CRKT Carson flipper, LAWKS/AutoLAWKS

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badkuk

Joined
Feb 14, 2016
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Hi guys, first post:

Does anyone own any knives with the Carson flipper? i'm curious if it accidentally deploys in your pocket when the flipper gets caught in your pocket. Based on the pics, it doesn't seem to have any lock to prevent this, like on the Kershaw assisted knives.

Also, i've come across a few not so flattering posts about LAWKS/AutoLAWKS, sort of like a band-aid for weak liner locks. Is this true of just urban myth?

Thanks
 
I have one and I like it. I EDC'd it for a couple years. I never had it come open while in my pocket, but it would open when carried on my belt by the pocket clip. I started carrying it in a belt sheath after that.
 
Re the LAWKS, it is true--CRKT has weak liner locks. Also, they market their liner locks as defensive blades, and defensive blades need to be able to comma cut--to stab, turn, then slash out of the wound. This is a problem for all liner locks, and why the Gerber A-F folders were also modified with a LAWKS-like lock. CRKTs are also known for weak ball detents on their liner locks, which can also lead them to open in the pocket.
 
Lets see i own 5 m16-14sfa versions and 2 Taiwan m16-14sf versions. All have solid detents and none have ever opened in my pockets. i bought them on a closeout sale many years ago for hard but regular knife use when in the swamps. They work fine for what they are. .....which is a folder not a fixed blade.
 
I've also never had an issue with them. I haven't carried them in a few years (as I've moved up the quality ladder a bit), but at that price point they're excellent. Very, very sturdy for what they are (a folding knife). No folding knife is as tough as a fixed blade, no matter what any marketing campaign says.
 
I have one of the early CRKT Carson flipper models. It bounced around in the tool chest of my trucks for years until I took it out sometime a couple of years ago. I didn't care for the flipper (or much else about the knife) so I never carried it. The LAWKS worked fine as I recall.
 
Is the AutoLAWKS (Lake and Walker Knife Safety)System a good design?
Some don't like the AutoLAWKS because it automatically kicks in on deployment and find it inconvenient as an extra step to closing the blade.But if it were a manual design like it originally was you have to ask the questions 'would you remember to use it when needed'? and 'do you know a liner lock's limitations as to when the AutoLAWKS comes in handy'?Michael Walker (inventor of the liner lock) knew his design had limitations so he made the LAWKS so it could be more rugged as a folding knife.Here's a firm example of the AutoLAWKS.We had a bad snowstorm a few weeks ago and caught me by surprise as I had little firewood in the basement and we lost power.I fired up the Fisher stove and used my M16 to pry the bark off some logs from outside to dry out near the wood stove.I did the same before years ago with an Emerson CQC-7 with a well centered liner lock and it kept slipping right out from under the blade base in the same use.The AutoLAWKS kept the liner lock from disengaging and was undamaged as well as the LAWKS washer tab that blocks the liner lock from behind.It rate the LAWKS durability as getting up there towards a lockback but no...not the reliability of a fixed blade as others quoted.Call it a Band-Aid for a liner lock's limitations if you want but remember that statement when you come across a pricey liner lock knife.No I don't think the M16 has a weak or thin liner lock.The thinnest liner lock I've ever seen were on the Buck Tempest and Sirus models...paper thin.If anything the AutoLAWKS is very underrated because it's not an American made design...but American invented.
 
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FWIW I have a CRKT M16 with the AutoLAWKS and also a CQC7. It's probably just perception but the M16 seems almost toy like compared to the Emerson, on which I've never had a lock failure in some heavy bush crafting use. I am cognizant of a liner locks limitations however and use such knives appropriately. I'd reach for my Benchmade 375 Adamas if I needed to do some all out bashing.
 
Well the model I'm quoting by CRKT is the M-16-13SFG Special Forces model...thicker in materials:rolleyes:no...not something like the smaller and noticeably thinner M16-01Z.And I may be underestimating the smaller model due to it possessing the AutoLAWKS system.But as a $45 knife I think CRKT has a pretty good thing going with the AutoLAWKS for an EDC blade that requires a little rougher level of use.No it's no Axis Lock by Benchmade...but the Axis Lock isn't equal to a fixed blade either.
 
Frotier76 said:
Is the AutoLAWKS (Lake and Walker Knife Safety)System a good design?
Some don't like the AutoLAWKS because it automatically kicks in on deployment and find it inconvenient as an extra step to closing the blade.But if it were a manual design like it originally was you have to ask the questions 'would you remember to use it when needed'?
Click to expand...

When I had a KFF--which damned well had a weak ball detent--remembering to use the LAWKS was not a factor. The KFF was meant to be held in saber grip, and putting the thumb into position for that grip would automatically engage the LAWKS.
 
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