Bent Marbles ?!?!?! How Is This Even Possible ??

B

BrotherJim

Gold Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2015
Messages
4,245
This knife is from the Marbles era before they went offshore
No blade play open or closed (has a half stop)
Smooth action, good solid walk 'n talk
Perfect little (3.5" closed) slimline Marbles in every way ... except one ...

When opened, the blade has some SERIOUS lean to it
Funny thing is that when the blade is closed, it's dead centered

How is that even possible? It's a mystery to me
... did I mention no blade play anywhere what so ever ...

Mark Side:

ZzuWxz8.jpg


Pile Side:

IqXCMUW.jpg


Spring Side and Blade Tilted UP:

rdsoHzp.jpg


Liner Side and Blade Tilted DOWN:

MYqQArL.jpg


Blade Closed and Perfectly Centered:

cZy5mzd.jpg
 
Will Power said:
You sure it wasn't Made in England...? ;) Krinky.
Click to expand...
HA !!! :D
Looking closely at the knife (see pictures) ...
End of backspring and blade tang are flush together when blade is open and no gaps around it anywhere
Last pic, blade closed and no gaps at the blade tang and bolster
Dang thing is a mystery to me
"Krinky" ... indeed best word to describe
 
... and it's not that the scales are wonky the reason it looks that way when resting on the sides
The dang blade leans when open and perfectly centered when closed ...
(and tight all round either opened or closed)

lcUl1zY.jpg
 
I don't notice the krinky lean when using the knife, so it's really a non-issue
In fact, I had the knife several weeks before I did even notice the lean
Just a curiosity of sorts that has me wondering what's going on
It made it past QC where ever it was made ... Queen maybe?
 
BrotherJim said:
Last pic, blade closed and no gaps at the blade tang and bolster
Click to expand...
Maybe it's just the picture, Jim but I do see what appears to be a gap in that last picture. I've read that GEC krinks their blades to make them centered when necessary. Maybe other manufacturers do that too.

I suppose if the blade wasn't krinked it would be way off center.
Krink.jpg
 
Railsplitter said:
Maybe it's just the picture, Jim but I do see what appears to be a gap in that last picture. I've read that GEC krinks their blades to make them centered when necessary. Maybe other manufacturers do that too.

I suppose if the blade wasn't krinked it would be way off center.
View attachment 1540509
Click to expand...
Well I did get out the lighted magnifying glass, old eyes and all
Even used the little spot with higher magnification but couldn't take a pic of it
And you're right Railsplitter. I guess there is a tiny gap there
... but no blade play anywhere. Guess the pivot pin is tight

VTFi6AZ.jpg
 
It does look like the blade was crinked to center it when closed. Could be a weird angled tang as mentioned. Also could be a slightly bent pin that is making things wonky.
 
Thanks glennbad glennbad !!! ... was hoping a craftsman would chime in. Thank you :)
Railsplitter Railsplitter ... the vise isn't tightened. Just needed something to hold the knife on end for a picture
You can see a tiny gap, as you pointed out, on the left side of the tang especially toward the top
The side of the tang isn't completely flat I don't think, because most of the tang and bolster are "flush"

OEIodlf.jpg


1OfFctn.jpg
 
Thanks guys. Krinked/Crinked it is. I had no idea they sometimes did that on purpose
This knife is a user and as I said, I didn't even notice it for a good while. Just wondered about it when I did finally notice
On the other hand, if Marbles was still the Marbles that sold this knife over 20yrs ago, I'd return it
That horse left the barn a long time ago
 
Maybe an optical illusion, but in your 3rd and 4th pics with the knife on its side, the whole knife looks bent to me, and they just krinked the blade to fit the bent frame. I'd put a straight edge on the liners and see if they are dead straight.
 
Railsplitter said:
Maybe it's just the picture, Jim but I do see what appears to be a gap in that last picture. I've read that GEC krinks their blades to make them centered when necessary. Maybe other manufacturers do that too.

