Benchmade should hire me for stress-testing

[RxEnergy]

Call me Captain Obvious, but you've got bad luck bro. I've been using AXIS knives for years and have dozens of them, not once did the spring break.

PS I don't know why, but it seems like most people use their AXIS BM's for years without any problems, while few experience Omega springs breakage constantly. You don't have to be a genius to see a certain pattern. Those select few found their own "technique" to open/close the knife and somehow it's causing the problem.

 

[Cotherion]

Any correlation to environment? If one lives in a environment where the springs may experience corrosion or if one does not dry their folders properly after cleaning, could corrosion attack the springs?

Since the springs are so small, any corrosion will significantly affect the overall durability of it. I'm thinking as to why some can last for decades and some for months.

 

[marthinus]

I'm not sure I under 1. Doesn't the lock "snap shut" itself if you just flick with your thumb?

2. I pull the lock on both sides with index and thumb
3. I only pull it far enough for the lock to disengage

@marthinus,

Yeah, but I'm being pretty generous with the two times a second, and I doubt it was very constant. Just a rough estimate.

I don't doubt it was some excessive wear, but I've had the same habit with liner locks for years, and never had one of those fail. I guess those aren't very fair to compare though, considering the design and difference in material.

I don't know, we'll see when I replace the springs how long those ones last.

I hope the fix works for you KennyB and you get to use the Axis lock for some time longer. Cool that you have not given up on it, bummer you have had such bad luck tough. Keep us updated on how the new fix works for you. On a side note. What liner locks do you have? The only liner locks I have not worn out are on handmade ones. The only other one I had was a CRKT that developed blade play within a year of use.

 

[THG]

I'm not sure I under 1. Doesn't the lock "snap shut" itself if you just flick with your thumb?

2. I pull the lock on both sides with index and thumb
3. I only pull it far enough for the lock to disengage

1. If you use the thumb stud or hole to open the knife, the lock closes itself much more gently than if you pulled it back yourself and "let 'er rip."

As you can imagine, I asked these questions because I would suspect that these factors would put wear on the springs, but apparently this isn't the issue.

 

[KennyB]

1. If you use the thumb stud or hole to open the knife, the lock closes itself much more gently than if you pulled it back yourself and "let 'er rip."

As you can imagine, I asked these questions because I would suspect that these factors would put wear on the springs, but apparently this isn't the issue.

Yeah, I think I just fatiqued the metal with excessive operation, even if it is what could be considered a "normal" operation of it, going by earlier estimates I'd have to conclude that it was just too excessive for the material the springs are made out of. Can't blame Benchmade, they probably don't design the springs with someone opening and closing it 5,000 times in a normal working condition. I really can't think of any kind of work-type environment that would require opening and closing the blade more than even once a second, and so I doubt they do any kind of quality control or design decisions with that kind of operation in mind.

If I had to take a wild guess at what fatigued them, I would say that just the frequency of opening and closing with no real "rest" would probably heat the spring significantly with all the compressing and the flexing. Without time to cool off, it was probably getting weaker the whole time.

I think that piano/guitar string will be a good substitute. They're designed to last a long time, under extreme tension, flexing, vibration, .etc They may make the action a little more stiff, but on the upside there are hundreds of different "light" styles of springs to fix that if it's an issue.

I wonder what kind of spring material they use in the Gold Class folders. Maybe they should hook up with D'Addario and make some different springs? Heh, guitar joke.