Blade play on Benchmade?

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borneo62

Joined
Jul 8, 2008
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Hi everyone. First of all thanks for all the great reviews. I’m just a beginner as a knife collector and you guys helped me a lot to learn more about knives. Yesterday I purchased two new knives, a 610 Rukus and a 710 in D2. I love them both but I just noticed a little side to side blade play on each knives. I tried to adjust the pivots but then the blades won’t open smoothly. Please let me know if anyone else experienced similar problems on these two Benchmade folders.
 
I've had this issue with BM knives as well. I would honestly expect better of that company. anyway, here are some tips:

-try to adjust the pivot screw JUST tight enough so the bladeplay stops
-Also add a small drop of lube (rem oil, mineral oil, clp, whatever you got) to each side of the pivot
-some suggest to flip the knife open/closed several times, and that things will smooth out as you "break it in"
-I have heard of great results after mirror-polishing the washers and pivot area on the blade. If you do this, you will not have to wait for the knife the break in. NOTE: this will void the warranty, and IMO should not be needed on a new knife.
-if all else fails mail it back to BM warranty for an exchange, at the cost of postage. Though ive personally had problems with their consistency of quality, benchmade has fine customer service and will stand behind their product line.
good luck.
 
I've had a couple BM710's with blade play both vertical and side to side. I was able to fix it somewhat with a torx driver but I ended up just sending it in for repairs. They are fine now.
 
Just got a 610 Rukus about a week ago and have absolutely no problems with blade play, and of course that doesn't help you, but the bladeplay you have is certaintly not normal as I've had three other 610"s and all have been bladeplay free. I agree with tightening it a little bit at a time until you find it where you want it. Barring that, it will be hard to send in since it appears you are located in Australia.
 
borneo62 said:
Hi everyone. First of all thanks for all the great reviews. I’m just a beginner as a knife collector and you guys helped me a lot to learn more about knives. Yesterday I purchased two new knives, a 610 Rukus and a 710 in D2. I love them both but I just noticed a little side to side blade play on each knives. I tried to adjust the pivots but then the blades won’t open smoothly. Please let me know if anyone else experienced similar problems on these two Benchmade folders.
Click to expand...

Lube the pivot area, THEN adjust the pivot tension.
It will work fine.:thumbup:
 
These things come with production knives. One is perfect, the other has too much play. I think it depends on how much coffee the assembler had before coming to work, mixed with varying degrees of pressure to "move things along." As to things I've sent up for service, I've never had one come back not properly adjusted.

On making that pivot adjustment, if it becomes loose again after adjusting the knife (side thought...for adjusting MOST Benchmades, the two torx bits most commonly used are T-10 for the pivot and T-6 for the clip and handle scale screws.) either use a drop of BLUE "breakable" Loc-Tite on the pivot thread and then adjust the tension to where you want (there's plenty of time to find that 'sweet spot') the Loc-Tite sets in about 15 hours fully...OR I have friends that use a little bit of plumber's tape wrapped around the pivot bolt threads (get the tape from Loew's or Home Depot) which will keep it in place too.

Side to side play is usually easy to remedy - vertical play (edge to spine) is something that often requires a trip to Benchmade to fix.

While I'm here: If you DO send a knife up to Benchmade for service, mail it without the original box, you won't get it back. It will arrive in a gray repair box.

Hope that helps!
 
My experience with Benchmade has always been very good, they seem to have this uncanny ability to open extreemely smoothly with no play. My procedure is to tighten the pivot enough that there is a little resistance and no play (I always use loc-tite, otherwise you have to re-tighten the pivot every few weeks). Then after a little while the pivot loosens up a little and everything smooths out. You end up with a knife that is buttery smooth and virtually no blade paly. YMMV of course.
 
I have over thirty Axis Lock Benchmades, none with blade play.

Buy a good lube, like Militec-1, and some blue Loctite.
 
