Blade centering. Should I care?

As a tool, it doesn't affect performance.
As pocket jewelry, it's an eyesore at most.
I just like it when it's centered, an uneven blade just makes me want to fix it (or make it worse trying).
 
Depends on the price, I suppose. I would expect more expensive knives to have better tolerances. For me, if I payed less than 150 and the blade doesn't rub on the liner, it doesn't bother me... much.
 
seems we are all in agreement on this. most people would not use a $$$ knife anyways. it is about the looks and craftsmanship. for a tool it does not even matter if it rubs the liner but that is a bit crummy. for a safe queen this and a lot of other things are very important. in fact to be expected without question. now I know about those that hate safe queens but to me to use a big bucks knife is silly. the ones I use if it works and cuts that is all I require. my edc is some old benchmade and it does it's job fine. probably had a centered blade at one point too. if you are collecting it is a must imo but not written in stone either. two different things we are talking about here. on the other hand I would use a zt which is not cheap and they do have centered blades. this is not a big deal but it bothers some of us. for a safe queen I demand everything I want. for a tool no big deal. I do not even think about my axe or sledge hammer in this fashion. because we are knife nuts here. you guys set your sights too low though imo. a $150 knife like a griptillian is a pretty good knife in it's own right. expensive knives are more jewelry of sorts. of which one would have a different set of standards. honestly I could not even bring myself to use a strider or decorated sebenza. that's just me. things have sentimental value to me. I am more likely to use it if it is not perfect. I get a great knife of any price and I just have a feeling about it.
 
RevDevil said:
The way I see blade centering, it falls under the manufacturers terms of "Craftsmanship". If a folder is built and assembled correctly, it should have a centered blade. That means that the craftsmanship is high.Just like anything else, you expect symmetry when you buy pants (both legs the same length, when you buy shoes, both have the same stitching and fit your feet correctly), when you buy a table (you want all 4 legs to be the same length so it won't wobble). Most manufacturers warranty their products against defects in materials and craftsmanship. More than one manufacturer has described craftsmanship as the way the item is assembled. A wonky blade isn't good IMO.
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:thumbup: Well said, and I feel the same way. Whether or not anyone else should care... I'd like to see other people be just as obsessive about blade centering as I am, for mostly selfish reasons. If customer expectations change, and centering becomes just as unacceptable as blade-play or a faulty lock, knife-makers would have to change quality-control standards accordingly, making it less likely I'll end up getting one. ;) But the only time I can say everyone else should care is when a blade is so off-centre that function is compromised.

CraigMang said:
I'm insane about it...just part of pride of ownership I suppose, as well as a symbol of attention to detail like Rev mentioned. I'll tighten or loosen pivots, switch washer sides...hell, I've even bent a frame a little to get a centered blade. Nothing like seeing it go right down the middle, and on some pieces almost required given how tight a blade's "bed" between the scales may be.
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^^^ +1. All too familiar. I've tried to ignore it, but... nope.
 
I'm in the same camp as Rev and CraigMang. I see it as a sign of craftsmanship when assembling and "tuning" the finished knife. It doesn't matter to me whether it's a $20 knife or a $520 knife. I expect it to be assembled and set up correctly, and that means everything in its place & lined up.
 
Would certainly prefer all my knives to be centered but if they are users, it doesn't bother me too much. The most valuable knife to me after 3 life saving occasions (nothing violent but knife was used to extricate from life threatening situations)...is one of the most horribly off centered, rubs like crazy no name pick-up piece from a flea market 20 yrs ago.

Still using it. Then there are some which absolutely has to be centered because its about workmanship when I buy them... and for the price they better be centered.

But there are also some higher price knives like a Shiro I EDC s lot.. I rate this particular one a little lower in workmanship than my other Shiros and it was bought used... It can be centered easily but doesn't stay that way for long... so it is constantly being adjusted. Anyway it gets frequent take downs to be cleaned and greased as I use it a lot in the fields..

So at the end of the day -- I look at a knife on sale and ask myself what will it be for and manage my expectations from there.
 
I prefer to have the blade centered but I'm not OCD about it. One thing that crosses my mind is resale value. I've never sold a knife but I generally try to get decent deals on everything I buy. I like it if I can sell a knife, gun, car, etc for at least close to what I paid. The blade being off center can hurt resale. So, if I buy one off center I would look for a discount.
 
timbo813 said:
The blade being off center can hurt resale. So, if I buy one off center I would look for a discount.
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I think this is the source of concern for blade centering. The knife industry has gotten so cutthroat that people look for any way to chop down the price of something, and trying to discount a knife is one of those ways. If you've ever tried to sell a used car, or whatever, the person you are trying to sell it to will nitpick it mercifully trying to reduce your price and save a dime.
I'm much more concerned about people that do things like move a pocket clip and then try to sell the knife as NIB. When you start messing with the screws you can do permanent damage, but a blade being off center a bit has no affect on the function of the knife.
 
I expect my CRK's to be centered because of the premium in $ and expect this with the craftsmanship provided. Other than this, it does not bother me on others not in the same class. Most knives are not centered perfectly, they are not Swiss watches and they are tools, including CRK. The usefulness of the tool is not determined by how close the blade is to center. I found myself caught up in all this a long time ago and came to this realization for myself. I am much more comfortable today if a knifes blade is .005 off center
 
I'm a perfectionist, so it bugs me to no end if a knife isn't centered. I know that as long as it isn't rubbing it's a non-issue, but like I said, I'm a perfectionist and when a knife isn't centered, every time I look at it just rubs me the wrong way, particularly if its not just a cheap junky knife. The good thing is that 95% of the time I can work a centering issue out, I've actually been pretty successful at it. Usually it's something simple, like assembly was tweaked or it wasn't cleaned properly or the pivot is too loose. So I don't normally let it bother me if I buy a knife that's not centered, because usually I can fix it myself, but if there are any other apparent issues (condition is crap, for instance), then it will bother me and I'll move on.
 
I did a little survey- the box below is mostly the knives that I pick from for EDC. Other than the Spyderco Tenacious (perfectly centered BTW) all of the other knives are $100 or more. I have Spyderco, BM and ZT in there, no CRK's. Of the 16 knives in the box right now, 9 are pretty well centered and 7 are not. So a person might say that they want knives to be centered but statistically this is unrealistic at this price point and somewhat unfair of a purchaser to demand it. I'm sure the manufacturers would say the same that I do- it does not affect the function or use of the knife. If you are obsessed with knives being centered then only buy from a retailer and do your best to cherry pick from their stock, or buy only CRK knives.

FWIW the Spyderco models are more likely to be centered than the BM. Some people are critical of BM's quality control, YMMV. I have no problem with the quality of my BM's.

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Depends on how much I spend. For me, over 100 bucks and I want it centered. My edc right now is an opinel 8. It's slightly off center. Don't care. It's an inexpensive knife and it's the only flaw so I call it good.
 
I used to care, and still kinda but it never really effected performance. As I get older I realize it is self destructive to be annoyed about things that are immaterial. I recently bought a $150 knife that was absolutely perfect sebenza quality except for a 1mm off center blade. I knew it and did it on purpose. The knife is still perfect...and still off center :)
 
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