Knife Failures?

[Leftytwogunz]

I haven't had that many knives fail. Two that really come to mind were OTF's.

I had a benchmade infidel that was unreliable and wouldn't fire all the time, in fact, it would regularly fail to fire. I also had a brand new
microtech troodon that after a week or two I guess the spring broke and it did not work at all. I sent it back to the dealer and he fixed
it for me. Not knocking either by the way, I currently have a new Infidel that has fired 100% of the times I have opened it, and during
the time I owned that Troodon I had another Troodon I bought at a similar time and it ran completely fine.

More recently, a Christmas present for my brother in law a ZT 0770 CF had the pocket clip break almost immediately, we replaced that,
and then a short while later the stress from the assisted opener broke the blade stop pin right out of the carbon fiber. I believe this was due
to there being no liner in that area to hold the blade stop in place. It busted the carbon fiber right out. I believe I have him talked into a 0301 next.

Other than an Emerson not locking up properly during break in (and being able to be closed like a slip joint) and me being unsatisfied with the way
that Hinderer flippers don't really operate to my liking I can't really think of anything else. I did once snap the blade on a Strider AR liner lock that
was my yard knife but I was prying with it, so it was my own fault. They did replace the blade though, which was cool.

 

[Velitrius]

Little bro snapped the tip off a Spyderco Cricket. Tracing the outline of a lock onto a wooden door.

I've heard it all....

"That's abuse! You can't expect a knife to hold up to that!" (Uhhh, that task wouldn't have ruined the tip of a Sharpie...)

"If you'd send it back, they'd replace it." (Nope, wouldn't either)

"That knife ain't designed for that!" (Look at the tip on a cricket... won't scratch a line into soft wood?)

Whatever. Only failure I've ever seen on a "brand name" knife so far.

 

[ATwistedStaple]

Man, that's two 0770s with problems. Glad I didn't buy one.

 

[Boris74]

Little bro snapped the tip off a Spyderco Cricket. Tracing the outline of a lock onto a wooden door.

I've heard it all....

"That's abuse! You can't expect a knife to hold up to that!" (Uhhh, that task wouldn't have ruined the tip of a Sharpie...)

"If you'd send it back, they'd replace it." (Nope, wouldn't either)

"That knife ain't designed for that!" (Look at the tip on a cricket... won't scratch a line into soft wood?)

Whatever. Only failure I've ever seen on a "brand name" knife so far.

Never try to prove one is as tough as one of them outdoors knives by impressing buddies with some cross baton work to cut a somewhat thick branch.



Friend just had to prove they are as tough as anything out there. IMO they heat treat to a brittle level, helps retain the edge chopping carrots but ain't too tough on wood. It did make it through one, then a bad hit, looks like a bad hit was all it took lol.

 

[USS Worden 352]

Yeah, that's probably not a good sign. I liked the looks of the ZT.

 

[USS Worden 352]

Never try to prove one is as tough as one of them outdoors knives by impressing buddies with some cross baton work to cut a somewhat thick branch.



Friend just had to prove they are as tough as anything out there. IMO they heat treat to a brittle level, helps retain the edge chopping carrots but ain't too tough on wood. It did make it through one, then a bad hit, looks like a bad hit was all it took lol.

Was that a Paramilitary 2?

 

[Boris74]

Was that a Paramilitary 2?

It was, he bought two so I think he was pushing one to see its limits. Found it real quick lol.

 

[USS Worden 352]

It was, he bought two so I think he was pushing one to see its limits. Found it real quick lol.

That's a shame. He must have been really hard on it.

 

[The cow]

My question though has to do with the other sort of "better". Has anyone had an "inferior" knife fail under normal use?

I had a free $20 CRKT where the lock would fail if you put a little too much thumb pressure on it since the lock would occasionally not engage fully. Wore through a ESEE Zancudo lock.
Other than that, I haven't had a knife fail under "normal" use.

 

[Armadew]

I had a SOG PE 2 . Lock spring broke about 5 times. SOG was great about sending replacement springs, but I got rid of it anyway. The edge also hit the inside of the handle when closed. Garbage. Never been tempted by a SOG since.

 

[Inazone]

I had something like that happen on a Smith&Wesson. It was one of the knives that I use to throw, before I learned that was a 'no, no'. I chucked it at a tree or something and I guess the force was too much for the Pivot to handle. It either broke the Pivot pin or it broke the head of the screw off; I can't remember.

I too have had an S&W fail at the pivot. It was an "Extreme Ops" that was actually a pretty decent knife (for $15) and was my first true EDC knife. I used it almost exclusively to cut open packages, so a lot of tape, a little cardboard and nothing else that I can recall. One day, I pulled it out of my pocket, and when I flipped it open, there was a grinding, scraping noise and the blade just sort of dangled there. All the screws appeared to be there, but because it was one of those knives with no way to adjust or remove the pivot screw, I couldn't do anything to fix it. I was really bummed, because I really liked it.

 

[mete]

Velitrius, You most likely have a blade damaged by overheating during grinding ! Seen that a few times , all on good brands !

Boris 74, I wonder if that got the proper tempering when HT'd .

 

[Etna]

I too have had an S&W fail at the pivot. It was an "Extreme Ops" that was actually a pretty decent knife (for $15) and was my first true EDC knife. I used it almost exclusively to cut open packages, so a lot of tape, a little cardboard and nothing else that I can recall. One day, I pulled it out of my pocket, and when I flipped it open, there was a grinding, scraping noise and the blade just sort of dangled there. All the screws appeared to be there, but because it was one of those knives with no way to adjust or remove the pivot screw, I couldn't do anything to fix it. I was really bummed, because I really liked it.

6 of my 13 S&W knives are from the Extreme Ops series. They look great, have some decent weight in them and are definitely capable of performing daily mundane cutting jobs in the office.

How did your pivot break? My knives are about a month old, and I'll be bummed if they experience pivot failures similar to yours too. The only difference is that I do quite a fair bit of box cutting as compared to you, in addition to the normal package opening and tape cutting.

 

[Kamoe]

Sounds like you received a lemon. Definitely send that baby back.

It has to be, it's had more problems than just this. Off-center blade that was so bad it rubbed the liner even with a cranked pivot. Blade play with a cranked pivot. Now lock rock/lock slip. The edge seems to damage easily too, as I noticed a very large portion of rolled edge near the tip of the blade, and I know that there's nothing hard enough in this cardboard to roll an edge since it's just cardboard, paper, and plastic. I think I might contact ZT for a replacement.