Lock on Benchmade 520

C

Copper Crayon

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Nov 21, 2005
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152
I just wondered why there is a slope that the Axis bar sits on. On all other Benchmade's I've looked at have a flat area where the Axis bar engages and sits on when in the open position.

Even the new 525 has a flat area for the bar. The 520 however has an inclined slope. It's inclined the way that would seem to make the lock bar come off with not too much effort.

Anyone know the reason for this?

The pictures below were taken from the Benchmade forum.

The text below the pictures is part of the picture and has nothing to do with my experience.

tang.jpg
 
Thanks for noticing! I returned one and gave one away because they failed light spinewhacks. I got a 525 though, and the lock is almost flat, and it's bank vault tight. All my axis locks are perfect, except for the 520 and the slope is the culprit, methinks... But, any other knife from BM has been flawless, so there's gotta be something to this. And those are my pics - don't you love the artistry ;-)
 
Hey RLR, I hope you don't mind that I posted your pic. It was really the only good display I could find. If you need me to I will remove the illustration. I however think you did a great job with it :D

I wonder if BM did the lock like this on purpose or if it was an oversight?
 
No, it's cool about the pic... I heard that it was to keep the auto's from sticking open. But, that's just hearsay.
 
If you look at the slope in comparson to the cutouts in the liners it should be about the same on all axis-lock knives. This provides a "taper" that, as the lock wears, allows the lockbar to move further forward against the tang. Try this: With the knife open, pull the lock bar back and look through the cutout in the liners. You should see the "slope" of the tang. This is consistant on all axis locks. The 520 that failed light spinewacks was just a lemon. None of my 520's fail HARD spine-whacks. I dont know if thats clear, so Ill try to do a diagram myself.
 
I noticed a slope on my axis lock knives the first time I aquired one. I figured this allowed for wear.

Perhaps the angle is greater on this series than on others. Could be a miscalculation during the design, as the angle determines whether the lock will be stable under various stress modes (light, fast versus hard,slow), etc. Akin to self locking threads, coefficient of friction ... (I think - but too much thinkin' is bad).
 
Like others have said, the slope is a feature, not a bug. I just looked at my 520 and 710, and they're both sloped, as expected. If there were no slope, the Axis bar would just travel to the end and the blade would have a ton of play. The slope has two very related functions: it allows for wear and it also allows the Axis bar to snug up against the tang and actually lock the blade.

In a way, it's very much like the angled tang cutout on a linerlock or framelock. If there were no angle on the cutout, the liner would just go all the way over and wouldn't actually snug up against the tang and lock it tight.

(BTW, I just spine-whacked my 520. It's like a rock.)
 
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