Knife Locks Explained - Finding the Best Locking Mechanism

Hello everyone, this is Seth V for KnifeCenter. Today we talk about

knife

locks

. (KnifeCenter.com) We see a lot of conversations online in the comments and elsewhere about which

knife

lock is better, which knife lock is stronger, and which is easier to use. And while we may not be able to definitively answer those questions, today I pulled out almost all of the knife

locks

we have on our shelves so we can look at them and compare them. So let's get into it. First of all, this is the Opinel number 10. It's $20 with almost four inches of blade, and this replaces our friction binder.

Early folding knives were much like this, with no real lock to speak of, although the Opinel does have this rotating ring, which we'll get to: you simply push the blade closed and open. And there's really nothing stopping you from doing so other than friction on the pivot. Now, what makes Opinels special is this rotating ring. And this is a rudimentary

locking

mechanism

. I say rudimentary because there is no spring, automatic coupling or anything like that, you have to do it yourself. But turning this ring puts a block in the way the blade closes. Now, it's basically locked in place, open it closely and you're done.

So the big drawback to something like this is that it doesn't activate automatically, you have to do it yourself. And depending on how hard you turn that lock, it will change the strength of your lock, which isn't ideal for when you're on the go, when you don't want to have to think about your lock. So despite the drawbacks of a friction press brake, they are still very popular today, simply because of their simplicity. They are super affordable, very simple and with very few pieces. They work, they work very well, but there are certainly other options now.

So before we move on to the rest of the knives, let's talk about a slip joint. The slip joint is not a

locking

blade. But because the rear spring provides a good amount of tension, it opens and closes automatically, meaning it snaps into place and there is a good amount of resistance, which will even push you back. If you put a little force on it, there is half a stop right there. Another safety feature that catches the blade before it closes completely. And there we go. It also remains closed on its own due to rear spring tension.

And from here on out, each of these locks will operate on spring tension. This little joint from Boker is $104.96 on the site right now. Beautiful sliding joint made in Germany, but it is not a knife with a lock. So let's move on to the next lock I wanted to talk about: the reliable rear lock. I couldn't not bring out here a Buck 110 that really defined the category for more than half a century. Now this is the rear locking knife when we think of Buck knives. This American-made special edition is $199 with 45V marble carbon fiber and steel scales, a pocket clip.

But let's talk about the lock. Kind of like a joint. A rear lock has a rear spring here, but it can move independently and you can disengage it by pressing on the back here and pushing the blade closed with your other hand. Like a slip joint, it has a good self-lock, meaning the knife snaps back into the handle if you don't pull it out far enough. The rear locks are great. Despite their age, they have many advantages. First of all, they are very strong, because there is actually quite a bit of contact here between the leaf and the rear spring.

It's almost like a small latch in that it fits into a small notch in the tank and really holds the knife very tightly. For years these have been among the strongest locks and although they may have now been eclipsed by more modern locks. Still can't go wrong with the rear lock, reliable and strong. The only downside to this rear lock as implemented here in the book is that it's a little difficult to close with one hand because of how far this release point is from where you normally hold the knife. You have to reposition it and use both hands to close it.

Again, at this point it seems a little dated. That's where this comes into play. This is also a rear lock. But if you notice that the release point has moved from the back to the middle of the handle, we call this a mid-back lockout. This was made famous by Al Mar. In my opinion, this is just a simple change to where the lock is deactivated, which makes them much more usable, especially since you can deactivate the lock very easily with one hand. And if the knife is well designed like it is on this Gerber Gator, which right now is $50.95 on the website, you can close it with one hand by catching the unsharpened part of the blade with your finger and closing the rest of the sheet. shape.

Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy. But it's not exactly fidget-friendly, which is where liner locks come into play. Michael Walker is credited with inventing the liner lock. But he didn't quite invent the line lock. And let me explain to you. So before Michael Walker came along, line locks existed, but they look more like this. This is a RussLock case, which right now is priced at $79.99 on the website. And he has a line lock. However, it does not feature Michael Walker's key innovation, which was the ball catch. And because of that, this liner lock does nothing to keep the sash closed.

