Triad Lock - Common Misconceptions & Merits

Chris_Texas said:
Great thread. The only complaint I ever hear is the force required to disengage the lock. I understand, my wife and daughter do not like them for this reason, but it has never been a problem for me personally.
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Maybe my Triads are on offs but none seem to be that hard to diengage.
 
Robert Ptacek said:
Maybe my Triads are on offs but none seem to be that hard to disengage.
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I have many Tri-ad folders and am also lucky with one handed disengagement - right or left handed - with everything from a Mini Tanto through to a Voyager XL Tanto and Frenzy. My Code 4 funnily enough is probably the most awkward. The 4Maxx Scout is one of the easiest.
 
Thanks for thread, very interesting and timely. Question, has anyone put together a list of Tri-ad lock knives that are "safe" to close one handed?

By "safe" I mean such that the knife is rotated, the lockbar is depressed and then the blade is swung so the ricasso or choil contacts the index finger and then the knife is rotated just a bit to clear the fingers and shut all the way. I can do it with my L and XL Voyagers and I saw a review that it was possible but not necessarily always 100% with the 4max. I'd like to expand my Tri-ad locks but two hands to close is almost a non-starter for me.
 
Because the lockbar is a lever, depending on the position of the fulcrum(the lockbar pivot) certain models will be harder to disengage than others. Some actually gets harder over time. The lawman for example, if you have the 2010 version it's actually has less spring tension because the fulcrum is further away from the lock bar disengagement area, while the 2015 XHP and the latest S35VN version has a slightly modified location where the fulcrum is closer to the lock disengagement divot causing the lockbar to be much harder to disengage.
There are also certain model that tend to have harder to disengage lock. I think it has more to do with the design of that lockbar/blade tang design for that particular model.
 
spoonrobot said:
Thanks for thread, very interesting and timely. Question, has anyone put together a list of Tri-ad lock knives that are "safe" to close one handed?

By "safe" I mean such that the knife is rotated, the lockbar is depressed and then the blade is swung so the ricasso or choil contacts the index finger and then the knife is rotated just a bit to clear the fingers and shut all the way. I can do it with my L and XL Voyagers and I saw a review that it was possible but not necessarily always 100% with the 4max. I'd like to expand my Tri-ad locks but two hands to close is almost a non-starter for me.
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I think while there's some models that are generally less safe because they have shorter ricasso(Bush Ranger and Finn Wolf for example can easily cut your index finger), it also depends on the hand size. I think the larger your hand is, the easier for your index finger to reach the end of the handle where the blade comes down and hit the ricasso when you disengage the lock. If you have a smaller hand, your index finger may not reach far enough that when the blade comes down the edge hits you instead of the ricasso.
 
insta9ves said:
I think while there's some models that are generally less safe because they have shorter ricasso(Bush Ranger and Finn Wolf for example can easily cut your index finger), it also depends on the hand size. I think the larger your hand is, the easier for your index finger to reach the end of the handle where the blade comes down and hit the ricasso when you disengage the lock. If you have a smaller hand, your index finger may not reach far enough that when the blade comes down the edge hits you instead of the ricasso.
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Thanks for the response, I figured it was kind of a hard question to answer. Makes more sense for me to just watch review videos for the specific models I'm interested in before I purchase. Wish the BLADE show hadn't been canceled this year, I would have been able to handle most of the knives I want to buy in person and solved my problem then :rolleyes:
 
spoonrobot said:
Thanks for the response, I figured it was kind of a hard question to answer. Makes more sense for me to just watch review videos for the specific models I'm interested in before I purchase. Wish the BLADE show hadn't been canceled this year, I would have been able to handle most of the knives I want to buy in person and solved my problem then :rolleyes:
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I have pretty much all the non-XL cold steel folders so if you need to know about anyone in particular, let me know i can check for you.
 
Cold Steel Knives said:
Things get vertically larger. You can fit a larger diameter stop pin, more depth on the tang and lock bar, etc vertically. Maybe a bad analogy on my end., but I know that an XL Espada is stronger than just about anything else we make due to it's size.
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Speaking of the XL Espada, I find this knife (and the large Espada, especially the aluminum ones) qualitatively different than other pocket knives. It's a work of art. Non-knife people pick up on this instantly, which is interesting.
I absolutely agree with the observations about the triad lock lightness and efficiency. A good example is the Recon 1, which is extremely light considering its 3.9" blade. Part of the triad lock lightness is because the lockbar provides lateral stiffness so liners don't have to. Liners are an inefficient way to get lateral stiffness.
 
