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Hey Benchmade - What about the liners?

diamond

February 06, 2014 07:43

First off, thank you Peter and Tracy! Your videos are awesome and really informative to us as to illustrate just what these wonderful knives can do

After watching several videos, one common occurrence with failures seems to be the liners bending/deforming/failing around the axis bar - particularly at the top of the knife above the axis bar. This would make sense as it is usually the thinnest or narrowest part of steel - which is usually 410 or 420 stainless. Why not upgrade the steel, strengthen, or otherwise reinforce the liners on most of the knives in the lineup (like the whole Black Class

and most of of the Blue

) - except for those where weight savings are paramount (like a 530)?

I know Benchmade's warranty would take care of the failed knife and it would be replaced. But if this is a common known spot for failures (which it absolutely appears to be from multiple videos) why not reinforce or re-engineer added strength/support around the axis bar cutout?

Comments

7 comments

jerry

February 06, 2014 13:27
My guess would be that with some of their knives fixing that spot would just mean it would fail in another. With the 275 their putting so much pressure on it I would almost not want to see the other part that would break.
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archer

February 06, 2014 14:47
My guess is that when a fail occurs it's better that something that bends and deforms than have something break and the blade close off with the force of a miniture guillotine.
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axisfan

February 06, 2014 17:39
That damage is caused by forces so far beyond what you could impart to a knife with your hands that it would be adding unneeded cost to correct a non-problem.

Have you ever seen that failure anywhere but in a lab test?
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archer

February 06, 2014 21:46
quote:

Originally posted by AxisFan:

Have you ever seen that failure anywhere but in a lab test?

Exactly the point.

Why add on manufacturing costs to improve something that is allready very solid?

The amount of force applied is irrelevant but when enough force is applied to cause damage or failure, I would reason that it is better have something deform gradually than have something snap with sudden impact or force that could cause bodily harm, who needs a lawsuite?
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sharpener1969

February 12, 2014 15:54
quote:

Originally posted by archer:
My guess is that when a fail occurs it's better that something that bends and deforms than have something break and the blade close off with the force of a miniture guillotine.

Yea my thoughts exactly, When I assume something could snap! I try and have a little foresight into how it may affect me. Busted knuckles , falling into or off of something. Knock on wood. I have managed to use fear to my benefit.

James
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diamond

February 21, 2014 06:36
Gents, good point on designing a failure to be in a predictable spot. Although sometimes the videos do show blades snapping off violently.

And NO, I have not seen catastrophic failures outside of the lab. I have seen broken tips, broken omega springs, and one broken handle that was from SERIOUS prying abuse.

My thinking was more along the lines of pattern failures that could be fixed for say -
Black Class which are marketed to take a beating. Also wanted to see what
BM's official stance was, if they had one?
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po

March 20, 2014 17:51
quote:

Originally posted by AxisFan:
...it would be adding unneeded cost to correct a non-problem...

+1

Pursuing that line of reasoning to its logical extreme would result in a knife that would be impossible to break and impractical to use.
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