Talk to me about lockbar inserts

[mongomondo]

How do you like it? Seem more beefy/secure?

Can't really tell the difference right now. I assume it's there to prevent the lock from wearing out so only time will tell.

 

[ATJ999]

If you can get it right it seems pretty legit. Ive never owned a framelock always been a fixed blade guy or cheap liner lock.
Also, why hasnt anyone done an insert on a liner lock. Then youd get the best of both worlds. In theory at least

I have a couple custom liner locks with lock inserts. They have worked great so far.

 

[115Italian]

Question. Does a lockbar insert that prevents lock stick create lock slip if the geometry is slightly off? Would a knife with the geometry slightly off, with lock slip, that had no lockbar insert, wear in and elimate lock slip?

 

[bflying]

The concept of popping off the insert in the event the ball is lest or damaged sounds like a good one. But, my knife with the most hard flips to full lockup and closures does not have an insert, and still works perfectly. A Kizer.

I did have one knife develop a significant lock-rock. I thought, "great, here's my chance to see if an insert change out works". But instead, I was sent a complete new knife. Massdrop knife.

Then I had another knife that I damaged the detent ball. But on ZT's, the ball is not on the insert. It's on a very thin pillar milled into the lock Ti, and stands through a hole in the insert. In the process of attempting ball removal, I destroyed the pillar, and was required to purchase the entire lock side. But will say that when it comes to an effective locking device, ZT does it well. In dozens of ZT's, this is the first issue of this kind I've ever had....And it was all my fault.

 

[Mo2]

The concept of popping off the insert in the event the ball is lest or damaged sounds like a good one

Generally this does not work. It has to do with tolerances. Usually when mid techs are made they have several grades with different tolerance and they can swap in the correct one if you send them the knife. But for mass produced knives this gets tricky. The warranty service might send you one but the tolerance might not be the right one and you will get lock rock or some other issue. So generally the warranty service will have to try a few grades and see what works but you have to send it in. Quite a few videos on yt about this. This is because machines that makes the parts are never perfectly the same due to various factors like tooling wear.

Some older knives don't have spare parts so you could be sol.

And iirc they are generally replaced when a detent ball falls out. But also to fix locking issues due to either using the wrong grade the first time. Eg fix lock rock or what not.

I'm no expert but I've followed a bit surrounding the issue.