Be Honest now.

[Jenner 515]

In the last four months or so, here and on other forums there have been a Surplus of Spydie Lock Failure threads. All I got to say is wow! I've never had a Spydie come close to failure. What are these people doing to bring these situations about? I've heard of the spine-wack test...still not sure what it is. I've seen the fellers over at CS place their knives in a vice and stack weights on them.

In thirty years of cutting things I have never had a locking blade fail...

I had a Buck 110 knock-off fail when I was getting stabby with it, in my opinion I was abusing the blade and deserved what I got.

How many here can honestly say that -- without abusing the folding knife or its lock -- they've had a knife lock (or pivot point I suppose) fail on them.

For my own education please provide the knife model and the circumstances.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen. I'm just trying to understand HOW.

Thanks for your time.

[The Deacon]

Never had a Spyderco lock fail.

I have an old Schrade liner lock that defeats rather easily. It's not a Walker style lock. I'd call it a modified slipjoint, with a regular backspring but equipped with a fairly thin brass locking liner. The liner will buckle under moderate pressure, but the blade can only close about 90º when that happens because the now bent liner then gets in its way.

Only other failure I've witnessed was at the NYCKS a few years back. Was looking at a custom Walker style liner lock at its maker's table. When I pressly lightly on the spine, the lock gave way. Maker commented that it "needed adjustment". Needless to say I did not inquire about the availability of a left hand version.

[KaliGman]

I recently sent in an Emerson Combat Karambit for repair. This is an excellent knife. It utilizes a titanium liner lock. I bought one of the first production run (serial number 039) and carried it for years. After years of kinetic openings, martial arts practice (sometimes, when you are on a late night surveillance you forget to pack a trainer, you get bored, so you play with live blades:eek:--or at least I do), waved openings, demonstrations, etc., I had been very hard on the lock. I do not believe in "spine whacking" as it can damage your knife. I do check all of my carry folders for lock engagement and, using moderate hand pressure, push the spine of the knife in the direction the knife closes while the lock is in engaged and while keeping my precious little digits out of harms way. Any knife with a lot of play in the blade or slippage in the lock gets sent in for repair or retired. The Emerson liner lock would move toward the handle and disengagement. It did not "fail," but it soon would have. I sent the knife back to Emerson and expected to pay--things wear out and I had not been kind to this lock. Instead it was fixed under warranty and returned to me within 7 days, complete with a new pivot pin, some catalogs and Emerson stickers, and my check to cover postage and handling which they refused to cash. This was absolutely excellent service and the knife came back rock solid in the lock department. I have the knife in my left pocket now.

My opinion is, everything wears over time. Check your knives for lock engagement and repair or replace those that no longer give you the "warm fuzzies."

STR will probably post in this thread. If not, search his previous posts here about lock engagement and failure or go to his site over on Blade--he is a font of knowledge on locks and general maintenance regarding folders.

[Jenner 515]

STR will probably post in this thread. If not, search his previous posts here about lock engagement and failure or go to his site over on Blade--he is a font of knowledge on locks and general maintenance regarding folders.

Will do.

[Stenny]

Yesterday I disengaged a backlock on my Endura while cutting a tough (several days old) loaf of bread. Somehow I managed to depress the locking bar enough for the blade to almost close on my fingers :eek: . I have had enough of folders, I am gonna EDC a fixed blade.

[Lostification]

Yesterday I disengaged a backlock on my Endura while cutting a tough (several days old) loaf of bread. Somehow I managed to depress the locking bar enough for the blade to almost close on my fingers :eek: . I have had enough of folders, I am gonna EDC a fixed blade.

You know your not supposed to use the spine of the blade to cut, right? You'll find it a lot easier if you use the cutting edge.

[Firefighter880]

I have never had a Spyderco fail on me. I did have a mili once that sounded like a maraca right out of the box, but that was sent in and Spyderco promptly replaced it.

I've only had two knives actually fail on me. One was a Cold Steel Recon 1 folder and the other was a SOG X-Ray Vision. Both knives use the same sort of lock (axis) and both failed the same way. I guess you could say they didn't really "fail" under use, instead they simply broke. Both of the axis locks basically just came apart in my hands when I was using them. This didn't cause the blade to crash down on my fingers, but I heard the pop when I opened the blade, looked down at the knife, gave it a rattle, and sure enough - loose parts and a broken axis lock. Needless to say, I am not a big fan of the axis type locks anymore. Too many breakable parts and springs and wires in there for me :D .

The Recon was replaced by the Sporting Goods store where I bought it - twice I might add. This happened with this particular knife twice, and on my third one I finally made the switch to Spyderco.

The X-Ray Vision was replaced by SOG, who apologized profusely and reinforced the lock with a double wire to add more strength.

