Terminology

Case - the decorative part of the knife, typically made of plastic or wood. May house kibble tools.

Spacer - a metal sheet typically running the full length of the knife to seperate the tool blades from each other. May be notched to accomodate wider blade tools sitting opposite narrower blade tools. Or may incorporate a locking mechanism.

Liner - a spacer that sits between the case and the rest of the knife, may incorporate locking machanism.

Frame - a spacer on the outer most part of the knife, acting as the case. May incorporate a locking mechanism.

Back - an extra thick but very shallow spacer. Usually incorporates spring mechanisms for slipjoints. Often visible as the backside of the knife, if not hidden by shallow blade tools running along the backside.

Slip Joints - a spring loaded non locking safety mechanism, to slightly reduces the risk of a blade tool closing unexpectedly.

Spacer Lock - a springy sectioned part of a spacer which bends inwards slightly and locks behind a blade tool when the blade tool is opened fully. It must be pushed asside by the user to close the blade tool.

Liner Lock - a Spacer Lock on the liner.

Frame Lock - a space lock on the frame

Back Lock - a spring loaded locking mechanism. Requires pushing in along a section of the back to unlock a blade. Often require a good deal of pressure.

Slide Lock - a wide variety of locking machanisms, that must be slid back to allow the blades to close. Slide Locks usually have a HIGH RISK of accidental unlocking unless additional steps (such as twisting) are required. Not recommended for knife blades.

Bar Lock - a bar that runs thru the hinges of all the blade tools, and locks open blades in place. Bar must be slid slightly to unlock the blade tools. Technically a barlock is a variety of slide lock, but tend to have lower risk of accidental closure as the bar is out of the grabbing area and is usually slid vertically instead of foreward or back.

Blade Tools - any foldout knife or tool

Kibble Tool - small removeable tools normally slide between the case and liner, or into a slot at the end of the back.

Integrated Tools - tools which are neither foldout nor removable.