The day before yesterday, I was sitting at my desk, and tried to close the knife after using it to cut a loose thread on my shirt. When I pulled back on the release lever, I heard my spring go "sproing!" and watched the blade kind of flop down in defeat. Closer examination revealed . . . nothing. As far as I can see, the spring is enclosed between the handle scale and the liner on one side. (I could be wrong, but that's the best I could estimate based on diagrams online and eyeballing my knife.)So, I don't know whether the spring broke or (more likely) just jumped off of where it was supposed to be set in on the side away from the lever. (It's still contacting the lever.)
Curious. One of the reasons that the Griptilian (and RSK Mk1) have TWO springs is so that if one fails, there is a back-up. With only one spring, the lock will still function. Your description suggests a prior failure of the other spring.
FWIW, the failure rate of the Axis lock spring is incredibly low, based on Benchmade warranty returns, but not zero. I have not personally witnessed a failure, nor have any of my close associates and we have certainly abused the knives. <g> To test out the redundancy, I had to remove the spring(s).
BTW, in an emergency, the lock will still function even without the spring by jambing the Axis locking bar forward in the slot with the blade open and either holding it there or sticking something in the slot to prevent it from unlocking. A small twig or piece of wood will suffice. This contrasts with many common folder locking mechanisms which cannot be jury-rigged to lock if they fail.
Any mechanical system with moving parts will fail. How it fails and what you can do about it is one of the issues one has to consider.
Having a second knife is always a good idea, even if it's a fixed blade. Any knife can be broken. BTDT!
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