:spyder:

[Firefighter880]

Yesterday I disengaged a backlock on my Endura while cutting a tough (several days old) loaf of bread. Somehow I managed to depress the locking bar enough for the blade to almost close on my fingers :eek: . I have had enough of folders, I am gonna EDC a fixed blade.

:D

Doesn't that mean the lock worked, though? Didn't actually fail? It was just disengaged by the user?

:D

Just given you a hard time! I know that would make me at least utter a few foul words too!

[lerman]

never happened to me on a spyder.

[stonyman]

Good post kalig as well as the others. I have not had a spyderco lock fail on me.....Ever! I also know what to expect and what not to expect out of a folder. I will say that I evaluated one of those recon folders and the lock failed. Not one, but several of the same models. You do not buy a folder and submit it to some of the test I seel on some of the forums........Hey kaligman, that is what I consider normal wear and tear that you put on that emerson!:D

[spydie fanatic]

Never had a spydie fail :cool:

I however have drawn my D4 and tried locking it open...only to find lint obscuring the lock

Only knife ever to fail was a back-lock frost:eek: ...yes, I owned a frost for about 3 days:o ...then it "died" and got tossed in the trash:D :p :)

Only reason I had it was because I got it for free. As a testment to its name, the box said it was a liner-lock when it clearly was a lock-back:p

[J.B]

To stick to the truth, two weeks ago I had a lockfailure. This was quite a surprising occurrence for me.

I walked through the house, took my D4 Wave out of my RFP and wanted to play with it like I often do. I tried to open it, but it didn´t lock. My first thought was, something must stick in the locking area. I inspected it but didn´t see a thing. About 5 or 6 times I tried to lock the knife open, but it didn´t work. Even with a bit more pressure it couldn´t be opened.

Then I took a small screwdriver and scraped carefully the sides of the locking area. It seems a small piece of pocket lint came off, which perhabs was kind of clued to the locking area by some oil I had used.

I remembered that a few hours before the locking sound had changed from a KNICK to a KNOCK. I better should have reacted to it.

This was quite a lesson for me. I was so used to see my folders work without a problem and used to think I would take enough care of them that fixed blades seemed more and more obsolete to me.

Folders and especially Spydies are really good working tools and seem to work 99,999 % of the time. They can also be seen as very nice useful toys. But if it really counts and you need 99,9999 % or more or want to have an easy cleanable knife then fixed blades are the way to go.

From experience I can tell, once locked :spyder: frontlocks stay locked until you release them.

If you use your D4s or other :spyder: frontlocks, watch out for the KNICK sound and keep the locking area clean!

JB

[J Smith]

I had a Military with a lock that would side a bit under pressure but Sal fixed it up great,never failed on me.
The only Spyderco that I ever had with a lock that I would not trust was a G10 Harpy.I never did get it taken care of,W and R said they could do nothing about it but that was when there were alot of changes going on in W and R.

[squad314]

+1 on the pocket lint....A friend of mine who bought a Delica IV on my advice brought me his knife wondering why it wouldn't lock open solid.After acting like a big-shot, disassembling the knife to check the lock bar,I noticed a big hunk of lint packed solid in the lock cutout:o .After picking the lint out with a toothpick I reassembled the knife and...presto,good as new.

Another reminder to myself to check the simple things first.Other than this,I've never had a problem with a Spydie lock.

[yablanowitz]

Be honest, huh? Okay...

I don't recall ever having what I would call a lock failure on any knife I have ever had. I state it that way because I handle any folding knife as if it were a slipjoint, so I wouldn't notice if the lock didn't work.

When someone started one of these threads a while back, I checked and discovered the Dodo I had been carrying for several weeks could be closed by hand pressure without releasing the ball lock. It may still be that way. It doesn't bother me.

[Agent Starling]

Excellent thread, Jenner 515! I haven't experienced a lock failure as yet so I haven't even given this topic much thought until now. :spyder:

Agent Starling :D

[Sakuraba#1]

I waved delica that i have had for over a year that fails almost every time you try and wave it open I think it is because of the FRN spring holder has become weakened over time so I am going to send it in to Spyderco to have it replaced.
I also have a SE curved meerkat that bit me pretty badly that i no longer use.

[Jenner 515]

Well now,

I have also experienced the lint thing. (PE Tasman Salt) the knife just didn't sound right when opened one time, Checked and found a sofa cushion sized piece of lint preventing the lock from opening.

I didn't consider that Lock Failure, more of an operator error kind of thing...I reasoned I controlled the lint, my responsibility.

What say you guys...Is lint collection a design thing? Or a basic maintenance issue?

Yablanowitz: With the ball lock not holding securely...is it a problem inherent on the design of the Dodo? Or something else? Does anyone have a link to the origiinal thread on that topic?

I have two ball lock knives currently: a D'allara rescue, and a Poliwog...I've never had a problem with either...but now you have me wondering because I have put a whole bunch of stress on the Ball-lock of that D'allara.

[yablanowitz]

As far as I know, it was something that cropped up on some of the first run of Dodos. I haven't heard about it happening on anything else. I did check again, and my beater Dodo locks securely now, at least the couple of times I tried it. It is still a folding knife, though.

To me, trusting a lock to prevent injury is like trusting an airbag to prevent injury. It should, it might, it probably will, but I'd rather avoid an accident than find out.

[zenheretic]

The "lint thing" is especially prevalent after leaving your knife in your pants and putting them in the dryer.

[JBE]

In 11 years of carrying Spyderco's I've only had one lock failure. It was a SS Calypso JR that had gotten some dirt inside the lock and was making a "gritty" sound and wouldn't lock up. A little cleaning and lube solved the problem and I chalk this one up to poor maintenance by me and not a fault of the knife itself.

[WORKER#9]

Never had a lock failure on any brand. I keep my knives clean and well serviced.

[araneae]

I did have a small Kershaw lockback (I can't think of the name of it- it was about $15 @ Wal Mart) that had a bad lock on it. It was used hard for a little knife, but the lock would no longer engage, even after thorough cleaning.

I sent the knife in and they surprised me by replacing it with a new Corral Creek lockback worth 2 or 3 times what I paid. They are one of the "other" good knife companies out there.

[Jenner 515]

Sigh,

Over on Bladeforums I read another post about a guy who "spinewacked" his Spydie and now won't trust it...??!??

Can someone send me a link to a thread, or a post, or a youtube video to demonstrate what this "spinewacking" is.

From what little I've gleaned it just doesn't make sense, Why would you intentionally do something to damage a tool, unless it were to prove some point (a point I'm not sure I get).

Can a "spinewacking" situation occur naturally? Is it a potential occurence in MBC/SD situations?

Sincerely, Confused.

edit: Okay found one on Youtube...what a nozzle. Why would someone do this on purpose?

[zenheretic]

Spinewacking is one of those forever ongoing debates that permeate knife forums. The second part of term, wacking, is what throws people off on this test.

IMO, STR probably has the most reasonable approach to testing without abusing the lock. He has posted it many times over on Bladeforums.

[Lostification]

Should call it spine hammering.

[yablanowitz]

I imagine that in SD/MBC situations, a blow to the spine of the knife is nearly inevitable. (That is speculation on my part, since I have never gotten myself into a situation where I had to use a knife against another living thing.) In that case, I suppose it would be important to know that the lock would hold. But I don't think many "spinewhack" advocates have ever considered the physics of what they are doing to their knives. The leverage of the blade and the concentration of force into such a small area of lock surface can easily exceed the structural strength limits of the materials involved. Even light taps will eventually cause metal fatigue if done enough times.

[MAT888]

One time i had a engaging problem with my native3 . Took out the pocket lint and problem fixed. Now i use to flush my knives with wd40 every 2\3 weeks. And a good hot water and soap bath for my users every week.

Some observations on the compression lock. Pressing the lever for opening gives the opportunity to flick the knive open very fast. However the surface of the tang meeting the liner of the lock will be violent . Especially after years of doing this the tang and lock surface will roll or dent and even the pivot may get damaged. So these hard flick seem to me as reverse spine wacks. I would recommand to thumb them open and not flick them open.
Sometimes a little slower don't minds:(

On liner locks these flickings can be done too. I would not recommand these flicks on any comp/liner lock brand knive.

howdie maarten

[2edgesword]

I'm not sure if this constitutes a failure but there is a reverse grip inertial opening that consistently overcomes the locking mechanism on a Delica. I've done the opening on probably ten different Delicas (live blades and trainers). The force and speed of the opening is such that the blade pops back before the lock can engage.

[Jenner 515]

BTTT

Because I'm now reading more and more posts about snapping tips off of knives.

I've broken two (that I recall) through sheer abuse, no fault in the Spydie's design or heat treat or construction.

I tried to use a Harpy as a screwdriver. The machine screw was so stuck that we had to take part to a machine shop and power it off. THe poor Harpy...well I'd never seen VG10 (I think it was VG10) shatter into metal shards and dust before but...Wow! I didn't think I had put that much torque on the blade but whatever it was we sure exceeded the...(help me out engineers) Modulus of elasticity (?) that knife tip was gone.

THe other was an Older model Military that I thought would be fun to throw at a cardboard box. It punctured the box allright...but having left such a clean puncture wound then slid backwards out of the box onto a concrete floor.

So fess up now and be honest. Ever broken a tip NOT abusing the knife? Details and model please.

[yablanowitz]

See the "Have you ever broken a tip?" thread. In short, I have broken many tips, but most folks don't consider what I do with my knives "normal use". What can I say, I work around a lot of things that knife tips should not be used on, so things happen.