Curtiss F3 lock fail

N

nelly5

Feedback: +0 / =0 / -0
Joined
Sep 12, 2011
Messages
20
Hi all,

I purchased a Curtiss F3 3.5 from someone online. Been sitting on my table for a couple of months now, as I don't much care for the diamond pattern. Anywho, I took it out today and started to flip it a little. I was checked for blade play and noticed that it would move up and down when locked. I put a little more force on it (keep in mind, this was all by hand, no spine whacking), and the blade came down and cut me. Good sharp blade I must say. I can easily make the lock fail by hand. Really takes not effort. What causes this to happen? Since it's been a couple of months, I doubt I have any recourse with the seller. Any suggestions? I guess send it back to Curtiss for some work?

Thank you all.
 
What is your experience with framelock knives? I only ask because we've seen people on here who complained of lock fail but it was completely user error.

If you are really confident in your knowledge and abilities, just send it to Curtiss.
 
I've only ever owned frame lock knives. Strider, Sebenza, Southard, and Hinderer. I would imagine that I shouldn't be able to take the blade in between my thumb and forefinger and get the blade to close while locked. That seems a little extreme. I will send it back to Curtiss, but do you have any insight into what causes this?
Thanks for the reply.
 
Pictures or percent of wear might help figuring it out.
Communicating with the maker would help more than asking us.
 
nelly5 said:
I've only ever owned frame lock knives. Strider, Sebenza, Southard, and Hinderer. I would imagine that I shouldn't be able to take the blade in between my thumb and forefinger and get the blade to close while locked. That seems a little extreme. I will send it back to Curtiss, but do you have any insight into what causes this?
Thanks for the reply.
Click to expand...

Will do. Was just looking for some opinions.
 
The other thing is, are you absolutely sure it is genuine? I don't know if Curtis's are being copied yet, but it would not surprise me. Just a thought.
 
Scurvy092 said:
What is your experience with framelock knives? I only ask because we've seen people on here who complained of lock fail but it was completely user error.

If you are really confident in your knowledge and abilities, just send it to Curtiss.
Click to expand...


Wasn't user error for me. I imagine you're applying pressure to the spine, and the lock bar is slipping off of the tang. It could be due to early lock up, or something else
.
 
I had a Curtiss 3.5 that had VERY minor blade play due to lock slippage. It wouldn't fail like you mentioned but I sent it back to him just in case and he fixed it right up. It's super solid now, no indication of any movement in any direction so my vote is also send it back, he'll make it right I'm sure. Mine was back in my hands in maybe... 3 weeks and I live in Canada.

Best of luck!
 
Glad you were able to get a response back from him. I sent him 2 emails in the last month and haven't heard a thing. Spending $500+ for a knife you'd think you'd get at least some kind of customer service.

go_DWI said:
I had a Curtiss 3.5 that had VERY minor blade play due to lock slippage. It wouldn't fail like you mentioned but I sent it back to him just in case and he fixed it right up. It's super solid now, no indication of any movement in any direction so my vote is also send it back, he'll make it right I'm sure. Mine was back in my hands in maybe... 3 weeks and I live in Canada.

Best of luck!
Click to expand...
 
rlane81 said:
Glad you were able to get a response back from him. I sent him 2 emails in the last month and haven't heard a thing. Spending $500+ for a knife you'd think you'd get at least some kind of customer service.
Click to expand...

hmm ya that's no good, i always got a response in a day or less. Have you tried thru Facebook? Seems to post new stuff there fairly frequently. Hope it works out for you!
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Pictures or percent of wear might help figuring it out.
Communicating with the maker would help more than asking us.
Click to expand...

Yup, I can say from personal experience, Mr. Curtiss is good to go for warranty issues. He definitely didn't have to fix my knife but did so likity split. Had it back fixed in under a week.
 
rlane81 said:
Glad you were able to get a response back from him. I sent him 2 emails in the last month and haven't heard a thing. Spending $500+ for a knife you'd think you'd get at least some kind of customer service.
Click to expand...
It may not be his fault you are not getting a reply. Either your email or his could be going to a spam folder. I have only heard good this abut his customer service. Is there a phone number you can call him at? I also think he might have a subforum on USN. Good luck,I hope you get it worked out.
 
Have you tried calling him? I've spoken to him a few times on the phone with good results. I know he was having problems with receiving emails from certain accounts at one point
 
David is GTG. If there is a problem, that you did not create, he will fix it Johnny on the Spot. Don't agonize over this, just send it. If you need contact info you can email me.
 
duro said:
Wasn't user error for me. I imagine you're applying pressure to the spine, and the lock bar is slipping off of the tang. It could be due to early lock up, or something else
.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what was happening. The lock up was at about 30% or so. I was watching it slip right off as I applied pressure.
 
Thank you all for the advice and thoughts. I did email him and he replied very quickly. I've sent it in and he will be fixing me up. Thanks again.
 
I have always heard that his customer service was impeccable. However I will say this, I have emailed him 7 times without any response and my email address does not go to the junk folder. Maybe calling him is better but so far I am not impressed with his service.
 
whitedog3322 said:
I have always heard that his customer service was impeccable. However I will say this, I have emailed him 7 times without any response and my email address does not go to the junk folder. Maybe calling him is better but so far I am not impressed with his service.
Click to expand...

I would not dismiss the customer service just because of no email response - email is a relatively very new thing and many cannot use it comfortably. For eg., they think the mail has been sent when in reality it is in the drafts folder and so on. Plus for a one man shop, it can be overwhelming to respond to 30 emails received in a day - especially when their knife shop keeps them busy almost full time. Many knife makers I know check email exactly twice - early morning and late evening, and a ton of email can overwhelm.

Not defending his lack of email response, just giving you a possible other side. Now if he doesn't respond on phone or does not return calls for days at a stretch, that would be a different thing... But I doubt that would be the case given his reputation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top