I suppose if the blade wasn't krinked it would be way off center.
View attachment 1540509
Click to expand...
GEC definitely krinks blades.
I received a Ben Hogan 65 stag that was ridiculously krinked, extremely noticeable.
I posted a few pictures around here and the overwhelming response was to exchange it, back it went.
Wish I still had the picture around just for a little laugh.
 
black mamba said:
Maybe an optical illusion, but in your 3rd and 4th pics with the knife on its side, the whole knife looks bent to me, and they just krinked the blade to fit the bent frame. I'd put a straight edge on the liners and see if they are dead straight.
Click to expand...
Well maybe Marbles was made offshore before they were made offshore. Just sayin'
 
Barman1 said:
GEC definitely krinks blades.
I received a Ben Hogan 65 stag that was ridiculously krinked, extremely noticeable.
I posted a few pictures around here and the overwhelming response was to exchange it, back it went.
Wish I still had the picture around just for a little laugh.
Click to expand...
I'm somewhat shocked. My 2012 Ben Hogan is an Ebony lockback and one of the best GEC's I have.
But everyone messes up now and then
I've returned several Case and Buck knives back to the mothership over the years, but not a GEC ... yet
 
I don't know if this makes any sense at all, so feel free to disregard...

There are several ways to get multiple blades to nest in a closed knife, krinking, of course, is one of them. Another is to drill the pivot hole at a slight angle and grind the tang so that it's perpendicular to the axis of the hole. I wonder if that blade was made for a multiblade knife? Or, given the gaps, was it just misdrilled?

It's a curiosity, but it wouldn't bother me on a nice user like that one.
 
dsutton24 said:
I don't know if this makes any sense at all, so feel free to disregard...

There are several ways to get multiple blades to nest in a closed knife, krinking, of course, is one of them. Another is to drill the pivot hole at a slight angle and grind the tang so that it's perpendicular to the axis of the hole. I wonder if that blade was made for a multiblade knife? Or, given the gaps, was it just misdrilled?

It's a curiosity, but it wouldn't bother me on a nice user like that one.
Click to expand...
Very well could be misdrilled or any number of other things combined for a "perfect storm".
Looking closely, the mark and pile side appear even and parallel on the tang end
However at the butt of the knife, the mark side of the handle looks ever so slightly longer than the pile side
Could be the result of some finish grinding and shaping or a bunch of knife parts tossed together whose combined tolerances surmounted to a "train wreck"
Regardless, I like the little knife. None of its faults have ever caused a failure to perform and it is extremely sharp, tight with a solid smooth pull and excellent walk 'n talk
... and then there is the krink. But hey, the blade is perfectly centered when closed and no blade play LOL
 
BrotherJim said:
I'm somewhat shocked. My 2012 Ben Hogan is an Ebony lockback and one of the best GEC's I have.
But everyone messes up now and then
I've returned several Case and Buck knives back to the mothership over the years, but not a GEC ... yet
Click to expand...
My thoughts were with the stag scales being uneven "adjustments" were needed to compensate.
It had all of the typical quality of a GEC but the angle of the blade was too much.
 
Guys all the traditional pocket knife manufacturers krink blades. I'm talking present and past too. It's just part of the build process and one of the jobs of the cutler. Why do you think they go through the trouble of annealing the tangs up into the shoulder on virtually every blade? Certainly not to add a needless step to the assembly process. It's so that the blade isn't snapped in half when krinking. I'll bet that at least 80% (and likely more) of the knives out there made by Case, Queen, Schrade, Imperial. and yes even GEC have blades in them that have been krinked. And I'm talking virtually every pattern. Pins twist, bend and warp ever so slightly when hammered and this tends to throw a blade's alignment off. The longer the blade the more noticeable it is. Krinking is a necessary step to correct this alignment. Now if you're a custom maker you can spend all day putting a single knife together and taking it apart, making corrections each time until everything is perfect, but on a production line where guys are paid as pieceworkers and things have to keep moving, that process just doesn't work. Krinking was developed to solve the problem of slight mis-alignments as well as to fit multiple blades into a small space. Actually it's needed now more than ever with collectors' obsessions with centered blades. In the old days if a piece of paper could be slid between the blade and the liner without rubbing the knife would pass regardless of whether it was centered perfectly or not. The OP's knife is on the extreme side of krinked blades but it's definitely not the first one I've seen. Most times a blade is off center just a bit so crinking it doesn't make its appearance so blatantly off in the open position. It's generally imperceptible in most cases. Pretty certain the pivot pin got torqued a bit throwing the alignment off on that one or possibly the spring is warped a bit. When it was assembled (before it was crinked) the blade was likely nearly straight when open but right up into the liner when closed. It would have been wiser to put that particular one aside to see what the problem was.

Eric
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top