Benchmade 710 - No new axis spring for me.

baraqyal

baraqyal

Joined
Nov 30, 2000
Messages
860
I have a Benchmade 710.

I carried it for about 2 1/2 months before the axis lock started feeling "funny".

As it turns out, one of the omega springs had broken.

Well, being the smart guy that I am :rolleyes: - I decided to take it apart, thus voiding the warranty.

Yep, it was a broken omega spring all right.

Inside the 710, the spacers had an unbelievable amount of rust under the scales. A little flitz, some time, some oil, and good as new. And, as it turns out, I was able to get the knife back together without any problem.

So, I thought, maybe benchmade will sell me a new omega spring, seeing as how I didn't particularily feel like sending it in to get warranty-rejected.

After a few tries, I got through to the warranty repair department - nope, they don't sell or send out springs to ANY of their knives. Not even if I paid them for it.

I guess I'll just keep the 710 the way it is, in my drawer. I could send it in, but since I already removed the broken spring...

I can't say I blame benchmade; their warranty is crystal clear. I probably wouldn't send out omega springs to customers either.

Oh well. :(

I can say that I won't be buying another benchmade axis lock.

The knife needed maintainence, badly. It was clean on the outside, and rusting like crazy internally, to the point where the spring broke.

Next time, I'll stick with a knife company with a slightly better warranty, and a less complex lock.

-- Rob
 
I know what you mean. I love allot of the Benchmades, and what I love even more is the Axis Lock. But the idea of not being able to take your knife apart sux. Like you said, it was very dirty inside. Are we supposed to send in our BMs when they get dirty for a cleaning, since we can't take them apart. I know, compressed air right?? That doesn't always do the trick. And I understand one of the main reasons they might have ths policy is b/c of people taking the knives apart and not getting them back together since the Axis lock is a few moving parts. But WHY CAN'T THEY sell customers the parts needed such as springs??? I am in the same boat as you baraqyal. I took my AFCK apart. One screw striped and I am luck that they are sending a replacement, However the spacer fell into pieces without me even touching it. And they can't send out a replacement for that nor replace it if I sent the knife in B/C I voided warranty. So I guess for now on I am going to send in any BM thats even alittle dirty inside, if screws need tightening, I am sending it in and if anything happens to any of my BMs that can't be taken care of with oil or the sharpmaker, off it goes.

:)
 
Seems to me it might be worth your trouble to send it in, and have it looked at. Shipping is alot less expensive than retiring the knife. Personally, I think Benchmade is quite likely to repair your knife without a problem.

I've read the same warranties as you have, but I kinda view that as a hard line the knife companies gotta take to protect themselves. It's not the 95% of people such as yourself who know how to follow a simple three step process and use an appropriate tool that present the problem, it's the remaining five percent hacking away with God only knows what, scattering parts all over, and misassembling the knife that hurt 'em. Benchmade has a good reputation for honoring thier warranties, I say give 'em a shot.

Good luck to ya', hope everything works out.

BTW, the last knife I sent into BM (a mini AFCK) had obviously been taken apart several times for cleaning, and I'll admit, for golly gee whiz, but they had no problem honoring the warranty. (busted back spacer when I'd left it in my jeans for the spin cycle) Sharpened the blade back to good as new inspite of the fact I had been psychotically abusing it by using it to cut through up to 3/4 inch Driscopipe.
 
I agree with scissors about sending in the knife to Benchmade. Let Angie take a look at it and give you an estimate. They will probably surprise you and fix the knife without charge. You'll never know without sending it in! Let us know how it turns out.
 
We've been through this again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and.....


What part of "disassembly voids waranty" do you people not understand?

Benchmade prints it in big, friendly letters right on the box, clear as day. Maybe they need to repeat it in brail for the benefit of some of you! It's printed on the package insert too. It's on their website. And anyone who's been around bf.c has certainly heard it.

Benchmade offers a life-time warranty. They will fix anything that goes wrong. They will fix it promptly. And they will fix it for free. But if you disassemble the knife, you make a considered decision to give that up. That's the deal. If you don't like that deal, then don't buy the knife.

If you make the decision to disassemble your knife, then you made the decision to give up your warranty. You know that. If you do it, then you have absolutely nothing to complain about. Please don't come here whining about the consequences of the decision that you made.

Here's another reason they don't support Do-it-yourself repairs: if you "fix" the thing but don't get it quite right and then the lock fails on you and you end up in the ER having your fingers reattached, you are you going to blame? Benchmade, of course! When it's their name on the knife and their reputation on the line, they want to be sure that the knife functions as well and as safely as possible so that if something does malfunction, it really will be their fault.

