My time has come for warranty service...... but a question 1st.

T

turk.919

Joined
Oct 21, 2008
Messages
1,930
Tonight I was faced with a dilemma... my favorite, most used, and most trusted knife has developed blade play and a failing lock. My ZT-0300 was my 15'th birthday present to myself. The dang thing has gone everywhere with me and I trust it for everything.... well, did.... I purchased the knife from a close friend and fellow forum member, the blade had been replaced but besides that she was pristine. Since then I have marred the coating a little to really make it mine and slowly watched the lock bar move over to where it is at 90%+ easy and will fail from wiggling the blade around firmly. I have already adjusted the lock to stop bladeplay but it's at the point I feel I would damage the lock if I did it again. The TI is fairly marred from use.


This is my question though, I absolutely ADORE this knife, as I said earlier it's my go-to knife for everything, fits my hand perfectly, and is oh-so comfortable!

Should I send it in or retire it and buy a new one? I know the blade has been replaced but I don't know if I can bring myself to split it up even for a new TI scale. I hate to ask but does Thomas ( :D) Think I can buy a new Ti scale so I can keep the one that came on the knife here?

Anybody else know or see how I feel about this? Or am I just paranoid? Just kinda hard for me to let something I *gulp* LOVE and trust so much to just be taken apart. :eek:

Any responses are respected and appreciated.

Turk.919. Troy.
 
I don't believe the warranty doesn't cover just plain wearing out from use. You could always buy a blem knife and put the blade and G10 on to the new titanium. None of their knives are particularly tricky to reassemble if you've got a guide or some experience taking apart knives. Just remember the big bronze washer goes on the G10 side in this knife.

I had to do something similar last night. The wife has a Leek she loves because its scales have a lot more red in them than the other Leeks I've had rotated through the house. I went through about 100 of them at the warehouse sale to find this one. Well things get dinged up and it had a regular blade and I had a blem with pristine scales. She has no decided she wants to collect Leeks and has told me I'm no longer allowed to buy Leeks for myself just for her. I can give them as gifts still as long as she already has one that color and insists that Blurs are my thing to collect (yes ma'am!). She wants this one to go in to a collection to keep safe just for her with THAT blade. So I had to swap scales around to get that blade with the best set of scales so she could have the blade with her red scales. Anyway, once I figured out just what combination of scales and blade she wanted it was easy to do.

Long story short, it wasn't that difficult. Longer story even shorter. Kershaw/ZT takes absolute amazing care of their customers particularly when they are Bladeforums regulars who espouse their love for one of their knives and Thomas is a great guy and hangs around here just to address things like this. I wouldn't be surprised if you wait a bit that he may pop on with some solution that you'll be more than happy with. You'll have to take what I say with a grain of salt though as I'm a total Kershaw "fan boy" and have no shame in admitting that I'm ready for the Don to find a spot in the Kershaw Mafia for me when the time comes for me to be a made man :P
 
I am pretty sure that they will take care of you if you send it in and it is not a blem. Their CS is the best. the worst they can do is say no. Shoot, send them pics if you are really worried about it, I think there is a very good chance that you will be taken care of.
 
I'm a fan boy too. :D Kershaw/ZT are the best in the business in my opinion, their variety reaches out to almost everyone and they bothered to work with the Speed Safe system so us people who live in states where auto's are illegal can carry something that is just as fast.

I can see why Kershaw/ZT keeps parts from the knives they repair but it would be really cool if an exception could be made... I'm probably asking too much though from an already awesome company that is going above and beyond what great customer service is. This knife is over 4 years old and has been my EDC since 2009.

May just be time to let her rest...... :(

Thomas, if you do happen to chime in, could you answer this question for me?

What do you guys do with replaced materials? Just melt steels back down and reuse them?
 
