710 lock up

Side to side play is common. Up and down, or radial blade play, is an adjustment issue that should be fixed by Benchmade.
 
If it's a brand new knife, it could have just a tiny amount of up and down play but it's not normal. I've had a bit of up and down play in an Axis lock knife when new. I've always thought it had to do with the Axis bar and blade tang mating surfaces needing to wear-fit. That knife wore in pretty quickly and the blade play went away.
 
I agree with Lee48. If the play is minimal, it will seat with time into a solid lockup. If the blade is rattling around and the axis lock is bottomed out, it is not right.
 
That does not make sense at all. The up and down blade play will get worse as contacting area is wore out over time, not get better.

Up and down blade play is a QC issue that should be corrected by the manufacturer. Dont wait and dont hope it will be gone over time.

On the other hand, side to side play can usually be adjusted by the user.
 
I haven't had many with this issue; but none of them were fixable with my skillset. Sent up to Oregon City these got fixed under warranty. As said above, and agreed, fixing side play isn't a big deal with practice.
 
sharp_edge said:
That does not make sense at all. The up and down blade play will get worse as contacting area is wore out over time, not get better.

Up and down blade play is a QC issue that should be corrected by the manufacturer. Dont wait and dont hope it will be gone over time.

On the other hand, side to side play can usually be adjusted by the user.
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Actually, the Axis lock spring takes up the tension as the mating area wears. This keeps the blade tight against the lock despite wear--one of the great benefits of the Axis lock design. If the contact area of the blade tang and lock bar is not smooth, there can be some up and down movement of the blade until the Axis bar and the blade tang smooth out with wear. It's rare but it can happen.

This happened with one of my newly purchased Axis Strykers earlier this year. There was just the tiniest amount of movement in the blade. The movement could be diminished by really slamming the blade open against the Axis lock bar. After several openings and closings, the blade locked up perfectly with zero play. Of course this is not to say this is the case with the OP's knife. It's just my experience with my knife.
 
Also had this once with a coated blade. Cleaned up the blade a little and it's been fine ever since.
Joe
 
Sorry haven't responded been working

If I send this in under warranty it will be the third time I've sent this in for lock problems first 2 time where's cause of lock failure and I've only had it for about a month - the time it's been at Benchmade

So do I sent it in again or keep it and deal with the blade play

ZTD
 
It is up to you because no one else knows how much the play is and how much it bothers you. I normally would chalk up other small issues like off centering (but not rubbing) and tiny side to side play, partly because these issues are often adjustable and they do not compromise functions. But up and down play is a different story.
 
Small up/down blade play is very common, especially after years of usage. In my 950 bp sometimes exist and sometimes is not. IMHO it depends from axis bar in his slot. When it's totally clean without dust from pocket here is no blade play in my case. BP is small - it's nothing in compare to bp in some Spyderco back locks, I can feel it only when I grab blade at the tip. So I don't care about that. Such knife isn't swiss watch. It works fine, lock is solid.
 
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