Anybody Get a Good Tactile Knife Co. Maverick Yet?

Lenny

Lenny

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 15, 1998
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Just like the subject asks, who's got a good one?
The reviews are less than glowing for this knife.
Too bad cuz I love the design.
 
My micarta one has no issues. I believe it was a Blade Texas pickup that I bought on the secondary. Great action, only a tiny bit of blade movement when I got it that I was able to remedy with a twist of the pivot screw. Very happy with it.
 
I have a micarta and a Ti, both ordered directly from Tactile, and both are perfect. They came to me extremely smooth but a little stiff, but broke in very quickly (within a couple hours), so now they just glide open incredibly smoothly. No blade play, and a drop shut action. The Ti came considerably sharper than the micarta but that’s the only negative thing I have to say about either. I really like them.
 
Thanks for the replies.
I'd also like to hear from folks who got less than perfect ones
and how Tactile resolved your issues.
 
I just ordered one today and I am praying that it has no blade play. That’s why I waited a while to see if maybe they would Fix the problem that many people are reporting. If it has blade play and I can’t correct it it is going right back. I just had to order one and see it for myself. I like the concept and design so much. We will see!
 
I have a micarta inbound from Tactile, perhaps tomorrow.

It was an impulse buy, largely because I couldn’t help but give a try for a new(ish) US manufacturer.

I’ll update when received.
 
Mine is from the Texas Blade Show. It has vertical blade movement they don't consider to be an issue, and a very soft detent. I adjusted the tension of the omega springs via the alternate pair of holes in the liners and it helped a tiny bit, but I'm still not thrilled about it. I asked them if they'd fix the blade movement and they dismissed me completely, so this is as good as it's going to get.

They put the wrong clip on it, so I had to pay them to get the correct one. It arrived without being bent properly to fit the knife, so I had to employ sheet metal bending tools to get it to fit. Even after all of that, the clip design in general is bad and does not work well.

The titanium version is unnecessarily heavy and poorly balanced because it shares the full liners with the cheaper composite version. The construction and design feel like a bit of a miss. Ergonomics are decent and neutral, but the clip posts are a hotspot.

The blade is the standout part of the knife. The steel feels hard while sharpening and it's got a reasonably acute grind, thin stock, and a thin edge. It also looks very pretty.

Overall, it's just an okay knife considering the price, and I'm pretty irritated with their customer service. I've anodized the hell out of mine and I'm just committed to keeping it around as there's no way I'll recoup what I paid for it now that everyone is aware these things are lackluster.
 
I just opened my Micarta Maverick.
Seems pretty good to me on first inspection.

Centered. Smooth enough. No side-to-side or up/down blade play.
The detent is a little weaker than I’d prefer, but it’s not bad. I can get my BM 940 to open with a firm shake too.

It’s really light and the scales will flex if you push in on ‘em. I’m not in love with that, but it’s a design issue, not a problem with fit & finish. Other lightweight knives will do that .

Overall, it’s a nice knife. I’d for sure call it a gentleman’s folder though.
 
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BD_01 said:
I just opened my Micarta Maverick.
Seems pretty good to me on first inspection.

Centered. Smooth enough. No side-to-side or up/down blade play.
The detent is a little weaker than I’d prefer, but it’s not bad. I can get my BM 940 to open with a firm shake too.

It’s really light and the scales will flex if you push in on ‘em. I’m not in love with that, but it’s a design issue, not a problem with fit & finish. Other lightweight knives will do that .

Overall, it’s a nice knife. I’d for sure call it a gentleman’s folder though.
Click to expand...
When you say no up or down play, how are you evaluating that? Just wondering if my standards are unreasonable or not.
 
marrenmiller said:
When you say no up or down play, how are you evaluating that? Just wondering if my standards are unreasonable or not.
Click to expand...
knife open with lock bar engaged. Hold in hand.
Grasp the blade on either side of the spine between my fingers and thumb. Push up (towards the spine), push down, push left, push, right.

I’m not mashing on it. It’s a pretty light duty knife.
Hope that helps.
 
Both of my Tactile Maverick have ZERO blade play in any direction, up down left or right, with the blade anywhere between closed to fully open. There is no wiggle, pivot lash, or detent lash. And the detent feels good when flicking it open with the thumb.

However, I discovered that the detent from the bar lock is not strong enough to hold the blade closed when whipping the knife out really quickly, allowing me to flick open the blade open without touching the thumb studs or the bar lock.

 
I got the micarta first and was impressed, smooth action and solid lockup, no discernible blade play. The scales have a little too much flex though, so I ordered a Ti version with high expectations which unfortunately were not met. Terrible blade play and stiff action. Planning to take it apart to see if I can improve it a little but haven’t had a chance yet.
 
Tactile dismissing blade play is total BS! Glad I didn't give them my money - I bought a micarta from a forumite here off the exchange & I guess I got relatively lucky, but I also had to put a little work into it.

When the package arrived I thought the action was sluggish. So I took out the pivot and blade and washers and got some 2000 grit sandpaper, and then very briefly polished the washers, the outside of the pivot, and the pivot hole in the blade. Then I noticed some tiny irregularities in the surface of the tang where it meets the lockbar, so I sparingly worked the tang against the sandpaper on a hard flat surface to even that out. Lubed and reassembled - had to negotiate with the very sensitive pivot screw. But I was able to get it where it will fly open and drop shut, but also lockup is fine. No vertical or horizontal wiggle. And I just checked the detent and it holds the blade in properly.

