Axis Lock Issues

U

unhappyfarmer

Joined
May 21, 2012
Messages
28
I know most of you on here are fans of the Axis, and I've enjoyed flipping open my 530 for the last 2.5 years.
However, around a week ago, I noticed something: the axis pin that holds the blade in place was slightly less than perpendicular to the frame. It appears one the springs has snapped!

After that discovery, I don't think I can bring myself to buy another axis knife.

You can expect me to be acquiring a PM2 soon. :D

I know some of you have had this happen. Do you still have faith in axis lock?

Just thought I'd share.
 
Bottom line is it's a strong locking system and under normal wear and tear, the axis lock will not fail. The down side is the thin omega springs. They can either rust or just snap, but most likely that will only happen after a long while. The good thing is Benchmade's customer service. If you call that in or email them, they'll get you two brand new omega springs and you can just swap the old with the new and you're good to go. Whether that's a deal breaker, probably not, because Benchmade will take care of you. If you're stranded on an island, I wouldn't bring the axis knife... I'd bring something with as few moving parts or variables as possible. My personal preference is a framelock, but a liner lock, or compression lock are all good.
 
Yep ive broken a spring and it doesn't turn me off any. I expect it to happen from time to time with how tiny they are. Just send it in to benchmade and they'll replace them for you.

The springs are definitely a weakness, but the axis lock also has more room for wear (ie. lock bar moving up tang) than most production knives ive ever seen. I highly doubt you could wear one out with unlimited spring replacements, which means more opening and closing and opening and closing and opening and squeezing in palm and closing and opening! :thumbup:
 
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Pyaoliang said:
Bottom line is it's a strong locking system and under normal wear and tear, the axis lock will not fail. The down side is the thin omega springs. They can either rust or just snap, but most likely that will only happen after a long while. The good thing is Benchmade's customer service. If you call that in or email them, they'll get you two brand new omega springs and you can just swap the old with the new and you're good to go. Whether that's a deal breaker, probably not, because Benchmade will take care of you. If you're stranded on an island, I wouldn't bring the axis knife... I'd bring something with as few moving parts or variables as possible. My personal preference is a framelock, but a liner lock, or compression lock are all good.
Click to expand...

leafstorm said:
Yep ive broken a spring and it doesn't turn me off any. I expect it to happen from time to time with how tiny they are. Just send it in to benchmade and they'll replace them for you.

The springs are definitely a weakness, but the axis lock also has more room for wear (ie. lock bar moving up tang) than most production knives ive ever seen. I highly doubt you could wear one out with unlimited spring replacements, which means more opening and closing and opening and closing and opening and squeezing in palm and closing and opening! :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Oh, I will certainly be asking for some parts! Gotta love that life-long warranty! :thumbup: I just think that its a tad inconvenient to wait 3 weeks for some replacement parts, life warranty or not (I waited a month for some BM32 tang screws). A few people on here complain about liner and frame locks, but I've never had a Kershaw or Emerson lock fail me! Thanks guys!
 
I have at least a dozen Axis lock Benchmade knives and have never broken an Omega spring. The knives will still work with one spring. I wouldn't have any trouble replacing an Omega spring, but I don't know if Benchmade would trust me to perform the operation. I wouldn't mind keeping a few spare springs around, but I don't know if Benchmade would sell me the parts.
 
unhappyfarmer said:
I know most of you on here are fans of the Axis, and I've enjoyed flipping open my 530 for the last 2.5 years.
However, around a week ago, I noticed something: the axis pin that holds the blade in place was slightly less than perpendicular to the frame. It appears one the springs has snapped!

After that discovery, I don't think I can bring myself to buy another axis knife.

You can expect me to be acquiring a PM2 soon. :D

I know some of you have had this happen. Do you still have faith in axis lock?

Just thought I'd share.
Click to expand...

Yes, for at least two reasons.

First, your post shows that the knife functions fine on one, which gives you time to address the issue.

Second, I bought one of the first 710s. If you gave me an inch for every time it's been cycled we could go from the Earth to the Sun a few dozen times. I have quite a few other old and new Axis lock knives...I have never had a spring break.

The knife, or car, or toaster, or whatever, that can't break hasn't been built yet.
 
I wouldn't be turned off by a broken Omega spring, considering the amount of use you have suggested. That said, I have side-lined a couple of Para-Militaries due to sticking compression locks.
 