The one thing that I would mention is that when you bought the knife, you paid for warranty as part of the price. When you buy a custom, you pay for a warranty and extra craftsmanship. when you pay for a production knife, you pay for warranty. when you make a knife, you lower the price but put in sweat and blood to get it. A warranty is all part of the deal and I would venture to guess that the kershaw guys and gals would be glad to see the knife come back well used and just in need of a tune up.
 
thegeek574 said:
The one thing that I would mention is that when you bought the knife, you paid for warranty as part of the price. When you buy a custom, you pay for a warranty and extra craftsmanship. when you pay for a production knife, you pay for warranty. when you make a knife, you lower the price but put in sweat and blood to get it. A warranty is all part of the deal and I would venture to guess that the kershaw guys and gals would be glad to see the knife come back well used and just in need of a tune up.
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That is true to an extent. The warranty will often times specifically cite that it does not warrant normal wear and tear. In fact, it covers defects in workmanship and materials.
 
RevDevil said:
That is true to an extent. The warranty will often times specifically cite that it does not warrant normal wear and tear. In fact, it covers defects in workmanship and materials.
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I'm not speaking for Kershaw, but with customer service like they have, I'd imagine they'd be happy to see a knife come in for work because it's been used like it's supposed to be used. It takes a lot of use to wear out a ZT knife, so I'd image they don't see too many come in like that. I'd at least give them a shout and see what they say.
 
I use the piss out of it because the S30V in it stays sharper longer and does not wear away like my Needs Work did. I love the knife, the TI just smoothed out and now just fails.
 
Turk -

I would give our warrantee department a call and talk to them. They can give you a final word on the subject. Generally, if you are attached to your knife, you should include a note explaining this when you send it in. I doubt they would send you the worn out parts along with the repaired knife though - that could be a liability for us. Worn out parts go straight to the scrap bin, and are not re-used for anything.

Good luck - it's nice to hear when a knife becomes a trusted companion.

- Jim
 
I guess I'll send her in the next few days, been sick as a dog all week. Should I include a note telling them not to sharpen it? Or should I post up pictures here to show what it is doing? The lock is over to where it is almost completely on the blade but only a tiny portion is in actual contact.
 
Hey Turk,
I've recently had a Ti frame lock and a knife with a liner lock fail. Both from very respected companies with great CS, everyone i asked all said they wouldn't be covered under warranty. I did 3 things

1: Spoke with customer service, was polite and explained that my concerns were founded from safety stand point
2: Sent an email with pictures and actual video of the blade lock rocking and eventually failing

When they saw the vids, they both said, please send them immediately

3: Documented everything, whom i spoke with, at what time to what phone number and extension.

In less than 2 weeks i had my blades back Suuuuper Minty Fresh! Don't worry, even if they replace your knife you will soon make it yours

Regards, Martin
 
I thought the 0300 would last longer than 4 years of edc use. It does not bode well for my Ti framelock knives...
 
This knife is older than 4 years I believe, I do not know the exact production date due to the blade being replaced but I know the buddy (And fellow forum member) I bought it from bought it right after they started coming out. It was all the sudden too, every time I clean my knives (Once every 2 weeks) I check them for bladeplay and adjust the pivot to get the right amount of speed without any play (About 1/12 of a turn to find the sweet spot). I was showing the knife to a buddy who was looking at purchasing a 200 and wanted to see my 300 before he made his choice, he was the one who actually discovered it while checking the lockup and I was shocked. I use this knife and have beat on it but nothing that I figured would have damaged it, and nothing in the last 4 days. It was odd to me because I had just cleaned and checked it the night before I showed it to my buddy. I wanted to make sure it was quick and smooth to give him a great impression of the ZT series. I have absolutely NO negative views of ZT or Kershaw because of this and still LOVE my 300, just seems really weird that it did this and I hate to have my knife get torn apart again and just have the old lock thrown in a bin instead of possibly sitting here in my collection where I can still have it with the knife. Maybe I am just being bit**y.
 
I bent the lock bar over a tad.... failing stopped and the bladeplay went away. I'm happy till something else comes up. :D


EDIT I ended up sending the knife in shortly after this post. They gladly replaced my TI scale, washers, and torsion bar.
 
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