Let’s face it Liner Locks and Back Locks suck!

[TkoK83Spy]

After carrying and enjoying my Shaman all day, I honestly couldn't wait to get home and put it back on the stands and play around with that new Native I got this week. Love that lockup!

[vandelay]

I never liked liner/frame locks that are drop shut - like - what is the point, to make sure you will cut yourself?

With a properly designed liner/frame lock, a blunt tab should hit your thumb before you close the knife on your finger. My Brous Blades T4 has the flipper tab hit my thumb so it's never unsafe to close.

The back lock on my new Ayoob ist **** perfect.

The Ayoob is one knife where I feel like I could actually close it on my hand if the action was sufficiently smooth and I was careless. When I close it, my middle finger moves to the second finger groove which is nearly in the blade path. If you got the tension right so it dropped shut, that'd be scary.

Back lock on the LW Chaparral - smooth but not super nice to operate one handed - the blade is way too lightweight. I would much prefer liner lock or compression lock.

Aren't light blades bad for a comp lock because you can't swing the blade closed as easily? I'm not sure if they're feasible for a thin blade either. CBBL might be interesting.

[Matus]

…

I think that this is about as perfect of an example as one is going to get as to how personal / subjective this is. I may see it differently than you do, but I could not really argue that my opinion is the ‘more correct’ one.

[vandelay]

…

I think that this is about as perfect of an example as one is going to get as to how personal / subjective this is. I may see it differently than you do, but I could not really argue that my opinion is the ‘more correct’ one.

I don't even really disagree with your points. Drop shut on a liner lock is not something I'd value and the Ayoob has one of the best actions I've ever felt. I just think it's funny that you used the ayoob as an example.

I am curious whether liner/comp locks have a minimum blade thickness requirement. I figured that was why the lil native was so much thicker than the dragonfly.

[Matus]

Lil Native is just from a thicc family ... it's just genes

My Ayoob is just super smooth and so well tuned, than I though it is worthy of an example. I am expecting (hoping) that the G10 Stretch XL will also be as great.

When it comes to blade thickness on a liner lock - the Schempp Bowie ist just 2.5mm

[StuntZombie]

I don't really care. I just don't think we should consider blades dropping shut as a sign of quality.

Blows my mind how many people get a new knife and the first comment they have is how happy they are that it drops shut, or complain that it doesn't. I've never understood why that matters so much. I blame YouTube and all those morons on there that people seem to idolize. Some new guy created a thread talking about that today and I don't think my eyes can roll any further to the back of my head.

Have we become so lazy as a society that we can't be bothered to use our fingers to fully open and close our knives?

And for those of you saying that certain blades wouldn't fall shut if they were on compression lock knives, that's a good thing. Disengage the lock, then use your fingers to close the blade the rest of the way, like an adult.

Let the locks and detents do their job, and leave the blade flipping back and forth to YouTubers.

[GarageBoy]

The only thing I don't like about back locks is how debris unfriendly it is. I'm constantly cleaning lint and dust out of where the lock bar rides because it starts getting gritty.

I also don't like the look of the giant lock bar cut outs that Spyderco likes, I have no problem with access on knives like the original Gayle Bradley

[The Meat man]

Nope. They're great locks! I prefer them both over the compression lock.

My favorite lock type though might be the CBBL on the Manix offerings. IMO it combines the best of both worlds - the close bias of a backlock, the smooth action and zero-play of a compression lock. It's very strong too.

[Evil D]

So besides my previous post about how the Plunge Lock is my favorite design these days, I think a back lock is probably my second favorite after that which is really strange (to me at least) because it has more to do with the rest of the knife than the lock itself. I like that back locks don't have a lock cutout behind the pivot like a Compression Lock which is a source of hot spots for me, it doesn't have a cutout in the finger grip area like a liner lock, it doesn't require me to focus on holding the handle just right in order to unlock like the CBBL does. What I dislike is the need for large ricassos, but the handle forward design may be the solution to that if it catches on with more future models.

Besides all those typical locks, I think I'd take a Bolt Action Lock over any of them besides the Plunge Lock because it's far easier to operate with just your thumb without the need to position the handle in your palm just right in order to get enough leverage to pull the lock back.

[JD Spydo]

I have never ever had any problems or failures with any of Spyderco's locking mechanisms on any of their folders. My newest C-60, Cruwear Ayoob models ( Lockback) both work extremely well and my main EDC which is my M390 Military model ( Linerlock) all work exceptionally well>> and I've never ever experienced any failures.

