Tyrade lock failure

darthsoaker said:
I've become a liner/frame lock hater, myself, but jesus, WHY ARE YOU THROWING YOUR FOLDER AT THINGS?

If you wish to be taken seriously about this subject (which I believe is relatively important, considering the commonness of frame/liner locks) then I would suggest that you refrain from throwing your folders.
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Nobody has to take me seriously about anything. I did not post this because I was upset with Kershaw or looking for sympathy. I stated that I KNEW that throwing a folder was not normal use but I wanted to see how it held up and was surprised at how quickly it failed. That's all. I certainly did not mean to rub anyone the wrong way by posting about a lock failure that I induced.
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
I assume it is the Ti and not G10 Tyrade? I will go against what everyone else is saying, that it should not have failed if it was done as light as you say and from a foot away. I have done similar with zero problems just lightly getting the tip to stick in wood. Everyone always talks about hard use knives and all the abuse they are supposed to take but then lightly sticking the tip in a table is suddenly major abuse that should cause a knife to fail.

Too bad you didn't lightly spine tap the blade before that to see if it failed before that. Can you see any deformation of the lock bar where it engages the blade? I highly doubt it if it was as light as you say you did. That is why I don't like liner and frame locks. Some lock up tight and some will slip off the blade for no reason, and you don't know what you are getting when you buy it. I have had this happen to me multiple times with brand new knives. On top of that the lock bar does wear after use and repeatedly opening and closing the knife. When it wears so much that the lock bar travels to the other scale there is nothing that can be done to fix the knife. The lock bar has to be replaced or the knife tossed. I have a knife that was used lightly for less than a year that does this. The blade has vertical play because the lock is worn so much that it no longer touches the blade tang tightly. I personally think there are much better designs and wish companies would move away from liner and frame locks. I think the only reason they are used is because they are easy and quick to make. I'm sure I am in a small minority with that opinion though. I pass on a lot of knives that I like the design because the use this lock type.

If there is not deformation of the lock bar metal I would contact Kershaw about the knife. If there is metal deformation then you must have thrown it really hard and it is your fault. But most likely it did this before you played with it. Kershaw should also be able to look at it and tell if it was abused and then should not repair, even thought they probably will anyways because they are such a good company. Good luck with it and I guess it was a lesson in some way.
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What you have described is exactly what I did. Just hard enough to get the tip to stick in the wood. Also the lock bar had absolutely 0 deformation. It simply slips/fails at a small amount of pressure. I also want to be clear that I have no intention of asking Kershaw to correct this as I feel that it is not reasonable to expect them to stand behind this type of failure after I threw it (no matter how lightly) before I spine tapped it to check for failure. I still like Kershaw knives and think they are a good value for the money.:thumbup: I just can not trust this knife for use any longer and it has been thrown away.
 
Jay S. said:
What you have described is exactly what I did. Just hard enough to get the tip to stick in the wood. Also the lock bar had absolutely 0 deformation. It simply slips/fails at a small amount of pressure. I also want to be clear that I have no intention of asking Kershaw to correct this as I feel that it is not reasonable to expect them to stand behind this type of failure after I threw it (no matter how lightly) before I spine tapped it to check for failure. I still like Kershaw knives and think they are a good value for the money.:thumbup: I just can not trust this knife for use any longer and it has been thrown away.
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Are you still comfortable with using untested liner/frame locks?
 
http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=2lbj03a&s=6

^ That is an 18 inch ruler, and I'm probably releasing closer to two feet away. And of course, that is a liner lock. I am no fan of liner/frame locks, and have said so over the years. They are my least favorite lock, ever. I just think that the idea of abuse needs to be kept in perspective. I couldn't jab my knife into heavy cardboard when breaking down boxes if I thought this was too much.

No need to throw the knife away, I think it is an easy fix.
 
darthsoaker said:
Are you still comfortable with using untested liner/frame locks?
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No. It was certainly an eye opener. I don't abuse my knives by any means but I expect certain knives to stand up to a little more "hard use" than others. The Tyrade was one of those that I expected to hold up a little better. There has been a lot of discussion about different types of locks here and now I have learned first hand the limitations of a liner/frame lock. Thanks everyone for the info posted about this.:thumbup:
 
Why throw the knife away? When you handle and use a framelock your hand keeps the lockbar in place where it's supposed to be. As long as you're using the knife in a normal cutting fashion the lock will stay put. Throw away a $175 knife because the lock slipped? That's insane! Send it to Kershaw so they can at least attempt to fix it. I can't believe that a perfectly good knife ends up in the garbage because the lock slipped. If I had thrown away every knife where the lock slips instead of fixing it I would be out about 20 different knives. If you feel the knife is unsafe and are just going to throw it away, send it to me and I'll pay for the shipping. I feel like I just drank a can of crazy juice.
 
