Thanks much, to you and @cetan@piefed.world both! I think I've pretty much decided to go with the Kershaw Iridium, even though it's a bit more than I was really wanting to spend. Seems like the right move.

Kinda figured as much about the S&W. I guess I'm glad I didn't spend my own money on it. At this point, unfortunately, whenever I see something like this, branded with a known company logo but outside that company's wheelhouse, I just assume it's probably made out of chinesium and should be considered more like promotional swag than an actual company-made product.

So I looked through that list and have narrowed down to a few choices. I do like the combo blade a lot for camping and outdoors use.

• Kershaw 8100 Funxion EMT, which looks to be a functional replacement for the S&W as far as the extras.
• Ontario Rat Model 1 8849, which is just the knife without the tools, but seems to have great reviews.
• Gerber Highbrow 30-001638 that has the axis/crossbar lock you mentioned. Doesn't specify the blade length but based on the overall length I'm guessing it's similar to the others. I can't find this one on Gerber's website, which makes me think it may be an older model on clearance at knife center or something.
• Kershaw 2038ST Iridium, which is priced a bit higher than I was really going for but I could probably be convinced if it's worth it and will hold up well, it does look pretty nice.

I guess my biggest question for all these is, being in the same price range as the S&W, are they "inexpensive" or are they "cheap"? Could any of these be considered anything close to "BIFL" based on an expectation of light/medium duty outdoor use a handful of times per year?

Thank you! I sorta figured as much about it being a "cheap knife". That's why I'm not too attached to it and am basically at the end of my patience for trying to fix it. If I can get it, great, if not, oh well.

I'll give the soldering iron trick a shot and see if that lets me open up the body screws. But if that still fails or more screws strip out, I'm just gonna drop the thing in my door pocket and call it a dedicated car emergency tool and shop for a replacement. It does technically open, at least once, and all the little extras are still useful for that purpose.