So I'm scared of my knife.

Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Messages
69
I have a Mission MPF titanium folder. Nice knife but one time a few months ago, I had the blade extended and was goofing off with it. Practicing thrusts and cuts etc. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I guess I squeezed the handle wrong or put pressure where I shouldn't have as the frame lock released the blade and it came down on my fingers drawing some blood. Not bad cuts, but enough to make me not trust the knife anymore.

Thought it was just me till I talked to my buddy (who is the only other person I know that has a MPF) and he said the same thing happened to him.

What am I doing wrong?
 
Is this the one?
mpf-ti.jpg

It looks like the framelock has a huge tab that could easily be disengaged accidentally.
 
This can happen with frame locks. I can especially see it happening with that design. You just have to pay attention to your grip. Even the great Sebenza is prone to this. I find my Camillus Dominator does a better job of "protecting" the frame lock so it won't be as easy to disengage if you are twisting the handle. Basically if you look at a frame lock and can see the lock from the opposite side of the knife (looking past the opposite, non locking handle), basically exposing it, then there is a chance of your fingers slipping past the non-locking side of the handle and putting pressure on the side of the lock which would push it outwards, causing the lock to unlock.
 
The only thing you did wrong was buying a framelock,this was succinctly(sp) explained by WadeF in prior post, I have at least a dozen framelocks and it has happened to me also,luckily I wasn't badly cut,there is also a problem with the Axis lock but not as much as with framelocks and someone seemed to have solved the Axis lock problem in another thread by milling/filing the detent button/ball,not sure.What I am sure of is not understanding how this sidelock,framelock,axislock tactical knives caught on in the first place.I like to use lockbacks.
 
It's not your problem, it's the knife's problem. Retire it and get something less prone to accidental disengagement. You might run it by Mission to see if they think anything is wrong with it.

Joe
 
I had a similar occurance with my CRKT S-2.
It did'nt unlock but I felt the lock-bar move toward disengagement while I was cutting some cardboard boxes.

Now I'm thinking that there are only a few locks that I can reasonably trust in a folder:

Lock-back (Mostly good experiences, but my Endura II would let the blade "wiggle" when the handle was sqeezed very tightly).

Axis-lock (I'm not sure what Leatherbird has experienced but I've never had any problems).

Liner-lock with LAWKS (the LAWKS safety is a very clever mechanism that makes it nearly impossible for the liner to slip off the tang. I think all liner-locks should have the LAWKS).

Bali-Song latch-lock (probably THE MOST reliable lock for a folder ever devised. The only problems are the limited selection and legal concerns).

Just my two cents worth,
Allen.
 
The LAWK's system works well against torques, but not against impacts so stabbing/thrusting would still be problematic based on the one I used.

-Cliff
 
Anyone know of a link where the results of various locks is posted? Axis vrs. Frame vrs. Liner vrs Button, etc.

It seems to me that if the frame lock is properly designed it would take a substantial amount of force to open the frame and release the blade.

I would think excessive squeezing of the handle would only tighten the frame to the tang of the blade resulting in a better lock. Somehow you must be opening the gap between the frame to release the blade.

Cliff ever done such a test?
 
I myself would like to see proof of a AXIS lock failing?

Or even one with a Detent button/ball?





WR
 
Well, just searched through BM's site, no mention of any Axis lock failures due to extreme squeezing or torque loads.


In fact only mention of a problem,was an omega spring breaking, and where the other spring still was functional, there was no failure of the lock to injure the owner.

But it was refered to in this thread as problematic almost, so i need to some linkage or other to re-assure me.

The statement made a couple posts up, Smells of BS to me.(No, Not Cliff's)

WR
 
DGG,
It's a matter of the meat of my hand pushing the locking bar toward disengagement when twisting it a certain way.

Cliff,
I'm sitting around the house today (trying to conserve fuel and all) so I'll do some stabbing with my Pesh Kabz and test out it's LAWKS.

Allen.
 
DGG said:
Anyone know of a link where the results of various locks is posted? Axis vrs. Frame vrs. Liner vrs Button, etc.

It is scattered among hundreds of posts.

It seems to me that if the frame lock is properly designed it would take a substantial amount of force to open the frame and release the blade.

It takes little force, just consider you do it all the time with a finger to close the blade.

I would think excessive squeezing of the handle would only tighten the frame to the tang of the blade resulting in a better lock.

Frame locks are hand biased, a left hand squeezing the grip is different from right.

WarRaven said:
I myself would like to see proof of a AXIS lock failing?

Several problems have been reported on the forums in regards to light spine whacks, this isn't the expected behavior though.

-Cliff
 
WarRaven said:
I myself would like to see proof of a AXIS lock failing?

Or even one with a Detent button/ball?





WR

Not gonna take the time to dig through old posts, but if you're wondering "how" they can fail (with the exception of spring breakage) it's due to building the lock so that it can "wear in" over time. The lock ramp has to be ground at a slight angle so that it can wear over time without inducing blade play.

There's a fine line here, you don't want the lockbar/tang surface to wear a tiny bit then have the bar move all the way forward, although good for security it would leave the knife suceptible to bladeplay or make it impossible to unlock. Make the ramp angle a bit too high and then the bar can slip off the tang under pressure, this can be exacerbated by not having the bar engage far up the tang like on the 710.

Since I haven't seen any of those griptillians that tended to fail in person I'm just guessing that the geometry of the lock module was a bit off in either design or manufacture, I'm sure it's been fixed by now.

Okay, so I did take the time to check some old posts :foot:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=319058

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=346754&highlight=axis+whack+fail (post #6)

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=303582&highlight=axis+whack+fail (post #12)
 
Excellent, thanks for the linkage.

I have some reading to do it seems.

I did try the search feature,but got a, could not direct answer each time,prob not in a post with such in the title,i do not know yet.

I am still a little unsure of how this would cause a AXIS lock to fail during hard usage, in the act.

Also, i apoligize Leatherbird, for calling BS on that, i will read up on this more as this is the first i have seen of a axis problem but also when i said that i did not consider early production runs of the lock.

WR
 
Is there any reason that he could just dremmel or file that tab down?
Even just rounding it off a bit looks like that would help.
 
Walking Man said:
Is there any reason that he could just dremmel or file that tab down?
Even just rounding it off a bit looks like that would help.

I am sure he could, but that would lower the value of the knife, which is substantial.
 
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