Proposed: Japanese- and US-made FRN's with spine locks should switch to liner lock.

Why would Spyderco want to switch to a liner lock, which is often not as strong as a back lock? I do not like liner locks and I only own one (a Spyderco Cat). I have owned liner lock knives in the past and they do not normally hold up very well...at least in my experience using them on a farm.
 
Backlocks allow the handle to be made slimmer in both width and height while maintaining very good lock strength. Small liner locks get flimsy.

Great in pocketability, great in hand AND plenty strong. :thumbup:
 
Sal Glesser said:
Hi Hank_Rearden,

May I ask why you prefer Linerlocks to lock-backs?

sal
Click to expand...

good day, sir! as i mentioned, i'm not sure how strong spine locks are without a stop pin when it comes to extension stress (during hard cutting.) this is one aspect of lock strength which hasn't been discussed in this forum: failure towards the spine side. also, i have gotten used to the quick and smooth opening on my g-10 military. a flick with the index finger on the spydey hole opens it faster than an assisted blade. i don't know why but liners locks open much better than others. lastly, a liner lock lends itself to more varied handle designs, since the action is more internal.

i have never seen a back lock fail towards the edge side, which is what a lot of people seem to fear. i have little doubt on a back lock's reliability in that particular aspect. i'm looking at other things. thanks for asking.
 
hank_rearden said:
good day, sir! as i mentioned, i'm not sure how strong spine locks are without a stop pin when it comes to extension stress (during hard cutting.) this is one aspect of lock strength which hasn't been discussed in this forum: failure towards the spine side. also, i have gotten used to the quick and smooth opening on my g-10 military. a flick with the index finger on the spydey hole opens it faster than an assisted blade. i don't know why but liners locks open much better than others. lastly, a liner lock lends itself to more varied handle designs, since the action is more internal.

i have never seen a back lock fail towards the edge side, which is what a lot of people seem to fear. i have little doubt on a back lock's reliability in that particular aspect. i'm looking at other things. thanks for asking.
Click to expand...

rilock.jpg
backlock.jpg


So you're saying that you believe a (relatively) small round pin, either held in place by two small screws or simply nested between two (relatively) thin liners, is stronger than a long bar that rides on a pivot screw? Now I'd be willing to concede that, all other things being equal, a liner lock with a full backspacer would have greater resistance to "failure toward the spine side" than a midlock. However, when it comes to relative difficultly to succumb to that type of failure, I'll take the lockbar of a midlock over the stop pin of an open frame liner or frame lock any day of the week.

As for me, I strongly prefer Spyderco's midlock. It's hand neutral and has enough "bias to closing" that I never have to worry about one opening in my pocket. If it takes a couple hundredths, or even a couple tenths, of a second longer to "deploy", that's ok, as I've never been in a situation where that small a difference would have been of any real importance and I've been carrying a pocket knife for over 60 years.
 
Last edited:
the weak part of the arrangement on the right is the pivot pin on the lock bar, which could break, or allow the bar to swing up. there's another weakness not shown in the diagram: in cases wherein the leading face of the lock bar is slightly rounded to facilitate engagement with the tang notch. that might also cause the bar nub to "slip over" the notch.

the left diagram's stop pin, small as it is, is as solid and stationary a break against extension as you can get. the one on the right is a moving system.
 
hank_rearden said:
the weak part of the arrangement on the right is the pivot pin on the lock bar, which could break, or allow the bar to swing up. there's another weakness not shown in the diagram: in cases wherein the leading face of the lock bar is slightly rounded to facilitate engagement with the tang notch. that might also cause the bar nub to "slip over" the notch.

the left diagram's stop pin, small as it is, is as solid and stationary a break against extension as you can get. the one on the right is a moving system.
Click to expand...

If the pivot pin is the weakness, then the stop pin would be just as weak. Even if the lock bar did slip up the knife still couldn't fail in the manner you're talking about as the lockbar, up or down, would still be in the way.
 
Insipid Moniker said:
If the pivot pin is the weakness, then the stop pin would be just as weak. Even if the lock bar did slip up the knife still couldn't fail in the manner you're talking about as the lockbar, up or down, would still be in the way.
Click to expand...

^This. In either lock something has to break for that manner of failure to occur.
 
Hi Hank_Reardon,

FYI, When we break them, which we do regularly, lock-backs are stronger than Linerlocks by a considerable amount. We've not had a locking knife defeat upwards in 35 years of knifemaking.

sal
 
I hear what you're saying. I prefer liner locks to back locks because I think they're easier and faster to disengage, especially one handed. However, I still think back locks have their place and I'm not sure about switching all of them to liner locks. There are plenty of knives in both configurations to choose from so each can have his own.
 
I prefer Spyderco's mid-locking lockbacks by a wide margin to any liner locks. Plus, I have zero problems closing mid-locks one-handed. I don't need a liner lock to do that. I also find that lockbacks last longer and are more durable and generally more reliable than liner locks. IME, when subjected to the same amounts of use, liner locks wear faster than any other lock type.

Jim
 
The only liner locks I will have are framelocks. I have multiple Spydercos I would not have purchased if they had been liner locks.
 
It has been said the egg is the perfect shape. The Caly 3.5 is (was) the perfect EDC. Try making a decent liner lock on a handle that slim. You would find many to say that the Military is the perfect EDC and they would not want its lock changed either. Spyderco lock backs rule
 
A big NOPE to this idea. Spydercos backlocks are the best in the industry. I keep seeing mention of up and down blade movement on the backlocks, but I have never experienced it. I also have no problem closing them one handed. The backlocks always feel very solid and I have no qualms whatsoever in using them with the thought they may fail. My backlocks are my roughest use knives.
 
I will guess most of us here have already seen this one, but I'll leave it here anyway.

[video=youtube;4KmHfbG7z7g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KmHfbG7z7g[/video]
 
Tdhurl1103 said:
I will guess most of us here have already seen this one, but I'll leave it here anyway.
Click to expand...
Interesting video, but what HankReardon seems to be most concerned with is not BladeHQ tested, and what most people think of when they hear "lock strength", namely resistance to accidental closing when pressure is applied to the blade spine. His concern seems to be the relative resistance of different locks to having the blade fold upward and back when pressure is applied to the edge. I'd say that, in one sense, it's a more valid fear since it's possible to use a pocket knife for years without ever applying a significant amount of pressure to the spine, while almost all cutting requires pressing the edge against the object being cut. In another sense I would call it a less valid fear, as I cannot recall ever seeing a single report of a Spyderco,or any other locking folder, failing that way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top