Strongest Folding Knife Lock?

stabman said:
But neither of those are locks. ;)

If you pick those--and there are reasons that can be given--then what you are saying is that the strongest folder lock is hand. :D
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My balis all have locks, Stabby. They call 'em "latches" in certain circles, but they lock the two handles together. Gotta un-latch 'em to close 'em.
 
Simple is good.

 
The Opinel No.10
If you need a folder that you can hang an engine block off of while it's open you're either using the tool wrong or the wrong tool.
 
Charlie Mike said:
Wait til I get my milling machine.
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YES!

The FTW Bali-hammer! It's a knife! It's a splitting maul! It's an all-purpose demolition tool!

From opening envelopes, to finding out what's inside a rock, the Bali-hammer does it all!

Shut up and take my money.
 
Shorttime said:
YES!

The FTW Bali-hammer! It's a knife! It's a splitting maul! It's an all-purpose demolition tool!

From opening envelopes, to finding out what's inside a rock, the Bali-hammer does it all!

Shut up and take my money.
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As mentioned by others the lock hardly fails on a good knife. I have only had one knife that folded on my and almost cut my finger off and it was my fault. I did not have it opened and locked fully. Some of you remember this one, not a recommended practice on folders but a vid that shows a fairly tough folder

[video=youtube;gOWSiyrEg3w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOWSiyrEg3w[/video]
 
It's nice to have good folding knife with strong lock. It's perfect set. It's why I carry CS Talwar or Voyager very often, especially Talwar. They have lot of mall ninja stuff which is funny or shitty for me, but they have some good knives too, especially now when new steel is introduced. I like triad-lock. I don't like Spyderco back lock with shitty big blade play which I've in Police and Endura. And I don't like how easy some "tactical" folding knives failed at lock tests in some amateur videos on yt. In my knife use I don't spine whack knives but it's disappointing to see.

But in fact good made liner lock suits my needs. Even good slip joint is ok, but here isn't one hand opening, and mostly without pocket clip. For example Douk Douk.
 
ourgon said:
It's nice to have good folding knife with strong lock. It's perfect set. It's why I carry CS Talwar or Voyager very often, especially Talwar. They have lot of mall ninja stuff which is funny or shitty for me, but they have some good knives too, especially now when new steel is introduced. I like triad-lock. I don't like Spyderco back lock with shitty big blade play which I've in Police and Endura. And I don't like how easy some "tactical" folding knives failed at lock tests in some amateur videos on yt. In my knife use I don't spine whack knives but it's disappointing to see.

But in fact good made liner lock suits my needs. Even good slip joint is ok, but here isn't one hand opening, and mostly without pocket clip. For example Douk Douk.
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TriAd for sure.

[video=youtube;OWylqMcMpEE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWylqMcMpEE[/video]
 
KnifeMakeReplicate said:
What do you all think is the proven (via testing and everyday use) strongest folding knife lock-mechanism?

By strongest I mean the locking mechanism that makes a folder as close to a fixed blade as possible, and which could handle the greatest levels of closing pressure as possible, with current manufacturable materials?
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Hi I just finished filming field testing on Extrema Ratio's RAOII for over one month EDC in the field. I show about 20 minutes of condensed footage of practical use from hard stuff to say stuff. Check it out and see what you reckon. Plus I also blog about this knife here toohttp://hardcorecampingtools.blogspot.com/2015/06/extrema-ratio-rao-ii-bad-ass.html
 
For the RAOII to fail without using the safety locking pin then the roller pin/locking bar would need to fail/shear/bend and or the 6082 aluminium frame do similar. Very unlikely under hard use but of course not abuse. If the safety pin is used making this knife come close to a fixed blade then both pins would need to fail; unlikely. I use rock climbing gear made with 6000 series alloys that I regularly trust my life and those of others with, this stuff has survived many falls. Some of this material is no thicker than the side scales of the RAOII. OF course the RAOII is NOT built to the same international standards as climbing gear and I'm not trying to make that comparison but as materials go for folder construction then they could do worse.

Another part which could fail is the small spring which applies pressure to the roller bar. However, if this does happen the knife can still be locked open in the fixed position by the include safety pin.


Also I might say that compared with a frame lock there will be far less wear and tear on the parts regulaly undergoing friction, i.e. the roller mechanism of the RAOII Vs the frame material encountering the back end of generally a much harder HRC blade steel.


The bottom line is: folders (locking in a fixed position or not) are simply not fixed blades and by the very nature of being a folder will have some mechanism which could fail compared with a equivalent dimensioned fixed blade of which any "mechanism" is obviously absent. I thought in my hands though, the RAOII came pretty close but watch the review and judge for yourselves.
 
As someone else mentioned already, I've been carrying folding knives (typically liner lock) since I was a teenager and I've never had a lock fail. Maybe I just don't do "hard use" things with my knives.
 
Opinel's ring lock
Buck's lock back

YOUR BRAIN telling you "don't do that!" (presuming of course you possess an operational brain with more than two consecutive opperational brain cells. Sadly, it seems a lot of people today lack this.)
How oft do YOU need to stab a car???

Triad? I would not trust it any farther than I could throw Lynn Thompson in his Rolls Royce.
 
I'd go with balisong or the Triad. I don't own a single cold steel knife, probably never will, but you can't argue with their lock strength, the videos are over the top sure.

There might be reasons neither of those are good knife choices, but lock strength is not one of them.

You can bet if (insert hardcore, tactical, popular, overpriced, hyped brand) liner/frame locks were the clear winners in cold steel like video testing, you'd see almost no one complaining about how unrealistic the tests are or how folding knives don't need locks anyway.
 
After seeing that Opinel vid I asked myself a question. ..."Who in the world likes those hunks of junk?"
 
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