The “spine whack” test: Valid quality metric, or much ado about nothing?

Does anyone remember the Russian destruction tests ? I forgot the reviewers name, might have just been “destruction test”. The guy wore a mask, heavy Russian accent. Decent reviews- even the reviewer commented on the ridiculousness of many of the tests. The tests did give a good idea of what limits were on some popular knives. Very few passed the tests without breaking to the point of uselessness.

I think the Adamas and a 154CM SMF were the two that “survived”.

Spine whack
Tip tests
Metal shaving
Prying

Must have been at least 8 years ago that I saw one the videos. I’ll try to find a link

 
I don't spinewhack. Valid test of a lock, though, if a lock can't take a little whack, then it couldn't probably take someone bearing down hard on it. When I see a knife fail a spinewhack, I don't trust the lock to do a good job of being a lock. It should stay locked, in my opinion. I don't need to hang two people on my folding knife, but a Cold Steel could take it. It is nice if a lock is strong. I would like a strong lock in favor of a weak lock. Otherwise I would simply use a SAK or a Douk-Douk. Perfectly safe knives.
 
luethge said:
I’d like to see a stab lock test. About a decade ago ( I drank often ) , did really stupid s___t with my edc - Benchmade Adamas. I did the spine whack test like a dumbass, often, for a few years - never failed. I did find that if the knife was stabbed into something like a coffee table or tree stump, the axis lock would disengage. To be honest, it was more of a no spin throw into coffee table and tree stump. This made me a little worried as I’ve cut my fingers open enough times for this lifetime. I’m sure the omega springs were a little less than 100%. I did carry that knife daily for 7 + years.

Spine whack test is worthless in my unsolicited and often ridiculous opinion.
Click to expand...
Oof, that is sketchy! I am up for seeing stab tests, just to see what a knife's limitations are. Lock disengagement... wow.
 
J85909266 said:
It's a valid test if done within reason and not excessively. It's fine to firmly tap the blade spine on a locking knife to see if the lock too easily disengages. There are possible situations where you could be using a knife properly and accidentally hit the spine, or get it stuck and need to twist and pull it out, putting closing pressure on the blade. You should expect a good locking knife to be able to handle this.

It is not at all reasonable to bash the spine full power like you are trying to cut down a tree with the wrong side of the blade. That is not a reasonable expectation for a pocket knife, and could damage the internal parts.
Click to expand...
This is where I land on this topic, too.

I've owned a couple of cheap liner lock folders with bad QC which would close if I held them in a pinch grip with my index finger along the spine. Not whacking them, not even putting meaningful pressure on them; just using the tool in one of the ways it's intended to be used.

Light pressure on the spine shouldn't cause a lock to fail. If it does, the design and/or the QC on that example is faulty.
 
Landshark99 said:
not to go back and forth here but I would have been using a wire stripper instead of a knife, dropping any knife is rarely good for the knife. As i said before testing the knife for some rare event that is not in the world of how I plan to use it, just does not interest me.
Click to expand...
Obviously you’re dismissing every unexpected occasion that can happen in life.
More power to you my friend.
‘I didn’t use a wire stripper simply because I wasn’t intending any repairs, plus, when I find a small wire that I need to strip under the seat of my Sea Doo, I’m not going to waste time to go back in the garage for wire stripper, since my pocket knife is perfectly suitable for it.
 
I think a really hard whack is too much, but I do want to make sure that a moderate tap on the back isn't going to cause the knife to guillotine my fingers. Because while we definitely cut in one direction, if you've ever been in a situation where you are cutting at an awkward angle or in a stressful environment, the knife slipping and/or twisting so that the spine impacts something is not outside the realm of possibility.
 
Paratrooper06 said:
I’m sure you’ve all seen it… YouTube videos of knife reviewers giving a knife the ol’ whack-on-the-spine. These “tests” range from a little tap on the table, to full-on slams into 2x4s. Some swear by them and will never carry a knife that “fails” the test.. and some consider them largely irrelevent.

So thoughts… what real-world practicality is there for the test, and why is it so important to many?

It is my observations that the shock of the vibration from the slamming of the spine into a hard surface is sometimes enough to cause a lock to pop out of place. But perhaps we can discuss and settle this controversial topic once and for all… if we can.

What say you all?
Click to expand...
IMHO, and I say this as a Tri-Ad lock fanatic, it just adds unnecessary wear and tear/damage on the knife. “Feeling” for blade play and just using the knife within reasonable thresholds should give the user an approximate idea of robustness already. Unless your purpose is to really test the limits of the knife and upload your results on YouTube, I’d say it isn’t worth it.

Maybe striking it once or twice, sure. But I wouldn’t make a habit of spanking my knives.
 
Triton said:
It was Extremely stiff to open while at the same time the nail nicks were very small and even partially obscured by one of the other tools. The blade felt like an afterthought, and honestly the tools were not as well designed as those on a standard Swiss army knife. This is on a 240 dollar knife. Notably this is also just my opinion your mileage may vary. Love the concept though.
Click to expand...

