0560 review, am I the unluckiest ever?

E

Envy Sam

Joined
Nov 26, 2014
Messages
63
Alright so for starters, I do like this knife a lot overall. The size doesn't bother me, it fits my hand great, and I have one with the softer jimping up top so it doesn't kill my finger when I flip it. Mine has a strong detent and flip fantastic. Lockup has always been rock solid, with no movement or flex in any direction. However, not all has been good...

I originally bought my 0560 back in June 2014, after a few months I noticed a crack in the blade behind the blade stop. At the time this was one of my more expensive knives and so to have an issue like this it bothered me a lot, but I loved the knife enough that I waited a bit before sending it away. I finally decided to get it fixed when my knife developed some lock stick and was very difficult to close. So, I paid to ship it away and get it fixed. A little less than a month later I received my knife back with a new blade. To my surprise it has still had all the laser etchings, including the original serial number. All my issues were fixed as well. The knife had even smoother action, no lock stick, and great lock up once again. Sadly, after about a month of finally having my knife again, I noticed the crack had came back! In exactly the same spot as the first time. This time I decided to email ZT/Kai and tell them about my issues, they responded by sending me a UPS label and basically paid for my shipping so I could send it back free of charge this time. I figured that was fair and sent it away. Well, this time when I got it back I made sure to look the new blade over and I noticed a very tiny fracture on just one side of the knife. Sure enough, after flipping the knife a good amount of times the crack came back in just under a week of having a new blade put on.

At this point I feel like it's impossible to own a 0560 that won't develop that dreaded crack and in all honesty it isn't a super huge deal since the crack is not likely to spread. However, I still think it's pretty disappointing when literally no other knife I have owned with blade stops has had this issue. I emailed them again, currently waiting to see what they say, but I'm not sure I want to send it in if they're just gonna put another reject blade with poorly press fitted stops on my knife.

I would like to hear from anyone else that has had this issue on their ZTs. I find it hard to believe I can have this happen 3 times in a row and it not be a widespread issue.

Here are some pics of my current knife:

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You are indeed the unluckiest ever. I checked both of my 0560s and they are fine.
 
D-der said:
Maybe time to request a replacement...
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Um, he did, it is his third one.

To the OP. Either send it back or see if they will send you something else. I wouldn't just keep it. That is an expensive enough knife that it should be right.

You are indeed unlucky. Both mine have had no such issue and I have had both for over a year and one has seen a tone of use.

Question, if you have a newish blade, why is it all scratched to hell?
 
Could it be that the thumb stud shaft was oversized on the original and the pressure caused by it being pressed into place caused the crack over time, and ZT just keeps putting the original out-of-spec stud in each new blade they send you, resulting in the same failure occurring each time? Seems like an unlikely oversight but still possible. :confused:
 
Call CS and speak to a manger. Send it back again and make them pay shipping both ways. Getting a cracked blade 3 times on a $200+ knife is unacceptable.
 
It probably is the blade stop, considering the crack was in literally the exact same spot every time. I'm going to see if they'll swap my 560 for an 801 in blackwash. I know it's a slightly cheaper knife but I really like the design and it doesn't have blade stops so there's no way for this to happen again :) Hopefully they will agree to it, I'll post an update when all is resolved.
 
How long have you had the current blade?
 
Had the current blade for a little under a month, it cracked within a week though. It's scratched because when I was resharpening it after I got it back I accidentally scratched part of the blade pretty bad so I sanded most of the blade to make it look consistent. Obviously it didn't turn out so well, but it looks ok from a distance..
 
D-der said:
Um, New knife...not just the blade.
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Well, um, you didn't specify that in your rather limited comment. You just said "replacement".

G. Scott H. said:
Could it be that the thumb stud shaft was oversized on the original and the pressure caused by it being pressed into place caused the crack over time, and ZT just keeps putting the original out-of-spec stud in each new blade they send you, resulting in the same failure occurring each time? Seems like an unlikely oversight but still possible. :confused:
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Envy Sam said:
It probably is the blade stop, considering the crack was in literally the exact same spot every time. I'm going to see if they'll swap my 560 for an 801 in blackwash. I know it's a slightly cheaper knife but I really like the design and it doesn't have blade stops so there's no way for this to happen again :) Hopefully they will agree to it, I'll post an update when all is resolved.
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Scott, are you suggesting ZT is taking the old thumbstud/blade stop out of the cracked blade and re-installing it on a new blade? That would seem rather stupid of them if that is what they are doing.
 
