Warning: this is a rant
I got my latest knife order delivered today. It included, among other things, a Benchmade 470 Emissary and a sprint run Spyderco Jester. The Emissary isn't the most expensive knife I've bought, but it comes at what I'd consider to be a premium price. I'm very disappointed.
Let me explain...
Here are the knives + my mini barrage and mini griptilian for comparison:
Let's start with the Jester (because it only has one flaw). Look at the finish on the blade:
Then there's the Emissary, which I'm sure you all know is an assisted opened axis lock knife. First of all, there's side to side blade play. Tightening the pivot doesn't help (unless you want a fixed blade). Then the action was really gritty, so I blew it clean and lubed all parts that could be lubed. I also loosened the pivot (a lot) to be sure that's not where the problem was. I think part of the problem is the axis bar having too much friction against the rough surface of the scales. Opening it with the spring assist using the thumb stud works fine. Closing it is worse. The thing that bothers me most is how the omega springs in the axis lock don't have enough power to pull the blade into the handle. Take a look at this picture:
That is the point just before the spring flicks the blade open for the assisted knives and the point before the blade is sucked back into the handle for the mini griptilian. This is how it looks when I nudge the spine of the blades:
The other two knives slam shut. This is what I expect from an axis knife. If the blade opens a little, it should close on its own. The emissary, however, doesn't close. I can even bring it to a near-closed state and it still manages to remain open. I've already cut my palm because of this.
If I open the blade “manually” (resisting the assist spring), I can leave the blade in an almost open position. This is completely impossible with the mini barrage (and the pivot screw on the emissary is really loose too). Another thing is: if I push the blade slightly towards the scale while opening, I can feel quite a bit of resistance opening it. This is not the case with the other knives.
The last flaw is the pocket clip. It feels really weak and actually rattles against the scales when I close the knife or put it down on the table. I realize that I could remove it and bend it, but I expected it to be much stiffer (and I don't want to mess with it too much in case I decide to return it).
I'm considering sending these back (from Sweden to the USA), which would be a first for me. I can usually accept imperfections, but I got really disappointed this time. I'm going to sleep on it, though.
Hope my explanation made sense
I got my latest knife order delivered today. It included, among other things, a Benchmade 470 Emissary and a sprint run Spyderco Jester. The Emissary isn't the most expensive knife I've bought, but it comes at what I'd consider to be a premium price. I'm very disappointed.
Let me explain...
Here are the knives + my mini barrage and mini griptilian for comparison:
Let's start with the Jester (because it only has one flaw). Look at the finish on the blade:
Then there's the Emissary, which I'm sure you all know is an assisted opened axis lock knife. First of all, there's side to side blade play. Tightening the pivot doesn't help (unless you want a fixed blade). Then the action was really gritty, so I blew it clean and lubed all parts that could be lubed. I also loosened the pivot (a lot) to be sure that's not where the problem was. I think part of the problem is the axis bar having too much friction against the rough surface of the scales. Opening it with the spring assist using the thumb stud works fine. Closing it is worse. The thing that bothers me most is how the omega springs in the axis lock don't have enough power to pull the blade into the handle. Take a look at this picture:
That is the point just before the spring flicks the blade open for the assisted knives and the point before the blade is sucked back into the handle for the mini griptilian. This is how it looks when I nudge the spine of the blades:
The other two knives slam shut. This is what I expect from an axis knife. If the blade opens a little, it should close on its own. The emissary, however, doesn't close. I can even bring it to a near-closed state and it still manages to remain open. I've already cut my palm because of this.
If I open the blade “manually” (resisting the assist spring), I can leave the blade in an almost open position. This is completely impossible with the mini barrage (and the pivot screw on the emissary is really loose too). Another thing is: if I push the blade slightly towards the scale while opening, I can feel quite a bit of resistance opening it. This is not the case with the other knives.
The last flaw is the pocket clip. It feels really weak and actually rattles against the scales when I close the knife or put it down on the table. I realize that I could remove it and bend it, but I expected it to be much stiffer (and I don't want to mess with it too much in case I decide to return it).
I'm considering sending these back (from Sweden to the USA), which would be a first for me. I can usually accept imperfections, but I got really disappointed this time. I'm going to sleep on it, though.
Hope my explanation made sense