Mark Spark said:
Speaking of the XL Espada, I find this knife (and the large Espada, especially the aluminum ones) qualitatively different than other pocket knives. It's a work of art. Non-knife people pick up on this instantly, which is interesting.
I absolutely agree with the observations about the triad lock lightness and efficiency. A good example is the Recon 1, which is extremely light considering its 3.9" blade. Part of the triad lock lightness is because the lockbar provides lateral stiffness so liners don't have to. Liners are an inefficient way to get lateral stiffness.
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I agree. That’s another thing about triad lock. The lock bar and the backspacer, just adds to the overall rigidity of the knife. It’s like holding a full tang knife. Other designs just feel... hollow..
It’s like the backbone of the knife. Of course it’s also more ergonomic when doing hard cutting like breaking down dozens of boxes.
 
Sharing some batoning session i did with my 2015 XHP Lawman over the weekend. We all know Triad lock is strong, but what's more important is the overall strength of the knife that's built around the lock. This knife weights about 4oz, has 3.5" blade, 0.140"(or 3.5mm) thick spine and has overall thickness of 0.4". It's what many would consider a slim, medium/light weight EDC knife.

I can confidently say that there's no production knife designs in the market today with the same spec(4oz, 0.4" thick handle) that can split wood like this, not doing it multiple time over long term. Some other designs may be able to split one or two, for sure, but not coming out without damage. I split about 10 pieces of wood with 6" diameter in this session, but i've been doing this with this knife since 2015. So it's my long term use experience.

This particular lawman built in 2015 still locks up tight, no blade play, up and down, or side to side, after splitting wood and other hard use for 5 years. The lockbar had worn down a bit and had recessed deeper into the handle, this is the only sign of use.

As i mentioned in the OP, it's just not about the strength of the design, it's also the efficiency and the long term durability.

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That's pretty cool, I wished I would have picked one of those up when they were all about. That's a tough little dude for sure. Speaking of batoning and splitting wood, when I was looking at reviews I ran across a guy beating on wood with a fancy large espada. He split quite a bit of it and was beating on the blade with a big stick pretty hard. These knives with the Demko locks are sweet knives, I've got to get a few more. Great pics as well, :thumbsup:
 
d762nato said:
That's pretty cool, I wished I would have picked one of those up when they were all about. That's a tough little dude for sure. Speaking of batoning and splitting wood, when I was looking at reviews I ran across a guy beating on wood with a fancy large espada. He split quite a bit of it and was beating on the blade with a big stick pretty hard. These knives with the Demko locks are sweet knives, I've got to get a few more. Great pics as well, :thumbsup:
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As Advanced Knife Bro (hilarious channel) on YouTube discovered, batoning a knife with a demco thumb plate is a bad idea. If you hit the plate you will break the screw.
 
Chris_Texas said:
As Advanced Knife Bro (hilarious channel) on YouTube discovered, batoning a knife with a demco thumb plate is a bad idea. If you hit the plate you will break the screw.
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You know after looking at the lawman batoning I never gave it much thought about the thumb plates on the other knives as the only other folder I use is an 30year old spyderco police. I mostly use fixed blades and this is my first cold steel folder. Good call,:thumbsup:
 
Yeah thumb plate is no-go for batoning. That area of the blade can hit the wood easily and the screw is too skinny to hold it.
Thumbstud is probably best for hard use. No weak point unlike hole or tiny screw like thumbplate. My lawman’s thumbstud smashed against the wood a lot and it’s still holding strong.
 
That's great to hear Now I've got to hunt a lawman down to check out maybe down the road. I'm kind of looking at the Bush ranger as well, looks like a dandy knife. Thanks for the info all.
 
Hello.
I really, really, really like Tri-Ad lock, you can rely on it in any conditions. But sometimes there are difficulties with the maintenance of knives on a hike, expedition, etc., when there are no tools and time.
Tri-Ad lock plus ... Tri-Ad lock light ... An incomplete disassembly will be misconceptions or merits, what do you think? :)






Sorry for the bad english.
 
diesteel said:
Hello.
I really, really, really like Tri-Ad lock, you can rely on it in any conditions. But sometimes there are difficulties with the maintenance of knives on a hike, expedition, etc., when there are no tools and time.
Tri-Ad lock plus ... Tri-Ad lock light ... An incomplete disassembly will be misconceptions or merits, what do you think? :)






Sorry for the bad english.
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Interesting ideas, wish I spoke Russian(?) though.
 
Russian )
This is familiar to everyone. Dirt, sand, fat from products sometimes get inside the handle and it requires cleaning. With the possibility of incomplete disassembly of the knife, it will be easy. The quick-release backspacer can be mounted on the principle of weapon pins or other similar maintenance systems without tools. And this will not affect the strength of the blade fixation.
Plus, easy repair and adjustment/replacement of the lock spring for personal preferences "hard" or "easy".
 
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