Most common problems or breakage

MikeC

MikeC

Joined
Sep 16, 2005
Messages
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I know we have all broken a knife or had mechanical problems with knives. I'd like to do a poll, but don't know how or if I'm even allowed to do one.

So here my question goes, what is the most common breakage or mechanical problems you have with your knives?

Mine are tip breakage due to using my knife to pry instead of cut, slice, and also problems with lock wear on folders which allows blade play to develop. I'd say its split about 50/50 between the two for me.
 
I've never broken a knife, probably because I was taught to use a knife as a knife and a screwdriver as a screwdriver. And though I get afield plenty, both on foot and on water, I'm generally level headed enough that I've never found myself in a situation where I felt compelled to use my knife as a screwdriver, pry bar, goat lifter, etc. Usually, I carry an SAK with a screwdriver and/or a scrape (the reamer on a Vic Farmer, for instance) on it.

Edited to add: As for mechanical failures, I have had one knife that failed to lock up properly (liner lock), I sent it back to the manufacturer, and because it was a discontinued model (which I bought new), the knife was promptly replaced with a different model. I have minimal blade play in some folding knives just from use. This kind of wear and tear, I count as normal over time, and it would only bother me if it became pronounced.

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MikeC said:
I know we have all broken a knife or had mechanical problems with knives. I'd like to do a poll, but don't know how or if I'm even allowed to do one.

So here my question goes, what is the most common breakage or mechanical problems you have with your knives?

Mine are tip breakage due to using my knife to pry instead of cut, slice, and also problems with lock wear on folders which allows blade play to develop. I'd say its split about 50/50 between the two for me.
Click to expand...

same here trying to pry something..stupid
 
I've had the tip round off due to excessive use and sharpening, and I've had chips in the blade due to cutting something too hard that I didn't know was there.

I've also had rust spots develop when I got lazy and didn't clean the knife for a while.

I'm usually always within reach of the appropriate tool when I need something more than a knife. I'm not a LEO, EMT or Military - just a hardcore weekend warrior, so that may explain it.

I've never broken a knife or used one for so long that something wore out. I end up rotating thru so many knives that most of mine stay "line new in box".

I try to take real good care of my gear since it costs so much money.
 
Never broke a tip off - I don't use the blade to pry.

I have slipjoints that developed excessive blade movement.

I've had folders that got stiff to open due to grit/dirt/corosion in the folding joint area.

I've had folders that the blade hits the inside of the handle/spring when closed - dulling the blade in that area. On a new knife, this is very annoying.
 
Had a couple of tips break because I dropped them on concreat.

Broke plenty of knives by throwing them, but then they were not made to stand up to that kind of abuse.

Wore out a few cheep balisongs from repeated flipping. -Other than that I've never had I knife break under "normal" use.
 
Mechanical failures are most common for me. Assist mechanisms breaking, ball bearing detents wearing out, etc.

I've never had anything break that couldn't be rectified, though. I've never had any major damage to the blade (ex: breaking the tip off, etc) or to the handle, liner, etc.
 
Tip breakage for me was avoidable in every single case, I just didn't have the right tool for the right job, or didn't want to climb down and get the right tool. Most tip breakage occurred while trying to relocate loc on and/or ladder deer stands.
 
For me, it's usually the assist mechanism in assisted openers or the Omega spring in Bencmade's Axis lock that fails. I can't remember the last time I broke a blade or handle.
 
I have broken and or bent a lot of knives over the years, That's fixed blades and folders, but then I don't baby my knives at all. :D

Could most or all of them breaking been prevented? ;)

Yes it could have, but some of my normal use is abuse to most. LOL :D
 
I have damaged three knives that I can remember:

1. Spyderco Delica ZDP-189- bent the tip after it dropped 10 feet onto a concrete floor.

2. Dalton auto- broke the tiniest bit of the tip off trying to pry a lead 50 caliber bullet out of a muzzle loading rifle when I realized I hadn't dropped a powder charge before starting to seat the bullet.

3.Byrd stainless pinned folder (I forget the model)- severely loosened the pivot after using a 3 pound hammer to drive it through a tree branch. This was clearly abuse and totally my fault. Since then I have peened the pin and turned it essentially into a fixed blade.

4. Kershaw DWO- loaned it to a co-worker and it returned without most of the tip. I don't count this one in my total since I didn't actually break it.
 
Lending your knife to the guy in the hockey mask who does the destruction tests.:)
 
I've carried and used knives for almost 50 years.
-I've never had one fail.
-I've never broken one.

I don't count blade wear from sharpening as a failure. It comes with the territory.
 
Tips broken of, chipped blades (these two aren't so bad), bended blades (makes thing interesting but not unusable most of the time), Rust (I hate it, salt water, humidity, bad maintenance I admit, ruined more then one blade.), I never used a folder seriously just simple cutting tasks though. I used a knife for everything from cutting to digging holes, most of the time they were not expensive knives, I generally never used the same blade for long. Up until few years ago my knife philosophy was use it once and then never use it again. Changed when I started to buy descent knives.
 
Hi MikeC -

I have only had one knife break - that was a cheap stilleto with spring assist - the lock bar bent and I had to take it apart and perform surgery on it with my dremel - then it was good as new (but still cheap lol ) .

The most common (and only other thing) that wears them out for me is improper sharpening with a diamond stone.

I think I have rectified that through much practice, as was suggested here.

best regards -

mqqn
 
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