Instead, there's a backspring here like that sliding joint, there's a backspring that provides the tension to close the knife, the liner just acts as a sort of secondary lock that holds the knife in place when it's open. So to disengage it, you have to push the liner lock to the side and then overcome the tension of the rear spring to close the blade. It works well, but since there is nothing to protect the blade coating, its operation is not very smooth, you can feel the friction of the entire face of the coating rubbing against the blade.

So what Michael Walker did was place a small detent ball inside the liner, which allowed both to move more smoothly over the face of the blade. And this is the key that keeps it close to a single point. So the detent ball falls into a small round hole drilled in the blade, rather than a spring pushing against the back of the blade like in a rear lock. A detent ball keeps the closed blade in exactly one position. So once you open the leaf, there is nothing to close it again. But because it's so tight here, what you can do is you can manually open it to push against that detent ball and it overcomes it all at once on the blade and opens.

It seems so simple and obvious. Now we use it. Almost every brand has a liner lock that they make. But man, that little detent ball is what's behind the fins, the thumb buttons, and all the fun, snappy action we like to play with these days. All thanks to key innovation in Michael Walker's retainer. This knife before we continue is the Ferrum forge Stinger and it costs $90 right now. Great action on this that really shows that the catch can open it. Anyway, let's move on to frame locks. A frame lock is just a line lock on steroids.

Maybe it's thicker. You can see it from outside. Because it is not a covering hidden by the scale, it is part of the frame. It works identically, although it's still just a spring-loaded liner that activates to hold the blade in place when opened. The blade stops back here against a stop pin. And like that line lock. Fantastic snappy action. The catch holds it closed very tightly and then, boom, it opens. This frame lock here is the ZT 0452 CF, designed by Dimitri Sinkevich. ZT does a fantastic job. They are well known for their frame locks and flipping action.

Super agile, super fast. Some people will tell you that a frame lock is stronger. And while that may be true sometimes, it's not necessarily true. It really depends on you knowing the particular knife, the geometry of its locking face and the tension of the spring, all those little things that can help make a knife more stable and secure. At

best

, it will be a marginal improvement over a linear lock. They are usually not as strong as a rear lock, but I can't do that with the delay. So before we get into intellectual property, we have one more lock that virtually any company can use.

And that's the lock button. So button locks have been around for a long time, but they seem to be having a moment right now. This is the CRKT Brian Tighe Fighter $49.95 on the website. And what you get with a lock button, plus a very simple interface, that is, there is nothing easier than pressing the button to unlock amazing fluid movement. When done right, like in this Brian Tighe Fighter, button locks have phenomenal action. So fun, so satisfying, almost silky. However, the way they lock is quite similar to some of these other locks. So we have a stop pin that catches the blade in the open position.

And the button is a kind of plunger that fits between the stop pin and the tang to keep the knife open. The next step is the crossbar lock. Now on this one I had to show an AXIS Lock because the Benchmade AXIS Lock was the one that started it. invented by Bill McHenry and Jason Williams. The AXIS Lock is something different without a doubt. But Benchmade makes a lot of ax knives. This, however, is the 945 Mini Osborn priced at $17.25. On the website, AXIS Lock is no longer patented by Benchmade. But Benchmade is definitely the company that first made it famous and essential.

I truly believe that an AXIS Lock is one of those locks that every knife enthusiast should try. It's really fun, very fluid and has a number of key advantages. Number one, it's ambidextrous, you can operate this axle bar on the right or left side exactly the same. It doesn't require you to move your hands or put them in the path of the blade while closing the knife like you do with a line lock or frame lock. Because all you have to do is pull back and bring the knife closer. The way this works is similar to others you've seen, here we have a stopper pin.

And this bar that goes all the way through the liners on each side and up to the scale, fits into the tank there. The AXIS Lock is also very strong, because we have a round bar that essentially holds the blade open. So for this sash to close, either the AXIS Lock needs to be removed or the entire round bar interface of the liner needs to come apart, which requires a lot of force to happen. Since the Benchmade AXIS Lock patent expired, other brands have been circling this type of lock. And we have come to call this type of cross bar lock to give it a generic non-brand name.