I'm sitting at 13 years with benchmades, original 710, original 720, 950, brother has a 940, and a few others that I can't think of atm. No broken springs well over a decade, thousands of cycles. One of my knives before I lost it probably had at least 18,000 cycles, my second benchmade it was a 722 and after having it for about a decade. it still locked up with no blade play and had been used so much that I had to thin the blade just to keep its ability to slice.
 
Huh. It usually sits in my pocket, and I use it daily, but I'm not exactly cutting mooring line with it.
I just expected the thing to last longer than a couple years without any significant maintenance.

I'm not saying one spring for a month will be the end of me, but damn, I paid enough to expect this thing to hold up.

And I'm fine with a sticky knife as long as it doesn't end up closing on my fingers.
 
So how many times have you cycled your pocket knife? If you only flipped it 20 times a day over 2.5 years you cycled it aggressively at least 18250 times. It's a knife not a Yo Yo , you caught me at the end of a rough week, and all I have to say stop toying around with a respectable knife and just use it to cut sh#t, survive, defend yourself whatever. Sorry I have no intention of offending you or anyone. But guys it's a knife!
I have carried the same Ritter Griptilian for longer and opened it over 20 times daily to use it and it is still rock solid.
 
Like I said, it just sits in my pocket until I need it. I cycled it that heavy in the first month of use, but certainly not much after that.
Sorry to hear you're having a rough week! :( I can't say my week is going that well either, especially now that my main edc is compromised.

Its a tool, not a toy. I understand.
 
I avoid the Axis lock. My Presidio had to have both springs replaced in the space of a couple of weeks - I sent it out to get the first spring repaired, got it back after a couple weeks, and the second spring gave out almost immediately. That knife spent way more time being shipped off for repairs than it did getting used - it probably saw less than a month of actual carry and use. It was a shame the mechanism was so poorly made because I was otherwise really happy with the knife. I avoid Axis locks like the plague now because I really don't feel like that kind of hassle.

I wouldn't consider it such a pain in the balls if they would ship out replacement parts and let the user install them, but they will make you ship it back to the Benchmade factory at your expense to have that tiny little widget replaced.
 
Dorito Monk said:
I avoid the Axis lock. My Presidio had to have both springs replaced in the space of a couple of weeks - I sent it out to get the first spring repaired, got it back after a couple weeks, and the second spring gave out almost immediately. That knife spent way more time being shipped off for repairs than it did getting used - it probably saw less than a month of actual carry and use. It was a shame the mechanism was so poorly made because I was otherwise really happy with the knife. I avoid Axis locks like the plague now because I really don't feel like that kind of hassle.

I wouldn't consider it such a pain in the balls if they would ship out replacement parts and let the user install them, but they will make you ship it back to the Benchmade factory at your expense to have that tiny little widget replaced.
Click to expand...

You can make Omega springs out of piano wire.

It's stronger.

If you don't like Axis locks I'll take any you no longer want.
 
That's certainly something that annoys me: how hard it is to disassemble those bastards! I regularly take down my knives to clean, lube, sharpen, and inspect them; with the exception of my 530. I can take down my emerson with a phillips and a flathead in under 30 seconds, but taking down a benchmade is like performing neurosurgery.
 
Fortunately not everybody likes Benchmade. It suits me very well: I do not like to be just "another fun boy" of a brand everybody loves...
Bad knives: very expensive, feel cheap, break now and then and take more than 30 seconds to take apart! And dull! :D:D
 
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Poez said:
Fortunately not everybody likes Benchmade. It suits me very well: I do not like to be just "another fun boy" of a brand everybody loves...
Bad knives: very expensive, feel cheap, break now and then and take more than 30 seconds to take apart! ;) :D
Click to expand...

For a second there, it sounded like you called an Emerson a bad knife... ;)
 
Ive also heard several horror stories about BM's axis lock, but ive never had a problem.
And I'm one of those guys that plays with his folders like a yoyo, so I have complete faith in the axis lock after thousands of cycles and daily use.
Nothing is perfect...but BM's customer service will take care of you.
 
I will say that the models above 180 are very overpriced, but I can dig that nice G10 and an All-American make. And I think they have better ergonomics than most Benchmades. But that's off topic :D
 
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