The longest you've owned a knife with no blade play

shinyedges said:
Blade play is interesting, what one person thinks is rock solid with zero play another person can discern bladeplay in. I've found all folders have some amount of blade play to some extent. The tolerances that allow movement can be discerned by an ocd knife nut.

I have had:

Tri ad
Axis
Compression
Ball bearing
Liner
Framelocks
Scorpian locks
Mid back locks
Rear back locks
Button
Strap locks


Hell, that ain't even all of them i think. Ive had multiple of most everyone of those locks too.
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I kind of don’t like when buying a used knife if the lockup and play is described as “rock solid” because I never know what to expect.

For me atleast there is a difference between side to side blade play, which is caused by looseness in the pivot and being able to muscle a little bit of side to side flex which is something that can be done on pretty much any folder.

Also alot of “rock solid” folding knives if you pull the blade really hard against the stop pin it will cause the lockbar to move over to a higher %; something that rocks don’t actually do.
 
I have a very old (at least 20 years) Victorinox Super Tinker that has been used plenty, but has no blade play whatsoever.
 
Most of the knives I have owned with blade play started out that way. This of course happened before I learned to inspect before purchasing.
 
I've got a Benchmade 550 that was used as a work knife and daily carry for a little over 3 years. It's literally the only knife I used during that time frame other than kitchen knives. It's still as solid as when I bought it.

I've got a Buck 112 LT that's rock solid but only had it about 3 weeks. I don't mind a tiny but of wiggle but literally every Buck I've ever owned or handled had a tiny bit of side to side. Not complaining I'm a huge Buck fan but this particular 112 impressed me.
 
The Opinel 9 and 10. I've never had an Opinel that had noticeable blade play despite being beaten upon.

Every plastic framed Buck I've owned developed blade play. Most but not all of my metal framed Bucks have been solid. Reminds me, I got a new drop point 110 that came with a lot of horizontal play and it will need to go back.
 
I think part of being a knife nut is being able to adjust a knife to eliminate blade play and keep the action smooth. If I cant do that I consider the knife flawed. For example, most locks make contact with a ramped interface of some sort to allow it to self adjust over time. Sometimes a blade needs to be flicked harder as now and then the lock stops earlier than possible on the interface so it has temporary play.

Lapedog said:
I kind of don’t like when buying a used knife if the lockup and play is described as “rock solid” because I never know what to expect.

For me atleast there is a difference between side to side blade play, which is caused by looseness in the pivot and being able to muscle a little bit of side to side flex which is something that can be done on pretty much any folder.

Also alot of “rock solid” folding knives if you pull the blade really hard against the stop pin it will cause the lockbar to move over to a higher %; something that rocks don’t actually do.
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I have a friend who thinks bending the blade equals play, so I showed him how my chefs knife has a ton of blade play despite being fixed. He still doesnt get it.
 
allenC said:
I have a very old (at least 20 years) Victorinox Super Tinker that has been used plenty, but has no blade play whatsoever.
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That's been my experience with every normal sized SAK I have owned. This excludes the classic and other models that are that size.
 
Buck 110 since 1967. I had Buck redo it a few months back as it was very dirty and just needed a good spa. Locks up tight and looks new again. It locked up tight before the spa. Buck USA on blade.
 
BenchCo Spydermade said:
I think part of being a knife nut is being able to adjust a knife to eliminate blade play and keep the action smooth. If I cant do that I consider the knife flawed.
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It's been some years since I've owned them, but I've had several variations of the midlock Manix (gen 1) knives and there was always some vertical play when push cutting with them through cardboard for example. Based on comments from other users, it was completely expected. In that case, the vertical movement was essentially a part of the design. I've also owned several Axis lock knives from Benchmade that have had a small, but noticeably amount of play if I moved the blade around while in the locked position. Not so much that I would notice during use, but they didn't have zero blade play, like I've had in other folders
 
I'm almost 50 years with my Gerber Paul Axial lock. It was my first one handed expensive knife that really got me into better knives. I don't EDC it. Instead I EDC a Gayle Bradley #1 M4 and carbon fiber since they first came out around 9 years ago.


Did I win ?
 
Kaizen1 said:
It's been some years since I've owned them, but I've had several variations of the midlock Manix (gen 1) knives and there was always some vertical play when push cutting with them through cardboard for example. Based on comments from other users, it was completely expected. In that case, the vertical movement was essentially a part of the design. I've also owned several Axis lock knives from Benchmade that have had a small, but noticeably amount of play if I moved the blade around while in the locked position. Not so much that I would notice during use, but they didn't have zero blade play, like I've had in other folders
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Funny thing. So as I was typing the words to disagree with benchmades axis locks having play I went to double check my benchmades and make sure I was keeping it honest. They all have the teensiest bit of play. It's not much, and it doesnt bother me, but it's there. It isn't on most of my other folders.
 
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