Does the Recon 1 lock need to break in or what?

Fletcher Knives

Fletcher Knives

STEEL BREATHING BLADE MAESTRO
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My fellow BFers, I ordered a Cold Steel Recon 1 about a week ago to try it out. After waiting what felt like WAY too long for it to get here, I was excited when the wife said there was a package in the mail today. I opened it up and boomshakalaka there it was. I pulled it out of the box, very happy with it's demensions and promise of a solid grip due to the handle texture. Shapin up five by five. I flung open the blade. Good snap, solid lock, no blade play. Five by five. Release the lock... RELEASE THE LOCK... What is the deal? It released, but with enough force to unlock a bank vault with my thumb and forefinger. It absolutely will not release without the use of both. Surely I have a bad apple here. Anyone else have this problem, got any tips to fix it? Should i just be sending it right back to CS and ask them very nicely to fix or replace it? Am I just jumping the gun or missing something?
 
ok. maybe I shouldn't have talked all that trash. Apparently it heard me. I just spent a couple of hours in the ER getting a buttload of stitches in my left hand where that knife tried to take my index finger off. I got 6 double stitches and 2 regular. I think the doctor used a whole bottle of 2% on me. It was funny. The nurses kept asking me, "on a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?" I said, "point five." She said, "five?" I said, "no. point five. I cut my hand, not broke my leg. It's not that bad." It was hilarious when, after the doctor sewed me up, the same lady said, "how's your pain doing one to ten?" I said, "are you serious? The doctor just sewed my hand shut. My hand is so numb, I can't feel my emotions right now." lol
 
Dylside said:
ok. maybe I shouldn't have talked all that trash. Apparently it heard me. I just spent a couple of hours in the ER getting a buttload of stitches in my left hand where that knife tried to take my index finger off. I got 6 double stitches and 2 regular. I think the doctor used a whole bottle of 2% on me. It was funny. The nurses kept asking me, "on a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?" I said, "point five." She said, "five?" I said, "no. point five. I cut my hand, not broke my leg. It's not that bad." It was hilarious when, after the doctor sewed me up, the same lady said, "how's your pain doing one to ten?" I said, "are you serious? The doctor just sewed my hand shut. My hand is so numb, I can't feel my emotions right now." lol
Click to expand...

Ouch.

I take it your going to send it back now?
 
I had this problem with mine. I'd say send it in (first get in contact with their c. service) and get them to test it out (closing one fingered) before sending it to you.

The reason is because unlike Benchmade's locks, the CS version is slightly different. Firstly Benchmade has a final procedure where they finish up the axis lock's holes in the liners to ensure smooth surface. Cold Steel is not and if you look at it carefully, you'll see micro cracks in the insides of the holes. They (CS) should have finished it up properly. It may not be solved by repeated closing/opening since you may end up scratching the bloody hell up the surface of the Ultra lock's bar.

Secondly is the design of the bar itself. As far as I know, Benchmade's have perfectly circular in profile bars for their locks, CS has a sorta D shaped where you may notice you cannot twist the bar at all and it is torsionally stable. The reason (I believe) to why Cold Steel did this is to increase the total area of the lock bar's cross-sectional area without increasing the size of the Ultra lock's holes. Keep in mind that a larger hole will result in weakening of the knife. Why is this a problem then? The D (not really D but a cylinder with a sorta flat bit) has edges unlike a perfect cylinder. The edges get caught up in the rough insides of the liner's holes and hence the sticking.

One solution is to add washers or use thicker washers (blade pivot area) to increase the thickness. The lack of thickness results in the bloody lockbar having 'play' or non-perpendicular movement during opening/closing. Thickening/adding washers to increase the thickness and adjusting the screws of the Ultra lock till there is firmness (but not till it is difficult to close, fiddle it yourself) will result in a smoother lock.

Sorry for being long winded. The reason is because after all that I still love my Recon 1s. The design is stronger than the axis (by virtue of increased shearing area alone). The handles are massively screwed strongly. The blade is of good quality. And after my fiddling I've yet to find such a good all around performer for me.

(note: The Ultra lock has the benifit of resisting closing forces but also opening ones in addition to the stop pin. The 'closed' design is more dirt resistance and ergos are great)
 
thanks guys. Cotherion, that was a great post. thank you. I'll contact the customer service department and send it in. it does seem like a really good folder.
 
I have always used both thumb and forefinger or fore and middle finger to disengage the lock on the Recon 1. The few times that I have tried it with one finger, it did not want to disengage evenly one side to the other. When this happened, I simply said to myself, "oh, this requires 2 fingers." The reason's Cotherion gave above are a pretty good description as to why this is necessary and why the lock is as strong as it is.

Over time, I figured out how to close the knife one-handed, still using 2 fingers, so it was not as cumbersome.

Sorry to hear about the cut. I usually cut myself after telling my kids, "no, you can't use this knife. Its sharp." Then the blood starts to flow. Then I tell them, "see? I told you." There I go, proving my own point again.
 
I knew I forgot to say something. Got to cought up in the explaining part. It's cause of my job as an engineer having to write up reports all the time. My job has mucked up my way of writing.

I forgot to say I wish all's fine with the wound. I too have had injuries but from an axe. I got my Sog Fusion Hawk on my left hand. All's well and no nerve damage.

Glad to hear you do not blame the knife. Ask them to personally try it out (closing one fingered) before sending to you. If they claim it's a hassle then show them (by email or however) a pic of your injury saying they are lucky you won't sue! That'll get them to do their job :) They'll probably give you two of them :)

Good luck, hope all will be well.
 
