Adjust A Pocket Clip While It Is Still On The Knife W/O Damage

[Wowbagger]

I fully expect this to fly away to Tinkering but leaving a flag here .

So
for years and years I was adamant about pulling the clip off , putting it in my padded / soft jaw vise and trial and fit bending it until it is just right .

(just right for me , unless it is a thinnish Titanium clip , means I can freely slip a sheet of printer paper or up to the thickness of a business card between the clip and the knife scale . That's on textured G-10 , FRN etc. , smooth side or bead blasted handles I run a bit tighter )

Now , due to my over zelous buying (which I blame on all the great knives from Sal and the plethora of flawlessly well made knives WE / CIVVI , Vosteed and a couple others that the Chinese companies keep booby trapping my path with that keep blowing me away . . .
where was I ?

Oh yeah , adjusting pocket clips has turned into an onerous and time consuming task .
So I started going at it like I was at work trying to make money as opposed to futzing around at home at my hobby .

What I came up with is the following :
Thanks to SV 4 for posting this image ; hope you don't mind me pinching it :


ok . . . using the larger pliers shown here (150 mm or larger is OK) (this exact Knipex brand due to the motion of the jaws moving in parrallel ) . . .
take a little piece of card stock (solid card board) a few centimeters long and a couple wide. Bend it around the end of the knife handle where the clip screws are with the opening facing you so you can see to center the pliers wrench jaws on the clip screws ; especially the screw or screws that are closer toward the open end of the clip . The card stock is there to prevent the hard steel pliers jaws from marking up the screws or handle material .

Now , I use a little prybar like for prying molding off the bottom of a wall ; very thin , polished (stainless steel ?) and pretty wide.

I put another strip of said card stock between the handle of the knife and the prybar .

I apply pretty firm grip on the pliers and pry the tip of the pocket clip up a little ways taking note of the amount of gap because I will mostly likely need to spread it open further on the next try .

Take off all the tools and card stock and observe the gap , if any , between the tip of the clip and the side of the knife and try the knife on and off the pockets you intend to use the knife with .

Personally I shoot for a visible gap , held up to a light source , of between the thickness of a sheet of printer paper 0.003 of an inch up to the thickness of a business card 0.3 mm to 0.45 mm ( I often mix systems of measurement ) (won't bore you with why in this case for brevity ; you have the gap "feelers" in front of you or in your wallet so that's what matters )

Those who like a tighter purchase on your pocket , and you know who you are , just use trial and error on and off your pocket .

Right ?

If you over do the bending and get too much gap , which you will probably do the first couple hundred knives you adjust (gets quicker from there) . . . here is what to do to close up the gap again :
With the knife blade closed into the handle , like it is to carry it in pocket , push layers of the card stock between the side of the blade and the slot in the handle , on both sides of the blade directly under the bend in the pocket clip that is closest to the screws / attachment point of the clip.

This keeps you from crushing in on the handle in the next step and cracking it , or distorting the steel liners or what ever .

Place card stock as you did before between the jaws of the pliers and the knife but instead of centering over the screws center over the bend in the clip that is near the screws .

To close up the gap in the clip clamp down , gently , on the bend in the clip with the pliers ; THIS WILL TAKE SURPRISINGLY LESS FORCE THAN YOU MIGHT EXPECT BECAUSE STEEL HAS A "MEMORY" AND "WANTS" TO RETURN TO IT'S PREVIOUS SHAPE.

Have fun .

PS : The heat treated spring steel these clips are made of is tough and forgiving (at least the Spyderco clips are) so you can trial and error a while without any permanent weakening to the clip .
The only clip I have broken doing this was on a twenty nine dollar , carbon fiber handled , Bugout clone / fake / knockoff . Yes I occasionally have an unforgivable weak moment .
The upside is I discovered the coolest replacement clip : black with a khaki colored etching of an oriental image of a Carp ; way cooler in person than it sounds in print !

 

[SharpBits]

Sal (of Spyderco fame) recommends a small wood wedge pushed under the clip until your preferred tension is reached.

 

[Wowbagger]

Sal (of Spyderco fame) recommends a small wood wedge pushed under the clip until your preferred tension is reached.

With GREAT respect for Sal .

and maybe it sounds counterintuitive to not bend out on something that was designed to be bent outward . . .

Sometimes , occasionally , here and there this is not all one needs to do.
because
for one example ; I have seen (lets say never on a Spyderco ) where the screws for the clip are not quite long enough and
they go all the way through the G-10 , what have you ,(which isn't threaded) BUT only thread part way into the steel liners .
Steel liners are thin , generally .
so
that leaves like one or one and a half threads of engagement of the screw(s) with their ACTUAL anchor point in the liner.
Heck ; lets be generous and call it two full threads (where there could still be more engagement if the screw was long enough to go all the way through the THIN liner .

Some times the liners / anchor points are in aluminum , of questionable hardness / heat treat . Rather than in steel .

There is the possibility that a screw or threaded hole is damaged from the factory or not fully tightened down . . . now we have even less of an anchor .

So holding down very firmly on the heads of the screws while attempting to tear the clip off the knife . . . er . . . I mean . . . bend out on the clip enough to take the clip material from an elastic state to a plastic state is , by me , recommended .

 

[Alberta Ed]

I clamp them in the vise to tweak them. It's easy enough.