Question about the compression lock

[Belly]

I would like to get opinions on the compression lock. I have read many threads and most seem to like it. Most say it is superior to a liner lock. I have watched video, review pictures, and held a Paramilitary 2, so I have a general understanding of its anatomy and how it differs from a liner lock. I like the idea of how it wedges a piece of the liner between the stop pin and tang. That seems like a really strong design. What worries me about the lock is that it will wear in 2 separate places - where the liner rubs against the stop pin and where the liner rubs against the tang. That makes it seem like it would wear twice as fast as a lock that only rubs metal against metal in one place.

Anyone agree or am I missing something? No doubt that all locks will wear, but I would like to have one that will wear more slowly. Is my thinking right? I certainly am not trying to be negative. I just would like opinions and counter point.

Thanks.

 

[yablanowitz]

If you use it for a knife and not a toy, it will last a long time. If you like to play with your knife, opening and closing repeatedly or with hard inertial opening, it will wear fairly quickly. In addition to the spots mentioned, hard inertial openings will peen a flat on the stop pin where the blade slams into it, and spine whacking will peen the top and bottom surfaces of the locking tab as well, causing the vertical play people whine about so often even though the lock will still prevent inadvertant closing. If you thumb the blade open when you need to use the knife, then release the lock and close the knife until you need it again, the compression lock will probably outlive you. If you sit in front of the T.V. and cycle the blade a thousand times every evening, it's going to wear out pretty quickly.

My problem with the compression lock is simply that I find it awkward to release right handed. I carried my Paramilitary 2 left handed when I carried it.

 

[JNewell]

A few supplemental thoughts.

If you sit in front of the T.V. and cycle the blade a thousand times every evening, it's going to wear out pretty quickly.

One of my Para2s, an S90V sprint that I have a spare for, has actually had this treatment and shows no wear at all. That's with thumb-opening, not wrist-flicks.

I think the compression lock is brilliant, and it's clearly very reliable and strong. Oddly, one of my only two slight reservations on the lock are that I find it slightly less natural to use left-handed. I'm primarily a left handed knife user, and it works, but to me it's less natural, so I find Yab's thoughts above interesting because my feeling on that is backwards relative to his.

The other very minor reservation would be that it's harder to unlock with gloves or numb fingers. The Military is the king of those situations IMO.

Final note: even if your compression lock does develop some wear, it is very likely not going to affect the safety or reliability of the knife. Vertical play is very annoying, but because of the way the compression lock works, that's all it is. Even if the locking tab went all the way over to the opposite liner, it might still be safe, since the tab is thicker than the washer that's between the blade tang and the metal liner - though I would have sent the knife in for repair a long time before that.

 

[yablanowitz]

Too many years of using lockbacks. Trying to release the lock right-handed means shifting my grip to press the tab with my index finger, a process I find both awkward and annoying. I can release it with my thumb when I carry it left-handed in a movement similar to the releasing a back lock, putting my index finger on the Spyderhole to close the blade.

 

[csmaz]

If you use it for a knife and not a toy, it will last a long time. If you like to play with your knife, opening and closing repeatedly or with hard inertial opening, it will wear fairly quickly. In addition to the spots mentioned, hard inertial openings will peen a flat on the stop pin where the blade slams into it, and spine whacking will peen the top and bottom surfaces of the locking tab as well, causing the vertical play people whine about so often even though the lock will still prevent inadvertant closing. If you thumb the blade open when you need to use the knife, then release the lock and close the knife until you need it again, the compression lock will probably outlive you. If you sit in front of the T.V. and cycle the blade a thousand times every evening, it's going to wear out pretty quickly.

My problem with the compression lock is simply that I find it awkward to release right handed. I carried my Paramilitary 2 left handed when I carried it.

Quite the claim. Do you have any quantitative evidence to support this?

 

[RevDevil]

Quite the claim. Do you have any quantitative evidence to support this?

There are tons of posts that provide evidence of people that abusively open and clsoe knives then complain about the "crappy fit and finish". All you need to do is search and read through some of them and see for yourself. Aside from that, it's common sense and easily understood that is you repeatedly hit a hard surface against an even harder surface (as in lock interface and steel lock tab) deformation is inevitable.

 

[bobusx]

How hard of an opening? Thumb flick or wrist snap?

 

[yablanowitz]

Quite the claim. Do you have any quantitative evidence to support this?

Support which, that peening the surfaces of a compression lock knife through abuse will cause vertical play, or that people whine about it? The former is simple physics, the latter should be evident to anyone who reads these forums.