Hey guys! This might be a bit of a longshot since I don’t think this knife is too popular, so I don’t expect a lot of people to have experience with it. I recently purchased a Reate Exo-K, and I absolutely love it. It’s in no way a practical or useful knife, it’s dangerous to the user and its own self, and it’s illegal to carry in a lot of places. But it’s fun, and that’s what matters to me.

I often will idly flip the knife open and closed while working, and from the beginning there was always a little amount of rattle when deploying it. After having it for about a week or so, it feels like all the pivot points have gotten a bit looser, which I think is to be expected after breaking it in a little.

But now it’s beginning to feel like there’s more play going side-to-side with the arm, causing more rattle than before. While held in the normal reverse grip, it tightens right back up and there’s virtually no play, so I’m not worried about it falling apart on me while I’m actually trying to cut something with it, but I’m worried that the arm may come apart somehow during deployment. Since a flipping motion is required to open this, I worry that I may end up launching a razor sharp blade in a random direction at considerable speed, which… isn’t good.

For what it’s worth, this is how much space I’m getting between the arm and the handle when in the open position. That much space exists while the lock is engaged. I’m not sure if this is typical for the Exo-K, or if this is an excessive gap.

Compared to the trainer, there’s a significantly larger gap and louder rattle. But they’re made from very different materials, so I won’t know how much I can reliably compare the two.

Just curious to know if anyone else has had this happen with theirs and is normal, or if I should reach out to Reate for a warranty claim.