Spyderco Forums

I'm just curious, which knife would have the stronger locking mechanism? The Military, Para-Military, the Caly3? Which style lock, if any is considered the stronger? Or is it realy a matter of personal opinion and they're all the same for all practical purposes?

I ask for a reason. I currently mostly carry a Caly3, sometimes a UKPK. I like each of these, but want to pick up something new. I kind of want something stronger and more aggressive. I like the G-10 handles, and was thinking of getting a Military. Opinions?

For practical purposes, there is little-to-no difference. On a purely academic level, I would predict the Millie's liner lock to fail first. I would then expect the Para's compression lock to go last. However, I really wouldn't get too caught up in it.

If you're concerned, for example, of a Millie's lock failing, just use a fixed blade.

Actually, something else usually breaks before the lock itself does, such as the lockbar pivot pin tearing out of the liners. In absolute terms, I belive the compression lock of the Para has the highest rating of those three, and I believe the Military liner lock has a higher load rating than the Caly3 back lock due to the overall construction of the two knives. In relative terms any of them is more than strong enough for anything you should be using a folding knife for.

I've seen many different opinions here on the Forums regarding this topic, yet the following article is the one that I found most interesting when it comes to the strength of a liner lock...

http://www.knife-expert.com/liners.txt

I'd agree with those who have said the ParaMilitary, at least on the average, would be the strongest. Less sure about the relative strength of the other two. Normally I'd rate a liner lock as the weakest, but the Military is an above average liner lock. On the other hand, it's easier to put a lot of stress on larger knives, as you have more leverage. For normal use, as a knife, I'd trust any of them.

I think you're getting the same opinions from everyone, and I agree. None of those three should fail you in any kind of normal usage, or even under some moderate occasional abnormal use.

I have and use all three of those and none of them has ever failed to do whatever I've asked of it. A Para is my normal woods carry for hiking/camping... I've used my Military to help remodel a room in a buddy's house, and my Caly 3 gets regular warehouse carry and use. Lock dependability is more a concern than outright lock strength and these three are dependable.

My recommendation is to pick the one that feels best in your hand and will give you the best blade size for your anticipated needs... the lock should be more than adequate no matter which one you choose.

If you break the locks on any of these knives, you are using the wrong tool.

I suspect that it all three of the lock types are far stronger than I need them to be. When it comes to locks I prefer reliability and ease of use over outright strength since all three exceed my requirements for lock strength.

If you break the locks on any of these knives, you are using the wrong tool.

Right On.

I've read many posts regarding how knives perform when aboused, but few about using a knife properly (and safely).

my 0.02

prisoner6 wrote:I'm just curious, which knife would have the stronger locking mechanism? The Military, Para-Military, the Caly3? Which style lock, if any is considered the stronger? Or is it realy a matter of personal opinion and they're all the same for all practical purposes?

For the most part I think a manufacturer can make any of those locks as strong as they'd like, with proper engineering and material choices. Sal has said they can even choose the failure mode of a knife given a particular stress -- when a certain load is applied, is it safer for the lock to break, or the pivot to give out, or something else? For practical purposes, I'd say you can't tell which lock is stronger just by the type, you need to see how it's executed by the maker. Either Spyderco or some third-party tester will have to tell you which is stronger in the case of those three knives; my guess would be the Caly3 would be weakest due to the harder use the other two are designed for (at least from the marketing), but it's only a guess.

When it comes to lock type, I do think that as a practical matter, the bigger difference is reliability rather than strength, and for engineering reasons some locks are easier to consistently manufacture to be reliable.