Best warranty for folders?

Considering the "tough as nails" requirement the Reeve warrenty can't be rated very high as they label spine whacking as abusive. There are lots of custom makers who build folders meant to take harder use, and even several production knives.

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp said:
Considering the "tough as nails" requirement the Reeve warrenty can't be rated very high as they label spine whacking as abusive. There are lots of custom makers who build folders meant to take harder use, and even several production knives.
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Or flicking, don't forget. I don't on a regular basis... but I like to know it's covered in case something goes wrong.

Nice knives... not too fond of their CS. Only when I kvetched online was I able to get any real attention (and this was loooong after the fact.)

-j
 
Knife Outlet said:
I, too, consider "spine whacking" to be abusive.
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The spine whack emulates a situation that can happen (and has happened) in real life.

I've almost been cut to the bone due to locks that failed with spine pressure in EDC, LIGHT-DUTY use. I rather find out the safe way than the painful way.

A folder with an unreliable lock is no better than a slipjoint... which to me is a useless knife. I stopped carrying a SAK because of that. If a knife has a lock as reliable as a SAK, I might as well be carrying a SAK.

Any company or maker who tells me that it's abusive to test whether a lock can be accidentally and/or inadverently unlocked is... not good enough for me. I don't like to rely on "Our guarantee and word" that the lock won't fail.

1- All locks fail under some situation or another. Some types of failure are more common than others, and some locks are less prone to some failure modes than others.

2- The spine whack/push is an extremely common situation and happens all the time.

3- Linerlocks especially seem to fail when subjected to a spine whack/push.

Conclusion... I would not be doing my due dilligence NOT to test linerlocks with this type of failure.

-jon
 
Chris Reeve, Buck, Benchmade and Spyderco all have fantastic customer service, but don't warranty abuse and user error. Their policies are more than fair, and they go out of their way to resolve issues for the customer.

However, in my experience, only Strider Knives has a "no questions asked" policy for warranty and replacement. Their folders are built on steroids - if you break one, Mick and Duane will be impressed enough to ask how it happened, and might even say "Cool...." when you tell them the story.

I know that if I ever have to pry open the lock of a car door and all that I have on me is my Strider folder- then I would do the deed with all the confidence in the world that the "Strider Guys" have my back covered.


George
 
i'm surprised i'm the only one that mentioned Swamp Rat... can these other companies really beat this warranty?

We regret to inform you that due to our low prices and high cost of manufacturing that we are unable to offer you a conventional guarantee like so many others found in the cutlery industry today. To be quite honest... we simply cannot afford it. Legalese, doublespeak, and smoke and mirror loopholes cost way too much nowadays. It is for these reasons that individual warranty issues are to be handled solely by you. That's right... YOU decide whether or not your knife should be covered by warranty. Do you want to give yourself a five year warranty... a ten year warranty... a lifetime warranty? Do you want to guarantee your knife against normal use... or do you want to guarantee your knife against insanely stupid over-the-top extreme abuse? Don't ask us... it's your decision. We will honor any guarantee that you give your knife against major damage. Makes sense doesn't it? It is your knife. We're telling you to trust your life with our knife. Shouldn't we trust you with being the warranty claims specialist?

TRANSLATION: LIFETIME WARRANTY... NO QUESTIONS ASKED!
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i know their folder isn't due out for a few more months, but jeez...
 
To clarify, by spine whacks I mean as described by Joe and A.T. Barr. Quite simply put, if you can find any, even just one knife for which this isn't abusive, then all other similar knives are directly inferior to that one in scope of work. Since you can find relatively inexpensive examples of such, let alone on the custom market, this doesn't say much for those who complain about it being outside the scope of work of their knives.

-Cliff
 
The gentleman asked for warranty information, not customer service alone.

The CRK warranty doesn't cover flicking. This is covered by Benchmade, Spyderco, Kershaw and Cold Steel. Based upon this alone, the CRK warranty is not as good as many other firms.

I have personal experience with Benchmade, Spyderco and Cold Steel warranty departments. I got great service from Benchmade and Cold Steel. Replacement and/or repair quickly and w/o argument. I got decent but slow and argumentative service from Spyderco along with sometimes unitelligible communications. Spyderco has admitted on their forum to warranty/repair problems and have committed to changes. However my problems with spyderco service has been over a period of 4 years. Whenever possible, I now fix my spydercos myself.
 
With all due respect to you "flickers" out there, I choose being able to take apart, clean and maintain a knife without voiding the warranty over being able to flick it any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Flicking may look cool and make some folks feel macho but being able to break a Sebbie down and clean it is a heck of a lot more practical and relevant on a daily basis than being able to flick open a Benchmade, Spydie or whatever other knife you choose to name. Nothing personal, just stating my opinion. :) ;)
 
I took apart my 750 the other day to clean it. Not the same level of fit, but similar construction-ti framelock.
 
I don't know of anyone that I can remember that has had thier Benchmade knife refused warranty service because it was dissasembled and put back together. If you send it in pieces, or screw it up completely, that's a different story. They then will charge for reassembly (so they say). Even user error gets covered in almost every instance that I've seen. Abuse is of course a different story too. Benchamde stands behind thier products very well.
 
Emerson has no problem with you stripping it and cleaning and reassembling it yourself. In fact, they encourage it. It's pretty hard to screw up the reassembly.

IIRC, Strider generally doesn't encourage it, but AFAIK they don't have a problem either. The spanner nut makes it tough... but I've done it to AR's, GB's, and SnG's with no problem. The SnG is actually even simpler to reassemble than a Seb.

I've never had a problem from CS/Warranty with disassembling and cleaning Buck knives, either... now that I think about it.

As for flicking... I think it's senseless. I usually nudge mine in. I just think it's silly to refuse warranty service in case I've opened mine a little harshly and abruptly a few too many times.

-j
 
The reason that there are assembly clauses is to cover damage due to user error. If you have not damaged the knife there isn't a problem. If you damage a Sebenza when you take it apart, is that also covered under warrenty with no charge?

-Cliff.
 
The thing about flicking is not whether it is foolish, looks stupid or irrelevant to your use of the blade. First, flicking should not be considered abuse. There are boatloads of cheaper knives that withstand flicking. The Cuda Mad Max line are frame locks, high hardness steel with Ti handles and are meant to be flicked open. The spycerco ATR has the same blade and handle materials as a sebenza and can be flicked.

Second, how does CRK know it was flicked? By indentation on the stop pin? That can happen through use w/o flicking. You can open a blade with a thumbstud and still leave marks in the stop pin over time. Many people have in the past said they flick their sebenzas all the time with no problem. This then leaves one with the thought that the "no flicking" rule is what is known as a "back door" for CRK. A convenient reason to deny free repair to a knife that for any one of a number of reasons they don't want to fix. This is supported by the fact that CRK has never, ever, presented their side of the flicking issue on this or their own forum.

If your $350 perfect knife is harmed by flicking it's a design flaw that should be covered by warranty.
 
The arguement that it is abusive is that when done in extremes, with use of a heavy blade and a lot of wrist snap, the impact or jarring the blade can recieve is greater than a manual opening. This is true, however as brownshoe pointed out, since there are companies making knives that can withstand this without harm, labeling it as abusive admits a directly inferior product, which is ridiculus when you look at just how inexpensive you can find folders which can take such use without harm.

-Cliff
 
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