Sad Day for a BM Owner

Petunia D. Feeble

Petunia D. Feeble

I sharpen things.
Joined
Jun 30, 2016
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That day you realize that the blade is now rubbing one of the scales. :thumbsdown::(:poop:

Noticed today that the blade on my 560 Freek was rubbing the clip side scale when opening. It's been creeping over ever since I got it. I'd hoped it would stall it's march at some point and settle in, but no such luck.

I've pulled it apart a couple of times now, cleaned everything, lubed and reassembled using every trick I know to fix centering. No dice I'm afraid. It's not rubbing anymore at least, but nowhere near centered. We'll see if it stays put for now. If it rubs again it'll have to go back to Benchmade.

I love this knife, but I can honestly say I've never sent ANY knife in for warranty service due to a blade rubbing the scale except for Benchmades and I've sent several of those.

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Its likely the blade if it is creeping off center like that. Really nothing you can do other than have them put a new blade on. I have had this with several benchmades. I have also confirmed it by swapping blades out. One blade would be dead centered and the other off in the same handle.
 
Try carefully applying pressure to the right side tip of the blade on a table (I know it seems backwards). This should help you get back to center. If the blade is bent toward one side apply pressure to the tip of that side when the knife is open.
 
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Benchmade said:
Try carefully applying pressure to the right side tip of the blade on a table (I know it seems backwards). This should help you get back to center. If it is bent toward one side apply pressure to the tip of that side when it the knife is open.
Click to expand...

Yeah, did that. Tried shifting the scales up and down, tried reassembly with a bid of cardboard between the blade and scale, etc. Never gets any better than the photo.

I know you meant well, but the fact that your reply to "my blade's off center and nothing I've tried will fix it" is essentially "push it toward the center" kind of annoys me. Better than no response at all I suppose.

Edit: Im leaving my original statement for reference. I didn't immediately understand what you were saying and spoke prematurely, I apologize.

With the blade in the open position, pushing in the opposite direction that you want the blade to travel pulls that side of the pivot upward and pushes the other side down. Leveling the pivot between the scales essentially.

It didn't work at first, but after loosening all of the fasteners except for the pivot I had some success.

I'm a little embarrassed that I'd never thought of that myself. I've tried to accomplish the same thing before by applying upward and downward pressure to the scales (relative to the pivot) with some success, but it didn't work with this one.

Hopefully that'll resolve the issue.

Thanks again,

Bryce
T.L.E. Sharpening
 
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I bought a new Griptilian that was almost that bad. I know how frustrating it is, and I don't know why they keep allowing products like that to leave the factory, the consumer shouldn't have to fix manufacturer issues. Atleast your issue appears to be resolved. But, COME ON BENCHMADE, STEP UP AND TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR QC OR LOWER YOUR PRICES!!!!!
 
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I bought a Mini Grip from Cabelas and had to go through several to find one that the blade was somewhat centered. I was going to put a set of AWT scales on, so I wasn't as picky as I'd normally be. When I put the AWT scales on, the blade centered right up and the action improved 100%.
 
I'm gonna post this here as Bryce started this thread about his centering issue and Jimmy posted what turned out to be a great solution to his problem. Bryce re-thought his initial negative response after coming to understand what Jimmy was getting at and used his technique to get his blade centered. Our OP showed a lotta class by not deleting his initial text at Post #6 and editing in his apology and subsequent thoughts.

Anyway, I too have had a few knives that resisted centering. Most approaches utilize the same principle of racking the scales while the body screws are loosened and then re-tightening. This is similar to the way we rack pre-hung doors on the job to get the margins even. With my knives I've tried the usual scale shifting and wedging referred to in Post #6 and generally have had success, but a knife or two has failed to come all the way to center.

Jimmy's technique utilizes the increased leverage afforded by the open blade to force a little more shift through the axis of the pivot. That axis doesn't have to move much, but it requires a fair amount of force to be applied and held until the body screws can be retightened. Factoring in trying to hold that flex in place while accessing the screws, I came up with the following methodology.

First, here's a pic of my 710 that had never come quite all the way to center. The knife was bought used in"good" shape off the big river site and I've put quite a bit into rehabbing her. The Delrin backspacer has been replaced with Gnoleb dumbbell-style standoffs and you can judge the poor alignment against the center portion of the back standoff.

xCsH4zl.jpg


I folded a piece of corrugated cardboard for protection and clamped the blade in the bench-vise. With the knife set up thusly it's easy to access the body screws from either or both sides as required.

