Otter Mercator lock fail

R

running bird

Joined
Sep 29, 2015
Messages
487
I got a copper otter Mercator with a carbon steel blade over a year ago. I love the thing and I’ve carried it a ton. But just today I had the lock fail.

I was cutting about to cut some string and had my thumb resting on the back of the blade (something I do with my locking blades while not cutting anything with substantial resistance). While my thumb was resting I put slightly more than what I would consider “medium pressure” to grip the knife. The blade then popped out of its locked position. Somehow not closing the blade on my fingers.

Thought maybe I bumped the lock so I did it again keeping my hands out of the line of the blade and away from the lock. Popped out of place again.

I quickly figured out the issue. When I bought mine (ordered from blade HQ not direct from otter messer) I noticed the lock bar was set crooked. Figured it wasn’t a big deal since the blade locked up solid enough. Though now it turns out that means only a small corner of the lock bar actually touches the locking notch in the blade.

When the blade first popped out of place it stripped a corner off of the locking notch.

My issue now is what I should do. It’s been over a year and the knife has been used, so I don’t expect a refund of any sort. Do I contact otter messer or blade HQ?.

If I have to order a new one myself I without hesitation will, I love mine… but this isn’t safe. I just ordered the same knife but with a stainless blade for my girlfriend a few weeks ago because she liked mine. Got it direct from otter and in the end came out to over $100 USD. I paid half that for mine a year ago from Blade HQ.

Pictures:
https://imgur.com/a/qz3KBlW



Kevin
 
I would contact Otter. The lock on my Mercator is as solid as any lock back I own.
 
What's Otter Messer's guarantee? Is it over a year?

I'd contact Blade HQ for a duplicate receipt or copy of the order if you don't still have the original, (you'll probably need proof of purchase for the warrantee) and ask them if you go through them for a warranty repair, or if you have to deal directly with the manufacturer.
 
Picture #3 Blade and back spring are not equally the same thickness.
The back spring is now crooked to the blade tang, thus the worn out catch for the lock up.
Probably send it back because as it looks it was wrong from day one.
Just my opinion
 
Blade HQ probably not the route. Direct to manufacturer.
 
Thanks for the quick replies guys.

Like afishhunter suggested I found my receipt from BladeHQ, thankfully I saved that. I would contact blade HQ about it but they don’t have any of the same model I have in stock so I don’t think it’ll get me far to reach out to them.

Markesharp, that sounds about right. The one I ordered for my girlfriend has it’s lock fitted perfectly to the size of its slot. I’ll have to compare them later and get a side by side picture to send otter. All this time I assumed it was just cosmetic but it’s definitely off structurally.

On Otter’s website, under their warranty, it says that any factory defect will be either fixed, or if unfixable they’ll send a replacement knife back to me. Just have to reach out to them and mail the knife back for inspection.

I’ll fallow up with how the processes goes, thanks guys
 
running bird said:
I got a copper otter Mercator with a carbon steel blade over a year ago. I love the thing and I’ve carried it a ton. But just today I had the lock fail.

I was cutting about to cut some string and had my thumb resting on the back of the blade (something I do with my locking blades while not cutting anything with substantial resistance). While my thumb was resting I put slightly more than what I would consider “medium pressure” to grip the knife. The blade then popped out of its locked position. Somehow not closing the blade on my fingers.

Thought maybe I bumped the lock so I did it again keeping my hands out of the line of the blade and away from the lock. Popped out of place again.

I quickly figured out the issue. When I bought mine (ordered from blade HQ not direct from otter messer) I noticed the lock bar was set crooked. Figured it wasn’t a big deal since the blade locked up solid enough. Though now it turns out that means only a small corner of the lock bar actually touches the locking notch in the blade.

When the blade first popped out of place it stripped a corner off of the locking notch.

My issue now is what I should do. It’s been over a year and the knife has been used, so I don’t expect a refund of any sort. Do I contact otter messer or blade HQ?.

If I have to order a new one myself I without hesitation will, I love mine… but this isn’t safe. I just ordered the same knife but with a stainless blade for my girlfriend a few weeks ago because she liked mine. Got it direct from otter and in the end came out to over $100 USD. I paid half that for mine a year ago from Blade HQ.

