" All folding knives have some form of blade play"

He must be living in the past, all folding knives used to have blade play, but now that were in the 21st and a half century, its a thing of the past...
 
I'd love for him to show me the play on a Southard.

I can get a tiny bit of side to side movement on most of my folders, but that's because I like my blades to swing freely. On some, where I've polished the pivot, pb washers and tang, there is simply no play at all, even with the swinging blade.

Sounds like he's more merchant than knife nut, which is fine so long as he doesn't hold his low standards to his customers that ARE knife nuts. :thumbup:
 
He's either too concerned with details or not concerned enough; either he means all folding knives have tolerances and was being a pedant to avoid the problem, or he isn't concerned enough to discern a quality product from an inferior one.
 
symphonyincminor said:
Sounds like the merchant has to deal with these petty questions way too often - probably multiple inquiries on a daily basis.

I couldn't stand it myself....... these are production pieces, folks. Blades will be slightly off center. The lock may have a small amount of vertical or horizontal wiggle, depending on how the tight the pivot screw and stop pin screws are. There might even be a small paint chip missing off the clip!

Can you imagine how many returns these high volume sellers get back due to something silly like the blade is off to one side by 5% or 6% when closed? The mind reels....
Click to expand...

Does not matter how many stupid questions the seller gets - not everyone is a scientist to figure out blade play (many read/hear it on forums and probably ask). A simple "we cannot inspect the knife for you, but should you be unsatisfied we'll do our best to address it to our mutual satisfaction" or something similar is okay. I have had sellers tell me they could not inspect a knife, but would be glad to work with me should there be any concern. As for how many returns due to 5% play, that is why they have "restocking" fee as a deterrent. Under no circumstances does the seller get a free pass to arrogance (yes, I feel it is arrogant if someone answers me like this).

My business goes to someone else, technical or non-technical definition. ;-)
 
Lets just for a second completely remove the argument. Because in this argument you will have those that will split hairs and try to justify a B.S. answer because of a technicality when anyone one with a brain over the size of a golf ball should know what you meant by the question. I think what the real issue here is, is that I would never deal with a dealer who so blatantly tried to skirt my question with an answer like that. It only means one of a few things IMHO. 1. The dealer has no real knowledge of knives and is repeating what his father told him when he was a child 2. He sells either sub par junk or defective merchandise of which his theory of blade play probably applies 3. He hoping you know less about knives than he does in hopes his answer will be sufficient. Maybe its none of these but I honestly cant think of one acceptable reason someone would give this type of answer unless they were intentionally being a smart aleck. The seller doesnt sound like a straight shooter to me if that was really the extent of his response. And I would avoid them.
 
texas gun person said:
Well of course there is some blade play.
Click to expand...

I prefer to call it "blade-wiggle."

If the darned blade wiggles...that's too much. Back and forth is blade wiggle. Up and down is lock-rock. All of these silly definitions to work with.
Now, it IS IMPORTANT to mention that when you really want to check this out, that you would have to push the lockbar out (frame or liner lock) in order to take off extraneous tension on the blade tang. So that the blade rides free of tension when you check for blade wiggle. There can be a pretty dramatic difference.
Sonny
 
I bought an Italian stiletto that had a noticeable amount of blade wiggle. If I shook the knife when open I could heat it rattle. I ended up peening the pivot. Problem solved.
 
I have a local shop 5 minutes from the house and I have indeed found blade play in many of his knives be it a Ruckus or an $850 custom. I'm starting to wonder if he loosens the pivot so people will "awe" at the smoothness. For some reason many of the Benchmade knives have side to side. I want to volunteer there just so I can adjust all those pivots!
 
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