ZT 0350 lock not fully engaged. Is this normal?

Joined
Jan 30, 2017
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hi guys and girls, I'm a bit of a newbie here. My first post in a blade forum and generally new to knives. This ZT is my most expensive knife purchase to date. I noticed that the liner lock does not fully engage when the knife is opened. it's about halfway. The knife does not have any play and it is locked strong. I was just wondering if this looks normal or if the lock is supposed to be completely in line with the blade. Is there any way I can post a picture on here?
 
IMO they should have just made the locking liner engage deeper since you dont really get a lot of wears for hardened steel-on-steel interface.

I have 2 0350, one serrated and another plain, and they are both like that(gotta love the consistency). I have been using them for years and the thick steel liner locks remain at the same position as when i first got them. I was even using one of them to baton heavily and after a lot of abuses the lockbar never wear enough to travel further. So i dont really see the point of them having such early lockup.

In fact the 0350 is known for lock slippage(multiple youtube videos). IMO this is due to
1. Harden steel liner is less likely to bind with the tang, like how titanium always cause lock stick and
2. because the liner is so thick that it's hard to bend, so the only way to disperse the force is by slipping.

I can personally make both my 0350 disengage by doing moderate spine whack. In my experience, they could really improve the lockup by having deeper engagement without sacrificing any longevity.
This basically applies to framelocks that use hardened steel lockbar insert. I dont get why people are crazy about having super early lockup nowadays, perhaps it makes more sense for titanium lock face, but definitely not steel-on-steel IMO.

In before the knife ethicist start yelling about proper knife uses: yes, you shouldn't spine whack, okay, got it. But when you can make something better without costing additional $ or time, why not?
 
No worries, you got a good lock up! But, I don't own any ZT knives, so I don't personally know about their specific lock strength. In general, with liner-lock knives, nothing wrong with 20-50% lock up
 
What everyone else said. Knife is gtg. Look at some pictures of high end midtech (semi- custom, but still production knives) cough, cough... Medford. Or full blown customs and you will see very early lock up.

Pro tip. Lock up percentage is measured by how much material is left on the blade portion, on the right hand side of the lockbar.

For example, here is the lockup on my xm-18
20160920_224402_zpsts0azece.jpg
 
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Lock up looks good and is consistent with most new ZT0350s. Congrats on a great knife and welcome to the forums!
 
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