Paratrooper06 said:
Here is one of the more dramatic showings:

Click to expand...
This guy batoning with a folder is why we can't have nice things anymore. You'd hate to be the neighbour or friend this guy wanted to borrow tools from: "Sorry about your chop saw, but I saved your the trouble of finding out that it doesn't cut through iron bars. You should really be thanking me."

To start with, he's batoning with a folding knife. Add to that he's batoning with a folding knife in the locked position. If you absolutely have to baton with a folding knife (like if you need to put out another YouTube video is apparently the main reason), you have the blade at a 90 degree angle to the handle. You're still improperly using your tool and should be questioning your life choices at this point, but at least you're trying to improvise without trying to break your knife's lock. He might as well test the handle by placing it on an anvil and repeatedly hitting it with a sledge hammer to show how it's not very well put together. Maybe toss your super steel knife into a blast furnace to show how the heat treatment won't hold up if you're attacked by a fire breathing dragon. It's one thing to hang weights on a blade to scientifically test locks to the breaking point, but this is just dumb.

 
Last edited:
I don't see spine "whacking" as a valid test of anything except one's unrealistic expectation of what a folding knife is supposed to do.

I will spine "tap" or a knife though, because a light, accidental bump is entirely plausible in the course of normal daily knife use. None of us here are unaware of the youtube videos of various knives (typically framelocks) slipping under light taps or even simply closing it with relatively light force without disengaging the "lock". Nobody wants that, and it's not an unrealistic expectation that a "locking" knife should hold up to that, regardless of lock type.
 
What about baseball?

Can you use it as a catcher's Mitt?

I used to care about the strongest this or that folder. Used to buy CS exclusively tbh.

since they were sold I have no interest and am very ok with lockbacks and linerlocks. I use my SAK more than any other knive at the moment. I just dont use my folders as hard as the internet tells me that I should, I guess
 
It depends on the knife. If a knife is advertised as "hard use" or whatever, then yes, a spine whack test is justified.

It also depends on what you're using your knife for. Some carry folders for SD (🙄) and a failing spine whack could be an indicator for a potential failure in a stressful situation.

I'm a fixed blade guy and i only own folders with backlock/Tri-Ad or RAM lock. I want the strongest possible lock if i'm in a survival/emergency situation.
 
Paratrooper06 said:
I’m sure you’ve all seen it… YouTube videos of knife reviewers giving a knife the ol’ whack-on-the-spine. These “tests” range from a little tap on the table, to full-on slams into 2x4s. Some swear by them and will never carry a knife that “fails” the test.. and some consider them largely irrelevent.

So thoughts… what real-world practicality is there for the test, and why is it so important to many?

It is my observations that the shock of the vibration from the slamming of the spine into a hard surface is sometimes enough to cause a lock to pop out of place. But perhaps we can discuss and settle this controversial topic once and for all… if we can.

What say you all?
Click to expand...

It's for stabbing things I assumed. So it doesn’t close up on you.
 
I have a few knives that fail an easy spinewhack test, but they’re framelocks and when in hand they function fine. It doesn’t bother me at all. I guess you should know your knife and decide which ones you can do dumber stuff with.
 
If ,and only if, a folder is advertised /promoted by the maker as hard use , emergency / survival , self-defense worthy .

In that case , the folder should be as close to a sturdy fixed blade as possible , IMO .

Cold Steel 4Max and AD10 , with Tri-ad locks and robust constructions are stronger than some fixed blades .

Is this necessary for everyone's EDC pocket knife ? Of course not !

But, equally , is it wrong to want the strongest practical folder available for a reasonable cost ? Not IMO .
 
I understand that stuff happens in the real world but I cannot say that I have ever encountered a situation with my folders that passing or failing a spine whack test would have made any difference. I guess my everyday cutting chores are pretty simple and mild so my knives or locks have never really failed on me.

To each their own but to me the spine whack test is pretty silly.
 
Stuff happens. I was once butted by a ram (deficient situational awareness on my part) while cutting a string on a bale of hay. The point of the knife slipped an inch or so into the hay, putting pressure on the spine as I was trying not to fall over while trying to catch a horn to kick his ass. I'm glad the lock held.

www.edcforums.com

Who has had a slip joint knife blade close on their finger(s)?

Slip joint knives are among the most widely carried knives there are. I'll go out on a limb and say just based on how many SAK are produced each year...
www.edcforums.com www.edcforums.com

(a) how many slip joints do you carry? (b) how many blade closing accidents have you had?
Never carry a slip joint
4 vote(s) 6.3%
Only carry one slip joint
15 vote(s) 23.4%
Routinely carry 2 or more slip joints
14 vote(s) 21.9%
Never had one close during use
34 vote(s) 53.1%
Have had one close during use
14 vote(s) 21.9%
Have had two accidental closures over the years
4 vote(s) 6.3%
Have had slip joints close by accident many times
7 vote(s) 10.9%
Accident cutting up cardboard boxes
2 vote(s) 3.1%
Accident while at a campsite
3 vote(s) 4.7%
Accident during whittling
7 vote(s) 10.9%
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top