So when SOG does it, they call it XR blocking. But they all work the same. They are all crossbar locks. And it all started with the AXIS lock from Benchmade. Next is a patented lock from Spyderco. It looks a lot like an AXIS Lock. But it's not like that? It is the ball bearing lock from a Manix 2x l which costs 185.50 on the website right now. It looks a lot like an AXIS Lock, we have a kind of slider bar, which here looks like a bar. But actually what you see is a plastic cage, which holds a steel ball bearing pushed by a coil spring, in this little piece here, the coil spring pushes the tension that way, pushing the ball forward of so that when you open the knife and it will snap into place.

And because it works so similarly to the AXIS Lock, many of the advantages are the same: it's ambidextrous and you can keep your hands out of the way of the blade. It is a fairly agile and very fluid movement, like that AXIS Lock, it is also very strong. For this lock to fail, the ball bearing must fall apart or the lock interface must slide. And with spring tension. It's just not very likely to happen. So with many of these modern locks, what will fail first is the leaf. They are usually overspecified for this. And I'm not saying it can't happen, as they certainly can and do fail, but you get a lot of security with a modern lock like this.

I never find myself really worried about it. Next, another from Spyderco. This is their famous compression lock here at the kapara. This knife is $203 right now and shows off that compression lock. I've heard the compression lock described before as a reverse facing lock and that's pretty descriptive of how it's used. But it doesn't, it doesn't quite capture how it really works. Therefore, it is indeed part. Have the liner here as a liner lock. And you'll probably notice that it's on the spine side of the knife rather than on the inside of the knife like a liner lock.

So I can see why people call it reverse line blocking. But a line lock simply works as a holder, it simply holds the bladeopen. However, a compression lock works more similar to an AXIS lock or this ball bearing lock or even this push button lock where there is actually physically a piece of liner wedged between the blade tang and the stop pin. . Unlike a liner lock, this gets a lot of force, that piece is actually stuck in there, that piece of the liners is really wedged in there. It is in compression. So as forces are applied to this blade, that liner is not pushed back like it would in a liner lock, but instead is squeezed so that the steel in compression is much stronger, allowing this liner lock to compression has a much greater resistance.

Like a liner lock, it has a ball detent so you can get that super snappy opening you get with a liner lock or sash lock. I think that's part of the popularity of compression locking. It's snappy, like a line lock, but you can operate it without even putting your hands in the path of the blade, so you can operate it fluidly to open and close it. Even if you want to pull, you can pull the liner to the side, filling it. Super fun to fidget and definitely a staple of the Spydercos lineup. Okay, let's move on to some more strange ones, these locks, the next two locks are locks that are really only seen on these models on the table right now.

And the first one is from Steel Will. This is your ant lock. And this is the Tasso that costs 159.99. This is an interesting one. Again, from the outside it looks a lot like an AXIS Lock, there appears to be a small bar that you pull on. And in fact, it looks a lot like an AXIS Lock. But you will notice that the direction of travel of the ant lock is not back and forth like the AXIS lock. It's up and down. And what you're doing here is hard to see from the outside, but what's happening here is you're turning almost like a tiny back lock there.

That's fitting into the tang of the sword. And pushing this up turns it around the stop pin and disengages the locking interface when it's open. It is locked in place against the tang of the blade, push it up and it disengages and the blade moves closer. So, because this is the only model with an ant lock, I can't say for sure exactly how strong it is compared to other locks. But I will say that it is a lot of fun to use and demonstrates one of the key advantages of the rest of these modern lock designs, which is that they don't require liners or big rear springs in the rear spacer. .

The entire locking

mechanism

is located around the pivot here. And then everything else on this knife is just light and nice g 10. There are no full liners, the spacer is completely G10, the handles are sculpted g 10. It allows you to make a knife, it has a nice strong modern lock, but it is light and well balanced. It is not overloaded with metal springs and handle. Hopefully we'll see more locks from Steel Will in the future. Alright, let's move on to another stranger from Spyderco. This is the STOP LOCK. This is this knife called prorata. Its price is $196.

