Someone tell me why a frame lock is better than a liner ?

[RH]

People don't like liners, on the off chance that their index finger sneak in and disengage the lock under stress, but seems to me a frame lock would be MORE susceptible to torquing, since you are holding the whole lock with your hand every time you use it.

Some in the Sebenza cult go so far as to say it is the strongest lock made. Not to knock their belief system, I just don't see how - from an engineering standpoint.

 

[Brian_Turner]

In theory, on an integral lock, your hand holding the knife compresses the locking bar further into the knife, thereby holding it in place. A liner lock has a scale on the outside, so your hand's pressure will not add any compression.

[This message has been edited by Brian_Turner (edited 03-09-2001).]

 

[Jim March]

Brian's pegged it.

One of the ways to mess up an Integral Lock knife is to mount the clip in a position where it blocks that "reinforce the lock with your grip strength" effect. If I owned a piece with that particular defect, the clip would be removed post-haste and a belt sheath whipped up for carry.

In Darrel Ralph's new Mad Max, he seems to have dodged that problem - the clip isn't getting in the way, by all accounts. But the enormous grip length caused a different problem, whereby it became possible to "choke way back" on the grip (rearwards of the lock) and use it for wood chopping. The first guy that reported trying that suffered a lock failure and a minor cut. I don't think this would have happened had he been holding it in a proper "combat grip" and reinforcing the lock with human grip strength...hence I don't see that failure report as a problem with the Max and when Darrel starts making them with a curved grip, I'll strongly consider buying one

. For that matter, even done straight, that 7" blade beastie is...oh ya

. Damned tempting

.

Darrel, hope you don't see this as "chronic complaint", it's just that this incident illustrates the pros and cons of the integral lock. I'm not panning the Max here, not for it's intended role as a street defense piece

.

Jim

 

[Samurai6]

Plus, integral locks tend to be thicker, putting more surface area of the lock bar against the blade tang. The only thing that makes a side bar lock work is the friction the blade and the lock surface and the spring force. Integral locks have more of both.