liner lock wont engage (advice needed)

4

400kph

Joined
Jul 2, 2010
Messages
3
Hi all,

New to the forum, please forgive me.
I went against what is probably consensus here and bought a cheap no-name folding knife recently. After playing around with it for a few hours, the knife now has a problem that the liner lock wont actually lock in underneath the blade unless the knife is thrust open with extreme force. The liner simply presses against the bottom of the blade when it is fully opened and the blade is free to rotate back down again.
Not sure how to go about fixing this, I figured I'd ask before trying to shave anything off etc.

Thanks a lot.
 
I like liner locks, many of my favorite knives used them, however they’re well made knives from reputable companies. The problem your having is most likely a design flaw in the knife. You can try playing around with the pivot screw but failing that there isn’t going to be anything you can do. About 2 dozen good knives a available from good companies like Kersahw, Buck, Spyderco/Byrd for under $50 I’d consider the knife you’ve got the price of education and move on to something better.
 
How old is the knife? Is it dirty? You should take it apart and give it a good cleaning before you try "shaving" anything. Also check the blade stop pin and see if it's dirty or has some lint on it. Dirt or any kind of build up on the stop pin can stop the blade from opening all the way to let the lock engage. Either way I wouldn't trust that knife to do anything but cut. No stabbing anything.
 
Hi 400kph -

No need to ask forgiveness, most of us have been there.

A while back I bought a couple el-cheapo assisted-opening, liner-lock, stiletto-looking knives off of ebay.

Once I had them in hand, I had the same issue that it sounds like you are having.

I had to take them both apart and massage (ok, I had to use my dremel on them) the lock bars so that the action worked.

This took care of the problem - and I gave one to a friend and kept the other one.

They work fine now, but are still el-cheapo knives and nothing more than a curiosity.

Live and learn, and then go get yourself (as others are suggesting) a nice Kershaw (try a skyline for $27 or so if you shop around *cough* *2brothersknife.com* *cough*) or a Spyderco etc.

As far as your cheap knife, you will not be risking much if you have to modify it, and you'll get a better understanding of how it works by taking it apart and trying to repair it.

best regards -

mqqn
 
the honest as well as probably unanimous response would probably to be to chuck it and get a better knife that you can depend on, it would be dangerous to have it fail to engage when you need it!

but on a purely academic standpoint (i don't condone you using that knife ever) what you can do is get one of those cheapo diamond sharpening rods and stick it in and file down the end of the tang, in less than 10 minutes, you should have filed away enough metal for the liner to slip in there

if you don't do this evenly enough, you will have blade play (albeit a stronger lock, because it will be reversely sloped where it doesn't disengage easily)
 
Thanks for the responses everyone. It does look like there is some built up dirt on the stop pin, so I'll open it and clean it. Failing that I'll try and grind down the stop pin or blade tang half a millimeter or so. Lesson learnt though, never buying a cheap knife again.

Thanks again.

I think it was more the mystery of how the blade had miraculously gotten longer than the grief of it being rubbish anyway.
 
Been their done that then bought a real knife.

DO NOT grind anything, your thinking of grinding the wrong areas anyways.

Throw it away or take Revdevils advice.
 
One thing that's crossed my mind, being that it was a 'cheap' knife, the locking liner itself might not have been heat-treated/tempered properly, in order to hold it's shape. After 'playing around' with it for a few hours, it might've straightened slightly. This might account for why it won't engage anymore.

Long story short: cheap knife = lousy performance. Chalk it up to a lesson learned.
 
Update on my progress. I figured what the hell, its a cheap knife, so I took it with the blade outstretched and literally smacked it as hard as I could on a carpet floor a few times, hoping to shift something back into place. Result? Complete success. LOL! Now it locks up first time every time. Amazing what a bit of TLC can do. Still, that wont put me off buying a decent knife next time.

Thanks all
 
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