VRdSeLG.jpg


My blade was off to the left as viewed in these pictures. Jimmy talked about pushing the blade in the direction that it's off (which he described as seeming "backwards"). With the open blade fixed in the vise, I loosened the two body screws and pushed the handle to the left--indicated by the torx-driver--so the blade, when closed, would move to the right. Holding it firm with my left hand, it was easy to access the torx screw heads on the right side to re-tighten them.

CFRFj7w.jpg


After tightening everything up, the blade was actually a tiny bit too-far-right and the action that had been fairly free-dropping was stiff and tight. Backing off the pivot in two slight increments brought it back to dead-balls center and loosened it right up without resulting in any blade-play whatsoever. In fact, the action is even better now, completely free-dropping closed using only my thumb--pure Benchmade heaven!

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Bryce started a feedback thread for Jimmy over at GBU by way of a thank you for his excellent tip and also to mention that it's great to have a Benchmade forum mod active and engaged here at BF now. Jimmy's a regular knife guy too and we've had a nice exchange regarding a shared appreciation of my Micarta Grip. :thumbsup::thumbsup: for both you guys!

Maybe I'll edit this a bit and post again at Maintenance and Tinkering....

--Steve
 
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I still don't really understand (LOL) but I'm going to do my best to logic this out as I have an otherwise lovely 710-1401 that doesn't rub but evades my centering efforts.
 
SpySmasher said:
I still don't really understand (LOL) but I'm going to do my best to logic this out as I have an otherwise lovely 710-1401 that doesn't rub but evades my centering efforts.
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Push the open blade toward the scale it favors when the blade is closed. Seems backward, I know, but it worked.
 
SpySmasher said:
I still don't really understand (LOL) but I'm going to do my best to logic this out as I have an otherwise lovely 710-1401 that doesn't rub but evades my centering efforts.
Click to expand...

I just re-read the posts in this thread and noticed that the process steps weren't made clear. Loosen the body screws, move the blade, re-tighten the body screws. I've edited and bolded a line in paragraph six of my post above for clarity.
 
Just to the point of discomfort. A difficult thing to articulate. Not enough to break anything obviously but enough to shift the parts.

I guess start low and work your way up?
 
How is the new Freek in terms of handle material? It is Grivory and some rubberized stuff correct? How does it feel compared to the Grip's handle material?
 
They gray part is basically the same, but the rubberized black area is much tackier. More in line with rubber handled tools. It's not flexible or anything as there's Grivory underneath, but there is a slight give.
 
Sweet guys! I am glad this helped you. I know it's hard to understand without a video or something.

Great writeup Steve!
 
Hey ChazzyP, could you update your excellent post on how you centered you 710 and create another thread with a descriptive title like how to re-center your benchmade blade. I saw the title of this thread and almost didn't even open it up to read. I think this would make it easier to search for in the future.

Thank you Jimmy for mentioning this technique.

So, I tried this technique on two of my knives and it worked perfect. However, I have one piece of advice for those with DLC coated blades. Cover the blade with tape first. I clamped my blades in a vise with wooden jaws. My DLC coated blade got pretty scuffed up from moving around in the jaws. This would be only a concern for those who want their knives to look pristine. Mine is a user so no big deal.

JonesE
 
You don't necessarily have to clamp the blade in a vice, though it is a lot safer I'm sure. I just held the handle and pushed the blade down on my desk.
 
JonesE said:
Hey ChazzyP, could you update your excellent post on how you centered you 710 and create another thread with a descriptive title like how to re-center your benchmade blade. I saw the title of this thread and almost didn't even open it up to read. I think this would make it easier to search for in the future.

Thank you Jimmy for mentioning this technique.

So, I tried this technique on two of my knives and it worked perfect. However, I have one piece of advice for those with DLC coated blades. Cover the blade with tape first. I clamped my blades in a vise with wooden jaws. My DLC coated blade got pretty scuffed up from moving around in the jaws. This would be only a concern for those who want their knives to look pristine. Mine is a user so no big deal.

JonesE
Click to expand...

I'm planning to edit the post and start another thread. I suspect the mods may move it to Maintenance & Tinkering if I put it here on the Benchmade pages, but since centering seems to be a persistent BM issue I'll title it so maybe it can stay in this wing of BF forums. I'll get to it in the next day or so.
 
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