When you set out to purchase a knife, you usually have a list of features and characteristics you want, blade style, blade length, lock, opening features, pocket clip, lanyard attachments, materials, etc. If you specifically want a knife with a lanyard attachment point, and you find a knife that's really nice, but doesn't have the lanyard point, then you have to pass on that knife. It's not right for your specification. And what if you find a knife that meets all of your specifications except the lanyard attachement? Well, maybe you might want to reconsider you specifications. Maybe you can decide to do without the lanyard attachement? If so, then you have made a considered decision to accept this knife even though it lacks one of the features you wanted. Please don't come where whining about how you just got your XYZ123 and your really upset that it has no lanyard attachement point. You bought it knowing that. You decided to accept that.

Warranty is one of those characteristics. If you want a knife with a warranty that permits disassembly, then you should pass on Benchmade knives. As nice as they are, they're not right for your specification. And if you decide to buy a Benchmade, then you are doing so knowing full-well that it doesn't have the warranty you want. You have decided to accept that. Please don't come here after you've made that decision whining about it and blaming Benchmade for it.
 
All I am saying is that I think there Policy as far as selling replacement parts SUX!!!! And since this is a Knife Discussion forum, I will voice my opinions!! Stuff that goes into Production weither its TV's or Knives, should have a means to purchase replacement parts. As I stated above that I will not disassemble another benchmade again. For now on, if I see a fuzz ball in the frame, I'll send it back to the shop to be disassembled and cleaned.
 
I guess I'll just keep the 710 the way it is, in my drawer. I could send it in, but since I already removed the broken spring...
Click to expand...
I urge you to send it in. If you were willing to pay for the new parts the cost of a repair is not likely to be much more. It is a shame to see a new knife taken out of service so soon.
 
Originally posted by TheBadGuy
All I am saying is that I think there Policy as far as selling replacement parts SUX!!!! And since this is a Knife Discussion forum, I will voice my opinions!! Stuff that goes into Production weither its TV's or Knives, should have a means to purchase replacement parts. As I stated above that I will not disassemble another benchmade again. For now on, if I see a fuzz ball in the frame, I'll send it back to the shop to be disassembled and cleaned.
Click to expand...

I agree with you TBG, voiding the warranty only means they will no longer fix or support it for free. It should have nothing to do with whether they have the capacity to mail you parts if you choose to fix it at your own risk. I paid for the knife, and I feel I can bloody well do what I please with it at my own risk.

To me, it doesn't make sense not to just mail a person the parts now that the warranty is voided anyway.

BTW, Gollnick your advice is appreciated and should be followed, the tone is rather caustic and condescending. I didn't hear any whining from Baraqyl. He just made a statement and even said he doesn't blame Benchmade.

As far as TheBadGuy's comments, the last time I checked, everyone was entitled to their opinion.
 
Hey BG I'm thinkin' about makin' my own spacer, outa aluminum, I'll let you know how it comes out.
 
P.S. The Lifetime Warranty is great and all but it doesn't cover everything. Not to mention that it is a great hassle and expense to ship the knife (insured) to the factory, pay for the return, wait for the turnaround and delivery,...I wouldn't disassemble an Axis knife myself but I totally understand why people attempt to fix it themselves.
 
While I agree that BM has every right to hold buyers to the letter of their warranty, I also think that this warranty is insulting to the intelligence of the buying public. A knife is not a particularly complicated device. Even an Axis knife only has 3 functional moving parts.

Look at what automobile manufacturers do. Their product is infinately more complicated than a pocket knife, and likely to result in grievous injury or death if it fails. If you choose to disassemble or modify your engine, you have just voided your warranty. However, automakers will cheerfully sell you any parts you want or need. Entities such as Mopar and Ford Racing exist simply to provide customers with parts. I don't see why BM can't do the same thing. "Took your 710 apart and now you need another omega spring? That'll be 7 dollars plus shipping, sir."

Despite that, for one reason or another they have decided to maintain a monopoly on their parts. Since, as Gollnick said, they are very upfront about it nobody can say that they didn't know.

Personally, I value disassembly more than I value my warranty. I also like BM knives a lot. So I happily disassemble them and trust my ability to put them back together again. Haven't had a problem yet. Just go slow and make sure you understand the way everything relates together before you remove anything.

FWIW, you can make Axis springs easily out of standard piano wire.
 
Definately a no no for me in sending the knife back for warrenty repairs. Why? Because I would have to send it by UPS or FedEx ( I dont trust the postal service in my country) By the time I got back the knife, I could have bought a new one and faster too. But I would say send it in if you are in the US. I have not personally had to take up the warranty yet but have read a lot of good things about BM. They, especially Angie will make you right. By the way you might like send the question to the BM forums. www.benchmade.com and on the sidebar click forums.

On an aside I got a Kershaw Onion Random Task that lost some of its screws and stripped threads on the spacers because of the Speedsafe machanism. I emailed Kershaw about it and they sent over a full set of screws and spacer and upgraded the brass nuts to stainless steel nuts.
 
