black kershaw shallot slow!!

T

The3rdnut

Joined
May 26, 2012
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i ordered a black kershaw shallot, but as soon as i took it out of the box it was slow. does the dlc coating need to wear down around the pivot area before it gets faster? or is the torsion bar messed up. it opens fully most of the time, but just barely. there has been times where the blade did not open all the way though. i have probably opened and closed it 200 times or so, and it got a little better, but not much. so does the dlc coating make the knife slower in till i wear it in, or did i just get a bum spring.
 
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I would loosen the pivot by just a touch and see if that fixes the sluggish opening.
 
I find that even uncoated Kershaws often have a break-in period. My Volt SS had the exact same behavior as your Shallot, as did my Leeks, and after some use, everything smoothed out and now they fly open perfectly.
 
okay i kind of loosened the pivot screw, and it does open a little faster, i just dont want to break the loctite because then the pivot screw just comes undone at random times and makes blade play, i think im just going to give it a couple days to break it in. my leek did open all the way, but it turns out i had broken the tortion bar. hopefully its not the same thing with this brand new knife. ill try opening and closing it for the next couple days to see if it helps any.
 
okay well i opened it and closed it probebly a good couple thousand times and it is still just as slow as it was before. looks like im going to have to break the loctite and loosen the pivot screw. -_- last time i did that with my leek it now has both vertical and horizontal blade play, and i cant even keep the pivot screw down because it automatically loosens by itself... well ima stop opening it till tomorrow because ive developed a blister on my finger from opening it so much, its just so addicting even when its slow.
 
Did you oil it too? Apply 2 or 3 drops of oil to the pivot and open and close it a few times to get the oil everywhere.
 
what sort of oil would be good? i have tried wd-40 on my older knives, but that really isnt a long term solution...
 
If you want to add some lube, look into a "dry" lube so it doesnt collect a bunch of crap but Ive never put anything on AO's and Ive been using them for years. Some of the Kershaws dont fire open very hard, all the leeks ive handles have been slower, the blur is fast. The shallot might just not be a hard shooter.
 
I've got a black DLC shallot and a Composite Blade shallot, and the DLC fires harder than the uncoated CB. Loosen the pivot screw, and adjust it to your liking. If you're worried about losing the effectiveness of the loctite, use teflon tape.

Also, check that you're not holding your thumb against the lockbar when you're flicking it open.
 
Tuf-Glide is a good dry lube. It applies wet, but after the liquid evaporates, it leaves a slick, dry film. Another oil I like is Quick Release. It is slippery stuff, and it doesn't get gummy/sticky over time like 3-in-1 or WD-40 (dust/dirt/lint gets mixed in with the oil, and it just seems to congeal in the pivot).

I don't know if the DLC coating covers the entire tang, but that may take some breaking in / smoothing out as well. Just open/close it a few thousand more times. ;)

Once you have it opening smoothly, you can always apply new blue Loctite (242 or 243) to hold the pivot screw in place. You can find that at your local hardware / home improvement store for a few bucks. For both the oil and Loctite, use it sparingly. Maybe 1-2 small drops of oil should be enough. As for the Loctite, I usually apply one drop to the end of a toothpick and use that to spread it through the threads. It doesn't take much.
 
okay well i just figured out that my pivot screw is just turning in place when i try to unscrew it. is there anyway to get it to unscrew instead of just spin?
 
okay well i looked up a way and i was able to loosen it some, but now i am on the vurge of blade play. looks like ill need to get some tuf-glide and work it in with another thousand or so openings -_-
 
okay i looked through what i own and i found some lubricating graphite. it didnt work -_- im thinking of just spraying it with wd-40 to see if that makes it fly or not, most of the time it will for a couple days at least. if this doesnt work im just going to return it and get a new one that works.
 
Powernoodle says that any of the light oils will do the trick, whether 3-in-1, WD-40 or the fancy, spendy flavors. I used WD-40 on a sluggish Leek recently, and it really helped.
 
If the entire pivot assembly (screw and tube) is turning in place, there may be something wrong. The pivot tube should be slightly "D"-shaped, and the flat part should be a stationary fit on the handle scales. This might be a case to send the knife back to Kershaw's warranty department for repair.

If the WD-40 makes it open smoothly for a while, the cause of the slow-down could be gunk building up in the pivot area. Have you tried giving the knife a thorough cleaning? Fill a bowl/pot with hot, soapy water, submerge the entire knife in it, and work the blade open and closed repeatedly. This should dislodge any stuff that's gummed up the pivot. After that, dry the knife off (compressed air works well for getting water out of the pivot area), apply a drop of oil to each side of the pivot, and work the blade open and closed several times to spread the oil around.
 
It could also be a worn torsion bar..depending how old the knife is the bar could be just worn out from sitting closed for awhile and just needs a replacement.
 
i just got this knife. i had just un boxed it like at 12 today, but even after the wd-40 it still is slow, so slow even that it barely even clicks into place. so i think im just going to talk to amazon and see if they will replace the knife for free. hopefully the next one wont have the same problem, but just to be safe im also going to contact kershaw and get a new tortion bar for it, because that may also be the case. well the only other thing i can think of doing is completely taking the knife apart and try to sand down around the pivot area, but this all seems like a lot of work just to get a brand new knife to work. well time to send it back and get a newer one :(
 
You could send it right to Kershaw Warranty and they would take care of it and make it better then new. Give them a call! They're great people.
 
ill contact amazon first, they normally ship me a new item with one day shipping, but if the next one has the same problem then i am definitely going to contact kershaw and see if they can fix it.
 
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