How does spyderco compression lock work

To release the lock, you simply push the lock towards the handle, and use your other hand to close the knife. Similar to a liner lock except two hands are required. You can then swing the blade smoothly closed without ever placing your fingers in the path of the edge. The final advantage of a Compression Lock is that it allows greater flexibility in knife design than many other locks. Compression Locks also work well with open-backed handle designs, which reduce the overall weight of the knife and simplify cleaning.

Originally appeared in the February Spyderco byte e-Newsletter. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. At that time, most knife companies were content with the stainless steels that were readily available, most of which had carbon contents below. The reason for this was that steels with higher carbon contents could not be … Read More.

Here are the relevant features: See the liner on the bottom? As you can see, it's split like a liner lock. But notice that at the very front of the split part, there's a little finger of metal sticking out, labelled "compression insert". Okay, now look above that at the diagram of the blade. At the back of the blade, see the little surface labelled "compression surface". Also note just above that is the anvil pin. So, the compression lock is basically like a liner lock, but the little finger projection on the liner fits in the notch between the compression surface and the anvil pin.

Now, we all know how liner locks fail. That being said, there are some variations and some of those variants are, in fact, proprietary , so keep your eyes open for that where applicable. Instead of a lock, these types of knives often have an extended tang an extension of the blade beyond the pivot on the opposing end of the tip that is fanned out and keeps the blade from spinning a full degrees.

These knives require the user to apply friction, or pressure, on the tang to keep the knife deployed in use. The Knife You See Here: Made in Japan by the descendants of the artisans who crafted katana swords for the samurai , the Nagao Higonokami boasts a reverse-tanto blade crafted from blue paper steel, a beautiful brass handle, and a lever tang. Like friction folders, slipjoint knives are not technically equipped with a locking mechanism. They are, however, equipped with a mechanism that helps make them a bit more secure than their friction folding counterparts.

First, it helps keep the knife closed, adding resistance to keep the blade in the folded position unless manually pulled past the degree position. Second, it reengages when the blade of the knife is completely deployed, applying the same amount of pressure to keep the knife fully extended.

The Knife You See Here: Inspired by the scouting knives many grew up using, this refined slipjoint folding knife from The James Brand is a more elegant take on the blades of our childhood. With liner lock knives, the handle houses a side-spring lock bar device — usually constructed from stainless steel , but can also be built from titanium — on the inside of the scales the hollow space where the blade sits when folded that shifts into place when the knife blade is deployed.

Once in position, the liner notches against the extended blade and acts as a barrier, preventing the blade from being able to fold back down into a closed position. To close the knife, the liner must be manually shifted aside — this can be done with a finger or thumb — and the blade can once again be pushed back into the closed position. These locks are convenient and common, but they can become less secure over time, eventually requiring repair or replacement.

And it has a bit added bonus: it was made in the USA. Think of the frame lock like the bigger, burlier brother of the liner lock. They operate on the same basic principle — a side spring typically steel or titanium that shifts into place beneath a deployed blade and prevents it from closing unless the spring is moved aside. The big difference, however, is that frame locks are integrated into the handles themselves, rather than added to the handle scales as a liner.

For reference, subframe locks which are fairly rare, even in the already small knife world are kind of in-between separating liner and frame locks and function much the same as their kin.