And this lock is quite similar to the ant lock. But you know different in the details different in the details. It is a patented mechanism so, according to the government, it is significantly different. So by pushing this little arm up, you are rotating the locking faces that hold the blade in place, turning them so the blade can come closer. And like the ant lock, this knife really shows how little metal is actually needed for this type of lock. to securely hold the plate. Take a look at this handle, it's just two slabs of G 10. All the way through, no liners, nothing.

It gives this knife even though it has this enormously wide curved blade. It has a real featherweight feel to it due to how little they have had to put into the handle to make this lock work. Like an AXIS lock or ball bearing lock, it is also ambidextrous. So right-handed and left-handed people get exactly the same experience. You can even open and close it with a little practice. So maybe we'll see more of this lock for Spyderco in the future. But who knows. Next we come to the Andrew Demko section of this video. Andrew Demko designed three locks on the table here, he looms large in the knife lock design scene, if you want to call it that.

This first one here really wasn't a major innovation for Cold Steel. In particular, this is the triad lock. And, you know, it works a lot like an old-school tailgate lock. And it's a simple addition that he made to this old school back lock design, to bring us to this triad lock, is the stop pin here. So one of the drawbacks of a backlog that I couldn't save for this section is that both the blade and the piece that holds the blade in place are movable. So, the blade rotates around a pin and the locking bar rotates around a pin.

And what that means is that unless your tolerances are really tight and your lock geometry is just perfect, you're going to have some movement, you're going to have some wobble, that's just the way it is. Doing a rear lockout without any flex in the mechanism is difficult to do. Companies do it all the time. But it's difficult. The tri lock solves that problem by putting a stop pin here, a fixed stop pin that doesn't move between the blade and the rear spring, eliminates all that play from the blade and also makes the lock much stronger, and Cold Steel has taken the trade blockade to its limits.

This is the six inch two blade rajgarh $104.95. This knife could not be the true size without the triad lock. The security and strength you get from this lock gives you the confidence to use a huge folding knife like this with force. I had one of these and I cut it, even hit it. And the lock. The triad lock simply ignored the abuse. One of the things it is particularly good at, besides its brute strength, is its ability to lock securely over time. There is a lot of extra space built into this locking bar, so even if the locking face of the blade becomes a little warped from some abuse, it can still reset on the locking face.

So these trade lockdowns last and last and last and it's very familiar. But this simple innovation changed the game for him. Next up from Demko and Cold Steel we have listing 15. This knife is priced at $172.95 and features Demko's Scorpion lock, you can see it here on the handle. It is this type of integrated bar that lifts a pin from the blade to allow the knife to close. Kind of like the triad lock, it's a little different than the rear locking mechanism. It's simply that instead of a square-shaped rear spring, it sits in an arc. It is this little round pin that is embedded in this locking bar.

And the spring tension comes from a hidden spring in this part of the Spacer here. Again, he is ambidextrous. It takes some time to get used to the way it operates because you have to pinch and lift this bar. But does it have to? I would almost describe this as the frame lock back locks because they took an element of the lag that was hidden and made it an integral part of the handle. Arguably you can even say this has some extra security because it's like a frame lock. If you grip the knife tightly, you are putting extra force on that locking mechanism and locking it even tighter.

So far, the 8015 is the only knife with a scorpion lock, but maybe we'll see more of it over time. Next up is Demko's newest. And this isn't actually a Cold Steel. This is listing 20.5, it costs 149.99 when in stock. Unfortunately they are not at this time. I pulled this one off one of the employees here just to show it on camera. This is Demko, his latest lock. This is the shark lock and you can see the little shark fin right there. They are sticking out of the back, pull it up and back. And then I closed the swings.

A lot of people are really excited about this lock, because it does a lot of what Demko does well, even better, it's strong. We have the same type of stop pin and locking bar that we have on a triad lock, where we are actually locking everything together against a fixed stop pin. But you also have the ease of operation of something like an AXIS Lock where, you know, you don't need to put your hands in the path of the blade, you can hold the knife quite naturally. Pull back, simply let the blade close. really satisfying action.

