Bantam BBW lock fail?

A

AnnyD

Joined
Jan 20, 2014
Messages
16
hello y'all,

So ... I read all these nice things about the Bantam BBW and I got it, but then the lock failed when I did a stress test on it.
Am I exerting an unreasonable amount of force on the lock so that the failing of the lock is within 'reasonable' margins or are 'budget Bucks' a bad idea after all?
I would honestly like to learn if I'm right to be disappointed or if this is normal behavior for these lockback knives.
Take a look at my experiment here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poq53Zj0QY8
 
I've been using knives for about 30 years. Not once have I had a situation where that type of test would be realistic use of that type of knife. In my mind those "stress tests" are internet hype. If you need a pry bar go get one. The Bantam is a edc light to mid use knife. If in you're edc you feel like you may run into a situation where you need a knife to double as a pry bar then get yourself a fixed blade. I personally use my knives with their intended purpose in mind.
 
Welcome to the forum. I have been a Bantam fan for a long time and have 8 or 9. With normal use for the knife(no twisting and such) I would be surprised if the lock failed. That seem to fail awfully easy. Intersesting that he is holding the knife down right where the mid-lock is.
 
imafritz said:
Welcome to the forum. I have been a Bantam fan for a long time and have 8 or 9. With normal use for the knife(no twisting and such) I would be surprised if the lock failed. That seem to fail awfully easy. Intersesting that he is holding the knife down right where the mid-lock is.
Click to expand...


Exactly what I was thinking.
 
imafritz said:
Welcome to the forum. I have been a Bantam fan for a long time and have 8 or 9. With normal use for the knife(no twisting and such) I would be surprised if the lock failed. That seem to fail awfully easy. Intersesting that he is holding the knife down right where the mid-lock is.
Click to expand...

My thoughts as well. Looks like the support hand is pressing down on the lock.
 
How did I survive my childhood with fingers intact carrying a slippie in my pocket???? Oh, I know, I always cut with the other side of the blade..... :rolleyes:

Geesh, come to think about it, not only did my knife not have a lock, no childseats or seatbelts, we rode in the back of pickups and on the back of tractors and we all had guns, I can't remember if the old .22 had a safety or not........ I shouldn't have survived my childhood.
 
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DeSotoSky said:
How did I survive my childhood with fingers intact carrying a slippie in my pocket???? Oh, I know, I always cut with the other side of the blade..... :rolleyes:

Geesh, come to think about it, not only did my knife not have a lock, no childseats or seatbelts, we rode in the back of pickups and on the back of tractors and we all had guns, I can't remember if the old .22 had a safety or not........ I shouldn't have survived my childhood.
Click to expand...

That was the good old days of natural selection....now we coddle our youth...
 
DeSotoSky said:
How did I survive my childhood with fingers intact carrying a slippie in my pocket???? Oh, I know, I always cut with the other side of the blade..... :rolleyes:

Geesh, come to think about it, not only did my knife not have a lock, no childseats or seatbelts, we rode in the back of pickups and on the back of tractors and we all had guns, I can't remember if the old .22 had a safety or not........ I shouldn't have survived my childhood.
Click to expand...

Yeah...we used to shoot at each other with shotguns for fun (long distances), built cannons (i carry shrapnel for that)....yeah I had a great childhood.

Why would someone "stress test" a bantam?
 
I batoned my 709 through a toothpick today. It worked great ;)

We used to put strike anywhere matches in the end of our bb guns and shoot em at each other.
When they hit you, they ignite :)
 
bj264 said:
I've been using knives for about 30 years. Not once have I had a situation where that type of test would be realistic use of that type of knife. In my mind those "stress tests" are internet hype. If you need a pry bar go get one. The Bantam is a edc light to mid use knife. If in you're edc you feel like you may run into a situation where you need a knife to double as a pry bar then get yourself a fixed blade. I personally use my knives with their intended purpose in mind.
Click to expand...

Until you have a lock fail and you sever something important.

I have had several lock failures where I was cut. Usually when trying to pierce something tough. Plastic or heavy rubber.

Both liner lock and lock back failure.

Just normal cuts from those.

My older brother was cutting rubber with a knife (trying to pierce it), and severed the tendon in his right hand thumb. It required surgery to fix).

It is something I think about.

I carry slip joints, so I can use a slipjoint with no lock in mind. I will retire a knife if the lock fails easily. Buck cross lock and CRKT M16, and a few others have gone out to pasture early.
 
From what I've seen from reviews and video's the bantam's as well as through personal use, I've noticed that although great cost effective Edc's, the Bantams don't have ridiculous tolerances and I wouldn't try anything stupid with one or use it for anything heavy duty.
 
bj264 said:
I've been using knives for about 30 years. Not once have I had a situation where that type of test would be realistic use of that type of knife. In my mind those "stress tests" are internet hype. If you need a pry bar go get one. The Bantam is a edc light to mid use knife. If in you're edc you feel like you may run into a situation where you need a knife to double as a pry bar then get yourself a fixed blade. I personally use my knives with their intended purpose in mind.
Click to expand...

