Gerber’s Patented Frame Lock Tech Is Making Its EDC Knives Safer, Faster and More Ergonomic

The inconspicuous addition has already been included on five of the brand’s best affordable folding blades.

Gerber MiniSada closed on peach background

Published February 7, 2025

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Usually, when an EDC brand launches a new technology — especially a patented one — there’s a lot of fanfare surrounding it. However, a knifemaker occasionally applies new apparatuses and mechanisms without so much as a squeak.

Interestingly, Gerber has recently done the latter. Five of its folding knives — most recently the Gerber MiniSada — have been quietly equipped with a new patented device called a Pinch Plate, making them quicker, safer and more ergonomic.

two Gerber MiniSada knives on peach background — The MiniSada, a 7.2-inch flipper, is the latest Gerber knife to get the Pinch Plate treatment.

A pinch is all you need

One of the prerequisites for Gerber’s patented Pinch Plate is that it must be applied to a frame lock knife. Luckily, frame locks are one of the most widely employed mechanisms in both Gerber’s catalog and the greater knifemaking world.

The device is affixed on the lock side of a knife’s handle between the pivot and pocket clip. It consists of a small piece of material that juts out over the lock and is attached to the lock-side scale via a pair of screws.

It’s a small addition, but it makes a big difference. Jutting out over the lock like a cantilevered platform, the Pinch Plate creates more surface area for your fingers to grip the handle without impeding the lock. This improves the ergonomics — no need to pinch the handle as gingerly — and makes opening the knife faster and safer.

Jutting out over the lock like a cantilevered platform, the Pinch Plate creates more surface area for your fingers to grip the handle without impeding the lock.

Frame lock knives without a Pinch Plate create the risk that you could squeeze the frame lock mechanism and pinch it to the blade. This can impede the blade from opening quickly and completely. While this isn’t a huge problem, it’s certainly frustrating when it does happen and can be dangerous (if a blade swings too freely, it can result in sliced digits).

Best of all, the plate doesn’t otherwise affect the lock’s functionality. It still engages and disengages normally. Although perhaps not the most elegant-looking — something the brand has tried sidestepping with stylistic flourishes — there’s no denying its cleverness and effectiveness.

Three Gerber Pinch Plate knives closed on peach background — The Pinch Plate allows Gerber to include additional stylistic flourishes in a knife’s design.

What the future holds

As Gerber’s Pinch Plate is relatively new, the device hasn’t quite made its mark on the EDC world. I’d credit this partially to the fact that Gerber has so quietly introduced it. However, other factors are also at play.

Gerber’s ownership also limits it. I can’t say for sure that the brand has no intentions of licensing it out, but as it stands, only Gerber can currently utilize it.

For now, the Pinch Plate is only available across five knives in Gerber’s catalog: the Copper Affinity, Olive Micarta Asada, Micarta Flatiron, Slimsada and the MiniSada mentioned above.

I hope the brand continues experimenting with this patented tech. Perhaps they can improve its aesthetics as they do. Whatever the case, I’m glad to see a brand as ubiquitous as Gerber continuing to innovate and improve on existing designs and mechanisms.