spyderco military

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Nakk77

Joined
Jul 26, 2010
Messages
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Heard a guy on a video today talking about cops and military shouldnt use the spyderco military because the liner lock is weak and probably will fail. Love my military, never has it come close to failing. Anyone had any problems with yer military not being strong enough.

Anyone put this knife though heavy use, and had it fail. Just curious because my luck has been very good with the Millie.
 
I believe it was A.G. Russell that said something along the lines of that any improperly made lock will fail, and any properly made lock from a reputable company will be just fine regardless of the type of lock.

Anyhow, short answer, no you don't have anything to worry about. Problem with the internet is that people say stuff.
 
I don't own a military but have owned others spyderco liner locks and they were very strong. I'm one that kinda feels if your using a knife right you wont really need the lock anyway. Just my opinion tho
 
With any half decently made liner lock, the pivot will likely fail long before the lock slips or the liner buckles. The Spyderco Military has been around since what, the mid 90s? If there were problems with the liners failing we'd probably have heard about it more than from one random dude on Youtube.
 
EMcDannell said:
I don't own a military but have owned others spyderco liner locks and they were very strong. I'm one that kinda feels if your using a knife right you wont really need the lock anyway. Just my opinion tho
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Agreed. There's no such thing as hard use folder. If you need to do retarded things with your knife get a fixed blade or a prybar.
 
What can I add except I love my Military and the one I got rid of a couuple years ago was just as sweet. I've lightly spine "tapped" it on an Encyclopedia several times when I got this one and it's perfect. Also carefully tried to push it closed and no dice there either. If I need to hit hard with the spine then I should use a fixed blade or a dagger.
 
In Paramedic school I used a Spyderco Military during a BTLS access course to cut out the insulation and wiring out of the bottom of a car to get into the cab. Not once was I concerned about the performance of the lock. The only thing that happened to the knife was there was some wear in the black finish and it needed sharpened something fierce. I would consider that hard use for any folder out there and the Military isn't as beefy as some. I've owned Striders and a Hinderer and will say that they'd probably take a bit more abuse than a Military but are much heavier and don't cut as well
 
benthughes said:
In Paramedic school I used a Spyderco Military during a BTLS access course to cut out the insulation and wiring out of the bottom of a car to get into the cab. Not once was I concerned about the performance of the lock. The only thing that happened to the knife was there was some wear in the black finish and it needed sharpened something fierce. I would consider that hard use for any folder out there and the Military isn't as beefy as some. I've owned Striders and a Hinderer and will say that they'd probably take a bit more abuse than a Military but are much heavier and don't cut as well
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thank u good post.

hard use does not equal "retarded" it equals hard use. i use knives hard, that doesn't mean i abuse them.
 
Tools will break, the same way a gun will jam up.

Police and Military are professionals. They will improvise...
 
I'm not a cop and I don't know any but I can't think of a time or reason when a cop would need a knife with a strong lock. IMO, as others have stated, if you're using a knife correctly as well as using the right knife for the right job, you shouldn't ever need a strong lock. This occurred to me when I got a UKPK. I realized that 99% of normal knife use requires no lock at all. The only time I can think of a lock needing to be "strong" or "heavy use" is when pressure is being put towards closing the blade, which only happens when stabbing/ piercing pressure is applied in a real world sense.

Edit: I suppose sawing would create some pressure on the lock but again, I think this boils down to using the right tool for the right job. If you need to saw something with a good amount of force, you shouldn't be using a folder anyway.

When do cops ever need to get in a knife fight? NEVER!

Cops probably never use their knives for anything besides cutting people out of cars and opening bags of chips/candy while on the road. Has anyone ever heard of a cop using a knife as a weapon or even being in a situation when a strong "heavy use" knife was needed? ...I doubt it.

The Spyderco Military is an awesome knife and one of the best examples of a MW liner-lock there is on the market, IMO. Needless to say, Sal knows what he's doing.
 
