How do you feel about blade centering?

Accelerator

Accelerator

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I just got my new Benchmade Ritter Grip (full size) in the mail today, and although everything else is great, the blade leans heavily to the left when viewing it closed from the tip to the back. It doesn't contact the edge of the scale when opening or closing, but when fully closed, it's damn near leaning on the scale.

This bothers me as I cannot get over a $120 knife (one where they cut considerable corners on the quality of the scales to provide premium steel) to come out of the factory that far out of alignement. I would feel differently if this were a "value" folder, but I'm paying a fairly good price for something made in the USA that should be right every time.

Any thoughts or opinions? Am I being overly critical? I'll provide pictures tomorrow when I get back to the shop (where my camera is) if anyone is interested. For the record, all of my Spydercos and ZT's have been perfectly centered regardless of the price point.

P.S. I'm not a cheapass, I've paid a lot more for knives, but I think $120 is a little steep for an S30 blade without at least G10 scales. Yes, that is a discussion for another time.
 
I agree with you. I just bought a 300sn, and although I love the knife, it was really slow and sticky on the deployment. So bad no matter how hard you pushed the flipper it would get stuck halfway. It didnt matter how much i unscrewed the pivot, it would stick. So I took it apart and buffed the contact points of the bushings to the blade, cut off the flipper and ground out the middle choil. Opens like a benchmade should now! Blade centering was off and was rubbing the scales before I took it apart, but not now. Some how it fixed itself I guess. But yeah for the price I was like WTH?
 
On a $120 knife it doesn't bother me at all as long as its not rubbing a scale.
 
As long as it does not rub the liners. If I paid over $100, I'd want it to be within the middle 30%.
 
Uncentered blades bother be on any knife costing more than about $100. However, it is usually an easy fix unless the issue is with the grind.
I would send it back or take it apart and see if you can fix it.
 
It annoys the crap out of me, but it's not a big deal to others. I'll fix it, return it, or send it in if its too off center.

Gotta play that game between centering, solid lock-up, and smooth deployment. It sucks when the sweet spot leaves you with an of center blade.

To those who dont understand why it annoys others... There's only so many things to look out for aesthetically in a knife and worry about hehe.
 
If it were usual for the BM Griptilian to have an off center blade, I'd accept it, because I would have expected it. But in all honesty, I've got a bunch of BM folders, all bought in person rather than over the internet, all of them are nearly perfectly centered. I'd reject it, don't know what happened, but life's too short to accept manufacturing defects. In my experience, BM blades should be centered, if they're not, its a defect, send it back.

Erik
 
i can't understand how slip joint manufacturers can assure buyers of centered blades; and i can't understand how frequent users can keep their blades centered.
 
An off centered blade bothers me on any of my knives.

Some of the under $100 knives not as much as others, but luckily I haven't had this problem much at all.

If it happened on a higher end knife $300+ then I would be extremely pissed.

I own many Benchmade knives and have never gotten one with a non centered blade.

I was actually shocked when I saw it was a BM that was in question.

If your not comfortable taking the knife down and fixing it on your own, then I would def send it back to BM.
 
No that is unacceptable at that price point. It would bother me too. Besides there is no side torsion on the blade like you have with frame or liner locks. There is no reason Axis, lockback, slip, compression... ect should ever be off center.

Hell my Tenacious has the most solid lock up I've ever seen out of a liner lock and it's blade centering is spot on, zero play, and it flicks out lightning fast. And you can pick up one of those for less than $40 bucks.

I have certain expectations from Benchmade, Spyderco, and Kershaw (my most common purchases). At any price point I expect and like to see perfection. If it's a budget knife then I'll let it slide. I certainly won't bother with the hassel of having to send it back. But it'll still bug me. It's just my OCD engineer mind trolling me.
 
Listen, you aren't happy, and thats where the discussion ends (for me). Send that puppy back to Benchmade, and ask them to pay the shipping. I sent a Contego back for a minor repair (the glass breaker was chipped), and they sent me a shipping label so I didn't have to pay for anything. Just spend 2 weeks getting it fixed, and then you are a happy camper for as long as you own the knife. If you don't do it, you'll look at that off-center blade and have a frowny face from now on. So just get it fixed.
 
Oh and I forgot to mention ZT.

They are some of the sweetest knives for the money.

I have yet to see anyone with an uncentered blade on a ZT.

If you're considering a ZT for a future purchase then take a look at....

ZT 0350(awesome Ken Onion blade)
ZT 0550
ZT 0560
ZT 0561

You really can't ever go wrong with a ZT.

Just my .02
 
As long as lockup is tight and the blade doesn't rub on the scales/liners, it's good enough for me. I wouldn't be happy if I had an off center Sebenza though since the little things like that are its main appeal. I'd go with powernoodle's advice though. If it does bother you that much, just send it in for repairs or try to do it yourself.
 
If we're talkin' a ~$20 Kershaw Chill or a CRKT Drifter that I'm going to beat up then I'm fine with an off kilter blade. I personally don't have a bunch of money to put towards a knife, I need to save up for at least a few weeks to buy a BM so when I do finally pull the trigger, that sucker better be pretty close to perfect all around.

I've developed an affinity for fixed blades due to their simplicity. Folders just don't do it for me these days.
 
Thanks guys! It's hard for me to accept a NIB knife from a top maker that isn't right straight out of the box. The blade lays over to the left like it's trying to turn a corner. As I mentioned earlier, it isn't rubbing on the scale but it's pretty bad.
 
I don't see it as affecting function. But if my boxes of cheap knives can be centered, there is no reason expensive knives can't also be centered. Maybe you are spending too much. lol
 
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