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Benchmade 3800 NTK (Harsey)
- Thread starter KBar666
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2009
- Messages
- 2,206
Problems with the Double action auto is what I heard, since you could open then knife manually, leaving the auto still ready to fire, and then if you did fire the auto while the blade was out the spring would just hit the stop pin without anything to stop it (no blade to swing out since it was already deployed) and really cause wear/damage to the knife. This was a design I was really looking forward to as well, hopefully down the road they'll be able to fix it and not just scrap it completely.
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2008
- Messages
- 252
I have the Lone Wolf D2 D/A auto, and yes, the auto mechanism ( essentially a leaf-spring or cantilever spring ) stays fixed in the locked position so that it "could" be accidentally released if the button were pressed after the knife is opened manually. However, there are two screws that attach the handle scales that actually stop the spring from being forced too far forward and hitting the liner. It doesn't seem to really cause any damage to them, though.
I will say, however, that when one gets a D2 or this Benchmade clone, it does take a bit of tinkering to get the auto mechanism set up properly. The button hidden under one scale presses down on the tip of a piece of metal that goes through the gap between liners into the other scale and has a little lip which holds the spring when it is cocked. If it is slightly too low, then the knife has a tendency to auto open WAY too easily and will sometimes pop right back open immediately upon closing, which can be very dangerous with a sharp blade. On the other hand, if the lip rides a little too high, then no amount of pressing will get it to lower enough for the spring to release the blade, a bad situation if the need arises to have the blade open quickly in some sort of emergency.
Once you get it right, though, it stays locked, opens buttery smooth manually, and flies open with authority when, and only when, the button is pressed. I love mine. It is, and will likely always be, one of my favorite knives. I'm actually looking for another one, because I am using my current as an edc and I would like to have one that I can save and keep in mint condition. Too bad that the Benchmade model didn't come out. I definitely would have gotten one.
I will say, however, that when one gets a D2 or this Benchmade clone, it does take a bit of tinkering to get the auto mechanism set up properly. The button hidden under one scale presses down on the tip of a piece of metal that goes through the gap between liners into the other scale and has a little lip which holds the spring when it is cocked. If it is slightly too low, then the knife has a tendency to auto open WAY too easily and will sometimes pop right back open immediately upon closing, which can be very dangerous with a sharp blade. On the other hand, if the lip rides a little too high, then no amount of pressing will get it to lower enough for the spring to release the blade, a bad situation if the need arises to have the blade open quickly in some sort of emergency.
Once you get it right, though, it stays locked, opens buttery smooth manually, and flies open with authority when, and only when, the button is pressed. I love mine. It is, and will likely always be, one of my favorite knives. I'm actually looking for another one, because I am using my current as an edc and I would like to have one that I can save and keep in mint condition. Too bad that the Benchmade model didn't come out. I definitely would have gotten one.