Might be true but I strongly suggest the the OP sends the knife in to Strider for a repair. He has been granted a free warranty repair on a knife that he did not buy new from neither Strider nor from any of their authorized dealers. Typically, warranty repairs are limited to the first owner and with proof of purchase- however, in this knife game, that is not always enforced by most reasonable companies.
Main reason is that he got this knife in a trade- when a knife is not brand new, the history of the item cannot be verified.
If the trader purported the condition of the knife to the OP as new condition, mint, pristine, only driven to church on Sundays or whatever, I am sure the trader did not tell the OP that there was blade play.
I have several knives, custom and production, that I acquired new and after using them hard they developed some issues- blade play included. That is unavoidable. I sent them back and they come back to me good as new. This is normal. When you buy a brand new car from a dealer it is stunning- after a few months a rattle or issue can arrive. What we do is call the dealer, make an appointment and get it fixed. Same with knives. They often need to be tuned and tweaked after use.
A knife that is not brand new can have as multiple unknown and undisclosed owners. This knife could have been bought, sold and traded many times- one of the previous owners could have taken it apart and not been capable of putting it back together properly.
I am one of the larger Strider dealers at this time, and I can tell you that I don't receive any knives from them, or any other company, that has blade play or any other quality issues. Certainly there are exceptions, but I can assure you that no knives go out of here that are not brand new and working properly. Strider included.
A few weeks ago I made a trip to visit 3 of my suppliers. Lens-light in North Hollywood, Strider in San Marcos and Chris Reeve in Boise.
Each company has a protocol for doing repairs- the Strider system is the same as the others. Knives are received and logged in- they go on a special shelf in order of receipt for the repair work to be done.
As with Chris Reeve Knives, only one person at Strider who does the repair work- so, depending on the backlog of regular work that the company has to do, the repairs are slotted in as best as they can be. Some get done fast, and some not. I sat with Chris Reeve while he was overseeing a repair that had just come in (this was for my benefit and education) and he was able to point out all the tampering and absurd mods that the fellow had done to the knife while claiming all along that the knife was brand new and that he got it that way.
Just for fun, I will tell you that every screw and pivot on that knife had locktite caked in- we all know that Chris Reeve does not use any locktight on Sebenzas. So, a charge was being levied on that knife by CRK for the repair. Seems fair to me.
I have been to Strider shop 50 times over the last 10 years- it is smaller than you would imagine based on the number of knives they produce, mainly for the military. But their warranty repair department works as all others do- first in, first out- not more complicated than that and not based on which forum you support.
The issue that comes up is the volume of non warranty work that they get inundated with- I have personally seen boxes arrive for work to be done where the knife is rattling around in 10 pieces and there is a single paper inside that says - "Got this on eBay- knife is broken- how much to fix it". Knives like this go to the end of the queue- warranty work gets done first.
To the OP who is still concerned that no matter what I have said or done already that his knife may end up at the North Pole, I can tell you that it will only go to the North Pole if you address it to Santa Claus.
Take care everyone and all the best,
Neil Ostroff / TNK
Well Said, Sir:thumbup::thumbup:
