{"id":4764,"date":"2019-01-09T20:00:28","date_gmt":"2019-01-10T02:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/?p=4764"},"modified":"2019-01-09T20:00:28","modified_gmt":"2019-01-10T02:00:28","slug":"knife-locks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/?p=4764","title":{"rendered":"Knife Locks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

*NOTE: This is a transcript of my segment on Assorted Calibers Podcast episode 35<\/a>*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to Oddball\nCorner Pocket. For this week, I thought I\u2019d talk about the\ndifferent kinds of knife locks, and why you might want to use one\nover the other. This will probably be another drinking game\ncandidate. This time with the word \u201clock.\u201d The same warning\napplies as with the segment on grinds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thing that makes\npocket knives convenient to carry is also probably there biggest\nweakness. Namely, the fact that they fold. Sure, it makes them\ncompact, since their close to half the length closed as they are\nopen, but they also can close when you don\u2019t want them. Since your\nfingers are usually in the path of the blade if it folds while you\u2019re\nusing it, you can hopefully see why this is bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first folding\npocket knives were friction folders. As the name implies, the only\nthing that keeps the knife blade open or closed is friction at the\npivot point. Some designs, like the Svord Peasant knife, and old\nschool straight razors get around this by having an exposed tang, or\nmetal extending past the where the blade meets the pivot. You can\nkeep your thumb against the tang while using the knife, and therefor\nstopping it from closing on you. This design actually works pretty\nwell, but also means that it can open pretty easily when you don\u2019t\nwant it to\u2026 like while it\u2019s in your pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are some other\ndesigns that don\u2019t have this feature. This means that they\u2019re\nless likely to open in your pocket, but it also means that they are\nmuch more likely to close on you when you don\u2019t want them to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, most\nnon-locking knives for probably the past couple hundred years have\nused what\u2019s called a slip joint. A slip joint has a spring along\nthe spine of the knife that causes the blade to want to stay in\neither the fully open or fully closed position. Most people have\nused one of these. Your standard Swiss Army knife and old fashioned\nCase knives use this design. It\u2019s a much safer design than a\nfriction folder. Unfortunately, while I\u2019ve never had one of these\nopen when I didn\u2019t want it to, I have had one close on me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there have\nbeen locking of various types for centuries, surprisingly, they\nweren\u2019t really all that popular until the 1960\u2019s, with the famous\nBuck 110 and it\u2019s back lock. It\u2019s a similar design to the slip\njoint, except the back bar actually latches into the back of the\nblade instead of just laying against it. That means that you have to\npush against it to unlock the blade and close the knife. Depending\non where exactly the point that you\u2019re supposed to push on it, this\nstyle lock may be referred to as a back lock, mid lock, or spine\nlock. Oh, and I\u2019m going to include Cold Steel\u2019s \u201ctri-ad\u201d\nlock in this type of lock, since it\u2019s pretty much the same thing\nwith an added pin to handle some abuse. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a very solid\nlocking mechanism, and is probably the strongest out there. The main\nissue with this lock is that it is difficult to close. Depending on\nexactly where the divot for you to press is, it can be pretty much\nimpossible, like the Buck 110, or tricky until you figure it out,\nlike the Spyderco Endura.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Push things up to\nreally the 1990\u2019s, and folks started using what are called liner\nlocks and frame locks. Instead of having the locking device on the\nspine of the handle, runs along the side. When you open the knife, a\npiece of metal will spring out into the empty part of the handle and\nwedge itself against the blade. This metal may be part of the liner\nand covered by a scale on the handle (hence \u201cliner lock\u201d), or the\nhandle may be one piece, and the cut out is exposed (this is\ntypically referred to as a frame lock). In my mind, there really\nisn\u2019t any difference between these two lock types, but custom knife\nmaker Michael Walker received a patent and trademark on the liner\nlock in the 80\u2019s, so I\u2019d suspect that the frame lock was a work\naround. To disengage these locks, you simply push the liner or frame\nout of the way of the blade, and close the knife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this design\nisn\u2019t as strong as the back lock, it does allow for some things\nthat the back lock won\u2019t. Once you get past the detente spring\nthat holds it closed, a frame or liner lock tends to be a smoother\naction than the back lock. Since the locking device isn\u2019t running\ndown the spine of the handle, you can use spacers in between the two\nliners instead of having a solid bar. This is often done to save\nweight. It also allows for newer design features like flipper\nopeners where you can quickly flick the knife open. Oh, and it is\nsignificantly easier to close the knife one handed using this style\nof lock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The frame and liner\nlock designs have become incredibly popular these days, probably to\nthe point of being used more than anything else. I would say that\nmost \u201cmodern\u201d locking knives are of this type.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a variation\non the frame lock called the compression lock. Basically, instead of\nhaving the locking device wedge itself near the edge side of the\nblade, it engages by the spine. For various reasons, it\u2019s\ngenerally considered to be a little stronger than frame or liner\nlocks, but I consider these types of locks to be closely related. To\nmy knowledge, Spyderco is the only company that uses this style of\nlock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last type of\nlock I\u2019m going to talk about is the Axis lock. Until a couple\nyears ago, Benchmade had a patent on this type of lock, and was\npretty much the only company to use it. There have been a couple\ncompanies, like Spyderco with their \u201cball lock\u201d that made\nsomething very similar, and, since the patent ran out, I know Ganzo\nhas been making knives using the Axis lock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this style\nlock, there is a spring loaded bar that goes across the back of the\nblade at the pivot, and stops it from closing. This makes for a very\nstrong lock up in most uses, and I\u2019ve seen handles break before the\nlock failed. To close the knife, you simply pull back on the bar,\nand shut the blade. Since there is no detente ball or spring\napplying pressure directly to the blade, this can make for a very<\/strong>\nsmooth action, to the point that all you have to do is pull back on\nthe lock bar, and let gravity do the work for you. While, at the\nsame time, I\u2019ve seen designs where the blade is secure enough, that\nit\u2019s honestly a little difficult to intentionally deploy the knife\nwithout pulling on the lock bar. The one downside that I see to this\nstyle of lock is that, as Benchmade designed it, it relies on a small\nomega spring to work the lock bar. It\u2019s a relatively fragile\nspring, and has been known to break after a few years of heavy use. \nOh, and the design has been known to fail if you\u2019re doing something\nlike batoning, where the knife is struck rather hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nhope this helps you guys understand the different locks, and why you\nmight choose one over the other. I\nwill say that whatever lock system you choose, if it\u2019s a decent\nquality knife, you should be able to rely on it during everyday use. \nIf you\u2019re a bit abusive towards your knife, you might want to\nchoose a back lock of some kind, but I\u2019ve never been worried about\na frame lock failing on me during regular cutting jobs. Of course,\nif you\u2019re the type that like to baton with your knife, use it as a\nstep with it sticking out of a tree, etc\u2026 just get a good fixed\nblade and use that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

*NOTE: This is a transcript of my segment on Assorted Calibers Podcast episode 35* Welcome to Oddball Corner Pocket. For this week, I thought I\u2019d talk about the different kinds of knife locks, and why you might want to use one over the other. This will probably be another drinking game candidate. This time with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4764\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunscarstech.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}