What is Blade Play??

wuyeah

wuyeah

Joined
Sep 29, 2005
Messages
1,665
Read some threads and this term "blade play" seems matter a lot.

Can somebody tell me what is blade play?
Why Blade play is bad?
how do you know/check if your knife has blade play?

thanks
 
Blade play is really just a bit of looseness in the pivot area. Take a folding knife, open it, hold the blade (carefully!) and wiggle it gently. If it moves at all, then there's play. Wiggle hard enough, and every blade will move somewhat, so it's a question of degrees.

I guess it's bad when it's to the extent where the blade can actually move independently of the handle to a certain extent. Sometimes it's an indication of a loose pivot, or poor tolerances between the pivot and the pivot hole in the tang. Lots of times tightening the pivot will eliminate play, but also make the knife a bear to open. So in some cases it's a matter of balancing an acceptable level of play with ease of opening. Basically, it's a problem by itself in certain extreme cases, but the more insidious cases are created by poor tolerances in the manufacturing process.

Hope that helps!
 
!) Blade play is when the knife blade can be wiggled in the locked position.
2) It indicates that the pivot screw may be loose or that the knife
is poorly made.
3) Hold the knife in the open locked position. Hold the handle in one hand
and with th other try to wiggle the blade. Go left ot right and forward and
back. If you feel movement, you got blade play. I find it unacceptable.
 
For all my expensive and highly praised knives ...... the one which had absolutely no blade play whatsoever straight out of the box and even after a year of solid use ...... is my Leatherman Charge !!
 
my Benchmade Skirmish has zero blade play even with the lock held open. Just fyi on #1, Scott Dog.
 
I am not sure that i did it right or not.....if i did it right, my

RRF, Sog Vision, BM 630, Manix, Chinook II all has zero blade play :eek:

Seems too good to be true :rolleyes:
 
wuyeah said:
I am not sure that i did it right or not.....if i did it right, my

RRF, Sog Vision, BM 630, Manix, Chinook II all has zero blade play :eek:

Seems too good to be true :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Nope, you've just got good knives. :thumbup:
 
Yeah unless you had very minor blade play you would know and might make a post called help me stop my blade from wobling (sp?). But instead you bought some real good knives, congrats!
 
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