Milwaukee Slide-Out Utility Knife Broke

[bigpasta]

I was happy with my Milwaukee 48-22-1910 Slide-Out Utility Knife until this happened the other day:

I was using it to slice into the sidewall of a tire so I could get get my sawzall started on removing the tire bead. I finished the slice with my $2 Harbor Freight utility knife without an issue.

So, do you think I was expecting too much from the Milwaukee knife? Was I "misusing" it? Did it get made with a bad batch of metal? Or, is it just made of cheap metal?


-Bp

 

[ChrisF250]

Thats unacceptable in my opinion. I dont think you were misusing it. For what its worth I have one of the new DeWalt ones and its been excellent.

http://www.toolking.com/media/catalog/product/u/t/utilityknife.jpg

 

[Greatbear]

That little bit of pot metal? No wonder it broke so easily.

 

[Rust]

Heh,bummer.

I just got This Milwaukee Flip Open Knife and Im pretty happy with it so far.

Mail it back to the company... I bet you'll get a response. If I paid 15-20 bucks for it, I would.

 

[MoToys]

Man, everything is such ****. **** tool that doesn't even look abused.
Guess this one isn't going into the improved quality thread.

 

[NUTTSGT]

It looks like a poor design to me.

 

[trbomax]

Looks like a guarenteed trip to the er to me unless you wore gloves.

 

[bigpasta]

I returned the broken Milwaukee to Home Depot without issue and I got the DeWalt DWHT10035L Folding Retractable Utility Knife which was the same price. I liked it except for one major flaw - the little black release button worked fine when releasing a blade, but when it came time to insert a blade, it only inserted easily about 1/4 of the time. The other times I had to either force it, jiggle it, or press the little black button harder than should be necessary.

Apparently I'm not the only one who has had this issue as is noted in one of the responses to a review of it:

Review: DeWalt’s Folding Retractable Utility Knife

I returned it to Home Depot and was done with these "improved" utility knifes until I saw this at costco for $9.99:

The Stanely Instant Change had the two main features I was looking for:

1. On-board easy access blade storage
2. Quick blade change

So I bought it and not only did everything work on it, I was able to cut the entire sidewalls on my two tires so I didn't even need to break out the sawzall. The sturdiness of the knife allows you to put a lot of pressure on it. I wish the blade slide was on the side like the Milwaukee, but that's a minor wish.

In the case of the Milwaukee and DeWalt it seems that in favor of their "innovation", they have overlooked quality control.


-Bp

 

[cowboy73]

I prefer the Stanley 10-079 over any of the quick change ones. I have a quick change Irwin I got as a gift. Don't really like it. I have had the 10-079 for about 20 years.

 

[Bruce Lancaster]

That picture shows why I like my ancient Stanley USA cast-iron utility knife...if I pushed too hard, my arm would break before the knife body. No convenience features but also no potmetal and no huge gap in the structure...

 

[bgott]

That picture shows why I like my ancient Stanley USA cast-iron utility knife...if I pushed too hard, my arm would break before the knife body. No convenience features but also no potmetal and no huge gap in the structure...

You can whack on those with a hammer to get the cut started.

 

[Larwyn]

I like the folding utility knives for carry but very much prefer the ones which clamp the blade tightly over the retractable ones which allow the blade to move around in it's mount for use.

I have recently acquired the new DeWalt retractable/folding knife and started carrying it clipped to the bib of my overalls, replacing the old Super Knife which I have carried that way for years. So far the added bulk of the DeWalt is the one thing I like less about it than knife which it replaced.

 

[IndyGarage]

That's a poorly made tool for sure.

 

[strnjss]

I'm pretty fond of my Stanley Fatmax Xtreme 10-815

 

[Bruce Lancaster]

The Milwaukee is I think more poor design than poor material. A full-handled potmetal knife has always seemed adequately strong, though I continue to strongly prefer my good old iron one. The problem is that it has only a thin backbone with no structure on the other side of the notch for the fancy mechanism. If it had a metal belly there it would be adequate...with that open and unsupported, the handle could only be strong enough if they made it as a steel forging like a wrench.

 

[jeffmoss26]

I really like the Lutz knives we sell at the hardware store. They are very strong.
The old standby Stanley 10-099 is good too.

 

[Bruce Lancaster]

The current "Classic 199" seems to be same appearance as the old iron-bodies I like, but now seems to be some sort of potmetal. They describe it only as "Metal", a dubious label reminiscent of "Brown gravy"...the design remains very strong, though.

 

[HandyManny]

That's why I stick with the old pot-metal cased Stanleys. Milwaukee might offer great power saws, but what makes anyone think thier new offering of gimick hand tools is up to snuff? Same goes for DeWalt? This is what happens when people swallow the cool-aid and have too much loyalty to a brand regardless of the product.

 

[JASTECH]

I think the Milwaukee and DeWalt are both made in China now. I have a Linox Pro that has been through a lot and still functions like new. It holds extra blades and ergonomics feels good.

 

[osborn.ozzy]

I got a folding bluepoint utility razor that I use every day at work to slice tires ( we have to stab the sidewalls so the scabs dont take them)

 

[premierplayer]

Milwaukee makes electric drills.
Utility knives? What were you thinking?