Am I playing with it too much? Too hard?

SmedleyButler

SmedleyButler

Joined
Oct 20, 2014
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Sorry for the immature thread title, I couldn't help myself.

I hope this isn't too stupid a question, but I have a few knives that I just can't resist flipping open real hard. My Contego for example, a real heavy beast, just begs to be snapped open hard with a violent flick of the wrist...Very satisfying BUT am I doing damage? Are these things (Benchmades, ZT's) OK with being flipped open super hard or do I need to cool it?

Thanks in advance.
 
I think most people will say by opening that hard your putting wear on the stop pin at a faster rate that if just opened normally. Perhaps leaving very small dents (maybe to small to be seen with the naked eye) that add up and may allow blade play down the road. In the end its your knife , open that sucker how ever you want. If at some point it has an issue benchmade has excellent customer service. I say all this assuming your opening the knife with a nice"thwack" and not purposely flicking the knife as hard as you possibly can in which damaging the knife would be fast, inevitable, and on your coin not benchmade.

PS benchmade especially the adamas and contego are made to be tough and opened with authority. But like anything else there is a threshold that can be passed with stupidity.
 
Because of the way the Axis lock is designed, I'd say it's likely to be able take more hard flicks than a liner/frame lock due to how it engages on the blade. Like shinyedges said any knife will eventually develop some kind of play with hard flicks but I say use the knife in the way that makes you happy. People do far more abusive things with knives than flick them.
 
I'll go with both answers above. Knives can take a lot... but there is a point at which they're going to start to show "unusual" wear. It may or may not come in your lifetime depending on how the knife is built and how hard you are on it. Bottom line is what Silvanus said... "...use the knife in the way that makes you happy." You paid for it. Get your money's worth out of it.
 
OK! THWACK, THWACK, it is. It's funny, I never choose the Contego to carry, but it's one of the most fun to play with. The ZT 0300 too. Thanks guys.
 
It's tantamount to reving your car to redline every time you leave a stop light or slamming the doors every time you get in or out.

It's your knife to do with what you want but ultimately you're going to shorten the life of the product by not taking care of it as well as you could.
 
Well..... Hmmm...
Contego is made for hard use.
And ZTs are made for military-ish use.
Yeah, they can probably take it. But your stop pin and blade tang (from the lock flying up waaay farther than usual) are screaming for mercy.
To sum it up, its bad. But at least you picked knives that can handle it more than others.
 
Open the knife as designed and it won't hurt it. The Contego, since it has an axis lock and is "hard use" should be able to take just about any opening move. However, if you are OCD and constantly flicking it open over and over again, hour after hour as you video game, watch TV, drive, then you may start to have problems...but then BM has a good repair/warranty policy.
 
I don't know guys, unless the axis bar on an axis lock or the lock face on a frame lock is already engaging at 100% I think it'd take a heck of a lot of flipping to dent a stop pin enough to induce play. And if it does, just turn the stop pin so that the tang hits in a different area. With that in mind I doubt you could where the whole circumference enough to have play no matter what, but if you did you could just get a new stop pin of the same size (or bigger) as the original.

I'd say it's more likely that play would come from wear on the actual axis bar or lock face. Im no expert though.
 
Unless you are throwing out the blade as hard as you can every time I don't foresee any issues. The Contego can take it.
 
I believe it is Chris Reeve who does not encourage people to flick open his knives.

I have to agree. I don't see the point. It makes me cringe when I see someone with a nice knife do it. It's like slamming the door shut on a '67 Mustang. It makes me think you just don't know any better or how to take care of your things.

But ultimately it is yours so beat it like it owes you money if you feel the need.
 
Titanium frame locks or liner locks probably shouldnt be slammed open, because the lockbar will wear. Axis locks on the otherhand are about the most durable locks made. Steel pin, steel lock, steel tang = little to no wear. Maybe some flattening of a stop pin, but if you look at the design, the axis lock is self adjusting. If the stop pin wears the blade will open a hair further and the lock will slide the same miniscule amount further up the tang. If the lock bar or tang wears, its the same self adjusting system
 
Tell you what, you get a crowd counter clicker thingy and count every flick open. I bet you could open that thing 500,000 times and never get blade play. If you did, a new lock pin or stop pin and its back to the beginning. You are more likely to break the small omega springs than the lock bars and stip pins.

I like the axis lock so much that I wish other companies would use it. I am not really a benchmade fan, mostly because I do not like the styles of their designs. They are quality made and highly functional, I just find most of them ugly. Imagine ZT 562 or even a simple Endure 4 or a pAramilitary or a sebenza with an axis lock!! The one benchmade I love is the Snody designed HK with the spearpoint blade. Its slick.
 
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