Blade Play Be Gone

[STR]

A fellow forum member who wishes to remain nameless got a bit carried away with a hammer trying to do away with some blade play recently on his Salt 1. I got this in the mail with a request to just make it so the blade moved easy again: as it was now so tight it was a bit hard to open and had no spring snap left when you closed it.

I'm happy to report that after some minor surgery the knife now has an adjustable pivot in a new 3/16" diameter stainless barrel with a 6-32 torx head screw on each side of the pivot. There is no blade play whatsoever now and as an added bonus the little bit of vertical play that was in the blade and lock bar when I recieved the knife is also gone now. So, it is back up to snuff working as it should.

The only thing that may turn out to be a draw back is that the stainless pin now in the pivot is probably not quite as resistant to the elements as the original H1 steel pin was but it should hold up just fine under most conditions I think. The other thing that I wondered about was the little metal washers that used to be in place but after thinking about it I seriously doubt that the head of these screws would pull through any easier than one of those washers so I think this should be fine.

Pivot came from knife kits and had to be almost shortened by half the length to work. The two screws also had to be cut down by using a cut off wheel to remove appx. 3/4 of the length on each one so that it would work. And of course a carbide 3/16" drill bit had to be used to enlarge the pivot hole in the blade. Once done a little thread lock and time to set up and she is ready to be mailed home tomorrow.

I just thought this might help anyone that contemplated doing the same to their non adjustable pivot knives in the future.

STR

[Titus]

Wow, that looks nice. :cool: Good work. I would like Spyderco to use adjustable pivot pins like that in the future.

[jaislandboy]

Thanks for sharing STR, I now know who I'm sending my spydies to if I void the :spyder: warranty! :p ;)

[STR]

Thanks.

I should add that in the event that anyone wants to try the hammer thing there is a trick you can do to prevent the accidental mess of getting the pivot too tight.

I don't want to sound like a know it all or like I'm pulling a " I told you so " but just take the info and tuck it away for that rainy day when you decide to work your own knife over.

Buy some of the old style Gillette razor blades. You know the old fashioned real thin ones you can buy at Drug Warehouse. These are about the perfect thickness. Use one on each side of the blade with the blade open and wedge one on each side of the blade between the blade and the FRN body. Push them down in as deep as you can get them. Then use the ole ball peen hammer on the pivot pin using a punch that is slightly larger than the head of the pivot.

In the event that you do get a whack in that is too strong or heavy the worst that will happen is you may need a pair of pliers to yank out the razor blades. Once out though you should be home free with a blade loose enough to work right but tight enough to not have lateral play. If the little play left is still too much for your tastes then repeat the same thing only using one blade. And if you still manage somehow to take it too far you can always just go the adjustable route like in the first post. :D

Hope that makes sense.

EDIT: and as our very astute forum member Zeus suggests it is probably a great idea to dull the razors good before proceeding. :)

STR

[ghostrider]

Great thread STR. Thanks for the info.

[DAYWALKER]

Aloha STR!

Great work indeed! That forumite who owns that Salt I is very blessed to know ya! ;)

God bless :cool:

[Slvgx]

Good to know STR. I figured if that happened you were just S.O.L. because of the rivets.

[zeus]

Nice work and a great tip STR!

Would just like to add a bit of safety info.... If someone is going to use the razor blades, be sure to grind or dull the edges!!

Also those blades can be used to make nice pivot washers using a hole punch and a home made arbor.

[5150]

adjustable is the only way to go. :)

[spydutch]

Thanks for the tips STR. I'll keep that in mind next time I decide to fool around with a FRN knife.

The FRN knives I destroyed, had a lot of daylight between the right side of the lockbar and the handle(about 2 razorblades) the left side was nicely against the lockbar(I think this is looking rather cheap)
do you have any suggestions on how to correct that yourself? Or isn't that possible.

Many thanks in advance..

[STR]

In my experience you can change that gap with some minor wobble and physically move the blade to the other side and thus move the gap. On some of the FRN knives I've taken apart there is a raised area that is designed for the blade to spin on. Kind of a built in washer so to speak. (see pic) These 'raised areas can sometimes be higher on one side by just enough to cause the appearance of looking like one side has a wider gap. So that may have something to do with it also.

Most of the blade play in any knife equipped with a pin instead of an adjustable pivot can be alleviated by using a razor blade or two and a ball peen with a correct size punch and a clean anvil. (I say clean because hitting a pin and banging the other side into a rusty anvil will beat up and sometimes stain the head of the pin.)

In my experience a single razor blade placed on one side of the blade can make it just about the right space for easy enough movement but still tight enough to have very minimal blade play. The gap created by the razor will most always even out on its own but in the event that it does not you can physically help it along by slight wobble of the blade while playing with the lock by depressing it slightly.

[spydutch]

Thank you very much STR. I'll try that.....