Hmm, not sure what to make of this. Its not the first time ive seen this issue on one of these knives but not this many times to one person. Given some had experienced poor edge retention with early models im wondering if they ran some too hard and have weak spots or maybe a run of blades stops were made too big and once pressure fit the whack of opening is the straw that breaks the camels back. One thing I have to ask is do you use your knives hard? That blade has some serious marks in it that look odd. Deep striations and what not. At first I was wondering if it was a counterfeit but then read how its actually a knife you had multiple blades replaced. Either way I might just ask if you could get another model. Maybe 0562?
 
All I can say is that I have three 560's, I have several friends who have 560's and I have never see one crack like that.

To have three with one person is very unlikely.

If indeed you have had three blades crack, one possible explanation that others here have mentioned would be an oversized stop pin.

Those are interference fit and one that is slightly oversized might cause a crack, but again, never seen that before with my small sample size.

Good luck with your potential trade, I bet that the good folks in Tualatin will keep trying to get you squared away.

best

mqqn
 
OP, you're definitely not the only one to have had that problem. KAI knows about it and it's not uncommon. I figured they'd have fixed the problem by now though, guess not. Call and talk to the manager and explain things, they'll probably make it right. I made a post awhile back about not calling themselves zero tolerance, they should call themselves 5% tolerance. Many other people have had these problems and more and while they usually get fixed, it sometimes takes multiple times. Fanboys will argue that to the death and try to make you feel stupid or something for even bringing it up. You're not alone. Don't spend another dime sending it back, you shouldn't have even had to pay the first time as it's obviously their manufacturing faults that caused the problem and they knew about the problem quite awhile ago. Talk to their manager.

The only thing truly bad about ZT is their rabid and hostile fan base. Other than that their knives are generally decent and at the very least competitive with other companies.
 
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I did some searching and I was able to find three other examples of someone complaining online of a crack in the ZT0560 blade.

It is a stretch to say that this is not uncommon. With tens of thousands of knives out in the wild one would think that if the problem were truly common (the opposite of not uncommon - and not trying to make anyone feel stupid, I just hate double negatives coming from a logical programming background) I would suspect we would be seeing a sample size much greater than I can find.

That is not saying that everyone that has the problem reports such in a way that I can find in searching, so if someone has factual data to back up the claims of this problem being common, I am all ears and eyes. I have a few of these knives too and I would want to know.

Stuff happens, and I do agree that the blade should not be cracking there.

The OP said he does not really care, but he had some bad luck and wants to trade for another design.

Good on him and I hope that ZT helps him out.

best

mqqn
 
I have handled alot of these from customers.
Of about a dozen. 2 of them had this crack.
 
I don't have this issue with my 0560BW, and I open that knife more than any of my others. It's just so fun to flip!
 
So there is a common problems with these knives, but they just replace a customer's blade and hope it works...three times? That's the kind of attitude that brings about sticky accelerator pedals and unintentionally exploding airbags. Certainly not the way some other companies have handled a design flaw in a knife.

I'd ask for my money back and put distance between me and anything this firm makes.

Thanks for the heads up about this company and its products, it woke me up from any dreams of purchasing a 5%Tolerance knife :)
 
Apparently some folks don't understand the definition of common vs uncommon. The dictionary is your friend guys! Also, making fun of a well respected company's name is just childish.

On topic, I asked this earlier, but what is the real problem here? It is my assumption that when ZT replaces a blade they replace the entire blade and thumb stud/blade stop (stop pin) with a new one (both blade is new and blade stop is new). If so, it would appear that is just bad luck. On the other hand it seems some are saying the would take the blade stop from the old blade and put it in the new one. Does this make sense?

The blade stop is the only thing that contacts the frame. So, either this is just bad luck, or they are replacing the blade but not the old blade stop, or there is something wrong with where the blade stop contacts the frame, or......?
 
I don't know if "common" is the right adjective for this problem, but it is clear that the cracking problem is not isolated.

In a thread from 2013 here, the OP said that ZT acknowledged there was a problem with the fitting of the thumb stud. I wonder if all 0560s are subject to this cracking if used hard or relatively hard?
 
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