Who Makes the Best Lockback?

Cold Steel their triad locks are generally better and all of their non triad lock lock blades both current manufacture and old that I have handled have always had solid tight lockup with no blade play at all .

Spyderco would come in second especially their earlier models.

Buck is third their moderate, high end, and custom models are generally the best bet. Their bargain models can be a great buy but may not be as good in fit and finish. I like their newer light weight micarta 110 lock backs my impression is they have good solid lockup.
 
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David Mary said:
Tri-Ad, without hesitation.
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What David said.
As has been pointed out, the Triad is not actually a standard lockback mechanism. But it operates the same way. I especially like that it is self adjusting, so even if you make one your daily carry and carry it for years, it won't loosen up.
 
I have a buck and spyderco lockbacks. The bucks a good lockback, solid. I don't enjoy the two handed opening and closing. Spydercos done a good job too, solid with no play. I do enjoy one handed opening and closing with their lockbacks. I have no cold steels. But if I needed a 6 inch blade folder for heavy chores I'd look their way
 
knarfeng said:
What David said.
As has been pointed out, the Triad is not actually a standard lockback mechanism. But it operates the same way. I especially like that it is self adjusting, so even if you make one your daily carry and carry it for years, it won't loosen up.
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This is 100% my take on it. The Triad is not the same as a traditional lockback, but damn if it isn't about the strongest lock out there. That massive space between the pins makes it so that the knife either generally has to sheer the handle material at the pin or break the tang of the knife. It's super rare to see the lock up fail on those, and they actually lock up tighter as you wear them in. Genius design, tbh. Even that goober Joe X doesn't seem to break the lock when he destroys a knife. It'll be a 1" nub with no edge on it, and the blade will still lock up.

The Triad can be a bit finicky to disengage, and it is not the most fidget friendly. I love my frame locks, and it would be really hard for me to not go with the Atlas lock as one of my favorite speed to strength lock designs as a knife that is not only robust but easy to get in and out of deployment.

However, if you made me pick a folder where I was going to be abusing the knife and expecting it to hold up....Triad all the way.
 
Steely_Gunz said:
The Triad can be a bit finicky to disengage, and it is not the most fidget friendly.
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I thought this at first, too, but after owning and tweaking at least a dozen of them over the years, I can say that it is a very simple matter to turn any Tri-Ad lock folder into a fidget friendly, but still super securely locking knife. I've explained how in at least a couple places on here already. I've done it with everything from the Tuff Lite to the Espada XL, easy one handed operation.
 
Steely_Gunz said:
The Triad can be a bit finicky to disengage, and it is not the most fidget friendly.
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I have a number of knives with triad locks and have never had a problem with disengaging any of them. I bend my thumb back and use the hard inner section of the joint to depress the release. That section of the thumb is hard, not fleshy. Mine fits quite easily into the depression in the back of the knife where the release bar is. Very easily depresses the release bar.

I agree that triad locks are not "fidget friendly", but then I don't think any lockback is. And I don't fidget with my knives, anyway.
 
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