Did a knife ever fail you?

I had a cheap gerber liner lock close on my hand when I accidentally bumped the spine on a pipe while working in a small area. Also had a cheap buck with a side slide type of lock break while carving hard wood. The blade itself broke about a half inch from the pivot.
 
S&W-branded “hunting knife” lost about a third of its rubber/plastic handle when I dropped it on a concrete floor, exposing a wimpy partial tang. This was early ‘80s.
 
Sorry no pics, just a story. I had a Spyderco Native FRN that the clip screws would constantly back out of for some reason and I ended up losing the clip altogether. I should have put some locktite on the screws but didn’t.
 
TheEdge01 said:
Sorry no pics, just a story. I had a Spyderco Native FRN that the clip screws would constantly back out of for some reason and I ended up losing the clip altogether. I should have put some locktite on the screws but didn’t.
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My lil’ native clip bent from just using the knife. The wire clip was just too thin. I would have asked for another but I don’t think it would have lasted. Curse of the natives?
 
I lost a ceramic kitchen knife, snapped in 2 but I suspect my better half using at the time was not accustomed to the brittle nature of the ceramic. I would say it was not being used as designed.
 
I had a CRK&T folder (forget the model) that had a lock failure and close on my hand when I used the spine (OK, mild spine whack test) to knock mollusks off of the torpedo of my outboard engine. I wasn't hitting hard at all; the failure totally surprised me.
 
Failing knives is why I got into collecting in the first place. For years I got cheap knife after cheap knife and always had the handle break or blade get damaged. Finally decided it would be better to spend money on a knife that would last instead of buying a $30 one every few months. After days and hours of research I got a zt0095bw...and it was all over from there, got a display case and filled it up and my account has always been low:)
 
I’ve had 3 liner locks go beyond the blade and no longer function as a lock. I’ve since swore off liner locks. Also had a couple cheap lockbacks fail in a way where the blade pivots beyond the typical 180* opening to somewhere in the 210* range.
 
Had a framelock on a new folder fail when I applied pressure to the spine. The lockbar just slipped right off of the tang. I showed a video of it to the maker (production company), mailed it to them, they verified it was a dud and sent me a new one. I always check new folder lock up for things like blade play and lock slip. I don't bang the knives against anything.
 
I have never had a knife fail me because I won't buy lousy knives and I don't push them 'til they fail. I have however let my knife down a few times by not keeping it honed so it will shave.
 
I bought this knife, and it the liner lock bar immediately bent. Badly. Was going to take it back to the seller (local sporting goods) and but a few days after that decision I flipped it open and he bar went past the blade and rested on the liner, not the bottom of the blade. The poorly fitting blade swung wildly and I get a minor cut. Out on the job site, I threw it as far as I could.

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Sadly, I later got one of these for a present. I carried it to make the giftor happy, but then when it acted up I gave it away to a fellow worker that knew the problems. It cut the living hell out of him. I took this particular specimen aside and beat it into pieces with my framing hammer.

The only other complete fail was yet another Gerber, their notorious "Paraframe". Besides the poor steel of the blade, it literally came apart in my pocket. So many screws came out at the end of one day that I reached in and the knife pieces were barely connected. In the trash it went.

Robert
 
I once had this spyderco clipped to my harness by my waist, in closed position, using the built-in carabiner. when I looked down later on, I saw that it was partially open, right where I would normally reach with my hand to pull gear off my harness, without looking. That was the last time I used that knife for that purpose 20200930_172024.jpg
 
Had a small inexpensive Kershaw, when I would use it my first finger gripping the frame lock it would wiggle an unlock.
When I was younger broke some tips off.
The Kershaw was bad design.
Breaking tips off......my fault and reground the tip.
 
I had a ZT0566 crack for no apparent reason, from the jimping down half way to the edge, no hard use at all.

At the time, ZT was still doing decent heat treats (unlike now when they are excessively soft) and Elmax is pretty tough so it was even weirder.
 
Multiple times, usually from my own stupidity during abusing them. Throwing knives that aren't throwing knives, mostly. using knives as a screwdriver, hammer, and other things run a close second. I don't think I've ever had any decent knives fail while using them properly although I've had a few junky cheap knives experience lock failure. Generally on about the third or fourth time in a row to make sure a liner has engaged is about the time that knife goes in a junk drawer or tackle box and a newer and better knife gets into rotation. They aren't even worth giving away, I value my friends and relatives too much for that.
 
I had a cheap S&W cutting horse slip joint that was kept out in my shop many years ago and one Summer day had to use it. When I opened it up, it fell completely apart into the individual pieces right in the palm of my hand. :eek:
 
I've never had one fail per se, but I've had a few that the locks did not work properly. One was an old ZT liner lock model. When I put pressure on the spine with my thumb, the lock would fail. Same with a framelock; it was an ADV mini Butcher. Glad I caught this issues before I had any chance of accidentally cutting myself.
 
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