How Do You Open YOUR Axis-Lock?

[GONESAILING]

This is just too cool. I tried pulling down on the studs and got the axis to open with just a short flick of the wrist. It would not bang or vibrate the handle, but open just right!

The closing was another matter. It would stop prior to retracting all the way in. While rereading these posts, I continued to hold the stud down and much to my suprise it retracted just like it was some kind of hydraulic machine.

Closing is more fun than opening! Also if you release the studs at just the right time the blade just sucks quickly in by the spring tension. I wonder if the designers knew this at the start?
Too much fun.

Jim

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What? Another knife? Don't you have enough of those things already?
How many does one person need?

 

[Katana Damasii]

this is my first post, so be gentle with me.

i got my benchmade 710 two days ago, and i'm loving it. it's just such a smooth knife! i read everyone's posts on the opening and closing of the 710, and i've been practicing everything i learned from this forum. just a few minutes ago i found a very smooth way to close the knife, i was so excited i thought i'd let you all know. now i'm not sure if you know it already, i know you all play with knives more than i do. if you already know this and posted on the forum already, well... sorry if i didn't figure it out from your post.

here's what i do. i hold the knife with the tip of the blade pointing up at an angle which when i pull the locking stud all the way back with either my thumb or index finger, the blade won't fall back from the force of gravity. now i just flick my wrist VERY lightly in the direction the knife closes and let the blade fall all the way down before i let go the locking stud. (Don't release the stud too early as you'd find out it'll stop the blade from retracting all the way back.) when done just right, it doesn't even make a sound when you close it. i found it to be sooo cool, it closes kinda slow, but hey, i don't think fast closing is really a concern, is it?

now the reason i'm so excited is because i've been practicing the closing for the past two days after reading this forum. but i was only pulling down the locking stud half way, and was trying to find just the right amount of force to close the blade just right. (call me stupid but when i read people's "pull back the stud and flick" i didn't know exactly how much i should pull it back.) it was just too hard to find the "right amount" of force to close the blade when you only pull the stud half way down. every time i hear the blade slams into the handle it's like a stab in the heart. hey it's a brand new knife, you know how i feel, right? so you can understand how excited i felt when i found a way to close it just right without making a sound.

 

[MNH]

Man, I've got a problem! I finally broke down and bought an Axis Lock (McHenry & Williams) at a local gun shop last week.

This one is just right, as far as I can tell. The blade locks up tight, no play up and down or side to side. The blade doesn't touch the liner on either side, and the edge doesn't touch the spacer in the bottom. (The spacer on mine seems to G10 like the handle, not plastic as someone noted above.) The only problem was that it was not as sharp as it should have been out of the box. That is not an issue really either, it fixed easy enough.

My problem is my initial intent was to replace my ancient and venerable AFCK which I have carried in my left hip pocket for years, at least some of the time. I guess I knew it was going to happen, I just didn't know it would be this bad. I moved the clip to the left hand position, no choice really if I am to carry it in left hip pocket. This is where the problem begins, even when I say to myself, "Ok, this is not the AFCK, it is upside down and backwards" I am still looking for the blade hole on the wrong end of the wrong side of the knife. My thumb is still on auto pilot, I can't stop it.

In the fullness of time when the knife is finally open I love it! I am not sure I an going to be able to change back and forth between the AFCK and the Axis. That is assuming I can eventually convince my thumb that the Axis is not an AFCK.

On to opening technique. I have fooled around with the several techniques mentioned in this thread. Drawing the lock back and flipping the knife open is extremely pleasing. I have noticed however that with the knife in my left hand, I have to pull down the button on under my index finger to get it to open easily. If I bull down with my thumb I have to snap my wrist MUCH harder to open the knife. If I pull down both together, between my thumb and forefinger the amount of snap required is some where in between. The difference in the action seems to exist only on opening, in closing the knife there seems to be little or no difference.

As pleasing as it is to flip the knife open however, I think I am going to go with Stompy on this one. I have not had the blade bounce back far enough to endanger my hand. I have had it bounce back partially on occasion. The danger I see is that several times I have had the blade bounce back just a fraction of an inch. The knife looks fully open, but the lock is not engaged. The slightest pressure on the back of the blade and the knife will close on your hand.

The flick technique that seems to work the best for me is the same technique I use to flick any right handed thumb stud knife open. I touch the thumb stud with the tip of my middle finger, and give the blade the slightest nudge at just the right time during a gentle wrist flip. The blade is out and locked without slamming into the blade stop, and with no chance of rebound.

Maybe, as I become more familiar with the knife I will adopt a different technique or add something else to my little box of tricks. For the moment, I've got all I can do trying to convince my thumb to do what I want it to do.