I believe I spoke with him. If he is the gent I spoke with earlier it sounds like its been that way since the day it was bought new. The knife isn't made anymore. It doesn't allow the point to come up out of the body by gravity when carried and snaps open, its just that the main blade never snapped shut like the smaller one does or like he thought that it should. Some were made this way on purpose. Gerber did this also on their PK knives which was advertised as one of their folding knives 'features' they called the 'saftey pause' to reduce the danger of being cut. You can see a PK 2 knife by Gerber in my tips and tricks thread sticky in my forum. This is a slip joint from the 70s. They were sold that way and basically Gerber used this feature as a selling point and an advantage. I figure Pete got the original idea from somewhere on those knives and my guess is that it came probably from some 'old school' knives he probably carried as a kid like some of the easy opener big spear blade models made similarly in the past, at least thats my guess. I have some of the older 'easy openers' with weaker larger blade springs that you could depend on not snapping shut on your fingers made this way and they also close easier one handed. Mine came from Queen, Camillus and Marbles as I recall. My Camillus is an older electricians knife made this way. It has a nice heavy half stop, and a super snap open but once past the half stop point it does not snap shut at all just like the Gerbers. My point is that without seeing it you can never know and the fact is on an older knife with some historical collector value to it you may do more harm than good on some depending on condition and what they want to put into it. Adjusting the spring on one made this way on purpose may not be a good idea. I would suggest that if the blade snaps open good but does not snap shut yet stays shut well otherwise that nothing is wrong with it.
My advice unless the knife in question has some sentimental value where its a handmedown from a father to son, grandfather to grandson or something like that is always to look first on ebay and you can probably surprise yourself at how often these old Kabar knives turn up. You could most likely get another one for less than the cost to repair one. Not many of the older Kabar folders are as sought after as the Case folding knives for example, due to the fact that the Kabars are harder to ID. Kabar had a fine system of ID for each model on paper. Problem is they didn't often stamp it on the knives so the appeal is not there for a lot of folks for this reason. Other than the three and four blade models (especially the four blades which are few in number) made by Kabar and some of the older autos and Dog Head models in the folders there isn't as much there to keep folks from getting one for a good price. The Military Kabar sheath knives are more popular by far than Kabar folders for collectors.
I know on more than one occasion I have bought a knife on ebay for parts just to get it in the mail and see immediately that it was in far better shape than the one I was asked to repair and yet bought for just a few bucks usually. In all cases I always mention this to the customer and in some of those cases they opt to see that first and usually once in their hands they decide to keep it as is and back out of the repair. Some would call this shooting myself in the foot but its how my conscience makes me handle it. If they decide to go forward with the fix after that at least myself or Bob can do it with original parts.
By the way I've spoken with Tom mentioned above. He is a good guy worthy of high praise. Bill DeShivs' rep speaks for itself and I've referred to him a few times in the past, one just recently. You know if you guys give me your contact info. I will be able to pass that on to customers easier if you want to be added to the rather short list of folks I know that will work on slip joints.
Anyway, Ron, either one of these gents is more than capable of handling the knife for you also. Here in the last year I personally have been referring out all the slip joint work I get due to the backlog of work I get in the way of the more modern stuff you see me posting some of. Most of that is not repair though, but modification. Two different things entirely and another story so I won't side track.
Good luck getting it to your liking.. EDIT: By the way, there are currently two old vintage Ka-Bar Barlow models on ebay for auction. I've snagged a couple in the past for deals where the shipping was more than the cost of the folder and not in that model only but others as well. Just FYI.
STR