Thanks :)
That's why I'm asking about ... is this 'normal' (for a lock to fail with such a test) or should I accept this and is this the case in all these sort of knives. I also have a fixed blade - but still wouldn't use it as a pry bar. It's just that I can easily think of a situation where I can get a knife lodged (a sturdy cardboard packaging can lodge a blade sometimes when you're cutting it for disposal) and I wouldn't want the lock to fail when I'm wriggling with a bit of force to get it unstuck.
I guess it all comes down to not being an idiot when it comes to knives ;-)
 
imafritz said:
Welcome to the forum. I have been a Bantam fan for a long time and have 8 or 9. With normal use for the knife(no twisting and such) I would be surprised if the lock failed. That seem to fail awfully easy. Intersesting that he is holding the knife down right where the mid-lock is.
Click to expand...

"He" would be me, I'm a Dutch tall strongwoman ;-)
As you can see my hand is tilted to the right to the tail of the knife, to make sure I'm not pushing down on the lock.
 
Bigfattyt said:
Until you have a lock fail and you sever something important.

I have had several lock failures where I was cut. Usually when trying to pierce something tough. Plastic or heavy rubber.

Both liner lock and lock back failure.

Just normal cuts from those.

My older brother was cutting rubber with a knife (trying to pierce it), and severed the tendon in his right hand thumb. It required surgery to fix).

It is something I think about.

I carry slip joints, so I can use a slipjoint with no lock in mind. I will retire a knife if the lock fails easily. Buck cross lock and CRKT M16, and a few others have gone out to pasture early.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
I am new to knifeology so I'm trying to learn a lot ;)
I'm also passionate about safety so I want to understand what is normal (e.g. if lockback systems have this 'risk' always or just cheaper ones or just this Bantam or one should always adjust ones use of a knife to ... you catch my drift).
Maybe the test is a bit extreme, but I was already curious about these knives as I had a new one sent to me as the first one has blade play up and down, and this one as well - I found out this is quite usual in lockback knives. So I was also wondering about how much force it takes to break through the lock.
And like I said; I can easily imagine a situation in which you accidentally apply more force than you should - either because you overestimate the knife because it seems solid, or because you are eager to get the job done and will overstretch the proper use of the knife. (Which probably happened to your brother ; is his thumb fully functional again?!)

Cheers!
 
ellipticus said:
It is a $20 plastic knife that works reasonably well for light-duty work.
I own two.
They are not Zero Tolerance tough and I would not expect them to be.

I could be wrong, but it appears to me that you set out to destroy a perfectly good knife and post an eight second video on YouTube.
You achieved your goal.

Nice work, slick.
Click to expand...

I was curious and amazed at how fairly easy it is to make the lock 'give in'.
Plus, the knife has blade play new from the package, not that this renders it useless right away but this did annoy me and make me a bit less revering about it ;)
So it's not so much about destroying a knife but being scientific about it ;)
I sacrificed my knife for the benefit of all :D
 
155440 said:
From what I've seen from reviews and video's the bantam's as well as through personal use, I've noticed that although great cost effective Edc's, the Bantams don't have ridiculous tolerances and I wouldn't try anything stupid with one or use it for anything heavy duty.
Click to expand...
Which knives have better tolerances?
 
Wow, A interesting question from across the ocean and memories stirred by others comments. Like some of you my 60yr old hunk of bone an flesh lived thru a childhood of riding bikes far from home, bb guns carried across the handle bars, chemistry sets where we tried to make rocket fuel or explosives. If we wanted to get high we climbed a taller tree. And yes we stood in the back of pickup trucks and rode down the highway. The fourth of July was cause celebrate', Black cats (firecracker of choice) were stuffed in and under all sorts of things and we even grew to have patience to cut them apart and collect gun powder to make pipe bombs. But, not to worry all we did was stuff newspaper in each end and used the pipe over an over. I laugh when we talk about this now and then comment I am like a cat, I have had nine lives. Between almost drowning twice, all the bike wrecks, boat accidents, electrical shocks, whacks in the head, dealing with people who were carrying guns, I think I am on life number 7 or 71/2.

To the OP, my outlook on Buck knives is that "this ain't rocket science". A inexpensive plastic handled knife is just what you pay for. If you are going to be James Bond you need to get a Buck that is metal and wood. The plastic handles have a very reasonable expectation of standing up to normal wear and tear. If you are going to use one to cut logging cables, ship hawser, pry on steel girders 500 ft in the air and or slice off a farm tractor tire from the rim, use something better suited for the purpose. The bantams are inexpensive, lightweight, are light in the pocket and commonly available in the US. They are designed to meet the cutting needs of a modern day man. Torture tests do not apply to this category of Buck knife. The lock must be reasonably safe. Reasonable is defined by Webster as "fair, sensible, moderate".

While it might be a un-holy act for many on this forum, I suppose if you give me a dozen or so 110s I can devise some fiendish way of making them all fail eventually also. Attempts to make a inexpensive knife fail is not useable information, failure during common actions is newsworthy and we welcome those discussions. Just my opinion.

300Bucks ( Who carries a non locking stockman half of his waking hours)
 
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