Pictures:
https://imgur.com/a/qz3KBlW



Kevin
Click to expand...
Hi Kevin,

I'm sorry to hear that you are having trouble with that knife!
I would be happy to see what we can do to help.
Please send an email marked "Attention Heather" to info@bladehq.com.
If you have your order number please include that!

Kind regards,
Heather
 
With that kind of failing, I don't think you should need to look for a receipt. Any manufacturer or retailer worth a darn would PAY to get that dangerously defective knife back, and not risk an injury claim. Please let us know how you get on. Glad you weren't injured :thumbsup:

Edit - There you go ^ :)
 
BladeHQ said:
Hi Kevin,

I'm sorry to hear that you are having trouble with that knife!
I would be happy to see what we can do to help.
Please send an email marked "Attention Heather" to info@bladehq.com.
If you have your order number please include that!

Kind regards,
Heather
Click to expand...

I'm impressed! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

In one day, a response from BladeHq is indicative of great customer support, even though they are not the maker. I think this is going to have a good ending!
 
Looks like some good bit of goop and debris in the area of the tang where the spring locks up
The lockbar appears to have abnormal wear or was defective from the git-go
You haven't batoned wood with the knife or abused it have you? ... lots of abnormal pressure somehow against blade lockup? ... repeatedly rapping the blade spine hard against something to test lockup?
K55K knives have been produced since about 1867 and while I've never heard of "lock failure" under normal use, it could happen I guess. Hope you get it sorted.

zWxR6S7.jpg
 
Last edited:
BrotherJim said:
Looks like some good bit of goop and debris in the area of the tang where the spring locks up
The lockbar appears to have abnormal wear or was defective from the git-go
You haven't batoned wood with the knife or abused it have you? ... lots of abnormal pressure somehow against blade lockup? ... repeatedly rapping the blade spine hard against something to test lockup?
K55K knives have been produced since about 1867 and while I've never heard of "lock failure" under normal use, it could happen I guess. Hope you get it sorted.

zWxR6S7.jpg
Click to expand...
I have not used this knife for much beyond cutting fruit, vegetables, and opening letters. I don’t baton with folding knives either.

As for the goop I do have to regularly flush out the action, more so than I do for all my other knives (I’ve flushed this specific knife out maybe 3-4 times in the past year). After a few weeks of pocket time the action gets very sluggish. The goop your seeing could be some left over residue from cleaning it out. Which Just entails flooding the action with WD-40 and blowing it out with the air compressor 3 times. This always frees up the action perfectly.

The amount of pressure that caused the blade to slip out of the locked position was the weight of my thumb on the spine while cutting through string. Nothing that I would have ever assumed would ever cause a lock to chip out a piece of a locking surface.

Again I haven’t really used this knife for anything but slicing food, not chopping food, not cutting heavy duty cardboard. I don’t doubt the design of these knives at all, but something is very clearly not right with this one. I knew from when I first got it that the lock was misaligned slightly, but didn’t really comprehend if it would be an issue. Just assumed it was cosmetic and accepted it as a result of being hand made.

BladeHQ said:
Hi Kevin,

I'm sorry to hear that you are having trouble with that knife!
I would be happy to see what we can do to help.
Please send an email marked "Attention Heather" to info@bladehq.com.
If you have your order number please include that!

Kind regards,
Heather
Click to expand...

Thank you very much Heather, I’ll reach out soon.
 
I'm glad that you're going to get the matter sorted out as these are very good knives that have been around in various forms for a very long time.

The pictures you posted do suggest something is wrong yes. However, I would NEVER place my thumb over the spine of any locking knife and start cutting with it. On this particular knife with its front located lockbar, it is usually quite tough to disengage the knife and it makes a loud audible click on engaging.
 
Jim malone said:
Otter will fix it. I had nothing but good experience with Otter knives. They are " old school" german manufacturers who stand behind their product.
Click to expand...
Glad to hear it worked out and they did the right thing. Thank you for reporting.
 
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