- Joined
- Feb 24, 2001
- Messages
- 1,308
I bought a Spyderco Gunting on a whim the other day when I was at a local gun-knife shop/shooting range. Got a price on it that matched what I would have paid for knife+shipping from knifecenter.com so I figured why not?
I was examining its action today -- particularly the compression lock -- and noticed something that seems to set it apart from the similar Liner-lock knife design:
Rather than having a ball-bearing and detente to keep the knife closed, the compression lock uses the tip of the lock spring to engage a cutaway portion of the tang.
I recently discussed the security and longevity of the ball-bearing liner lock design on this forum. Several people who responsed to my thread said that they had knives that had experienced noticeable wear on the ball bearing. Others, like the expensive Chris Reeve Sebenza, had ceramic ball bearings that really won't wear with normal use. Some had knives that had a dent pushed through the lock spring which formed a pseudo-ball-bearing that engaged a detente, and these had worn as well. I had been concerned not only with wear but with the potential of a ball-bearing to fall out of the spring, causing impaired ability of the knife to remain closed in a pocket. Most said that this was unlikely due to the way in which most bearings are seated in the springs. So be it.
I note, however, that there is very little potential for the lock on the Gunting to fail, at least in regard to the "holding-the-knife-closed" function, and probably also in the "spine-whack" sort of stress-closing resistance function as well. Yes, there is potential for the tip of the lock spring, which engages the tang to keep the blade closed, to wear. I just don't see it happening in my lifetime. How many thousands of times would I have to open the knife to cause an eventual failure to keep the knife closed? I think I have to trust Spyderco's materials, here.
I'm interested in obtaining other liner locks and compression locks that *do not* have ball-bearing detentes, but instead use the method that the Gunting uses. Anyone know of any, Spyderco or otherwise? In particular, can anyone say for sure if the A.T.R.'s compression lock works in the same way? I have to wonder, since it is a frame-lock setup and not a liner-lock.
Any comments on the Compression Lock or Liner Locks?
---Jeffrey
"Only in silence the word,
only in dark the light,
only in dying, life:
bright the hawk's flight on the empty sky."
I was examining its action today -- particularly the compression lock -- and noticed something that seems to set it apart from the similar Liner-lock knife design:
Rather than having a ball-bearing and detente to keep the knife closed, the compression lock uses the tip of the lock spring to engage a cutaway portion of the tang.
I recently discussed the security and longevity of the ball-bearing liner lock design on this forum. Several people who responsed to my thread said that they had knives that had experienced noticeable wear on the ball bearing. Others, like the expensive Chris Reeve Sebenza, had ceramic ball bearings that really won't wear with normal use. Some had knives that had a dent pushed through the lock spring which formed a pseudo-ball-bearing that engaged a detente, and these had worn as well. I had been concerned not only with wear but with the potential of a ball-bearing to fall out of the spring, causing impaired ability of the knife to remain closed in a pocket. Most said that this was unlikely due to the way in which most bearings are seated in the springs. So be it.
I note, however, that there is very little potential for the lock on the Gunting to fail, at least in regard to the "holding-the-knife-closed" function, and probably also in the "spine-whack" sort of stress-closing resistance function as well. Yes, there is potential for the tip of the lock spring, which engages the tang to keep the blade closed, to wear. I just don't see it happening in my lifetime. How many thousands of times would I have to open the knife to cause an eventual failure to keep the knife closed? I think I have to trust Spyderco's materials, here.
I'm interested in obtaining other liner locks and compression locks that *do not* have ball-bearing detentes, but instead use the method that the Gunting uses. Anyone know of any, Spyderco or otherwise? In particular, can anyone say for sure if the A.T.R.'s compression lock works in the same way? I have to wonder, since it is a frame-lock setup and not a liner-lock.
Any comments on the Compression Lock or Liner Locks?
---Jeffrey
"Only in silence the word,
only in dark the light,
only in dying, life:
bright the hawk's flight on the empty sky."
