The durability of frame and liner locks. Springs weaken?

A

ActiveMatx

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Oct 16, 2005
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As we all know frame & liner locks work by having a piece of metal bent strongly to one side, causing it to act as a spring to engage a blade in place.
Now, over time of several opening and closings of this bent liner/frame the spring will theoretically lose is "springiness".

Do you guys think that this is a flaw of the frame and liner locks? Has anyone ever had a liner/frame fail because of use over a long period of time?
After all it’s metal, and it is bent hard one way and slowly pressed back and forth causing it to weaken.

Can a REALLY good $800 frame lock last a life time of hard use? What are your thoughts on the durability of the spring in the frame locks?
 
I'm no expert, but from some things I've read the small amount the liner or frame lock moves isn't enough to weaken it. Some frame locks have a sort of rivet on them to prevent the frame lock bar from being pushed out to far when releasing the lock.
 
I can't tell any difference in mine....but one thing you might look out for is the clearance for the lockbar. Over time, my liner locks develop more solid lockup, or at least, more to the other side of the handle. My M16, and many others, is as far as it will go now, but the ball bearing in it prevents it from getting wedged, thankfully.

My trust Greg Lightfoot Urban Shark has more positive lockup, though that thing was a beast from the beginning. The only issue is that it sometimes becomes a pain to push it back over if I flick it out.

Yes, it will eventually die, though I'm not sure if it'll be in my lifetime. But then, maybe it will. I've only been seriously using liner locks for maybe 4 years. The nice thing about liners in these sort of locks is that you can visually check it out and they're very easy to clean, making them much less susceptable to rusting than in some other forms.

This goes for compression locks too.
 
Titanium has a memory and will stay that way indefinitely. Stainless too for that matter but not to the extent of ti.

Titanium stands up well over time to both the stress of that kind of back and forth movement where it isn't enough to tear it and to things like severe cold. I doubt you will ever see it change in either stainless or titanium other than an occassional lock indent where the blade wears into the liner over time which leads to some blade movement up and down.

This is an easy fix from a knifemakers stand point in most cases though providing it is caught early and dealt with compared to letting it go on for years and years. Most makers deal with this the same way as they deal with it when a lock finally slides all the way across the blade to the other side, leaving the blade entirely. I think that is more likely what you'd see over the lock weakening and not moving out far enough. I've never actually heard of that happening to be honest.

STR
 
We have done it once. When I was doing my testing of my M16, I got a few other members to try the tests. One of them was to use a screwdriver to pry the liner into the wedged position between the blade and handle. Most of us couldn't, because the ball bearing was in the way. One had lost the bearing and did go all the way, which resulted in a completely jammed blade. He had to take the knife apart and reset it.

But then, even without the ball bearing, it took a screwdriver's leverage. And on the other three, even that wouldn't do it.
 
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