT knives, some bought used, here on the exchange. All have been as flawless as a production knife can be, and they are among my favorites.
 
sXePhenomenal said:
One point about spine wacking a framelock. If youre holding it in a saber or hammer grip putting force on the lockbar I doubt it’d fail. But spine wacking holding by the butt it’s much more likely to fail.
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I don’t buy that because force on the lock bar from your hand grip shouldn’t be necessary for a lock to work. If that’s the case liner locks would be useless and dangerous. My ZT 0393 is a frame lock but the g10 over lay prevent my hand from affecting the lock bar in any way.
 
firefighterguy said:
I don’t buy that because force on the lock bar from your hand grip shouldn’t be necessary for a lock to work. If that’s the case liner locks would be useless and dangerous. My ZT 0393 is a frame lock but the g10 over lay prevent my hand from affecting the lock bar in any way.
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I find with many framelocks the lockbar sits in the crook of my fingers where no real pressure is being put on the lockbar to hold the lockbar over.
 
If you hold it properly your hand is gonna absorb the shock, that'll make the difference. I'm gonna try it tomorrow with the 0909 and maybe 1-2 more, need to dig out some gloves or wrap my finger in duct tape, not gonna bother with it at midnight :D
 
I have had nothing but good experiances with ZT cs. They have gone above and beyond for me.
 
b00n said:
If you hold it properly your hand is gonna absorb the shock, that'll make the difference. I'm gonna try it tomorrow with the 0909 and maybe 1-2 more, need to dig out some gloves or wrap my finger in duct tape, not gonna bother with it at midnight :D
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I don't think it will make any difference, looking close at my 0909 the lock only hits the blade base on the inside edge. Liner locks I have that won't unlock by spine tapping are flush and well seated. The 0909 though would not be defeated by hand pressure alone by a strong man I recruited to test it. So , maybe the tapping does set up a skipping resulting in the lock jumping out of engagement. Let us know your findings.
 
I have a ZT 0909, about a year ago I was cutting through cardboard and I paused to readjust my grip, I pulled up on the knife a little, and the lock failed. It really only slipped a little, but I realized it had failed when I felt the lock re engage when I began cutting again. I took the knife apart and the face of the liner lock was all galled and messed up where it contacted the tang, so it would slip right off the tang. I sent it in to ZT's warranty department the next day, and a month later they sent it back with a new liner lock. ZT's warranty service was great, and I haven't had any issues with it since.
 
I don't totally trust any lock but with that being said I trust the - in no particular order- Tri-Ad, Axis, compression, caged bbl, lock back, Arc-lock, etc more than I trust any liner or frame lock. From my own experience I've had some liner locks and frame locks that could be defeated by hand pressure only and I've had some that were very trustworthy with the frame locks exceeding liner locks in reliability.
 
Axis is a tough lock. I have a Benchmade HK model I've used hard and even hammered on the spine with a hammer to drive the D2 blade through tough plastic. Tried to defeat the lock recently by spine whacking and it not only passed but remained tight with no blade play.
 
jill jackson said:
Axis is a tough lock. I have a Benchmade HK model I've used hard and even hammered on the spine with a hammer to drive the D2 blade through tough plastic. Tried to defeat the lock recently by spine whacking and it not only passed but remained tight with no blade play.
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I totally agree. I love the Axis lock. It's definitely one my favorite. Very secure and easy to manipulate.
 
If everyone were to use slip joints exclusively for a year, they would get used to how to handle a folding knife without a lock. I have never had a lock fail (0450cf included), however, I don't completely trust locks and use them accordingly.

Now when they become useful is for fidgeting. Can't beat an Axis or Compression lock for fidgeting.
 
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