Spyderco Forums

I visited Cold Steel's website and they make some pretty impressive claims regarding their folder's lock strength. How does Spyderco's locks stack up in comparison to Lynn Thompson's folders? For general comparitive purposes let's say Delica or Endura vs. Voyager series. Thanks and Happy New Year.

**paraphrasing an earlier post by sal**

"not going to name companies, but the ones we've tested that were rated as heavy only came out as medium in our tests."

My Word, My Honour, is my Life.

Firedawdger -

Ditto what vampyrewolf said ; I have one

of their "El Lobo's"( Cold Steel ) and

if you want my 2 cents ( Luke 21:2-4 )

Spyderco still RULES THE ROOST!!!!<img src="smile.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0>


"For my life, my love & my Lady is the

sea!"



-AET<img src="wink.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0>

OK, here's the story.

Say you have a CS knife that is able to hold 200# 4 inches from the pivot. If I recall, that's the number for the CS Tri-fold. Sounds impressive.

Now, <img src="spyder.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0> measures lock strength in pound-inches, the number of pounds a lock can take per inch of blade length. A Chinook, for example, can hold 200 inch-pounds, over a 3.5" blade, making the lock stress 700 pounds.

For our nominal CS knife, it can hold 200 pounds 4 inches from the pivot. Instead of a surprisingly high 200 pound-inches, it holds a meager 50 pound-inches, fitting into the "Medium Duty" category.

I believe most CS knives fall here, with some (Tuff-Lite, Vaquero Grande) falling into "Light Duty". Why is the VG here, you ask? Simple. The blade is 6 inches long. It holds, let's say, a generous-sounding 200 pounds, 4.5 inches from the pivot (Where CS says they hang weights, or as far from pivot as possible.) 200/4.5 is 44.44 inch-pounds, Light Duty.

Never underestimate the impossible.

Thanks everyone for your input(s). I rec'd a CS MED Voyager for Christmas and it seems to be an OK knife with a very stiff lock, but the design of the knife is poor. It's very hard to open efficiently and it's somewhat dangerous....tip up carry with the thumb stud POS...almost cut myself with some quick opening drills yesterday!!!! In short it does not hold a candle yet a lighter to Spyderco.

Hi Firedawgder. I've know Lynn Thompson for 20 years. I've known his vendors for longer. He always tries to make a good quality knife. He is aware of performance and very concerned with lock strength, primarily because of his MBC interest.

I believe that I can say that if it says "Cold Steel" on the blade, it is probably good quality and safe on the locks.

At Spyderco, we use some sophisticated equipment to determine lock strengths because we have a standard that we set for each model and we have to make sure they are meeting standards.

Cold steels systems are different and perhaps not as numerically controlled, but they do bother to test. Not too many manufacturers can make that claim.

We produce a video for dealers that shows our equipment. If you ask nice, Joyce will send you one.

sal



Edited by - sal on 1/5/2003 5:10:48 PM

I got a dealer vid with my 01 book, almost played out... just like my books though, memorized.

My Word, My Honour, is my Life.

For me, this is a moot point. In all my years of using knives I have had only had one knife close on my fingers and it was a slip joint. I soon got rid of it. I realize that others put knives to the extreme test but I think that this is rare.

Fred I totally agree with you there.
We see these questions more than any other subject I think on these forums.
And while i'm sure it's a concern to some people about how strong a lock is, I personally think the way <img src="spyder.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0> tests knives makes it a moot point with me.
I too have been cut by a knife closing on my fingers, and in the archives I even took pictures.
But I have to be honest about it, the folder was a nice stag handled Queen lock back and I stupidly did my own strength test putting what I consider as mild pressure on the back of the blade, well it gave with very little effort and I almost lost 2 fingers for my trouble.
I have put what I call severe pressure on the lock of many <img src="spyder.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0>s wearing kevlar gloves this time and so far N/P with any models FRN or SS.
And after working on many knives some of which had to be taken apart, the lock on <img src="spyder.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0>s would take someone really trying to break the knife for it to fail.
As for the CS question i've had a few and were happy with their performance also. Ron

is there something like a list/table of spyderco knives lock strength? and if there is could someone point me to where it is?