spyderco military lock test

rycen said:
For the test to be valid to me it has to be something you would come across in normal use of a knife. In what situation would you bang the spine of the knife towards yourself?
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So you are saying that someone could not hit the spine of the blade on something by accident or while in a struggle in real life and thus this test is invalid.
 
Good job! My input on spine whacks; I'd never do it for fear of damaging the lock interface. I have one of those g10 Tyrades that is a good example of an overbuilt linerlock, I doubt it'd fail but I'm not going to try it.
 
GMAHN said:
So you are saying that someone could not hit the spine of the blade on something by accident or while in a struggle in real life and thus this test is invalid.
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Anything can happen in real life. Any lock can fail and fixed blades break too.

If you are going to bet you life on a knife for self defense training is way more important than what kind of knife you have.
 
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nimbusdeluxe said:
I understand that spine whack test is a controversial way to test lock integrity. But I have performed in on my spyderco military and i realized that the locking liner shifts slightly over to the left (the disengaging direction) after a whack, it does not fully disengage, but my main concern right now is, is this normal for the liner lock on the military? and also, by doing this test have i damaged or compromised the integrity of the lock? Would performing this test actually have made the lock weaker than it was in the first place?
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Almost certainly yes. At a minimum, doing stuff like this shortens the service life of the knife. :thumbdn:
 
all folders have the problem of getting stuck in what you are cutting
then when you try and pry it out of the jam you have the possibility of causing a accident
this is where the locking mechanism will play a important role on whether it will release when you are trying to struggle to free the edge
which is why I would never use liner locks on a folding knife
ymmv
 
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rycen said:
For the test to be valid to me it has to be something you would come across in normal use of a knife. In what situation would you bang the spine of the knife towards yourself?
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If you dont expect any load on the spine of your folding knife, you do not need a lock at all. Please read post #31 again.
I do not need the test to be valid to you. It is valid to me, what is valid to you doesn't concern me.

There's plenty of knifes that pass this test. Don't blame the test or argue about its validity when a knife doesn't. It's not the test's fault the knife didn't pass.

There's also plenty of people (me included) who think this is a valid way to test lock integrity (again, integrity, not strengght). If you dont feel that way, just dont do the test, be glad you don't need a lock to do what it should - lock - and don't complain about the test.
 
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I am not complaining about the test. This is a discussion board and that is my opinion.Notice I said it was not valid to me.Me being the key word.

I will ask again "For the test to be valid to me it has to be something you would come across in normal use of a knife. In what situation would you bang the spine of the knife towards yourself?"
 
I should say I have no problem with a tap on the spine to make sure the lock is seated correctly.
 
Oh and thanks for editing out the keep your mouth shut part of your post as it did not add anything to the topic.
 
rycen said:
I am not complaining about the test. This is a discussion board and that is my opinion.Notice I said it was not valid to me.Me being the key word.

I will ask again "For the test to be valid to me it has to be something you would come across in normal use of a knife. In what situation would you bang the spine of the knife towards yourself?"
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- Cutting in tight spaces, slipping, accidently whacking the back of the knife against something. Happend just recently to me.
- Also, anything where you try to wiggle the spine under something to loosen it up (zip ties for instance), if you slip by chance you might hit something.
- Anytime you want to poke your knife into something, again while slipping you could accidently put instant pressure on the spine.
- Anything SD related.

When spine-whacking, force isn't important, as I said, you test integrity. A tap from the wrist should do fine. It tests the integrity of the lock and how the angles work together; all kinds of locks can fail this if done incorrectly, not just liner locks.

An example - I have a nice backlock knife here, if you put constant pressure on the spine it will not fold. A light tap though, and the blade gives in. It does not have a choil, if this happens in real life the edge is in your finger. I will not carry or use this knife for safety reasons. But, to each his own.
 
IF you are going to test your knife this way, then the Spine Tap Test is the ONLY way to go! I have used the Spine Tap Test, and like others, am unsure why I did it in the first place:confused::confused:. But it does let me know if my blade will close when that amount of pressure is placed on it, at the exact same spot, and turned upside down. The test requires a 5 to 6 rapid taps on the blade spine to see if the liner is forced to the left, forced to the right, or stays in the exact same position. Remember; a tap is not a whack!!:thumbup::)
 
I have had liner locks fail from stabbing into wood. I wouldn't even call what I was doing "rough." The purpose of the lock is to keep the folder open while it is in use, unfortunately not every folder can be "rough use" much less extreme use. I still haven't found one that I would feel comfortable replacing my fixed blade with..
 
richardallen said:
- Also, anything where you try to wiggle the spine under something to loosen it up (zip ties for instance), if you slip by chance you might hit something.
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This reminded me that i have had liner locks fail this way also. Trying to wedge/wiggle the blade up and down to cut a tight zip tie...
Also occurs to me that this was the reason why I stopped carrying that knife (and liner locks in general). It was after this that I stabbed into wood to see if the lock would fail.
 
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