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You are here: Home > Helpful Information > Glossary of Blade Locks

Glossary of Blade Locks


The following glossary offers insight into the blade locking mechanisms commonly found with knives:

Block: uses a laterally spring loaded block located on the center pin that fits into a square hole in the center of the tang and holds the blade in place.

Lockback: a system in which the back of a folding knife pivots to lock the blade open. A tooth at the end of a spring loaded locking bar fits into a notch in the blade tang. The lock release is contained in the knife handle's spine. Lockback knife locks are two-handed mechanisms.

Locking Liner aka Linerlock: the name of this locking system derives from its use of a liner in the knife handle. The liner is the interior of the knife frame between the handle and blade edge. A locking liner butts against the heel of the tang and locks the blade in place. This is a one-handed locking mechanism, as the thumb can be used to move the liner aside and release the blade.

Ringlock: this knife blade locking mechanism was developed in the 1890s by Joseph Opinel, creator of the Opinel knife. It's the same as a slipjoint lock (see below), except it uses a rotating slipring rather than a backspring to hold the blade open.

Sebenza: a Sebenza lock is a one-handed locking mechanism similar to a locking liner, in which a hollow section of the scale (scales is a term for handle materials) protrudes into the handle cavity and locks the blade open.

Slipjoint: a slipjoint is not actually a locking mechanism. It is simply a backspring that provides resistance and discourages the blade from closing.

Swinglock: the swinglock is an extremely reliable blade locking mechanism developed by Francis Boyd, an American expert on Japanese swordmaking. It uses a long tang and two pins: a locking pin and a pivot pin.

Wood Lock: developed by Barry Wood, this locking mechanism features a central pin to which the blade and two handle scales are attached and pivot independently. A second pin inside one of the scales, i.e. one half of the handle, fits into a slot in the tang and locks the blade open.