What knives have you had that seem to break the most?

B

Balls Deep

Joined
Jan 2, 2014
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I'm posting this out of curiosity. Esee is known for there no questions asked warranty but it seems like just about every company has some kind of lifetime of forever warranty. I'm curious to know if community members have experienced many breakages and if so we're there ever patterns, brand, style, etc. I'm also curious to know if members have ever tried to break knives and couldn't. Stories are welcome and much appreciated.

BD
 
Emerson, every single Emerson knife I have ever had has failed on my at some point. The only exception is the Custom I have and that's just because I don't use it that often and the Titanium liners on the customs are actually done properly.
 
I got a kershaw Emerson cqc 4kxl for a steal and tried to wave and wrist flick it dead. Hundreds of times I waved it. The guys at work thought I was crazy. I told them I'm just breaking it in. All that happened was the pivot would come loose. I still have it somewhere.
 
None of my knives have broken, even after some abuse, although I'm "mostly" pretty easy on them nowadays.

Only one I can think of off the top of my head is the Kabar USMC (1217). Its a good knife, and can do many things well. However Batoning with one consistently will break it eventually. When they break, its almost always right at the square transition from tang to blade. I've seen maybe... 5-10 of them that have broken in my time here on bladeforums.

Oh, and the original Cold Steel Leatherneck. That was breaking all over the place (from abuse), so they changed its design.

Other than that, I can't say I've seen many systematic failures.

Of course, knives with fine tips get the tips broken by people that pry hard, but that seems to be irrespective of blade type from what I've seen so far (seen BK16's, BK2's, ESEE Izula I&2, Kabar Heavy Bowie, ESEE 6, Cold Steel SRK, etc). So personally I don't count those types of failures as being anything to worry about, as thats not something I do much of, and in many cases the prying was pretty extreme (the BK2's last 1/4in or so of tip broke off trying to break a bolt holding a transfer case skidplate in place that had been warped...).

So yeah, offhand I can only think of those two as ones where lots have happened. Most of the others seem to be the random chance of a HT error, or REALLY extreme abuse.
 
Dean Crail said:
Emerson, every single Emerson knife I have ever had has failed on my at some point. The only exception is the Custom I have and that's just because I don't use it that often and the Titanium liners on the customs are actually done properly.
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Really?
What failed, and what were you doing with it?
I have had no breakage issues with my Emersons, ever.
 
stabman said:
Really?
What failed, and what were you doing with it?
I have had no breakage issues with my Emersons, ever.
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I've been curious about this too. One of the things I've also wondered is how original emersons compare to the zt Emerson collaborations in strength and durability to regular emersons.
 
SOG fielder and flash 2... But to be fair they are the cheaper eco-line models..
 
Not a one. Pretty easy on my knives for the most part.
I too would like some more details from Dean Crail out of interest and for the sake of knowledge.
Cheers
 
stabman said:
Really?
What failed, and what were you doing with it?
I have had no breakage issues with my Emersons, ever.
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On mine it was always the lock. About 8-10 months and it would be sitting on the other liner.

After more than one trip to Emerson for the same problem on the same knife and I called it quits with Emerson. Couldn't get it right the first time, couldn't get it right the second time, not getting a third chance.
 
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I've had blades (Cold Steel Kudu, Spyderco Tenacious) chip out on me from abuse, but never completely broken; I don't abuse them like I used to. By the way, jealous of your name OP :thumbup:
 
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Dropped a cold steel mini recon once while climbing a ladder and cracked the G10. Other than all my knives have remained intact. Knock on wood.
 
Kershaws cheap line of "starter" knives. My $5 flea market knife outlasted it because torsion bar thing broke on it pretty fast but still usable and now recently frame lock broke
 
Only knives I can recall ever breaking were Gerbers and cheapo pocket knives. I will say gerber will typically replace a broken knife, thou sometimes not worth the shipping cost to return it.
 
The only knife I remember that actually broke was a Puma White Hunter in the 1970s. It was due to a manufacturing defect and Puma replaced it once I contacted them. Otherwise, I've had several cheap knives to simply wear out prematurely. After only a month or so of light use, a less than $10 S&W liner lock wore to the point it would not release without prying the liner back into position. After less than a year, a Gerber (that should have cost less than $10 but didn't) suffered premature pivot wear to the point the blade rattled around in every direction. I don't recall any quality knives other than that one Puma ever suffering premature wear or outright breakage. But my knives don't get a lot of heavy use or physical abuse. Occasional verbal abuse, but not physical abuse. :rolleyes:
 
I mangled the Teflon washers on my LionSteel SR2A when I was taking it apart to clean it. Those suckers are hard to put back in without warping them. But they pretty much re-formed over night and after some tinkering I figured out how to reassemble the knife rather easily without further damage. Still work'n like a champ.
 
Had broken a 10$ Walter pocket knife while chopping a very small bamboo, it ended up having a huge chip in the blade.
 
jrawk said:
I mangled the Teflon washers on my LionSteel SR2A when I was taking it apart to clean it. Those suckers are hard to put back in without warping them. But they pretty much re-formed over night and after some tinkering I figured out how to reassemble the knife rather easily without further damage. Still work'n like a champ.
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I'm surprised that Lionsteel would use Teflon washers. For the money you spend on one of their knives I would expect bronze. Interesting.
 
wesmanthetiger said:
I'm surprised that Lionsteel would use Teflon washers. For the money you spend on one of their knives I would expect bronze. Interesting.
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since the SR series has an integral handle (machined from one block of material) I think the Teflon washers are kind of a must. To reassemble mine, I literally needed to actively use a pry bar to pry open the aluminum handle a smidge to be able to slide the washer+blade+washer sandwich back to the pivot hole. There is a lot of tension there and the Teflon washers literally get squished down a bit. The Teflon washers don't bother me. They are smooth as silk and don't require lubrication.
 
wesmanthetiger said:
I'm surprised that Lionsteel would use Teflon washers. For the money you spend on one of their knives I would expect bronze. Interesting.
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Don't underestimate Teflon washers. They're pretty tough and stand up to lots of use. Like bronze washers, they're self lubricating but can be even smoother operating.

Just as an example of the toughness of Teflon, I've used a Teflon disc (just a big, thick washer) on the 5th wheel hitch of an RV for years with no significant wear. That disc supports considerably more than 1000 pounds and undergoes constant pressure and movement while traveling thousands of miles across country.
 
Since I tend to use knives to their obvious limits I can say I have not broken many. When I have broken knives, it was almost always because I did something that it was not intended to do. Like throwing knives into a stump and the tip breaks. Well, duh, what did I expect. Prying with a folder and breaking the tip, duh, again.
 
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