Bantam BBW lock fail?

After seeing the video, I went and got my 285 out of the drawer, and had the wife get her 286... While I didn't put them on the counter, and push a big portion of my body weight down on the blade, it is solid.

The blades do have minimal side to side movement when open, but no movement up and down. I don't know if all of the Bantams are this way or not, but on mine and my wife's, the lock has to be pushed almost completely down for it to disengage
 
Welcome to the forums Andy. You'll find a lot of great people on the Buck forum with a lot of awesome knowledge. They will always take time to help you. Just remember to respect the knife and don't push it beyond it limits.
 
300Bucks said:
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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Thanks for your take on this.
To me, attempts at making a knife fail - be that expensive or inexpensive- is usable as I'm trying to figure out how safe they are (verdict: safe if you use it to cut long stories short, safe if you use it for light tasks) and what makes them give in. But maybe I could have just asked ;)

So ... to cut a long story short...I'm buying a Benchmade ;)
 
Well, the bantam doesn't have any type of metal liners, so you're relying on the molded plastic for any rigidity. Use the knife to cut things and you'll be golden. No quality folding knife will ever be as strong as a quality fixed blade. It's just physics.
 
Doug_86 said:
Welcome to the forums Andy. You'll find a lot of great people on the Buck forum with a lot of awesome knowledge. They will always take time to help you. Just remember to respect the knife and don't push it beyond it limits.
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Anny D ;) Thanks for your wise words, I will do that. In the future. For this Bantam, it came too late ;)
 
338375 said:
After seeing the video, I went and got my 285 out of the drawer, and had the wife get her 286... While I didn't put them on the counter, and push a big portion of my body weight down on the blade, it is solid.

The blades do have minimal side to side movement when open, but no movement up and down. I don't know if all of the Bantams are this way or not, but on mine and my wife's, the lock has to be pushed almost completely down for it to disengage
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I guess the side to side comes with time, because you can't adjust the rivets. Ah well ;)
 
AnnyD I was wondering how many other styles and brands of knives you have tested this way? What were your results on those knives?
 
AnnyD said:
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!
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If you use a knife for what's it's meant for "cutting" you shouldn't have to worry about locks failing. If the job is too much for the tool, get the proper tool...

If I have a large Phillips head screw buried in a piece of oak and I try to remove it with a small phillips head screw driver and the tool fails to remove the screw, do I blame the tool or do I blame myself for being stupid enough to think the screw driver was good enough to remove the screw. Proper tool for the proper job, otherwise expect failure, or injury...
 
So a $20 Bantam "failed", now you're gonna get a 100 pluse Benchmade... Someone comparing apples to oranges here or what.
 
AnnyD said:
To me, attempts at making a knife fail - be that expensive or inexpensive- is usable as I'm trying to figure out how safe they are (verdict: safe if you use it to cut, long stories short, safe if you use it for light tasks) and what makes them give in. But maybe I could have just asked ;)

So ... to cut a long story short...I'm buying a Benchmade ;)
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You're better off with a benchMade, that way when you spend $100+ and you cut off your fingers you'll know it wasn't the knife that was a failure.
 
I still don't understand the "test".
Spinewhack:confused:.....I wish someone would invent a fixed blade
If I place the blade in a vise, bend the blade until it breaks,....is this blade "failure"?, and what would either "test" have to do with using a folding blade knife made by any manufacturer?
 
mbjannusch said:
You're better off with a benchMade, that way when you spend $100+ and you cut off your fingers you'll know it wasn't the knife that was a failure.
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Thats actually a really good point. I was monkey wrenching on my truck one day and I had to use a breaker bar to get a bolt off. I broke the closed end on the wrench and it whacked me in the mouth. I cant blame the tool cause it broke. But like Buck knives it was covered by Warranty so I was happy.
 
I own alot of knives. Almost all of which a pretty high end and I know what I would do if I was this person. Everyone I know laughs at me because I carry a Buck stainless handle Boone and Crockett 525 which cost me $17 and is a great little lockback even though I could carry a much more expensive knife. It does everything I want it to do in an EDC. It is so thin I don't even know it is in my pocket. Not very good in a survival, camping, hunting etc situation but great for opening boxes, Christmas or birthday presents, cutting string or smaller ropes, etc. I have never had it fail me in any way but I know it has some limitations and I don't press my luck with it. I would save the $83 over the Benchmade and buy me a great little lockback which is made in the USA the Buck stainless handled 525. I would't even test it in the way you tested your Bantam. Just use it. Or for the $100 I would buy 5 if them and still have a few bucks left over.
 
I love the logical thinking and advice. I don't really like the 'you're a dumbass' suggestions ;) but I guess it comes with ... the Knife Tribe? ;-) And maybe it holds some truth.

After pondering my endeavors for a while, I've come to understand that this is not a fair test for this knife. I'm glad I did it (and I bet some of you are jealous I did it and you daren't do it to your knife :D

I think I was sort of expecting (or hoping?) it to be less easy to push through the lock, AND I realized that it's hard to come up with a situation in which I will apply such pressure on the knife in a real life situation. I have also found Mini Grips on youtube that had lock failure, people who were very happy with their little Bantam and had carried it around for years, et cetera. And in hindsight, the anatomy of the knife (plastic handles) calls for this flexibility in the system.
If I regard it as a little companion that helps me cut paracord, open boxes and things like that, it's just fine. I changed my ideas and expectations.

I also think that what has triggered me to test the knife (in a bit of a weird fashion I suppose) is to really get to know the anatomy of knives, how to value them and trust them - or not! - how to use them safely. I find it fascinating that this little thing can cut through an apple, but also do harm and wound when used with other intentions, or when making an erroneous judgement or being clumsy. I'm intrigued by this power it holds.

Thanks for all your input!
 
OK I just watched the video. While I would agree that I would not normal try to force a knife closed like that. I just tried it on my spitfire and that doesn't happen. However a bantam to me is a cheap knife and I would not expect much from a knife like that. IMHO
 
Ok, Lockback knives rely on a small area of tab fitting into a notch to lock it open.
More strength in the locking mechanism using it for cutting applications, than it could ever have putting pressure on the spine of the blade.
This works great for cutting and slicing things.

Now for a bunch more strength in a locking mechanism if putting pressure on the spine of the blade, a better choice of knife would be a Buck Alpha Folder model 279 or 277 etc....

One of the toughest would likely be the Buck CSAR-T model 095
I saw a 30 minute video of a guy (Russian I think) literally trying to beat the knife to death.
The knife was spinewacked on a wooden board repeatedly and very brutally, over and over and over.
He even pummeled the linerlock thumb release on the board over and over again. (Not sure why??)
The knife survived all that abuse, and much much more.....
 
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Again how can you comment on a failure if it has not been compared to other knives of similar quality and price. To me I would compare several different models to see which fails at what point. I can not condemn a knife with only one test. You obviously thought it would fail or you would not have tested a knife in such a way. If it had not failed would you still have posted the video and commented in this forum?
 
AnnyD said:
Which knives have better tolerances?
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Well, I may have misused the word, what I meant by that is bantams probably aren't able to withstand and aren't designed to take as much abuse as some other folders, I treat it like using a slip joint. An example of a knife I'd trust to take more hard use would be the buck 110 to answer your question. That being said the most I've ever used my bantam was for casual edc tasks so just my .02 by no means am I an expert like some on the forum.

300Bucks said:
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".
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All of this ^
 
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