Thanks for all the advice, I will try the lube and loctite method.
Because I leave in Australia sending the knives back to Benchmade could be a pain in the a.. I have a griptilian and other blades from SOG, Spyderco,CRKT and I never had the same issues. I was expecting a bit better from a company like Benchmade.
 
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It's strange. None of my Griptilians , mini or regular, have bladeplay at all and I never had to adjust the pivot on them. Just had problems with the 710
 
Actually my Griptilian was fine it’s only the Rukus and the 710 had the blade play. But I took your advice and lubed them up and tightened the pivots. They work beautifully now. I also bought some loctite but I haven’t used it yet. See how it goes.
 
Steven Andrews said:
I have over thirty Axis Lock Benchmades, none with blade play.

Buy a good lube, like Militec-1, and some blue Loctite.
Click to expand...


I have one single Axis Mini Grip. It has play. When I tighten the pivot where there is none, it is not smooth and pretty hard to open.

I don't mind a the side to side play. But it is there. I guess I saw all the posts on Axis through rose colored glasses, as when I purched the knife, I didn't think there would be play. My 9 year old told me "Your knife's blade wiggles". I told him it was his imagination. Sure enuf, it loosened until I noticed it.

Again, no biggie, but now read and seen enough posts about BM Axis locks to know that many do have play. Play is to be expected in a $60 knife, and Benchmades are not immune to it.
 
I have owned a 9100 Auto Stryker and a 5000BK. Neither of those knives had any sort of blade play...they locked up nice and tight which leaves me wondering what happened with BOTH of your knives? I could see a problem with one but blade play on both seems kinda fishy to me. You should get in touch with BM, they have really nice customer service :thumbup:
 
Unfortunately from Australia is a little bit hard to get in touch with benchmade. You guys are so lucky because in here is not an easy thing to find just any knife I want to buy. Only a couple of retailers and shops are stock quality made blades. Not to mention they are more expensive than in the USA. I mainly order my knives through eBay but then again it’s hard to find what I want.
 
Ooh that's a bummer Borneo...I didn't realize you were from Down Under. Yeah, as far as getting in touch with Benchmade I think it would be best to email them and let them know your situation. You can try calling them but I don't know what international calling rates are, although I bet they're pretty expensive. They might ask you to mail the knives in to get fixed, but again, international shipping is probably way too expensive and you're probably best off getting used to the blade play. Either way it seems that you're gonna get the short end of the stick. Sorry... :o
 
Silverdagger said:
Play is to be expected in a $60 knife, and Benchmades are not immune to it.
Click to expand...

I don't expect blade play from any Axis Lock Benchmade, which is one of the reasons that I have so many of them!

I have had new knives with a little side-to-side play, but I have found that this is easily sorted by removing the blade and washers, lubing them with Militec-1 and reassembling with a tiny dab of Loctite on the threads.

With a combination of lube and pivot tension you will find the sweet spot where there is no play, but the blade glides smoothly.
 
Steven Andrews said:
I don't expect blade play from any Axis Lock Benchmade, which is one of the reasons that I have so many of them!

I have had new knives with a little side-to-side play, but I have found that this is easily sorted by removing the blade and washers, lubing them with Militec-1 and reassembling with a tiny dab of Loctite on the threads.

With a combination of lube and pivot tension you will find the sweet spot where there is no play, but the blade glides smoothly.
Click to expand...


Sounds like I need some Militec 1. The "Side to side play" you describe is what I call blade play. I can look and see air between the washer if I push the blade.

What is Militec-1? Grease? Oil? All I used was Rem Oil. I do know what Loctite is.

I plan on tweaking it eventually, but it might have been nice if it had arrived all tweaked out. I love the knife though. Perfect EDC. I studied up on Benchmade and blade play here and read the blade play the Axis locks have does not comprimise the Axis in any way. I also read for a loose and free blade, expect a little play.

Sounds like that Militec might solve the problem altogether.
 
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