Does a little side to side play bother you in a folder?

As OP I suppose the Charateristic side to side movement of Kershaw has been on all MINE. I dont know maybe my definition of side to side is wrong. If I grab the tip of the blade and wiggle the blade, I can see some side to side movement, that is the blade moving in between the frame. No its not serious and if you were not focusing on it you may not notice but I can feel the liner lock shift some also when I wiggle it. My dads also has some side to side. My 35 dollar Spyderco Tenacious locked up like a vault, like I was impressed when I got it.
 
SteeleySawyer said:
As OP I suppose the Charateristic side to side movement of Kershaw has been on all MINE. I dont know maybe my definition of side to side is wrong. If I grab the tip of the blade and wiggle the blade, I can see some side to side movement, that is the blade moving in between the frame. No its not serious and if you were not focusing on it you may not notice but I can feel the liner lock shift some also when I wiggle it. My dads also has some side to side. My 35 dollar Spyderco Tenacious locked up like a vault, like I was impressed when I got it.
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Now I'm more confused. Are you talking about play that you can see or play you can feel or both? The word "play" to me implies that the blade is loose enough that you can feel it "bottoming out" for lack of a better description, against each side of the frame. You may or may not be able to hear it hit each side, but if there's really "play" in it, you would definitely be able to feel it.

But if you're saying that you can see side to side movement when you hold one end of the handle and the other end of the blade and torque against the pivot in a bending type of motion, well yeah, you'll be able to move some stuff around in there so that you can see it, but I wouldn't call that "play." That's just brute strength bending against the junction of moving parts that you're applying bending forces to. I can't imagine that your Tenacious would be any more impervious to such forces than your Kershaws. Perhaps I'm not understanding though?

Blues
 
BluesStringer said:
Now I'm more confused. Are you talking about play that you can see or play you can feel or both? The word "play" to me implies that the blade is loose enough that you can feel it "bottoming out" for lack of a better description, against each side of the frame. You may or may not be able to hear it hit each side, but if there's really "play" in it, you would definitely be able to feel it.

But if you're saying that you can see side to side movement when you hold one end of the handle and the other end of the blade and torque against the pivot in a bending type of motion, well yeah, you'll be able to move some stuff around in there so that you can see it, but I wouldn't call that "play." That's just brute strength bending against the junction of moving parts that you're applying bending forces to. I can't imagine that your Tenacious would be any more impervious to such forces than your Kershaws. Perhaps I'm not understanding though?

Blues
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I guess what you're describing is "flex" not really blade play.
 
Depends on the lock. If its a liner or frame lock, not play at all thank you very much that just causes for wear and an unreliable lock. On a lockback or an axis lock, I couldn't care less, it has nothing to do with how well that style lock locks up so it does not matter. IMO
 
No when I grasp the tip of the blade and watch the pivot area, I can see the blade move side to side towards the frame. It doesn't touch the frame. My tenacious locks up to no movement side to side or up or down that I can feel or see. So do some folders shift a little near the pivot point and that is not considered blade play? I don't understand if that is so with how the tenacious has no movement at all.
 
SteeleySawyer said:
No when I grasp the tip of the blade and watch the pivot area, I can see the blade move side to side towards the frame. It doesn't touch the frame. My tenacious locks up to no movement side to side or up or down that I can feel or see. So do some folders shift a little near the pivot point and that is not considered blade play? I don't understand if that is so with how the tenacious has no movement at all.
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If you have a flashlight, or access to some other bright light source, what I do is put the light behind the knife, hold it so that I can see through the pivot area, then, with the tip of the blade between my fingers, use my upper arms to apply force to the knife.

If small slips of light appear between the washers/blade/scales, then the pivot needs adjusted.

I've found that this eliminates most blade play.

The other type of blade play I've found is when the hole in the blade for the pivot screw doesn't match up exactly to the dimensions of the pivot sheath/screw/bushing/what have you. Then, no matter how tight the pivot is, you will always have blade play.
 
So if there arnt beams of light in between the washers ect but it wiggles nothing to be done?
 
bladeplay makes me FURIOUS WITH ANGER!

All kidding aside, I have a new Strider PT that has the tiniest bit of side to side play under rough pressure. My newly acquired Sanrenmu 710 has zero, and unfortunately probably has the tightest feeling lockup (lockbar issues aside) of all my knives!

-Freq
 
I am lookingat three blades right now.

ZT 0350 = no blade play ($100 Knife)
Kershaw Cyclone = no blade play ($40 Knife)
Kabar Dozier Design Bull Dozier from Tiawan = no blade play ($35. Knife)

These are all low price point knives with no blade play and believe it or not
my Tiawan Bull Dozier is one of my favorites.

Send the knife back Kershaw will take care of it.
 
Marko3 said:
I am lookingat three blades right now.

ZT 0350 = no blade play ($100 Knife)
Kershaw Cyclone = no blade play ($40 Knife)
Kabar Dozier Design Bull Dozier from Tiawan = no blade play ($35. Knife)

These are all low price point knives with no blade play and believe it or not
my Tiawan Bull Dozier is one of my favorites.

Send the knife back Kershaw will take care of it.
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+1, I've never had a Kershaw with the slightest bit of blade play. ;)
 
SteeleySawyer said:
So if there arnt beams of light in between the washers ect but it wiggles nothing to be done?
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In my experience, yes.

I recently picked up a left-handed Spyderco Military that had slight blade play. The amount of blade play it had could probably be chalked up to blade flex, but when I did the flashlight trick I could seek very thin spaces appear when I applied force.

I tightened down the pivot screw to the point where the blade would hardly move, but still couldn't get rid of the play, and the thin spaces were still there when I applied force.

The solution was when I tightened the rest of the screws in the handle, and loosened the pivot screw. Now it opens and closes smoothly with only blade flex, and no blade play.

On the other hand, I've handled some of my friends knives (BM's, Kershaw's, and Spyderco's: I'm an equal opportunity blade play hater) that they claimed had no blade play, but had unacceptable amounts when I was fiddling with them.

Sometimes the washers themselves can be to blame, as on one of my friend's knives the left side washer wasn't perfectly flat. No matter what I tried, including polishing the washers, I couldn't get rid of the play. At that point, the only solution I could see was to get a new set of washers.
 
A very tiny bit of side-to-side blade play wouldn't really bother me, but really noticeable blade play side-to-side or, especially, up-and-down gets on my nerves, especially in more expensive blades.
 
At shows, and in stores, I have picked up many inexpensive knives that have no bladeplay, at least none I could feel (and this was from grasping the blade about 1/2 way of it's length). If these inexpensive knives can be made tight, then I want my more expensive knives to also have no bladeplay. I'm very picky, and if a knife can be disassembled, it can usually be fixed of any horizontal bladeplay, at least this is my experience. Vertical play can usually be fixed on a liner/frame lock by giving the locking a little more bend.

edited to add;

So to answer the question, YES, yes it does.
 
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