Thanks fellas.
I heard an argument against the Axis Lock that both springs were needed for function. That if one failed, it would be rendered inoperable. I didn't believe the theory, however before I argued against it, wanted to be sure. The above statements are pretty much the way I had it figured/hypothesized.
Big promoter of the Axis and BM in general. Just wanting to confirm what I believed as to know of what I speak. That "one spring fail" theory didnt sound correct however it did give me pause. I have utmost confidence in the design, this just reaffirms.
My opinion is that the discussion on omega spring failures on the AXIS lock should be viewed in the same fashion as failure of a good liner lock, the Kaboom! and Glocks, how 9mm doesn't have enough "stopping power", or discussion on the need for super lock strength on a folding knife. If someone is convinced that the omega springs are so vulnerable to failure that AXIS is not a good locking system, you probably are not going to change their perception even though there are loads of empirical evidence demonstrating the AXIS is a solid and proven platform.
Do the omega springs fail? Of course. But the frequency in which they happen (relative to the amount of AXIS knives made) is rare and discussion on the topic is generally more hypothetical rather than actual. Some failures happen because of fatigue from the wear and tear of usage and some because of the user. There are indeed also occasional random failures as well, but that really doesn't speak to AXIS as a whole. When I sold knives and this topic came up, I tried to remind people that a small hand full of incidents generally does not signify anything beyond face value. An example I used was how my grandmother smoked for almost a century and was healthier than 99% of the population, which does
not prove that smoking is safe. So in sum, I think that the functional vulnerability is generally much more perceived than it is actual, with occasional exceptions.
In theory, I would guess that the chance of injury from a spring failure is very low. Partly this is from the redundancy of having two and how obvious it is when one fails, and partly because it seems the springs would be most likely to break when the spring is actively being flexed towards the position in which strain is greater. When open or closed, there is less tension on the spring and the spring is not actively flexing. I've never heard of injury from AXIS failure, and while stories may exist, I think they are very rare.
And ultimately, AXIS is still 100% operable with both springs broken, and replacing the omega springs on an AXIS knife is easy to do.