Strong, totally ambidextrous. I think we'll see a lot more shark lock knives from Demko, definitely a hit with this. Again, it's a great combination of strength, ease of use and finish stability, let's face it. I think you give this to a guy who hasn't played with it in a while. They won't want to leave it. Next, another fun and strong lock. Also new on the market. CRKT lock. This lock mechanism was designed by Flavio Ikoma. And it has many of the key advantages of many of these modern locks. Another advantage of this is that you can configure the stop according to your own tastes.

So a lot of these locks, the locking mechanism and the detent mechanism, which is what keeps the blade closed, are the same as the latch, they're actually different. So the locking mechanism is here right around the pivot and the detent fits with this little screw here. You can make it stronger or weaker as you like. And it allows you to really adjust the flipping action, the deployment exactly how you like it. So the bolt works and look, on the other side, we have this bar here, there are two welcome bolts that when the knife opens, the two bolts sink into the tang of the blade and put it in place against the pin of the blade. stop that in this case it is the studs that push against the frame.

Many of the same advantages with this deadbolt are obtained with many of these other modern locks. You don't need to put your hands in the path of the blade while closing it. And although it is not ambidextrous, it is not anti-left-handed, left-handed people are simply already accustomed to living in a right-handed world. Oh, awkward, but I could do it. So I guess lefties who have had a lot of practice won't have any problems. The deadbolt is a super strong and super fun lock. Definitely glad to see it on more CRKT models. And I'm sure we'll see more of them too.

Next, we got one of the files. This is the Kershaw hurdle actually on sale right now for 32.95. Now this locking mechanism is easy to see exactly how it works because it is completely visible. Instead of being hidden somewhere in the handle. This lock is simply embedded inside the blade. Kershaw calls it a bolt lock and I believe it was invented by Ken Onion. You can see the little coil spring here on the blade and the little boss that these stop pins fit into. So to unlock the lock, simply push it forward and the blade will come closer.

This is a fast knife. Then you will have to overcome the spring tension when you close it. But it's really fun to be able to see the entire locking mechanism in action here. I think Kershaw used to make more knives with this lock, but this is the last one still in production. It's on sale. Now I don't know how long they will be available. But if you like interesting locking mechanisms, definitely check this one out. It is fun. And this design is great too. Ken Onion, very old school. Nice curves. Sweet. Well, and last but not least, we've come full circle and I don't know what to call this, a sticky folder, a fun folder.

I'll just show you how it works and maybe you can find a name for yourself. This is a little custom Fred Perrin folder and it opens like this. So I really don't know how to describe this. I mean it's not a lock like anything else here on the table. But Matt, when this is open, the blade stays locked in place. It is completely surrounded on both sides by folded metal handles. There is no way to disable this without opening everything again. A cute and fun little package that doesn't look like a knife in your pocket. There you go.

It's. This is called Le Petitri by Fred Perrin, it's custom made and, believe it or not, it's only $32.95. Pretty good price. But it may take some time to get used to that lock. So I tried to pull out almost every locking mechanism you're likely to find to show you today. But there are new crashes all the time. And there's no better example of that than showing them a new old lock that's been lost to the sands of time. I got this from Jason, our buyer's office, he has a lot of antique curiosities there. And this old thing is that a Neeley lock demonstrator, probably something you've never heard of, wasn't something I was familiar with before I found this, is patented.

This design is light wood, to operate the lock, you actually need to push this blade forward so it canturn and close. It is easy to operate to open with one hand. Or you could close it with one too. But super simple. In fact, I don't know if I've ever seen a simpler lock than this one, as there isn't even a similar locking bar to speak of. It is simply a Tang with a unique shape that returns to its place. Very cool. I don't know if it ever made a market. Let me know in the comments if you've seen one of these in real life.

If you've used one, I'd love to know how it held up if you like it, and I'd love to know what locks I missed here. I tried to do everything I could, but I know for a fact that there are things I couldn't do. So if I missed your favorite, scroll down in the comments, let's hear it. That sums up this entire lock type overview video. I hope this was interesting. If you want to get your hands on any of these knives, and more besides, check out the links in the description, head over to KnifeCenter.com, and be sure to sign up for our knife rewards program while you're there so you can score some free money to spend on your next dive.

With that said, I'm Seth V from KnifeCenter. See you next time.