Rough axis lock??

kingston73

kingston73

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Oct 14, 2013
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I just traded for a bugout and it has a REALLY rough axis lock. Rough as in when the blade and bar rub together. Its gritty and feels like it’s sticking. The pivot is adjusted so the blade has zero side play and will fall shut off i pull the lock back. Odd, I’ve never had this before on any of mine axis knives.
I’m kind of kicking myself now because i just sold a mini bugout that was PERFECT. This....I don’t know of its just not used enough and will smooth out or if there’s something wrong with it.

suggestions?
 
I'm having trouble visualizing what you're describing. Does it feel almost like the Axis bar has lock stick?

If so, have you tried opening the blade partway and then rotating the Axis bar a bit (just pinching with your fingers like you normally would)? When I've got one that has a bit of stick -- usually because it hasn't broken in yet -- that will sometimes help, as it presents a different portion of the bar to the bar/blade interface.

But I've never owned a BM that had anything I'd describe as roughness to its mechanism after a couple weeks of break-in time.
 
Its like the lock bar is sticking to the blade tang. If i pull the lock bar back the blade pivots perfectly. But when the lock bar is riding against the blade its sticking to it. I don’t know why my upload doesn’t have sound so I’ll try again but you can see if you watch that there’sa lot of resistance closing the blade
 
Got it (and sorry I didn't notice the video!). Yep, try the "trick" I mentioned.

I'd also recommend cleaning the tang with a bit of cloth or a Q-tip, nothing fancy, and blowing the whole knife out with canned air. It might just be a bit of grit somewhere in there that's being dragged along.
 
I’m going to keep flipping out and see if it smooths out but it’s really bad. I even took the thing apart and polished the blade tang that the bar contacts. No change at all. Is it possible i got a fake?
 
Hi Kingston73, You have lock stick. The Axis bar on the bugouts and bailout are made of titanium. It may take a while to smooth out. You can try using candle wax to see if that might work for you. Also, rotating the Axis bar to a new spot could provide a solution. As a last resort you could look on the artsy crafts site and there is seller that has a replacement stainless steel axis bar for the bugout.

JonesE
 
So my new trade is new and this is what they are like when new? I didn’t know it was a titanium bar, send like a really dumb idea?

So it will eventually smooth itself out?

Looking it over closely, the blade still has the factory edge on it so it must be pretty new. I’ll keep opening it and see how it goes.
 
They used the Ti bar for reduced weight vs the steel bars. The Ti is DLC coated, and there have been reports of the coating causing a gritty feeling until it is broken in. If the blade is coated, it may exaggerate the feeling a little. Most likely it will go away as you break it in and use it.
 
Thanks for the info all. I found that steel lock bar seller, its only $10 so i might just buy it now and decide of i want to try to install it after a week or so.
 
I had the same issue with a mini Griptilian I bought on Saturday. Flipped it a lot and it's barely noticeable now.
 
You need to clean the axis bar and the part of the blade where the axis bar rides against as it’s opening and closing and oil it there as well. Keep working it back and forth.
 
Sometimes it goes away, sometimes not. I have had numerous bugouts. Some did after a while. The titanium axis bar doesn't play well with the steel. If the heat treat isn't done perfectly on the axis bar, it can gall from the blade tang. This is why, I have go out of the bugout. Until they just change it to steel like every other axis lock, I'm done with them. It pure silliness that they refuse to change it. They are saving what. .0004 of a gram with the titanium over the steel. This has been a long documented problem with the bugout.


TXPO
 
My mini bugout was like that and over time it broke in and is perfect now. At one point I tried oiling the blade where it rides against the axis lock and that was a mistake. It didn't help and I expect it would have prevented it getting better if I hadn't cleaned the oil off.

My full size bugout didn't have the issue.
 
Driften said:
At one point I tried oiling the blade where it rides against the axis lock and that was a mistake. It didn't help and I expect it would have prevented it getting better if I hadn't cleaned the oil off.
Click to expand...

I've found that even the steel axis bars don't do great with oil on the blade tang, they tend to get stickier and attract a lot more gunk. I know some youtube reviewers like to drench their pivots in oil, and I've tried that, but I learned that when it comes to oil, less is more.
 
This is the first time I've ever had an issue with an axis lock but it's been getting better. First thing I did was clean everything completely, zero lube on the knife. Last night for about an hour I just opened and closed it continuously.

Really odd but I noticed as I was doing it that both the blade and lock bar would start getting black, so once in a while I'd wipe both off with a paper towel and keep going with the open/close process.

After doing this probably over 100 times and wiping it maybe a dozen or so times it's gotten very much better. Still not as good as my 940 but WAY better than it was before.

What do you think the black build up is? Bits of the lockbar?
 
Well, just went ahead and ordered a steel lock bar. Whatever i did to make things better was only temporary and it got so bad today i couldn’t close it without pulling back on the bar. Took everything apart and the locker has a channel cut into it. Not only that, it’s got obvious flat spots. Its hard to get a good picture but here’s what I’m looking at.
D3523F04-1195-42E3-AE71-39209E0B53D7.jpeg
 
That is messed up. An Axis Bar on a new knife should not wear out like that. I would contact benchmade. There might be a code on the box and they could trace the issue back to the batch in which this knife was made. Wow.

JonesE
 
I think I'm going to send it to Benchmade but the problem is that it's got brass scales and I don't have the originals. It was from smoky Mt knife, sold that way. Not sure what Benchmade will say or what they'll charge me. Anybody ever had something like this?
That lock bar is horrible and honestly its defective.
 
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