Gunting Liner Lock

[Rger No. 1]

I was over at Country Knives in Lancaster County looking over their marvelous selection of Spydes. No, they don't have the Lil Temperence with the leaf blade; only the upswept blade. When examining the Gunting, I noticed the liner lock released by pressing right! This direction is the opposite of the liner lock releases that I examined on the Salsa, Starmate, Military, Jot Singh and the Vesuvius. All of these release to the left.

Can anyone tell me why the Gunting is different?

Thanks.



Rger No. 1

[nomaded]

First, the Gunting, like the other knives you named, has a compression-lock, not a liner-lock. Similar, but not quite the same.

As for why it pushes right, instead of left, from what I recall of a post Sal made a while ago, Bram explicitly asked for the compression-lock on the Gunting to push right, different from the Vesuvius, which was the only other compression-lock spydie out at the time.

[Rger No. 1]

Thanks, Nomaded. Do you recall in the posted response if Sal stated why Bram wanted the release to go to the right? Still trying to figure it out.

Rger No. 1

[Pachucko]

Something about it worked better with his particular "style," I believe. Pachucks

[sal]

Bram felt that that the knife should be pointing away from the body when released. One of our distributors in Germany (Mathias), who is also an MBC instructor, suggeted (when studying the prototype Gunting in Gemany) that the lock be pushed left and that it would be easier to unlock. We made samples of both. We asked Cliff Stamp to test them (he can squeeze ball bearings flat) for evaluation. The end result was that either would work. So The in house Spyderco designs and Frank Centofante's Vesuvius push left. Bram wanted his to push right. no prob on our end. No one knows the Gunting like Bram.

But I designed the lock and on my designs, I prefer the lock to push left. Hope that helps.

If you can unlock a Gunting by squeezing in a grip, then you are the first that I've heard of.

sal

[Pachucko]

How about the Lil Temperance? Does this lock meet the same standards? Pachucks

[liko]

I get the idea. If it pushed right, the lock could be closed more easily with the thumb, without any rotating of the knife necessary. The thumb would push instead of pull for a rightie. For a southpaw, it would work like most of the other compression locks work for righties.

[Pachucko]

Liko, I am now thoroughly confused. It seems it would be easier for a "rightie" to push left to close. If you "push right" a right-handed person is actually pulling with the thumb. I guess I need to try one out. It seems like a pretty "hazardous" manipulation anyway you do it. I have in my mind a reverse-liner-lock (more or less). It seems you would have a tenuous hold on the knife as you used your pointer finger to start the blade closed and moved the other three out of the way? Is my mental picture right? Thanks, Pachucks

[liko]

Sometimes I even confuse myself...

Moving the lock to the right would involve pulling with the thumb. When I said it would take no rotation, I meant for the first step of the close, where you open the lock and give it a slight shake downward and/or a push with your thumb. The kick then falls on your index finger. It may take a little unwrapping of your hand from the handle, and you definitely need to make sure your finger is where the kick and not the sharp edge will be, but I think it would be nothing compared to the shifting required for a lockback. Once the blade is half-closed, you unwrap your fingers, bring your index around the blade and keep the others out of the way while you slide the blade home.