Jay S. said:
I know it is a framelock and not designed to throw - I just wanted to try it to see what the results were. I did not think it would fail that easy though. I am not exaggerating when I say that I threw it very lightly - still throwing it I know- but not hard at all. I found out what the limit of the lock is though.:D I think it has to do with the size and weight of the blade. Seems like there would be a lot of inertia.
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You should have thrown it at your foot. Just to see what the results were.:rolleyes:
 
Congrats! You destroyed a nice knife. Now go get yourself some $10 throwing knives and stop ruining good folders.
 
I'm sorry, but what exactly did you expect from us here? You abused a knife, admitted as much, and asked for what? Sympathy? Shock?

As has already been said, your best bet is to get in touch with Kershaw and hope their customer service department is more sympathetic towards blatant misuse of a folding knife than we are.

Yes, I'm being harsh, but this is one of my pet peeves. You should always know the limitations of you knife. That includes knowing the limitations of the locking mechanism on a folder. Knives are tools, and you should always use the right tool for the job and take proper care of them before, during, and after use. IF you do, it makes the job easier and makes the knife/tool last longer.
 
If you want to throw a folder in the future throw it in the dirt, the worst thing that will happen is maybe a small dent in the blade by a stone.
 
Some folders have no trouble being used for throwing.
[youtube]_1JyaTXdA1I[/youtube]
 
Jay S. said:
While sharpening a few knives last night I was fooling around with my Tyrade and threw it into my picnic table from about a foot away and not very hard at all. The lock failed and the knife folded up. I thought maybe I did not have it all the way open before I threw it so I did it again with the same results. The lock failed about 5 out of eight times. Now I understand folders are not meant for throwing so I tapped the pivot area against the table and it failed again several times. I then gave it the spine whack test (not hard at all) and it failed every time. I am wondering why it failed so easily? Is it due to the large blade size and weight? Is this common for the Tyrade?
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Yup.

- Mark
 
philwar said:
Some folders have no trouble being used for throwing.
[youtube]_1JyaTXdA1I[/youtube]
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There is always the exception of a very well designed knife with a extremely strong lock. :thumbup:

I am getting an American Lawman to do a hard use video review on soon. :thumbup:
 
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Spyderco Walker lightweight, Gerber STL 2.0, Letherman Wave.
[youtube]i7DjDtjbfUA[/youtube]
All the liner locks fail on the Wave, including the file and saw. I've never attempted to throw the sheepsfoot, saw, or file into a piece of wood. The clip point still did not fold on the five throws.
 
darthsoaker said:
Um, what knives do you buy?
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When it comes to liner and framelocks I've had everything from cheap chinese garbage knives all the way to expensive customs and a bunch of in between productions fail while checking out the locks. Sometimes it comes down to the lock not having enough bend, having too much bend, oil or grease on the tang, finger disengaging the liner lock, and even just shoddy QC on the knife. Sometimes you buy a knife from someone on the forum and they think the lockup is solid but it isn't. Usually these problems are easy to fix with disassembly, but sometimes it takes a trip back to the company or the maker to fix.

I've never had one close on me during use though because as long as you're using the knife in the way that it was intended to be used, you should never have a blade close on your hand, especially a true framelock where your hand keeps the lock in place. Even though there can be issues with liner and framelocks I am still a fan of them and they are my locking mechanisms of choice. I don't feel that they are weak locks. I don't feel that they are poor choices for a lock.

I'm a believer in the old addage that it's a piss poor carpenter that blames his tools. Respect the tool and the tool will offer you a lifetime of service.
 
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Hey jay send me an email if you don't mind. I have a question for you and a suggestion but want to keep it out of this thread. You have messaging disabled so I can't send you one. Just click on my name and hit send a email.

This forum is amusing sometimes with everyone wanting to be able to chop a car in half with a folder and then freaking out about a light toss 1 foot into wood. I wonder how many people have actually done what was described to see how easy it can be done. More than likely most have no experience and are making wild assumptions. I say take that cheap chinese junk folder everyone has hid in the back of a drawer and try it yourself. A light flip 12 inches into a piece of wood and not rearing back and chucking it at a tree. I bet even most of the cheapies do just fine.
 
BTW did you throw it hard? If you dropped it from a foot I wouldn't expect it to break the lock.
 
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