@ Pete, I should just say that the only reason I was surprised by the results of my "test" is that I had been assured by a Spyderco rep that their lock was one of the strongest in the business, and that it could support over a thousand pounds of force applied directly to the pivot without failing. I don't regularly abuse my knives (that one seemed like a good opportunity because I have a sprint run Manix 2, and one I broke never gets carried), or use them in fashions other than what one would expect a knife to be able to handle.
What I think is worth remarking about my success breaking my Manix 2 is that it is often marketed as an extremely hard use lock that will never fail, and I had it direct from their sales guy in their factory outlet that it wouldn't fail, even under heavy abuse. I've done the same before to a BM 530, knowing in advance that such a light knife would break somehow, but it was the handle that broke, not the lock. That from a 2 oz knife. I don't think it's necessarily a strike against the Manix 2 that it did fail under what is admittedly abuse. I DO think it is a strike against Spyderco to tell a potential customer that the Ball Bearing Lock is in any way as strong as the Triad lock and will hold up under heavy abuse, when in fact it won't. And it's not even like the lock failed. It straight up broke.
Should that be taken as a knock against Spyderco knives in general? No. I love Spyderco, and don't hesitate to recommend their knives. But I asked specifically about the failures in spine whack tests, and was told specifically that they had fixed that issue, and that they had tested the new ball bearing lock by clamping the blade and handle and suspending weight in the middle above the pivot to find out how much it took before it broke. The rep said specifically that they put 1000 pounds of weight on before it broke, and even then, the handle broke, and the lock never failed. And that's not from some knife store guy. That's from a rep who works in their factory outlet in Golden and said he regularly works in the factory itself. I find it hard to believe that 10 whacks with a wooden baton could literally break the ball bearing loose from the lock, if that story were true. I was told that if I wanted a hard-use knife whose lock would "never fail," I should purchase the Manix 2. I bought it at factory outlet prices too, on the strength of that story. That's about 30 dollars more than it goes for on the secondary market.
And I used the knife WITHOUT abusing it for a year, and I still think it's a great knife. But the fact that it DID fail under circumstances considerably less strenuous than I was led to believe by a company employee that it would survive, strikes me as false advertising, and I think others, who thought as I do that the Manix 2 lock is just as strong as it's competitors from Cold Steel and Benchmade, ought to know that's just not true.
-edit- I should also say that the only reason I did this in the first place is that I was confident, based on the assurances I had from the company, that it would hold up very well against abuse, and I could put to rest the claims that it's not a solid lock. I went into that as a firm believer in the Ball Bearing lock, otherwise I'd never have attempted it. I don't really like breaking my knives, especially when I paid nearly $100 for the thing.
But after reading the original post I determined it was indeed about CS.:thumbup:
