Blade play, my opinion/What's yours?

I am looking for everyone's opinion on blade play. This was going to be a response to another KZbinr, however their comment is now gone.

[@lommerdpassievrucht8555]

I have a few everyday knives. Benchmade mini grip and a bugout. I only use them for cutting packaging etc. Light stuff. But i do fidget wih them a lot. So if theres some blade play when the action is perfect. I'm okay with that. I also have a work knife. A Spyderco shaman. I use it all the time. Hard hard use. But i don't fidget with it. So action is not important. But i don't want blade play. So. Edc knife : action over pladeplay Work knife: bladeplay over action. Centering doesnt bother me as long as it doesn't scrape the scales i just leave it be

[@chris_topher1984]

i don't mind blade centering being slightly off at all, as long as it doesn't rub anything. i don't tolerate any blade wobble though. i've purchased over $7000 worth of victorinox/wenger knives and not a single one has any blade wobble side to side, every single one is rock solid built like a tank. i've never found another company as consistent as those two. i enjoy rough rider knives but you'll get about 75% of them with issues like gaps and blade wobble. i remember even back in the early 90s as a child i would refuse to use a pocket knife with blade wobble. i don't check for centering on the swiss army knives, but i do check on the case/rough rider traditional type knives. as long as it doesn't rub anything, i don't care one single bit about it.

[@Kevinclearysharpstuff]

For me it's about cost, like you said as the price goes up so do expectations, There is no question it's a small issue but my thinking is after $150 even small things must be right. Now my standard for blade play is lower like the perfect knife you showed if a $20 can get it right then the $30 knife or $40 or $50.

[@darkchild57]

I'm with you on that. That George Muller knife that I showed at the end, it was a really hard decision. In the end after weighing it all out I decided to buy it. I'm sure a lot of knife enthusiasts would call me crazy. Great points regarding the 20$ knife, if that could get it right then the more expensive knives should be able to follow suit. IMO, I sometimes think that blade play vs centering has been a hot topic over the years that we have all griped about, regardless if it's actually causing an issue or is it just purely aesthetic...or is it people feeding off of each other. In the end I guess to each their own. I don't find it as much of an issue now as I did when I first started collecting knives. When I use more of knives and see how they perform, feel and carry, most of what I've griped about in my previous vids are either non existent or a lesser issue. Thank you for weighing in my friend and it's great to hear from you:)

[@jeffjuice3886]

Like many things in life its a fluid concept. For some knives its in its nature - para 2 type of knives tend to have some give right? that's just the nature of the pivot design or something I heard. So some slight side to side ain't bad at all. The bigger problem occurs when there's up and down blade play, because I feel that is more likely to, POSSIBLY hinder function in the future [I have had a few fold with hand pressure]. Blade doesn't have to be dead center, sometimes its a illusion and the grinds are slightly different. However, I get really annoyed if it rubs the liners no matter the adjustment. EG - if you can't get it to not rub unless its tightened to the point it wont open. I mean that stuff would be "lemon territory". I agree with you, when you spend big money on knives, you expect it to be perfect. I mean if your spending 100, 200, 300,400,500+ etc on a knife and its brand new, it should be close to perfect with slight deviations, with a narrower margin as it gets more expensive, particularly true for machined custom knives [i mean there's a logical argument as to why it should be near perfect right?], if its hand ground there's leeway - as long as its near center and doesn't rub, without feeling like the blade will slip off the lock etc.

[@darkchild57]

Yes, up and down blade play is a fail in my book. It is harder to correct, if it can be corrected at all. My Boker SD3 has slight up/down...annoying. Rubbing against the sides is a no no. The knives that drive me crazy are the ones where you can adjust the screws ad nauseam and it never ever centers the blade or you can only choose between one thing, play or centering. My current opinion is that it's not that big of a deal until it effects functionality. This topic will probably never have a definitive answer. I'll just live with "good enough" as long as it doesn't effect function. Thanks for the response:)

[@Youtube-Censorship-Police]

how did you get rust on that xm-18?😃 aren't they m390 or 20cv?

[@wuggawugga82]

For production knives at any cost, I believe the blade should be centered and I would be annoyed otherwise. For customs, however, I've had several that did not appear perfectly centered, tho usually this is due to asymmetry in the grind. Not a deal breaker to me, since I've only rarely seen "perfect" hand-made knives.

[@darkchild57]

I agree all knives should just come centered. However, in my experience the centering may be there but then there is play when deployed. Then you tighten the screw a tiny bit and then the centering is off...it use to drive me nuts lol. I have yet to see a perfect custom knife myself. But perfection really is defined differently to the individual. As I use more of my knives, the whole blade centering thing is not a huge deal anymore to me. I would favor an off center blade to having blade play as that potentially could effect the operations of the knife. Thank you for weighing in:)

[@derxgarage2121]

I know it’s a older video but what bugs me is when I have 20 dollar kershaws, or I have a spyderco tenacious with 0 play perfect centering and all that, but I have probably close to 600 dollars in knives with lock rock, blade play, bad centering, it sucks. I gotta send them in and see what they can do.

[@darkchild57]

Yup I agree! Sometimes I think its the luck of the draw. I have expensive knives that have lock rock, play, centering issues....etc. It's just annoying. I just try to fix some of these issues myself. I'm not into sending things back, its too much of a hassle.

[@derxgarage2121]

darkchild57 yea that’s the thing it’s such a pain sending them in, but for instance I have a 0561 that if I try and force it closed when it’s locked open it will fail

[@darkchild57]

@@derxgarage2121 Wow, lock slip is definitely something that would need to be fixed for safety reasons! That is just unacceptable, specifically coming from a company such as ZT. I'm sorry to hear that.

[@derxgarage2121]

darkchild57 yea it’s crazy, what’s worse is I even send in my zt 0561 and 0550 for the lock slip issue they fixed them sent them back and they were fine for 1 week maybe, after that they started slipping once again, almost lost my finger using the 0561. And I’m not a zt hater actually one of my favorite brands. Just now the quality you expect from almost 300 dollar blades.

[@koga8100]

My tenacious has substantial blade play. Help?

[@paddyspotatopeelers2154]

I think as i grow into this hobby and especially traditional knives i now kinda favour its becoming less important. Good topic though. Atb paddy 👍☘️😊

[@darkchild57]

Thanks for weighing in! Great to hear from you again! Yes as I use my knives more and more I've noticed a lot of the "issues" that I've once complained about are almost non-existent. This topic will probably be debated with people on both sides for a while to come. In many ways it truly is up to the individual.

[@brianlash154]

I think since 2013 people startee putting their knives under microscopes and scrutinized everything, things that never bothered people before, small amounts of side to side up down blade play, spot rust, people will get on forums and cry about blade play on a mechanical knife riding on a pivot, its the nature of the folding knife, you got a bunch of moving parts and there needs to be some level of separation from their neighboring parts or the knife is too tight and wont move

[@johnniewalker3134]

If it's off then that's means it could travel further till it runs on one side or the other

[@darkchild57]

Good point! In my experience so far it's sometimes a matter of taking the knife apart, cleaning, oiling and then adjusting the screws until it's centered....or somewhat centered. If the blade travels so far as to touch one of the sides then it's time to inspect that pivot screw, usually for me it's just loose. I haven't had a knife that had a tightened pivot screw and the blade is still touching the scales/liners. But that doesn't mean it can't happen.

[@jojojaykay]

You sound like my dentist

[@nicaus7362]

Folding knives are a scam. Kizlyar is good for fixed. Their folders suck i got one and it is loose and off center, the internals arent good. Good blade yes but thats it