ZT 0200 weak liner lock?

R

randir1214

Joined
Jan 18, 2013
Messages
7
Hello,

I'm relatively new to collecting knives, but I recently bought a ZT 0200 after reading all the great reviews. When I received the knife I noticed the liner lock only extended about 95% under the bottom of the blade during lockup, there's still a little bit sticking out to the left. This didn't seem right to me so I did a spine whack (I know people look down on this), I didn't whack it hard but the lock failed and the knife folded halfway. Is this normal? Another thing I noticed is the detent seems pretty weak, I can flip my wrist and the knife will fly out and lock up. I cant do this on my Oso Sweet or Tenacious.
 
randir1214 said:
Hello,

I'm relatively new to collecting knives, but I recently bought a ZT 0200 after reading all the great reviews. When I received the knife I noticed the liner lock only extended about 95% under the bottom of the blade during lockup, there's still a little bit sticking out to the left. This didn't seem right to me so I did a spine whack (I know people look down on this), I didn't whack it hard but the lock failed and the knife folded halfway. Is this normal? Another thing I noticed is the detent seems pretty weak, I can flip my wrist and the knife will fly out and lock up. I cant do this on my Oso Sweet or Tenacious.
Click to expand...

I haven't heard of that problem before. Could you post some picks of the lockup. I would send it to Kershaw.
 
Haven't heard of such a problem before. My 0200 also locks up not quite at 100% (maybe 95% like yours). It is as solid as anything I've handled. I would have figured a very early lockup would be more likely to slip than something that engages at 95%.

The blade on the 0200 is pretty hefty, and if you get enough momentum on it, it can overcome the detent. I see this on a lot of knives with heavier blades (including the Tenacious). How hard do you have to flip the knife to open it without using the actual opening mechanisms? If it's just a gentle wave, then there may be an issue with the detent. If you have to flip pretty hard (almost like you're trying to throw the knife), then I think that's just physics at work.

Here's what the lockup looks like on mine:
 
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Hello,

Next time your worried about lock up give the knife a little time to break in before you think you have a problem. Spine whacking is the dumbest thing you can do to a folding knife, now if it fails when you put "light" pressure on the spine with your hand I could see that being an issue. I have seen locks fail with little spine pressure after spine whacking because the locking face is now damaged because of the spine whacking. When people say they did some light spine whacking I dont thing they really know how much force they really put on the lock. Imagine if you did the same test and spine whacked your thumb nail, its a lot more force then you think. Stop spine whacking... Every time you spine whack a kitten dies.

Have a good one,

Chris
 
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Thanks for the replies. I cant take any pics right now but mine looks identical to the picture Flarp posted. And yeah to flip it open I have to flick it pretty hard, it doesn't come out if I gently shake it. The heavy blade aspect makes sense, I guess I just wasn't sure if there was something wrong with the 0200 since I couldn't flick out any of my other folders.
 
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Weak detent and early lockup might indicate that the lockbar isn't applying enough locking pressure. If you are comfortable taking it apart, bend the lockbar more towards the right. That should fix your problem.
 
gooeytek said:
Weak detent and early lockup might indicate that the lockbar isn't applying enough locking pressure. If you are comfortable taking it apart, bend the lockbar more towards the right. That should fix your problem.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I ordered a set of torx screwdrivers to disassemble the knife, so when they get here I'll try your suggestion.
 
greetings all,
having owned 2 0200's, i can say they have the "strongest" lock of any liner-lock i have. these things are bullet proof. in normal and hard use, NEVER had one fail. as for spine-whacking, if i live to be a hundred, i'll never understand who came up with this "test". makes no sense to me. also, how much can you whack this thing before any lock will fail? a more realistic test would be to put the point in a piece of wood and wiggle up and down. had an emerson that kept closing like that. hardly any pressure at all. sold it and never looked back. also check your pivot hex screw. my new ones came a little loose. tighten up a little and will improve your blade retention. anyway, not to say you got a wierd one, but never had any problems with ZT'S. best regards to all
mike
 
Before you take the knife apart and perform surgery. Site down and cycle the blade a hundred times or so, maybe a bit more that will break it in and probably solve the problem.
 
The lockup on the one in the video doesn't look early either. Not sure what was wrong with that one. Perhaps the lock face wasn't in full contact with the blade, so when the sharp force was applied, it slipped. I'd just send it in to ZT Warranty to fix. I'm not sure I'd be to comfortable trying to bend the liner lock or mess with the lock face itself (on the liner or the blade).
 
The lockup on the one in the video doesn't look early either. Not sure what was wrong with that one. Perhaps the lock face wasn't in full contact with the blade, so when the sharp force was applied, it slipped. I'd just send it in to ZT Warranty to fix. I'm not sure I'd be to comfortable trying to bend the liner lock or mess with the lock face itself (on the liner or the blade).
 
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