Walker Linerlock
Encyclopedia
The Walker Linerlock is a locking system developed by custom knifemaker Michael Walker
Michael Walker (knifemaker)
Michael Leon Walker is an American custom knife maker and sculptor based in Taos, New Mexico. Walker is the inventor of over 20 different knife mechanisms including the Walker Linerlock which he secured a trademark for in 1980...

 in 1980 for use on folding knives.
When the blade of the knife
Knife
A knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...

 is in the opened position, it is held in place by a leaf spring
Leaf spring
Originally called laminated or carriage spring, a leaf spring is a simple form of spring, commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles...

 (also called a lockbar) that butts up against the tang of the blade to prevent the blade from closing. To release the lock, the user must press the lockbar back toward the handle side, at which time the blade is allowed to close. In the closed position the lockbar rests alongside the handle and the blade.

History

While linerlock-style knives have been around since the late 19th century in what was known as an electrician's knife, Walker refined and popularized the design, eventually securing a trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

  for the name linerlock. Walker's main contribution to improve the design was to enable the leafspring to securely lock the blade open and facilitate true one handed opening of the knife. This was accomplished by removing the weak backspring and adding a heat-treated stop pin to align the blade in the open position. Walker also added a detent ball to hold the blade in the closed position using the same spring force from the liner.

Linerlock mechanisms are most commonly composed of steel or titanium
Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....

.

Some of the many knife makers and knife manufacturing companies that utilize the Walker liner lock include:
  • Leatherman
    Leatherman
    Leatherman is the trade name for a line of multi-tools, knives and LED flashlights manufactured and marketed by Leatherman Tool Group of Portland, Oregon, USA.-Company history:Timothy S...

  • Benchmade
    Benchmade
    The Benchmade Knife Company is a knife manufacturer run by Roberta and Les de Asis in Oregon City, Oregon, United States. Its products are geared toward many niche markets, such as outdoor sporting cutlery, rescue, law-enforcement, martial-arts, and military...

  • Buck Knives
  • Chris Reeve Knives
    Chris Reeve Knives
    Chris Reeve Knives is a U.S. corporation with international sales and distribution based in Boise, ID. CRK manufactures folding pocket knives, fixed blade knives, and custom walking sticks...

  • Cold Steel
    Cold Steel
    Cold Steel is a Ventura, California-based maker of knives, swords and other edged weapons and tools. Cold Steel was founded in 1980 by company president, Lynn C. Thompson...

  • Ernest Emerson
    Ernest Emerson
    Ernest R. Emerson is an American custom knifemaker, martial artist, and edged-weapons expert. Originally an engineer and machinist in the aerospace industry, Emerson became a knifemaker known for making decorative knives but later became better known for his combat knives, eventually founding a...

  • Gerber Knives
  • Kershaw Knives
    Kershaw Knives
    Kershaw Knives is a multinational corporation that designs and manufactures a range of knives, including kitchen cutlery, pocket knives, and outdoor knives...

  • Ken Onion
    Ken Onion
    Ken Onion is an American award-winning custom knifemaker based in Kaneohe, Hawaii, USA who invented the "SpeedSafe" assisted opening mechanism for Kershaw Knives...

  • Microtech Knives
    Microtech Knives
    Microtech Knives, Inc. is a knife manufacturing company, famous for its automatic knives, that was founded in Vero Beach, Florida in 1994 and operated there until relocating to Bradford, Pennsylvania in 2005 and to Fletcher, North Carolina in 2009...

  • Spyderco
    Spyderco
    Spyderco is a Golden, Colorado, U.S.A. based cutlery company that produces knives and knife sharpeners. Spyderco introduced many features that are now common on folding knives, including the pocket clip, serrations, and the opening hole...

  • Strider Knives
    Strider Knives
    Strider Knives, Inc. is a custom and production knifemaking facility headed by Mick Strider and Duane Dwyer based in San Marcos, California.-Materials and design:...

  • Victorinox
    Victorinox
    Victorinox is a knife manufacturer based in the town of Ibach, in the Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland. Since its acquisition of rival Wenger in 2005, it has, once more, become the sole supplier of multi-purpose knives to the Swiss army.-History:...


External links

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