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like em sharp said:
With any half decently made liner lock, the pivot will likely fail long before the lock slips or the liner buckles. The Spyderco Military has been around since what, the mid 90s? If there were problems with the liners failing we'd probably have heard about it more than from one random dude on Youtube.
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Thanks for bringing this up. Most of the controversy of a liner lock isn't it's actual strength. It is the fact that it can (in poorly made liner locks) disengage when it shouldn't. You shouldn't have an issue with the Military
 
I never had problems with any of Spyderco's liner lock knives. In addition, although i have not used my military for any heavy duty stuffs, i can see that the liner lock is extremely sturdy and well made. I bet it will not fail as long as you're not doing something extreme :D
 
Undertow82 said:
I'm not a cop and I don't know any but I can't think of a time or reason when a cop would need a knife with a strong lock. IMO, as others have stated, if you're using a knife correctly as well as using the right knife for the right job, you shouldn't ever need a strong lock. This occurred to me when I got a UKPK. I realized that 99% of normal knife use requires no lock at all. The only time I can think of a lock needing to be "strong" or "heavy use" is when pressure is being put towards closing the blade, which only happens when stabbing/ piercing pressure is applied in a real world sense.

Edit: I suppose sawing would create some pressure on the lock but again, I think this boils down to using the right tool for the right job. If you need to saw something with a good amount of force, you shouldn't be using a folder anyway.

When do cops ever need to get in a knife fight? NEVER!

Cops probably never use their knives for anything besides cutting people out of cars and opening bags of chips/candy while on the road. Has anyone ever heard of a cop using a knife as a weapon or even being in a situation when a strong "heavy use" knife was needed? ...I doubt it.

The Spyderco Military is an awesome knife and one of the best examples of a MW liner-lock there is on the market, IMO. Needless to say, Sal knows what he's doing.
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Not as a weapon no (thank the Lord), but i have required a heavy use knife many times throughout the course of my duties. My ZT's have worked out great so far but really weigh the uniform pants down, thinking I may switch to the ole military.
 
Think about it rationally:

In normal use of a knife, the pressure applied towards the edge would do nothing to touch the lock. Only the stop pin and pivot will receive any pressure from use. If you consider what would happen if there was no stop pin, the blade would continue opening up and the liner/frame lock will move towards the opposite side of the handle. Unless you use the spine as a hammer or you stab something utterly unyielding(like a tree or a human skull), pressure should never be put on the lock itself.
 
sweet answer
Noctis3880 said:
Think about it rationally:

In normal use of a knife, the pressure applied towards the edge would do nothing to touch the lock. Only the stop pin and pivot will receive any pressure from use. If you consider what would happen if there was no stop pin, the blade would continue opening up and the liner/frame lock will move towards the opposite side of the handle. Unless you use the spine as a hammer or you stab something utterly unyielding(like a tree or a human skull), pressure should never be put on the lock itself.
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I had an accidental disengagement on my millie some time before, when I chopped a one inch diameter branch to cut it off. It was also a bit of a test and I chopped in rapid succession. I held the knife towards the butt of the handle and chopped with a loose wrist. I believe that the rapid successive impacts caused it to disengage. I was not able to replicate it though. BTW, I love millies. I have 6 of them.
 
Seems most are saying that if you're using the knife properly, (cutting with the edge) you don't need to worry about the lock. So, in that case, a one handed slip-joint would be fine too. Makes me wonder why we even have locks.

I find it hard to believe that someone who's 1)well educated about knife locks and 2) considering the possibility that they may use their knife for other things besides cutting, (and maybe even extreme and abusive things) would ever buy a liner-locking knife.

Over the years there has been reports of problems with the liner-lock far beyond that of any other lock type, -at least that I know of. Do you think that every person who's had an issue was full or sXXt? Do you think people are just "out to get" liner-locks?

There are other locks that work better, and there are others still that work waaaaay better. In the end, most people wont ever really need their lock to hold up to a real life test, and I think that's why there's so many saying liner-locks are fine.

And just because you've seen a lock hold up to your test doesn't mean it will next time, or that someone else's identical knife will hold up.

I've not witnessed a Spyderco liner-lock fail personally, but I've seen several other high end companies liner-locks fail simple spine tests. Yes, if you are cutting with the edge of the knife this wont be an issue.
 
As long as you don't try and cut with the spine of the knife, you should be fine. Some people just don't understand that you cut with the sharp side... :)
 
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