If there's an actual strength difference between the two designs, it's not much. In your case, the real difference was CRKT vs. Frost. I would expect the CRKT model to win that fight every time.
The problem is that the liner lock is harder to make correctly. The end of the liner piece has to engage the flat on the hinged end of the blade correctly, or the liner, being flexible by design, will slide out of place and the lock will fail. Even worse, as the knife is used over the years and the lock engaged over and over, it will wear, which can mean it engages the blade at different locations over the years. That has to be taken into account when it's made.
When liner locks were re-introduced by custom knife makers, that wasn't a big problem because they were being made carefully by experienced craftsmen. There are also manufacturers out there who can turn out good liner locks.
HOWEVER, the lockback is a lot more forgiving when it comes to quality of manufacturing or craftsmanship. It's a lot easier to make a positive, secure lockback, and there are more makers out there with long experience doing it. So in practice, there can be an advantage to the lockback.
Throw Frost "cutlery" into the equation and the lockback starts to look like the clear winner, because Frost is generally not building a high-quality knife in my experience. I'm not trying to be a snob, I'm just saying that if you want to spend a low amount and get a simple knife that you can use and abuse, you're probably better off with the lockback. One way to get away with buying cheap knives is to buy simple, tested designs. When the cheapo guys try to get fancy, stay away.
In terms of accidental disengagement, it seems to me that there are always stories from both sides, and they're usually limited to those anecdotes. I suspect that different people grip knives in slightly different ways, so some people find liner locks getting squeezed open, while others find lockbacks getting released, but if those users traded knives their problems might both go away.
I like my lockback Spyderco pieces just fine. I don't actually own any liner locks at the moment (well, I'm sure I have a few old electrician's knives with the steampunk brass liner lock stashed away somewhere) but I don't distrust them when they're well made. And, hey, if it weren't for the liner lock revival, we might not have Sebenzas and Cudas with "frame locks."
That would be no fun at all.
) CRKT that I got last year for Christmas.Anyway,my question is this.In terms of raw strength of design which of these is better under pressure,the liner-lock or lock-back?
