Dear Lynn Thompson,

Lock Strength doesn't matter.

/s/,

Reality

Okay, so that is a bit of hyperbole, but not as much as you might think. For years, centuries actually, there were two kinds of knives--fixed blades and folders. Neither had locks. And yet both were used in self-defense, hunting, and every day tasks. Generations of people used knives and never thought they needed locks. Because they didn't.

It's not that locks are bad, they aren't. But they aren't necessary. It used to be, when I first started this blog, I wouldn't even consider reviewing a knife without a lock, but like a lot of things--with experience my opinion changed. I have been using and carrying slipjoints for two years now and I have yet to accidentally lop off a finger. Put another way: as between an ounce of what Knives Ship Free's Derrick Bohn calls knife sense and a 1000 pound lock, I'd take an ounce of knife sense.

Here is the deal--the vast majority of knives made by reputable companies have sufficiently strong locks. They may not be able to dead lift 1000 pounds, but under normal use they are more than adequate. Cold Steel and their fanboys would have you believe that lock strength is like the top speed in a car--sure you can't drive 200 MPH on the highway, but it's nice to have it when you want to go a little faster than 65. I get that, but I think the analogy fails for one simple reason--I am not convinced you need a lock at all. If the analogy worked, a knife without a lock would be like car that couldn't move, but there are all sorts of very effective knives without locks. Instead, I think the analogy would be to something like a spoiler--it can help, but is 100% not essential. It also works in the sense that I think there is a huge cross over between aftermarket spoiler fans and Cold Steel fanboys--both groups have a penchant for gratuitous and tacky displays.

Now, of course, there are going to be some people that protest and say that locks are necessary for self defense. You might be right. I know exactly nothing about the use of a knife in self defense. Assume you are right. But history and my professional experience says otherwise. Brutus wasn't testing his knife's lock the night before he betrayed Caesar.

And the vast majority of the stabbing cases I have seen involve none of the knives we talk about here. Almost all of them involve kitchen knives. So sure, you might need a lock for self-defense, I don't know. But two pretty important data points--history and experience--don't seem to confirm these things.

Someone else might claim in the comments below that you need a good lock for hard use, outdoors tasks. I am not Paul Bunyan or a survival expert, but it does seem silly that you'd opt for a folder in this role when fixed blades are, by any account, stronger. Why compromise on the tool, but insist on a uber lock, when you can get the tool without compromise and not have to worry about the lock at all? Occam's Razor, in a modified form, seems to apply here--the simplest tool is most likely the right tool, all other things being equal. If you can get superior performance AND you don't need to worry about the lock, why bother with a folder?

One thing I think is a fair criticism is to point out that not all non-locking folders are the same. I vastly prefer slipjoints to friction folders. I also like the slipjoints that are more like lock backs than the Anso Monte Carlo style knives that use a detent (see also, Spyderco Dogtag folder). That said, there are ton of slipjoints that I have found are truly superior tools. I write this ahead of the Spyderco Roadie review and that is a knife, thanks to the choil, that feels just as safe as a locking knife of the same size. Similarly, the pull on some of my GECs has been incredible--they aren't closing on accident.

Finally, I think there is one thing that lock strength proponents ignore--accidental deployment. I have no fear that my Indian River Jack is going to fall open in my pocket. I have had that happen with locking knives. It only happens with knives that have a flaw, but that flaw is more common on locking knives as the designers assume that with a lock all is fixed. I'd much rather my 1 year old stumble across my GEC Small Jack #25 than the latest flipper I am reviewing.

One is much more likely to fall open and cut him than the other and it is not the one without a lock.

The only place where lock strength matters is on the Internet. If you want to make a video of you "testing knives" in your backyard doing silly things like 200 spine whacks or dead lifting weights, then lock strength matters. The last time I checked two things are true: things that matter only on the Internet really don't matter AND in real world use I have never done something like a spine whack or dead lifting weights with my knife...never. I am not sure what the proponents of these tests think they are proving. As a dude, and the father of two boys, I appreciate the thrill and joy of blowing stuff up. When our second most recent vacuum cleaner died we took it apart to see how it worked and then we smashed it up like it was a copier in Office Space. I get the giddy glee that comes along with smashing stuff. But it is not "science" or valuable performance evaluation to perform excessive spine whacks or to baton through a cinder block. It's just abuse. I wouldn't claim that a Veyron is a shitty car because it can't crush cars Monster Truck-style and I refuse to think that a knife is a shitty knife because it failed one of these bro science "tests."

I still prefer knives with locks, but that used to be more like a requirement than a preference. I feel like it is at least possible that as I get older that preference will go away entirely until I prefer the opposite (as well as Werther's Originals). This fixation on lock strength is just marketing. Humans did well for thousands of years without cutting tools that lock. I think we will be fine if our locks aren't super, uber, ultra overbuilt. The majority of what we have is good enough, but that statement means that every knife, in this one way, is fine. You only get the market differentiation that is useful to sales people when you make something important that isn't and then show how your product is better at that one thing than everyone else's product. Lock strength matters more to marketing people than it does to you and me...or at least it should.