Oh for sure there are locking systems on Spyderco folders that I tend to like better than others. And I've always been fond of the "axis lock" on some of Benchmade's folders. I've also taken to liking the ball bearing lock as one of my favorites. But again I've never ever had any Spyderco folder lock ever let me down.

Really I think a lot of people have completely unrealistic expectations of how a lock on a folding knife should perform. Not trying to be offensive but this subject matter is completely unfounded IMO.

[skeeg11]

Hard for me to understand the lack of popularity of the Bolt action lock. My first introduction to it was a Gerber folding filet first production run 35 years ago and I absolutely love that thing. I wish Spyderco would implement it in more models than the Sage, but I guess it would conflict with their CBBL.

[Blnd]

Weird… more than a decade of no-look cut-free backlock closing here….fingers “in the way” and all.

[James Y]

I don't really care. I just don't think we should consider blades dropping shut as a sign of quality.

Blows my mind how many people get a new knife and the first comment they have is how happy they are that it drops shut, or complain that it doesn't. I've never understood why that matters so much. I blame YouTube and all those morons on there that people seem to idolize. Some new guy created a thread talking about that today and I don't think my eyes can roll any further to the back of my head.

I think I even recall someone posting that back lock Spydercos are difficult or impossible to one-hand close, and are harder to open because of the backspring tension. I can't even imagine how that could be, unless someone possibly has a hand disability; and I don't recall whoever posted about the difficulty of operating back locks ever mentioning that as being a factor.

Jim

[StuntZombie]

I don't really care. I just don't think we should consider blades dropping shut as a sign of quality.

Blows my mind how many people get a new knife and the first comment they have is how happy they are that it drops shut, or complain that it doesn't. I've never understood why that matters so much. I blame YouTube and all those morons on there that people seem to idolize. Some new guy created a thread talking about that today and I don't think my eyes can roll any further to the back of my head.

I think I even recall someone posting that back lock Spydercos are difficult or impossible to one-hand close, and are harder to open because of the backspring tension. I can't even imagine how that could be, unless someone possibly has a hand disability; and I don't recall whoever posted about the difficulty of operating back locks ever mentioning that as being a factor.

Jim

Just click the pic for a short vid.
They must have been talking about people with hand disabilities.

That's my preferred method for closing liner locks as well.

[JSumm]

Those are some great looking scales!

[JSumm]

Back locks can have beautiful back sides too. For those that like back sides.

[spoonrobot]

I think back locks and liner locks are pretty great. Ambidextrous, strong and reliable. Funnily enough, the right-hand Military is probably the most lefty friendly liner lock ever. They work fine with gloves and can be closed well with poor fine motor skills.

Compression locks are another story. I probably dropped and cut myself with my compression lock knives more than all other locks combined before I gave up and moved to other locks. Just don't work for this lefty.

I understand the intention of this thread (here's the attention you ordered) but wanted to weigh in anyway. Liner Locks and Back Locks Rock!

[James Y]

I don't really care. I just don't think we should consider blades dropping shut as a sign of quality.

Blows my mind how many people get a new knife and the first comment they have is how happy they are that it drops shut, or complain that it doesn't. I've never understood why that matters so much. I blame YouTube and all those morons on there that people seem to idolize. Some new guy created a thread talking about that today and I don't think my eyes can roll any further to the back of my head.

I think I even recall someone posting that back lock Spydercos are difficult or impossible to one-hand close, and are harder to open because of the backspring tension. I can't even imagine how that could be, unless someone possibly has a hand disability; and I don't recall whoever posted about the difficulty of operating back locks ever mentioning that as being a factor.

Jim

Just click the pic for a short vid.
They must have been talking about people with hand disabilities.

That's my preferred method for closing liner locks as well.

Beautiful scales!

I'm pretty sure the particular post(s) I'm referring to from sometime back made no mention of the poster(s) having any hand disability. It was more about them finding back locks not being as smooth, flickable, or easy to operate as comp and liner locks are, and he or they not being able to one-hand close them.

Jim

[Iktomi]

Let the locks and detents do their job, and leave the blade flipping back and forth to YouTubers.

To me, it’s not much different from a gun safety — it should be the best possible, and you still shouldn’t trust it.

But then, balisongs are a thing, so …

[Iktomi]

Back locks can have beautiful back sides too. For those that like back sides.

Is that a Delica? What scales are those?