Blade Centering, especially on your edc's

Rsmith_77

Rsmith_77

Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Messages
4,250
Just wondering, i've mentioned this before i think. But the clip blade on my GEC is slightly off center, its near the liner but not touching.
i wonder about it, especially as i've only had it since just after thanksgiving (although i have carried it and used it nearly every one of those days).

do your "old reliable" blade get like this? do they get worse over time or is it just what it is and i shouldnt worry so much
i've got a few pics to try and show what i am talking about.

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I've never seen a blade really change its centering over time. I think it's just how it's born.
 
I have a GEC #85 in cocobolo and while the main blade is not perfectly centered 60/40 or so, it has never budged off that mark. As long as there is no blade rub, for an edc, I would not worry about it too much....and this from someone who is slightly ocd.....OTOH......you might entertain the notion of spa...sorry...that's ocd Peter talking. It is a beautiful knife. Your pics have turned me around on #85 with Clips!!!

Peter
 
While I have sent ones that rub back for refund or exchange, for one that I would EDC I wouldn't worry about the amount in your pics at all.
 
Blade centring usually won't change over time from what I've experienced or seen. I had a talk with Chris reeve on the phone about it and he was saying that it is usually just the blade being bent a little bit and that this is noticeable over the distance of the knife frame. Apparently this is a real burden for knife makers as it is essentially only an aesthetics problem and not a functional issue at all. None knife nuts will almost undoubtedly never notice such a minor thing but knife Knutson look for any kind of imperfection
 
Good question. I have often wondered myself if they move much after they are made. Do you have any brass gap gauges for automotive tolerance checking? You could measure the gap and watch it over time. Doubt GEC would mind fixin it for ya down the road if it ever gets to rub status. I have had OHO knives move but they are screw pivots, completely different.
 
rockgolfer said:
Good question. I have often wondered myself if they move much after they are made. Do you have any brass gap gauges for automotive tolerance checking? You could measure the gap and watch it over time. Doubt GEC would mind fixin it for ya down the road if it ever gets to rub status. I have had OHO knives move but they are screw pivots, completely different.
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i do not have any gauges :/
but good to know that GEC will take care of me down the road if necessary.
 
The big mystery to me is why anyone cares about blade centering. I have some that are off far enough that I have to guide them shut or the edge will catch on the brass, but they still cut straight. Blade rub? So what. They get scuffed and scratched when I use them anyway.
 
Jack, my sense is that for some, it's a fit and finish issue related to their own personal sense of quality and perfection. Some of us (like you and I) may focus primarily on performance. Others take great joy in perfectly executed objects for their own sake. Definitely YMMV territory and both legitimate.

I see the same thing in bike collecting all the time. An equivalent to blade centering in bikes is true wheels (no wobble). I was working in a shop and we had a customer who was a doctor. He brought his new fancy bike in every few weeks complaining about his wheels wobbling. After the 4th or 5th time of adjusting the fully functional wheels, my boss said, "You know what your bike needs, Doc? Fenders!"

"But I would never ride that bike in the rain."

"It's not for rain, Doc. It's so you won't be tempted to stare at your wheels while you ride."

I would get annoyed if a new knife rubbed. The Buck 500 in my pocket isn't perfectly aligned but it works just fine. But, when I go to a museum and look at art, I get the appeal of perfection too. Eye of the beholder.
 
pinnah said:
Jack, my sense is that for some, it's a fit and finish issue related to their own personal sense of quality and perfection. Some of us (like you and I) may focus primarily on performance. Others take great joy in perfectly executed objects for their own sake. Definitely YMMV territory and both legitimate.
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Well-said!

"You know what your bike needs, Doc? Fenders!"

"But I would never ride that bike in the rain."

