Four folding knives, four lock names, and not one of them is a lock type you would find in a 1990s catalog. Here is the vocabulary as it stands this month.
| Name | Brand | What it is | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|---|
| Button Liner Lock | Kizer | Liner lock released by a button, with a spring under the button | Astur ZeroS, Drop Bear 292 AirTi, Begleiter 2.9 |
| Top Liner Lock | Vosteed | Liner bar that travels along the top of the handle instead of the side | Hedgehog A1307, 2.99 in S35VN, $129 |
| Step Lock | Bestechman | Lock built around a replaceable utility blade | Slide BMK23A, 1.44 in blade, $39.90 |
| DuraLock | KAI (ZT, Kershaw) | Ambidextrous crossbar lock, spring-loaded bar pulling across the tang | ZT 0512DL, Kershaw Beskar, Kershaw Continental |
Why a lock needs a name at all
A liner lock is a liner lock. The bar is part of the liner, it wedges against the blade tang, and it has worked the same way since Michael Walker popularized it in the early 1980s. What changed is that companies started filing trademarks on variations and then using those names as product features.
Kizer's Button Liner Lock is the clearest example. Mechanically it is a liner lock that you disengage with a button instead of a thumb push, and the button has a spring under it that CIVIVI and Kizer both describe in the same terms: enough tension that the blade will not shake open in a pocket, light enough that a thumb can release it. The trademark matters commercially because it turns a generic mechanism into a searchable model name. Type it into a dealer's search bar and you get Kizer knives, not every button-release liner lock on the market.
Vosteed's Top Liner Lock is a different case. The bar sits at the top of the handle, entering from the spine side, so the show side stays whole instead of carrying the usual lock cutout. That is a real structural difference and it changes how the handle looks and where your thumb rests. On the Hedgehog, a 2.99-inch S35VN folder at $129, the payoff is a slim handle with no interruption along the side you look at.
DuraLock is the most consequential of the four because it is not a liner at all. It is a crossbar lock in the Benchmade AXIS mold, with a spring-loaded bar that crosses the tang and can be pulled from either side. Benchmade's patents on AXIS expired years ago, and every major manufacturer has since built its own version. KAI puts DuraLock on a $50-ish Kershaw and on a ZT in the same season, which tells you the mechanism has become a house standard rather than a premium feature.
What the name does not tell you
Three things decide whether a named lock is worth trusting, and none of them appear in the name.
- Interface material. A steel lock face pressed against a steel tang wears differently from one pressed against a titanium tang, which is why titanium frame locks often run a steel insert.
- Parts and service. A crossbar lock has springs and a bar that can fail. If the maker does not sell replacements or service the knife, the name is a liability.
- Handedness. A button lock that only works from the right side is still a right-handed knife, whatever the marketing says. Kizer shipping a mirrored left-handed Astur SKU is the exception, not the rule.
Bestechman's Step Lock is the hardest of the four to evaluate from the outside. It appears on the Slide, a 2.08-ounce aluminum utility folder with a 1.44-inch replaceable blade at $39.90, and the lock exists to hold a blade you swap rather than a blade you sharpen. Judged as a utility knife that is a sensible design. Judged as a lock, the name describes a housing more than a mechanism.
None of this means the names are dishonest. It means they are marketing first and description second, and a buyer comparing a $45 Bestechman to a $340 Zero Tolerance is not comparing locks at all. They are comparing how much engineering went into the parts around the lock.
So when a spec sheet lists a lock you have never heard of, the useful question is not what the brand calls it, but who makes the interface, whether you can get a replacement spring in three years, and whether it works with the hand you were born with. If a name answers none of that, what exactly is it selling?