BUT I generally grab the blade in the middle to wiggle and check for blade play, and I just checked mine by wiggling at the tip and there IS a teensy vertical wiggle. Nothing I noticed before or would notice in use. Just like the dreaded bendy scales - I can bend mine if I try, but nothing that would affect use.

I really like the knife after 5 min of tuning it up (plus a sharpening) and it just feels like a more quality product than my Benchmades or other axis lock knives. In fact, if I didn't vastly prefer a lower blade tip my EDC search would have concluded with this knife. The clip works fine for me and the size is perfect. It really would benefit from a grippy backspacer though, to help actuating the lock . . . guess that's my next project!
 
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fishface5 said:
Tactile dismissing blade play is total BS! Glad I didn't give them my money - I bought a micarta from a forumite here off the exchange & I guess I got relatively lucky, but I also had to put a little work into it.

When the package arrived I thought the action was sluggish. So I took out the pivot and blade and washers and got some 2000 grit sandpaper, and then very briefly polished the washers, the outside of the pivot, and the pivot hole in the blade. Then I noticed some tiny irregularities in the surface of the tang where it meets the lockbar, so I sparingly worked the tang against the sandpaper on a hard flat surface to even that out. Lubed and reassembled - had to negotiate with the very sensitive pivot screw. But I was able to get it where it will fly open and drop shut, but also lockup is fine. No vertical or horizontal wiggle. And I just checked the detent and it holds the blade in properly.

BUT I generally grab the blade in the middle to wiggle and check for blade play, and I just checked mine by wiggling at the tip and there IS a teensy vertical wiggle. Nothing I noticed before or would notice in use. Just like the dreaded bendy scales - I can bend mine if I try, but nothing that would affect use.

I really like the knife after 5 min of tuning it up (plus a sharpening) and it just feels like a more quality product than my Benchmades or other axis lock knives. In fact, if I didn't vastly prefer a lower blade tip my EDC search would have concluded with this knife. The clip works fine for me and the size is perfect. It really would benefit from a grippy backspacer though, to help actuating the lock . . . guess that's my next project!
Click to expand...
I wouldn't mind having to do that work on a sub 100 dollars knife, but on a knife in the 250~350 range?
 
It’s really odd because I have a bunch of crossbar lock knives in the 50-80 dollar range and they have zero issues with blade play. I would think Tactile could at least be on par with cheaper Chinese knives, especially at their price point.
 
Honestly, a tiny amount of blade play has always been a thing with this type of lock. I have a bunch of Axix lock knives, and none of them lock up as tight as a frame lock.
It would seem to me that if you get one of these and it actually has zero blade play at all, you should feel lucky.
That's just my take though.
 
ginshun said:
Honestly, a tiny amount of blade play has always been a thing with this type of lock. I have a bunch of Axix lock knives, and none of them lock up as tight as a frame lock.
It would seem to me that if you get one of these and it actually has zero blade play at all, you should feel lucky.
That's just my take though.
Click to expand...
I've had some crossbar locks with a tiny bit of vertical movement, but most of mine have locked up without any perceptible play. In a side-by-side comparison with my Hogue Deka and RSK, I can't get any movement out of the Hogues but there's audible clicking and perceptible movement with my Maverick. I always check every knife as firmly as I (safely) can for lock operation, so I'm probably catching more lock issues than most people do.

Pretty much all modern self-adjusting locking mechanism designs are capable of locking without slop, it just depends on execution. I think Tactile haven't figured it out like the other manufacturers have.
 
Mejnoon said:
I got the micarta first and was impressed, smooth action and solid lockup, no discernible blade play. The scales have a little too much flex though…
Click to expand...

My Micarta is probably going back for the same reason. Sort of a pity because there’s nothing really wrong with the execution of my sample.

It’s just a little too “light use” for me, and I don’t see it working its way into my rotation.
 
DocJekl said:
Both of my Tactile Maverick have ZERO blade play in any direction, up down left or right, with the blade anywhere between closed to fully open. There is no wiggle, pivot lash, or detent lash. And the detent feels good when flicking it open with the thumb.

However, I discovered that the detent from the bar lock is not strong enough to hold the blade closed when whipping the knife out really quickly, allowing me to flick open the blade open without touching the thumb studs or the bar lock.

Click to expand...
Most crossbar locks will do this, even coil spring designs like the anthem and MSI. The only ones I’ve owned that won’t needed to be broken in. I don’t consider it a defect, just the nature of the lock design.
 
Mejnoon said:
Most crossbar locks will do this, even coil spring designs like the anthem and MSI. The only ones I’ve owned that won’t needed to be broken in. I don’t consider it a defect, just the nature of the lock design.
Click to expand...
Most? The < $100 Kizer Drop Bear that just arrived does not do this, and it's on bearings. I don't recall any of my Benchmade or Kunwu Pulsar and Manix 2 doing this.

It wont stop me from using it, but it adds an extra level of worry I'll carry when I have it on me. I don't want to drop it, have it pop open, and then poke somebody or something that it shouldn't.
 
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