The doctor said that since I can't feel most of my finger and I was unable to close it all the way that I seem to have significant nerve and tissue damage. He said that it is possible, however improbable, that I will get the feeling back eventually and the full range of motion. Even though this is the case, I can't blame the knife or the manufacturer. When it comes down to it, I was the one fiddling with a knife I had just sharpened with no gloves or other hand protection, and I have to admit I was handling it in a classic dangerous "I bet that idiot is gonna end up in the hospital" manner. I'm a big boy who has injurred himself bigtime more times than I can count and I just have to chalk it up as another wake up call I gave myself about being careless and not following my own rules of safety and move on. :) No sense in sitting around crying about it. It would be nice to send them a copy of the hospital bill and have them send me a few knives to keep me happy ;) but I don't think it would be good business from the customer side. It was my fault. They don't owe me anything.
 
Pointed said:
"This thread is worthless without pics"
Click to expand...

I'm sorry. I actually did try to get pictures. I was even going to try to take the camera in the hospital with me. Alas, dead battery and no back up. When I take the bandages and splint off tomorrow to clean it, I'll take some pictures of it. I'm sure they won't do it any justice. It's not a horrible looking cut, but man was it in a critical spot. I tore up a lot of important stuff.
 
^^ Nice; thanks Dylside. Gotta love the "look what I did" photos!

Hope your hand feels better soon, and I sure hope the sensation and ROM comes back. I had a hand injury that took about 18 months for full nerve recovery. Be patient and cross your fingers. Keep moving it as much as the doc's suggest to work on the ROM.

Good luck.
 
I worked at Nagel's Gun Shop in San Antonio, TX for some time, and during the period of time that I worked there, I worked in the knife gallery. I had the chance to handle thousands upon thousands of knives. After playing with almost every axis-lock knife on the market now, I realized that the CS Recon 1, both the old generation and new generation with G10, have one of the most troublesome and lengthy break-in periods of any knife with any lock. I would give it some time before sending it back to CS. It should break-in and end up as one of the smoothest, strongest axis-lock style production folders out there.... hope you have a full recovery as you prepare for the next inevitable knife-enthusiast wound
 
Sorry you had the problem, and that you injured yourself. I have the spear point recon and like it, never had any "breaking in" issues at all, it definitely doesn't require much force to release. Try breaking it in if you want but IMO that ain't the way it's supposed to be. It already cut you badly, how many more trips to the emergency room do you wanna take?
 
it may not be faulty design but that doesnt mean its not bad design. not saying that the design necesarrily got you hurt (no offense but you are making it sound like its 100% your fault) but really a knife with a lock that takes excessive force to close is a knife that is just waiting to hurt you. because inevitably, you will push it too hard and it will close in an unpredictable matter.

a safe knife is a knife that does exactly what you think its going to do. a really safe knife is one that does that without the potential to hurt you doing it.
 
ColonelX said:
is it like an axis lock?
Click to expand...

It's like an Axis lock however it's got a little difference.

The axis lock is placed often on the top and on the handle side of the pivot. The Ultra lock is in the top and on the opposide side of the handle direction.

The Axis resist closing by the shearing of the Axis lock-cylinder. The Ultra resist closing also from the shearing of the cylinder. However against forces which is in the direction of opening the folder (such as cutting) the Axis knives only have the stop bar to resist. The Ultra lock transfer the forces to the Ultra lock-cylinder and also the stop bar.

The benifit of this arrangement is a few. You get more strength (in theory) from the contribution of the stop bar and lock-cylinder (more of a D shaped than O) in the Ultra lock assuming the pivot does not fail. The Axis lock is generally better due to workmanship but assuming you get your hands on a good quality Ultra lock then it is theoretically better. In addition the Ultra lock types normally have the blade fully enclosing the lock (except for the Ultra lock holes and blade to handle gap) meaning stuff is less likely to accumulate there (lint anyone?)/

The Ultra locks design is such that the closing pressure is exerted from the lock-cylinder to the top of the blade instead of towards the blade. Because of this Ultra lock knives have a larger width to accommodate this design. The Axis lock does not have this requirement but it does not mean the blades cannot be any less wide if they wanted to.
 
Oh and shitty luck on the nerve issue Dylside. I hope that you will heal well and no complications in the future.

Oh by the way the SOG's Arc-Lock works on the same principle as the Axis but with few differences/advantages which is...... (blah blah blah here I go again... :))

PS: I hit 1000 posts on your thread!!!
 
Ouch - hope you're still feeling ok today!

I sliced my right index finger from the tip to the very, very bottom on the inside of my finger. Started right near where my thumb would touch my index finger, but lower and then curved to the other side of my finger and back to the right side at the tip. To the bone. My doctor also told me I might not be able to get all my feeling back and would not get full range of motion and would not be able to make a fist as I would not be able to close the finger all the way.

I am happy to say he was wrong, my finger works perfectly as far as motion and there may be a touch of feeling loss, it is minuscule if so. Only across the scar itself I'd say, really it seems pretty darn good for cutting everything in two twice in the same cut due to the curving slice i got! I hope you get as lucky as I did, if you've got to prove a doctor wrong that is the best way possible imo.

My cut was not a knife, but barbed wire when I was still in school due to a three wheeler crash. Never even felt the cut, but the blood got my attention quickly.


Get well, and good luck!
 
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