Benchmade Axis-Lock Failure?

Well, sort of.

Flipped my Benchmade 710 open this morning to cut something, and it failed (for the first time ever) to lock up like a bank vault door.
I was so surprised I almost let it swing shut and cut me!!

Come to find out, it wasn't the Axis-Lock that failed, but a $1.99 Scripto lighter in my pocket.

A tiny 1/16" dia. coil spring fell out of the child-proof lock on the butane lighter, and my knife sucked it up inside the blade stop cutout next to the henge somehow.

The tiny little spring is magnetized strongly enough ( I would guess from the Piezoelectric current zapping by it) to move a compass needle!!

Anyway, it stuck to the blade and kept it from opening quite far enough for the Axis-Lock to engage!

One of those once-in-a-lifetime things that couldn't happen.
But it did.

Who would have thought I would ever have a tiny magnetic spring in my pocket!!

rc

The title of this surprised me because you have sung the praises of the Axis lock Benchmades for quite some time. Glad to see there was an explanation.

Yeah, got my heart going also when I read the title. I have 2 BM axis lock knives that I absolutely love.

My Griptillian is sitting next to me on the table. I heard it gasp when it saw the title.:p

My mini grip sat up and claimed "Operator Failure!!"

:neener:

My 710 is an excellent knife, but I wear it in a belt pouch and would never put a lighter in a pants pocket.

Not only might a lighter leak; what happened to you can occur, and I won't carry ANYTHING but a handkerhief in my knife pocket. Change, keys, etc. scratch knives.

Lone Star

I too love the AXIS lock and I trust it as much as I trust any lock, but I have to point out the old truth that any mechanical object can and will fail.

I guarantee you somewhere on the planet there is someone who has had one fail for non-lighter related reasons and thinks we are all nuts for liking it so much.

Change, keys, etc. scratch knives.Working knives get scratched.

And the junk is in the bottom of my pocket, while the Benchmade is hanging by the clip at the top.

It's not like they ever come in contact with each other.

rc

Working knives get scratched

It's a matter of taste, but I am like you RC. My knives get used. I don't go out of my way to abuse them, but if I spend the money on it, it goes into my pocket with everything else. I have exactly one knife that is a BBQ knife, and even that one will get used if the situation calls for it.

The BM AXIS Lock is my favorite lock of all. This incident is yet another reason to quit smoking.

When I was a younger man I watched my brother cut a half of an inch from his pinky finger because a lock failed. It was interesting though, I picked up the end and looked at the cross section of a finger. I'm no fan of locks since that day.

Interesting. I had my knife, keys, and a couple of AA batteries in my pocket once... one battery got so hot I almost burned my let. Keys and knife were hot. Must have somehow made a circuit and discharged the battery almost all at once. Or something... weird.