A Plea to Kershaw

Tsujigiri

Tsujigiri

Gold Member
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May 25, 2009
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Kershaw, PLEASE stop making knives with completely circular pivot receivers! It's annoying enough to have it on a folder, but I just got my Bradley Kimura VI and it's even more egregious for a balisong. Really, there's absolutely no advantage to making a knife this way, and it just causes the user a huge headache if he wants to tighten down the pivot and finds that he can't. I haven't seen any other company do this; all the other ones have a flat side on the receiver so it won't spin around in the socket. And I know Kershaw knows how to do this correctly because my Spec Bump and 0551 have hexagonal receivers. So what gives for the other knives?
 
The trick to adjusting these kind of pivots is to get a small piece of rubber mat, lay it on a table, press the female side of the pivot onto the rubber, and turn the screw. Sometimes you can even just press on the female side with your thumb, but the rubber mat trick works best. I just used this trick on a Kimura the other day and it worked great.

One easy way to get a piece of rubber mat is to buy a flexible sanding block.

Here's an example of what I am talking about - obviously, a smooth one is better, but this was the only one I found in a quick net search.

http://www.repaintsupply.com/pd_3m_wetordry_rubber.cfm
 
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Tsujigiri said:
Kershaw, PLEASE stop making knives with completely circular pivot receivers! It's annoying enough to have it on a folder, but I just got my Bradley Kimura VI and it's even more egregious for a balisong. Really, there's absolutely no advantage to making a knife this way, and it just causes the user a huge headache if he wants to tighten down the pivot and finds that he can't. I haven't seen any other company do this; all the other ones have a flat side on the receiver so it won't spin around in the socket. And I know Kershaw knows how to do this correctly because my Spec Bump and 0551 have hexagonal receivers. So what gives for the other knives?
Click to expand...

Kersahw didn't design the Bradley knives...:confused:
 
Tsujigiri said:
Kershaw, PLEASE stop making knives with completely circular pivot receivers! It's annoying enough to have it on a folder, but I just got my Bradley Kimura VI and it's even more egregious for a balisong. Really, there's absolutely no advantage to making a knife this way, and it just causes the user a huge headache if he wants to tighten down the pivot and finds that he can't. I haven't seen any other company do this; all the other ones have a flat side on the receiver so it won't spin around in the socket. And I know Kershaw knows how to do this correctly because my Spec Bump and 0551 have hexagonal receivers. So what gives for the other knives?
Click to expand...

Kershaw neither designs nor manufactures Bradleys. If I'm understanding your complaint, your beef is with Benchmade, not Kershaw, at least as far as your Kimura or any other Bradley is concerned.
 
Joshua J. said:
Well at least they didn't have to give the option.
Click to expand...

What? If someone hires you to do a job for them, if you have any common sense at all and have a desire to stay in business you will do what is asked. Anything short can create problems for the people you hired as well as yourself. The maker did not design the knives, they just built them to spec. Capiche?
Kershaw did produce the Kimura sorry for the bad news.
 
Tsujigiri said:
Kershaw, PLEASE stop making knives with completely circular pivot receivers! It's annoying enough to have it on a folder, but I just got my Bradley Kimura VI and it's even more egregious for a balisong. Really, there's absolutely no advantage to making a knife this way, and it just causes the user a huge headache if he wants to tighten down the pivot and finds that he can't. I haven't seen any other company do this; all the other ones have a flat side on the receiver so it won't spin around in the socket. And I know Kershaw knows how to do this correctly because my Spec Bump and 0551 have hexagonal receivers. So what gives for the other knives?
Click to expand...

Technically, there is an advantage to allowing the pivots to slip. Standard knives get opened much less often than a balisong (flipping a bali is continuously opening and closing the knife). In a knife like a balisong, the pivots are continually moving as the knife is flipped. With the female pivot fixed in place, the pivot screw would back out much faster than it would with the female end able to rotate. I understand your frustration with the pivot slip, but you would probably be more frustrated having to constantly tighten the pivot screws. The rubber mat trick really works well, and will allow you to make the adjustments.


BluesStringer said:
Kershaw neither designs nor manufactures Bradleys. If I'm understanding your complaint, your beef is with Benchmade, not Kershaw, at least as far as your Kimura or any other Bradley is concerned.
Click to expand...

This is incorrect. Benchmade only makes the Bradley Alias and Mayhem. If you have an issue with a Kimura, you would talk to Kershaw customer service, not Benchmade.
 
Maniacal Pete said:
I'm still waiting for my ZT 0551.

What's up, Kershaw?

:rolleyes:

pete
Click to expand...

I've heard of many dealers getting them... they should be fairly easy to obtain.

jimmer_5 said:
Technically, there is an advantage to allowing the pivots to slip. Standard knives get opened much less often than a balisong (flipping a bali is continuously opening and closing the knife). In a knife like a balisong, the pivots are continually moving as the knife is flipped. With the female pivot fixed in place, the pivot screw would back out much faster than it would with the female end able to rotate. I understand your frustration with the pivot slip, but you would probably be more frustrated having to constantly tighten the pivot screws. The rubber mat trick really works well, and will allow you to make the adjustments.
Click to expand...

Good post. :thumbup:
 
jimmer_5 said:
This is incorrect. Benchmade only makes the Bradley Alias and Mayhem. If you have an issue with a Kimura, you would talk to Kershaw customer service, not Benchmade.
Click to expand...

Beat me to it, Jimmer:D I was going to say, there's a Kimura in my collection. Would have been a bit odd if Thomas had given me a knife made by Benchmade;)
 
I stand corrected gentlemen. Oops. Nevermind.
embarrassed_by_paigehpleuvoir.gif
 
I'll have to look into the rubber mat option. I've tried applying pressure with my thumb, but it always slips anyway. I ended up loctiting the female side of the pivots on the Kimura (but not the screw itself) so I'll see how that turns out.
 
knivesandguns said:
I've heard of many dealers getting them... they should be fairly easy to obtain.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was "plea joking." Nothing to do with Kershaw in reality. I was just commenting on the tendency of people to pick apart every little thing.

The knives are out there, unfortunately I feel committment towards the dealer from whom I ordered it (something to do with their good customer service in the past), so I have resigned myself to wait until they get their order in, rather than shop elsewhere at this point.

pete
 
I still don't see that this pivot design is an advantage, though. With a properly designed pivot, I just have to loctite the screw down. It works perfectly without loosening and if I ever need to change it the loctite will break. But with these pivots, I want to loctite them, but I know that if I do I won't be able to change it after that.
 
There's no need for the rubber mat.... Just torque the blade a bit and you can tighten or loosen to your hearts desire with no spinning..
 
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