Remember when "lock stick" was a good thing?

J

Jamesh Bond

Joined
Jan 14, 2007
Messages
1,760
I see so much complaining about sticky locks and I guess I don't get it.

I remember first reading about the new Walker LinerLock in the 90's. One of the many benefits touted was the fact that titanium galls to other metals.

In other words, it made the lock stick open better. Which was a GOOD thing back then.

Now, like anything else in this hobby, we've found a new thing to make into a THING. Then we made it trendy.

Personally, all these trends annoy me. But I have an especially hard time trying to stay open minded to someone complaining :

"My lock is hard to close!"

Whut? Isn't that the POINT?

"But it hurts my thumbs."

Really? Don't be a wussy, then.

I don't think myself especially strong. In fact, I'm pretty much a weenie. But I've had ZERO problem disengaging the stickiest or stiffest of the culprits Im always hearing about. Compression, Triad, titanium liner, titanium frame. . .

I just use the right application of leverage, and there we go. Some of the stiffest have given me a welt. But that's when I'm using it as a toy to play with instead of cutting stuff with it. And I still can't grasp why that's a problem.

Anyway, I'm just as guilty of getting hung up on dumb things as the rest.

But dang, unless you have arthritis or are a 7 year old girl, this one I just can't accept.

What are your thoughts on this and other goofy trends that seem to make or break people's opinion of their knife?

And the fact that many people don't have a thought on the matter until they read about it?

Answers such as "Well if you don't like it then blah blah" need not apply here.

I'm interested in reading some real opinions here.

There was mine.

Thanx.
 
Is it an "all or nothing" kinda thing?

I have yet to experience lock stick, but I'd imagine there's got to be a spectrum of force required that would range from normal force to damned near impossible.

I know some guys who of the Spyderco K2 said the lock was so stuck they had serious problems.
 
19-3ben said:
Is it an "all or nothing" kinda thing?

I have yet to experience lock stick, but I'd imagine there's got to be a spectrum of force required that would range from normal force to damned near impossible.

I know some guys who of the Spyderco K2 said the lock was so stuck they had serious problems.
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It breaks in nicely though, most guys never gave that knife a chance
 
We have become a bunch of wimp whiners. :D
Just use the freekin knife!!
rolf
 
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the only knife I've had with a tough to disengage lock was the ZT551. I quickly found out that I could apply pressure differently and it disengaged perfectly. I do agree that sometimes it seems like the person complaining is as you described just being a "wussy". I guess it just falls inline with what we all are willing to deal with or figure out vs expectations.
 
My 0561 had such bad lockstick I had to carry a companion screw driver with me to pry it open after use. However, that is relatively easily fixed with a little sharpie.

My problem is this: for my uses, I've never had to worry about lock failure, so the question became: why have lockstick if I get literally no loss in my personal use with a steel lockbar insert? The added bonus being decreased lock wear, although I've never worn a lock bar out, or even seen one move a considerable degree


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Lycosa said:
We have become a bunch of wimp whiners.
Just use the freekin knife!!
rolf
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Right?

I totally get that everything has a spectrum and every rule an exception.

But there are just too many people whining for me to believe that the knives are the problem.

Geez, grow a set already lol!
 
The only knife I ever had a problem unlocking was the first run of the SR1 by Lionsteel. After opening and closing it for a day or two it was fine.

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk
 
Lycosa said:
Oh, and how SMOOTH a folder is. Please!! Open, use, close!
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Ya but they are Noice when they
SMEEWTH! Lol!

But smooth through breaking in by using it. Not through fancy bearings or factory tweaks that add 173 dollars to our cost.
 
unwisefool said:
The only knife I ever had a problem unlocking was the first run of the SR1 by Lionsteel. After opening and closing it for a day or two it was fine.

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk
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There's that concept again:

"Used it and it wore in."

Such a novel construct, ey?

Lol Thx.
 
One thing I can't understand is the desire for "early lockup" on a folder.

People show pictures with maybe 1/2 or 1/3 of the lock bar resting against the blade tang and they're super excited about their early lockup.

Why wouldn't you want the entire lock bar surface to engage? Is his really the time and place for "less is more" minimalism?
 
Good thread, Mr. Bond. Agreed. And as a few have pointed out, a little bit of honest use evens things out. Lock stick I can live with, and corrects itself. Lock flex or slip... that's a different story altogether.
 
Emre said:
One thing I can't understand is the desire for "early lockup" on a folder.

People show pictures with maybe 1/2 or 1/3 of the lock bar resting against the blade tang and they're super excited about their early lockup.

Why wouldn't you want the entire lock bar surface to engage? Is his really the time and place for "less is more" minimalism?
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Yessir!

That's another one that harkens back to the 90's. Back then, 50 percent was considered ideal.

Now, everyone is already worried about the end of their knife the day they get it.

Assuming they even know why early lockup is "good" in the first place. And I suspect many don't even know that.
 
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Wasn't there a recent thread on hipsters and knives? This could explain the complaining.

Just joking hipsters

In all seriousness people, myself included at times, have stopped seeing knives as tools and more so as "art," a status symbol, a possession of value.

No offense to the ladies here but men, just in general, are not the same as they were 30 years ago. They spend just as much time on their looks as my mom did before church. Men work less with their hands and are more, of a lack of a better way, feminine.

(Lol. Side note Japan has introduced male curriculum to their students in fear the boys are growing up to soft)

People work less with there hands and thus softer hands. For example there is a thread on how "sharp" Spyderco holes are that just made me cringe.

Then you have a generation or two of spoilt entitled kids who have grown up in 1st world problems

This just my opinion though with a nugget of truth.
 
All my Emersons do it if they are deployed using the wave feature. Now, as for me? Frankly, I find that to be a feature, not a bug. YMMV.
 
Aias said:
Good thread, Mr. Bond. Agreed. And as a few have pointed out, a little bit of honest use evens things out. Lock stick I can live with, and corrects itself. Lock flex or slip... that's a different story altogether.
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Lock slip. BLEH!
 
My biggest one is telling people how and what they should and shouldn't be doing with a knife.

Oh if your not gently opening a piece of mail or slicing a sandwich you're using your knife wrong....

A knife is a tool just like all my other tools, it gets worked hard then put away cleaned up as good as I found it, ready to be used for the next task at hand.
 
Well to be fair, I have seen knives wear in and eventually the lockup moves to engage more and more of the tang. That is where early lockup became popular as those knives "lasted longer" and stayed newer before an ugly lockup set in
 
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