Ever have a lock fail in normal use?

[ykspydiefan]

Lots of ideas and opinions 6 pages into the backlock.

I have never had a locking folder fail personally. Never had a folder come unlocked doing normal cutting stuff.

Have you had a folder lock fail? How? What were you doing? How did it fail?

What is normal for you?

[Coastal]

I have not.

[cjk]

I've had a couple knives come open in my pocket when they were supposed to be closed.
I've never had one close when it was suppose to be open.

[JFR1]

I had a Dragonfly 2 that failed me several years ago. Was cleaning up some holes in drywall and the lock got loose/gave out a couple times when cutting. Could have been the way I was holding it. I thought it was pocket lint causing the issue, but the lock cutout looked clean. Retired it and moved on to the Native 5.

[vivi]

Yep.

Had a cheap liner lock close on my hands in the 90's while breaking down cardboard. Still don't trust liner and frame locks 100% to this day.

Had knives from various brands, including spyderco, fail to keep the knife shut in my pocket or pack. That's a type of lock failure, and I still have some scars from those incidents.

Broke the lock on an Endura batoning it to test the durability of the blade. zdp189 saber grind run converted to scandi. edge held up fine, lock did not. still have a video of this incident actually. not normal use either way though.

[Scandi Grind]

Had a thumb stud liner lock open in my pocket while rolling around underneath a car doing work on it. I learned not to wear a knife while rolling around on the ground. Luckily it only opened slightly and I wasn't hurt, so I got the lesson without the pain.

Not really a lock failure, but rather just a thing to be aware of particularly on detent closed knives.

[Jeb]

Many years ago I had an old liner lock style knife close on me. It was not a Spyderco knife, but I really was shoving this knife, point first through some old leather horse halter straps.

Lucky for me the leather strap was over the end of the blade or it would have surely been a really bad accident. I was shoving this knife really hard.

I was so focused on my grip on the knife, so as not to slip off the grip and onto the blade. Never would have thought the liner lock would have failed and knife folded up on my hand.

I remember this like it was yesterday too lol. When it happened I didn't even want to look at my sweaty paw, as I just knew it was going to be really bad. Thank God and all his angles I get to lol about this little mishap now.

Sure I got cut but nothing like it could have been. Never been a big fan of the liner locks like that thin leaf lock device since either. It really scared me, so much so; I didn't even want to look to see how bad it was.

For me to date the worse thing is a dull knife, I will cut myself with a dull knife trying to do something to hard to cut from the dull blade. Second thing is doing something stupid; something that a knife was never intended to do.

With my chosen Spyderco knives I have around here, the only thing to worry about is hand slipping off the scales and grip area and getting down on the blade.

While that would be really bad, it's just really going to be a fluke case, with the finger and thumb choils and the jimping on those... just got to love my Spyderco knives.

[apollo]

A spyderco no. Buck lockback and Boker linerlock yes...

[CDEP]

Never.

Whenever I'm doing something that might challenge a lock I switch to a fixed blade. Several at home, and one in the truck. Have a small Enuff on my belt sometimes.

[Wallach]

In terms of open / active use, I did have an older liner lock fail on me once, yeah. Thankfully didn't wind up cutting me too bad for it. I also had one that wouldn't lock out consistently if you slow rolled it open and I had to send back just for safety reasons. I've been more cautious of liner locks ever since, even though I still use them sometimes.

[yablanowitz]

I had a Dragonfly 2 that failed me several years ago. Was cleaning up some holes in drywall and the lock got loose/gave out a couple times when cutting. Could have been the way I was holding it. I thought it was pocket lint causing the issue, but the lock cutout looked clean. Retired it and moved on to the Native 5.

Just FYI, you can also get a buildup of crud under the lock bar that can have the same effect as crud in the lockwell. Much harder to see and reach to clean out. I've had that happen, along with lint in the lockwell. I also have a Dodo that would close with a little thumb pressure on the spine. I carried it that way for a year before discovering it after reading a thread here where someone else complained about it. I grew up with slipjoints and learned long time ago to treat every folder like a non-locker.