Don't retire your knife. Contact www.pvk.com and see if they have replacement omega springs. I know they sell the auto springs and such, so they might also sell the omega springs. Heck if not, since you are adept at taking the knife apart and putting it back together, I have heard of others making their own Omega Springs using either monofilament piano or guitar wire. Just find some that is as thick as the original, then remove the good one, and make one to look like it. From what it looks like you should easily be able to duplicate one with a small pair of needle nose pliers. What have you got to lose? Give it a try.

Mike
 
...what Medic said...

p.s... another fascinating lesson in "Benchmade 101"

WHAT have you learned?
 
I know others have mentioned it but Benchmade only knows if you took the knife apart by knowing how they are put back together.

I'm sure that they do not look at every warranty repair first to see if the knife was disassembled. If they get the knife back and all of the screws are stripped, the axis studs have plier marks and the back spacer is in backwards they'll probably charge you a few bucks to repair it.

Now, if you send the knife in and say "hey, something is wrong with my knife, it doesn't feel right" I bet you'll get it back with a new Omega Spring.

Think of them sending you parts this way. If your Spyderco Police or Buck 110's lock started to give out do you think those companies would send you a new lock bar/backspacer to replace it yourself?

Can you call Kimber and say "hey, send me a new trigger for my .45 so I can replace it myself"? (the ability to buy a third party trigger does not apply here)

I think people make the mistake of thinking because it's a small part you should be able to replace it yourself, in reality the part is as important to your knife as the trigger of a gun.

Any mechanical device can break, that's why there are warranties, I would reccomend at least trying to take advantage of it.
 
At first reading this thread, I was thinking "well, maybe BM doesn't want to send individual springs out in case someone decides to use them in their own design". But then I figured, if someone's going to do that, they'll buy a BM knife and just take the parts they want.

As has been said already, try Benchmade and see what they can do for you.

Gollnick: It's "whining", not "whinning". Just thought I'd let you know, as you have it in bold three times. ;)

Ash
 
I would send the knife back to BM without hesitation. I think you might be pleasantly surprised with the good warranty service. It makes no sense to condemn such a fine knife to the "back of the knife drawer".:rolleyes:
 
By getting a failed assembly back to examine, a manufacturer can sometimes learn enough to make future products better, or even improve existing designs and production methods. This is valuable information for the manufacturer. Broken products mean unhappy customers. There isn't a maufacturing concern on earth that wants to alienate it's customers. That's a fast way to go out of business.

In my experience Benchmade is very interested in keeping their customers happy. I've only had one experience with them. I sent in a 941D2CF with a badly damaged blade (AC current and D2 don't mix) and asked for a repair estimate, if the knife was repairable at all. If I was the service manager I wouldn't have considered the knife that I sent in as a warranty repair.

I have that knife in my pocket right now and use it often (after all, it is the ultimate expression of the 94x series). Benchmade went above and beyond to make me a happy customer when they weren't obligated to in any way.

Yeah, it was a drag to send my two week old latest favorite away for a week or so, but what else was I going to do. It certainly wasn't Benchmade's fault that it was broken. My experience is that even if it's not their fault, they don't want a broken or non functional knife in the field with their name on it. They just want to make sure that if it has their good name on it, it's in good condition, and they want to be able to certify that. Part of it is CYA legally n their part, but a good part of it is that they want you to have a good experience with their products, even when something goes wrong.

My customer service experience with BM was some months ago, and since I got the knife back it's become my default EDC. My poor Socom E and lil Sebbie are getting a little less pocket time these days.

I say Benchmade rocks and you should give them a chance, not just call and demand that they break their stated policy. Send it in and let them have the chance to make you a happy customer. It's not like you don't have another knife you can carry for the week or two that it's gone right?

My knife even came back after repair in a special Blue Benchmade Lifesharp box. A company that will offer a program like Lifesharp and even invest in special packaging so that your newly repaired/refurbed knife comes back in a factory box, even if it cam in wrapped in just an envelope, indicates a committment to customer service. They want you to enjoy your purchase so that you'll make more purchases of their products, and better yet, tell your friends.

The Lifesharp program in itself is pretty cool. While most of us knife knuts are great at sharpening our own knives, think of all the folks who are normal and don't have a collection of sharpening stones. They can send their knife in after abusing the blade for a couple years without touching a stone, or worse yet, sharpening it badly, and get it back factory sharp for a five dollar bill including return shipping? The cost of offering this service if you include modern labor costs, shipping, packaging and accounting probably makes this a money loser for BM or break even at best. But it's good customer service. I'm sure each knife that comes in gets looked at to make sure it's safe before it's returned to the owner, they couldn't possible put a razor edge on a knife and then send it back to the owner with a broken lock. That would be inviting a lawsuit!

BTW, I think that's the first time I've seen Gollnick in full on RANT mode. I think he's tired of these Benchmade warranty posts. He even made a few typos. That's rare for him. He's generally very articulate even if I don't always agree with him.

jmx
 
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