Did a knife ever fail you?

[Alberta Ed]

My nice Buck paring knife broke at the tang after several years of use. I sent it back and they sent me a new one, gratis. No other failures altho I have cut myself more times than I can count, due to my own stupidity, not the knives.

 

[Tyson A Wright]

Clearly a knife failure: I had a Kershaw Scallion where the linerlock failed - I was not cut too badly, but I never trusted that knife again. (Not a huge loss, because I never really liked that knife anyway - just not my thing.)

Just really poor quality: My CRKT Folding Razel chipped (quite a large chunk knocked out) on the square end the first time I ever used that part of the blade. (Also, the main edge on that knife could go from sharp to dull just by looking at it funny - I swear the blade must have been made of raw iron.)

Really, my fault, not the knife: As a kid, I broke the blade off at the tang on a small, single-bladed Buck slipjoint, but that was my fault, using it badly. Good lesson learned.

Not a knife failure, but somehow reminded of this, so decided to include it anyway: I had a Kershaw D.W.O with gray handle that took a walk from my workplace 30+ years ago that I've always regretted not replacing. I see them for sale occasionally, but I've never seen another gray one - it seems like they are all either orange or black.

-Tyson

 

[Velitrius]

Had a Spyderco Cricket once. Little Bro and I were installing a lock in a new door.

We set the lock plate on the door and set to scribing the outline into the wood with the tip of the knife.

The tip snapped off. Scribing soft wood. A task that wouldn't have ruined the tip of a ball point pen.

Aw well. It was pretty much the last Spyderco I bought for a long time. I have some Spydie stuff now, but it took awhile.

 

[Natlek]

Well not mine but I seen my buddy throw one of those cheap boot daggers at a tree and right before I got all the words out that your going to break it. I heard Ping! Yes it broke into two pieces, and I laughed as it was quite funny to see. The right tool for the job you know.

That is partially correct . Under normal circumstances yes, a knife is a knife and probably and most likely every knife is good .BUT in a situation where life depends on skill you have and what knife you have and simple cutting things don t matter , when you must use that knife as prybar , as screwdriver , as digging tool ,for wood splitting / batoning , to defend your life and for many other things which knife is not intended .....only then matter which knife you have with you .Than THAT is right tool for the job !
Sorry for off topic

 

[Ruzster]

Had the liner lock fail on CRKT Heiho. Slipped completely by and off the tang under moderate pressure. Like the knife but the liner lock isn’t dependable.

 

[Don W]

Ive broken a few knives. 2 of them I didnt feel was my fault and I sent them back to the manufacturer, both were repaired or replaced.
As a teenager I destroyed a few knives, mostly chopping things that didnt need to be chopped, some thrown.

 

[Sirgilbert357]

My CRKT M16-14 liner lock is completely untrustworthy. It's never been right from the day I bought it. It closes about as easily as a traditional non-locking folder (I'm a noob, but I think those are called slip joints?).

It is over 12 years old and I just got back into knives...found out CRKT has a decent warranty, so I dug it up and sent it back to them to see what they will do. They've had it for a full week now and I've yet to hear anything...fingers crossed they just replace it with a new one. Not sure I'd ever trust that knife at this point.

 

[Pomsbz]

I had a GEC #15 Navy Knife in old barn wood or similar. After 6 months carry it looked like this simply from use and carry. The wood was utterly non stabilised and so soft you could mark it with a fingernail. You would think a knife with a SS blade would be at least designed to be a user rather than a shelf queen.

After sanding and stabilising it was back to looking like this and finally set up for actual use and carry but it still shouldn't have been necessary.