Does your Adamas have blade play?

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gastonian

gastonian

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May 20, 2012
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What’s up everybody?

I have a small grip that is solid and a large grip that has up and down play. I have been looking at the Adamas for a while and have read some reviews about up and down play. Is this just the way axis locks are? Did I just get unlucky with the large grip?

I've read that the Adamas has a beefed up axis lock, so I would think it would be good to go, but I am curious.

Thanks
 
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Both my Adamas and Contego have just very slight up and down play. I do think it is just the way with bigger framed axis lock knives cause my mini-grip doesn't have it. Lionsteel SR2 i just bought has absolute zero play up down or side to side. So if play bothers you maybe look for framelock. The very little play on the bigger Benchmades is to little to bother me though. Buy an Adamas you won't regret it.:)
 
^^
Play does bother me, but at the same time I trust the axis lock a lot more than I would ever trust a frame or liner lock.
 
If I didnt grab my adamas right now and wrench on the blade to check for movement, I would have said no play. It does have slight up and down movement. And side to side. That being said, it is no bother, and its the strongest knife i have without a doubt. Get one you wont be disappointed.
 
My grip and adamas had slight vertical play otb but I have beat on both of them and they didnt develop any more play since then and have never failed me. I have even chopped wood quite a bit with the adamas and all I can say is that it does well at its job as a hard use folder.
 
The two 275 Adamas I own are perfect in every way. No lateral or vertical blade play, even edge grinds, pointy tips, centered blades. Put the Adamas in a good carrying pouch and it makes a great camping knife.

If you have to order your Benchmades via the phone/Internet ask the seller to inspect the knife for any of the concerns you have. I call and ask them to check for centered, sharp, pointy, and even edge grinds. I don't know if they actually do inspect the knife before shipping (they say they do), but since doing this my receiving one with any quality deficiencies has gone way down. It helps if you buy your knives from the same seller and build a good rapport with them too.
 
I don't have an Adamas but I do have some slight up and down play on some of my axis locks. It's only noticeable when gripping the front of the blade and wiggling hard. And it's very slight. I don't believe it effects function. It doesn't bother me.
 
Just checked my Adamas, Contego, 710, 580, and 581, the only one that had any play was the 581. Ive definitely mistreated my Adamas, its been batoned through smaller logs, pried open a door, and many other things that I cant think of right now, and its handled everything Ive ever thrown at it like a champ. Its still as solid as the day I brought it home.
 
When I first got my Contego it had a very small amount of vertical play, however I quickly established it was because the Axis lock was a bit stiff and gritty and wasn't engaging fully (again only by a fraction). During break in this problem fixed itself and there is now zero movement whatsoever. The Grip tanto I just bought is rock solid with no movement.
 
Mine does not, which is somewhat surprising to me as smooth and quick as it is when opening and closing. In order to get several of my other Axis locks to open as smoothly as my Adamas, I've had to loosen the detent to the point where there was some blade play.
 
If you really hate blade play, the Reeve Integral Lock AKA frame lock is the lock you are going to want. No other lock accounts for wear in its fashion and they consistently avoid play, and the Sebenza/Umnumzaan is really the champion in that area for a ridiculously tight fight and finish that holds to 100% factory spec over decades of usage.

Most of my AXIS knives have small amounts of play when the pivot is looser, or if the backspacer/standoffs are loose or if there is a major difference in tightness between the two. None of them have play anywhere near the point in which I consider it a functional issue, or low quality (it takes a lot of 'wigging' to get play in most cases).

I generally find that a full detail strip, lubricating the AXIS contact points with a heavier weight grease to help allow 100% lockup, setting all screws to a set and consistent tightness, and using VC3 to ensure they do not back out results in a lock with zero vertical or horizontal play. As a general rule, the tightness I set is ever so more than the point in which the blade swings freely on its own. On a few knives I still had vertical play issues with, I polished up the contact point in which the AXIS bar makes contact with the blade, and this took care of it.

Not sure if this applies here but I also tend to find that models with the black AXIS parts take a little longer to break in to a consistent lockup, and my assumption is that this is the same reason as why coated blades tend to sometimes not be smooth at first (i.e.: portions which are coated have to wear with usage to a more even finish).
 
^^^ Trust me, I know all about the Reeve Integral Lock.:thumbup: I was thinking the same thing about the coating kind of interfering with the lockup somehow.

Thanks for the input guys!
 
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