Benchmade shoki worries

[ColonelX]

yesterday, i spent a few hours at one of my favorite haunts, Ross Cutlery, Downtown LA and i went mainly to pick out a knife for dress occaisons. one of my primary choices was the benchmade 480 shoki but after handling not one, but 5 seperate shoki's at the shop, every single one of the shoki's had recognizable up/down bladeplay, two of them to the point where i could cause the lock to fail with just a slight push on the back of the blade. now for a knife that has a $200 MSRP and from a company like benchmade, i was shocked at just how poor the quality control on these knives seem. i ended up walking out of the store with a Spyderco Carbon fiber KIWI. but really was quite bummed that i didnt have a shoki in my pocket.

Cheers!

the Colonel

 

[bladkersh02]

wow 5 of them! I was recently considering the shoki. There's not a lot of info out there, but I recall another post somewherez bout play which is what made me kinda hold off. It's a shame too cuz the shoki seems like a good time.

 

[jurisprudence]

I have a Shoki that had the same problem, up and down blade play when locked. My knife ultimately failed in use resulting in a nasty cut. I sent it back to Benchmade which covered it under warranty. The knife is in transit and I will get it back on Monday.

 

[_habit_]

My first Shoki, a 1st Production Run, was sent back because of an uneven blade grind. I sent the replacement back because of the lock being easily pushed to fail (1 finger on the spine of the blade near the handle). The latest one was perfectly fine though, no problems. Until I took it apart and a ball bearing fell out from the pivot! I lost 1 of the 3 so I had to send it back in to Benchmade (who didn't charge me the $20 normal rebuilding fee! ). I've gotten it back already, and this one is perfect (blade is slightly off center when closed, but that's it - my knife does have some blade play back and forth when open, but it's less than a lockback, which is a similar lock in design basics).

I think the big problem is that it's a brand new lock, and they were/may still be ironing the kinks out. Now as I said mine is perfect, and I'd guess that most of the new ones coming from the factory are, but perhaps not all of the ones on most store shelves are.

It's a great knife if you can find one that, I guess is newer. Wonderful materials at a good price, much like the Morpho, which I intend to buy as well!

 

[jurisprudence]

I have a Shoki that had the same problem, up and down blade play when locked. My knife ultimately failed in use resulting in a nasty cut. I sent it back to Benchmade which covered it under warranty. The knife is in transit and I will get it back on Monday.

Update. Received the knife back earlier than expected. Lockup is fine now. It appears to have the same blade. I think BM replaced the handle, which includes a stronger button lock. That is, the locking bar (with the button that protrudes out from the bar) seems stiffer and engages further out on the blade. Now it is about fully engaged, whereas the bar initially (before repair) was only partially engaged.