[8th_Note]

I have an old SOG Twitch II with rosewood scales that has a great deal of sentimental value. The back lock will fail with moderate pressure on the spine. I rarely carry it anymore but when I do I don't use it for more than opening a letter or trimming a fingernail.

I've never had a Spyderco lock fail

[vivi]

In terms of open / active use, I did have an older liner lock fail on me once, yeah. Thankfully didn't wind up cutting me too bad for it. I also had one that wouldn't lock out consistently if you slow rolled it open and I had to send back just for safety reasons. I've been more cautious of liner locks ever since, even though I still use them sometimes.

That reminds me, I owned one of the FRN Buck / Strider collabs that would consistently fail. The lock was so weak I could fold the knife shut with simple hand pressure without touching the lock release. It'd fail simple spine taps too (taps...not whacks.).

Sent it in to uck and got it back in the exact same condition and told it was up to spec.

Yeah. Military 1 is the only liner lock I own unless you count my one handed trekker. Not my favorite lock by a long shot.

[cabfrank]

Military and Gayle Bradley were certainly trustworthy. Never had a Sage 1 but I'm sure that would be too.

[vivi]

Military and Gayle Bradley were certainly trustworthy. Never had a Sage 1 but I'm sure that would be too.

The Military is the knife that made me willing to try Spyderco liner locks in general. They do a good job with them. Never had a failure with my Tenacious, multiple Resilience folders and Military 1's, FRN walker liner lock and probably a few I'm forgetting.

The only Sage 1 that passed through my collection I gifted to a buddy back when they were still currently for sale. Served him well for years last I heard. Also gifted an Efficient back around 2017 that did a good job.

[Evil D]

Yep I had a Military 1 that I could press against the spine and the lock bar would slide off the tang. I bought it used and have no idea what life it had lived, it wasn't in bad shape at all. It was like the shape of the end of the lock bar was off and it didn't "bite" or seat into the blade tang tightly. The lock bar would also advance into the tang further if you pressed the blade into something hard.

This is obviously either messed with by the previous owner or a defect that made it through CQ. I have 6 other liner lock Militaries that I'd trust in hard use without hesitation.

[Spicy Suplex]

Normal use? Nope. It was 15+ years ago and I was helping a friend move, and I wanted to cut open his old couch like they do in the movies, like when a brash detective is searching for contraband. It was either a throw pillow or an actual cushion, but the liner lock of my Benchmade Dejavoo failed and the knife closed on my pinky while I reverse-gripped it. Not a huge liner lock guy any more! Very stupid use of a knife, and I was very young, but it sticks with me to this day as a lesson - as does the scar.

[Coastal]

Okay, if we're counting liner locks and comp locks opening in my pocket, then yes. That's why I carry them tip down when possible.

[James Y]

Not during normal use.

At this point, the only liner locks I would use anymore are my Military 1's (I own 4 of them).

Once many years ago, I was at a store and was inspecting a particular non-Spyderco integral / frame lock model from another company, and with only light to medium hand pressure to the blade spine, the blade would slip closed. I inspected 2 different examples of the same model, and they both failed the same way, so I didn't buy one.

I've usually treated my folding knives almost as if they're slip joints. I carried a single SAK as my only EDC knife for about a 12-year span, and used it for all types of things, but never had it close on me. I guess that translated to when I started carrying and using locking knives more and more. For me, any lock is only an added safety measure.

Jim

[u.w.]

Oh yeah
Cut me bad too

Down in Puerto Rico (Vieques / Roosevelt Roads) back in the early-ish 90's. Winter time, as we did.
Had just gotten it that same week, on base there at the NEX.
Was a SOG backlock folder. The kind that had the adjustable tension pocket clip.
Was opening a coconut and the lock failed. As you may expect, I [unintentionally] cut myself pretty badly.

I started paying a lot more attention to how deep the notch for the lockbar was on knives I got and carried after that;
and really trying them out BEFORE carrying and using.

Had one other cheapie hardware store no-name backlock fail on me while in use, back when I was in high school.
This well prior the SOG in Puerto Rico. The lockbar on that cheapie broke. I was doing something super normal too,
like cutting cardboard boxes or something. I did used to pop it open a lot, and I suspect that might have been a factor.

u.w.