Broken Back Springs

[Invoice]

I'm just sitting here recovering from my ruptured Appendix and I got to thinking about something we don't talk about much. Broken back springs and what a bummer they are.
They happen when you are in the process of using a knife. They even happen just sitting on the dresser.
I've had a few of them happen to me. One on Queen Dan Burke Barlow. A couple of other Queens and a Custom made knife.
The Queens I will never be able to send back. The custom I'm sure will go back. It's just a matter of contacting him.
What are your thoughts and have you had them?
Do you send them back to the maker?
Do you just toss them aside and say it's only a tool and I'll get another one.
The DB Barlow really bothered me. Such a great knife and now useless unless I send it out to someone for repairs.

 

[screened porch]

I've had only one knife actually do it, to both springs, while closed. A Queen spalted maple stockman. I sent it back and asked them to replace both springs, since what were the chances the springs weren't from the same batch. They returned it with a spring so mushy it hardly kept the blade closed. I have to wonder, incompetence or spite? My CSR asked them to rush it, which may have ticked off the shop. On the other hand, I got it back before they closed. But that's when the second spring broke.

As soon as I win Publisher's Clearing House, I'll ask @glennbad if he can make me some new springs.

 

[Railsplitter]

It has happened to me once with an Ulster Scout knife. I was opening all the implements to take pictures of the knife and as soon as I opened the second implement on the same spring it went limp and I knew right away what had happened.

It was a hard lesson to learn because this was an EDC of a dear friend of mine who passed away shortly before I received his knife. I planned to carry it and use it in his honor but I ended up making a display case for it instead.

Needless to say, I don't open more than one blade at a time on the same spring anymore. I can say with the utmost certainty that I would much rather have Carroll's knife in my pocket.

 

[jackknife]

I've had it happen with two Queens. A country cousin sodbuster and a stockman. It seems not uncommon with Queen. After the second one, I stopped buying queen.

In the army I saw a lot of the Camillus 'Demo' knives with broken springs.

 

[TheChunk91]

I had a single blade stainless gec snap the spring while it was sitting on a shelf overnight. They fixed it without problem.

I have a stainless schrade cut with a cracked but still functioning spring. I rarely open that blade in fear of the spring breaking all the way. It's probably been that way for many years.

 

[kamagong]

I try to take good care of my knives, but I don't expect them to last forever. If they break or wear out, so be it. I have others.

 

[Will Power]

Not happened to me yet, touch Osage Orange wood, but I live in fear of it...

 

[knarfeng]

I've had it happen on two knives.

• One was a Buck 703, which my mother gave me sometime around 1980. I think it was when I was working in the Midwest and came home for Christmas. The 700 series were the first slipjoints made in-house by Buck. Some of the early springs had a bad heat treat. Many failed, and Buck replaced the knives. But that particular knife was a gift from my mother, so I put it in a drawer and bought another for carry. I still have both. The subsequent batches of the 700 series were all good. I've often wondered if Buck's propensity for soft springs came from that early bad batch.
  
• The second was a Queen Cattleman stockman. It just up and broke for no particular reason. I hadn't used it very much. I still have it. I just don't carry it.

 

[Bigfattyt]

Queen, Pardue collab gunboat. D2 steel, stag covers. Tink.........

Pretty bummed, that knife was an EDC, and I put a lot of work into full blade regrinds on all three blades....

 

[sceva]

I've had one break. It was a relatively cheap Imperial Kamp King but it was my first knife and my Grandfather gave it to me so it was very special. Being relatively young and not knowing better I ended up tossing it out. I wish I still had it, broken spring and all. ( I do have a replacement to remind me though)

 

[knarfeng]

Queen, Pardue collab gunboat. D2 steel, stag covers. Tink.........

Pretty bummed, that knife was an EDC, and I put a lot of work into full blade regrinds on all three blades....

There are some occasions when "Darn" just does not express the proper depth of emotion. That must have been one of those times. What a loss!

 

[tongueriver]

I laid my CASE/BOSE dogleg jack up in the dresser drawer for a few days; when retrieved it both springs were broken in half. CASE fixed it. So far, so good. It is in my rotation on a regular basis.

 

[5K Qs]

I Invoice , I hope your recovery goes well. Kind of funny that a ruptured appendix got you thinking about broken back springs.

So far, I've never had a spring break on any of my knives (although I've only been at this about 5 years). I did once buy an old Kutmaster stockman in a dark and dirty junk store, thinking that I might be able to improve its lackluster walk&talk by cleaning and oiling the works. When I got the knife out into the sunshine, however, I discovered that its springs were not just dirty, sluggish, and possibly rusted stuck. Instead, the springs were both cracked. So now I just use it for sharpening practice.

Here's a pic of the knife with all 3 blades deployed; lot of steel remains on those blades, right?

Here's the "natural state" of the knife currently. When held with blades down, they fall out of the frame; kind of an automatic opener, I guess:

You can see the crack in both of the springs in this shot:

- GT