"It's not for rain, Doc. It's so you won't be tempted to stare at your wheels while you ride."
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:D

~ P.
 
yablanowitz said:
The big mystery to me is why anyone cares about blade centering. I have some that are off far enough that I have to guide them shut or the edge will catch on the brass, but they still cut straight. Blade rub? So what. They get scuffed and scratched when I use them anyway.
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my reason for asking, and my concern
was to get folks's experience to find out if it was
1) something i SHOULD be concerned with
2) find out if it was something that would get worse over time.

if it was something that wont get any worse, than i wont worry about it

does that make sense?
 
I don't really notice if my blades are centered. Doesn't have any effect on the performance of the cutting tool, so it doesn't really matter to me.
 
I just looked at my Case knives and some of them aren't perfectly centered, and others are, or one of two blades is, but the other is off a little. None are rubbing the liners and all were purchase for carry rather than museum display, so I'm not worrying about it.
 
I believe you can have zero blade play when open but have some blade play when closed. Think if the liners are not perfectly parallel and the tang is not perfectly parallel in thickness also. If this is the case the blade could move around some when closed and appear off center some of the time. If it started of center and has not changed I would not worry about it. Its pretty easy to check for blade play closed and opened. This is what I would look into. Its a 1095 blade that pivots on brass liners, so its going to wear over time unless u keep your knife sealed in a dust free environment and oiled with an amazing lube.

My dad was an aviation mechanic for years and now a lubrication specialist. He always tells me, "ANYTHING mechanical WILL wear out, Period"

:)

Kevin
 
Rsmith_77 said:
my reason for asking, and my concern
was to get folks's experience to find out if it was
1) something i SHOULD be concerned with
2) find out if it was something that would get worse over time.

if it was something that wont get any worse, than i wont worry about it

does that make sense?
Click to expand...

OK, to specifically answer your question based on my experience (YMMV):

For #1 - Personally, I am not concerned with a blade being off center in my folders unless they rub. The little amount shown in your pics would be of no concern since it won't affect performance. If it rubbed though, I would send it back. To me, an instrument or machine shouldn't do damage to itself. This is either a design or build flaw when damage is done to a product by itself while performing its routine tasks. I want what I paid for, and that is a properly functioning product.

#2 - I haven't seen blade get more off center from routine use. This is probably the biggest reason I don't worry about off center blades. I have more than one that has the main blade that I use off center and the haven't gotten better or worse. In particular I have about three stockmans that have off centered main blades that I use to trim moldings, sharpen carpenter's pencils, open packing, cut shims, etc, etc. I am right handed, and the direction of the off center blade is such that I thought that by routine use it might bend or pressure the blade back to center.

Here we are at about 30 years of use, and no movement. Not better, not worse.

The knife you showed in your pics wouldn't cause me a moment's concern.

Robert
 
I have to agree with everyone's opinion here....centering has never been an issue for me...and additional real world use over 30 yrs by Midnight Flyer just adds to my resolve that it never would be.......now if I could only take some magic from Pinnah's post and figure out how to put fenders on the two Scagel Barlow's that I have listed...;.
 
Whether a blade centers or not is a reflection of the quality of the construction of the knife. A knife that costs more should have a quality commensurate to that price. How much one is willing to pay and still accept an off-center blade or other quality issues is a matter of personal preference. Personally, considering how much GECs cost, I don't expect blades perfectly centered, but wouldn't accept them too off, either. Rsmith, if you took pics and are asking in this forum, I would venture to guess that it's because that blade bothers you. GEC will fix it for you at no charge, if you decide to send it in.
 
I like high quality on my knives, if I carry them regularly or not doesn´t matter. A non-centered blade isn´t that dealbreaker for me. They are users and as others have already mentioned, there can be construction caused unregularities that can cause a noncentered blade. As long as it doesn´t rub with the edge against the liner, it doesn t matter for me. What doesn´t need to be there is bladeplay on a new knife, which goes often unfortunatelly hand-in-hand with a non-centered blade.

For: As long as it doesn´t "damage" (sorry, I can´t remember the word) the funtion of the knife it´s no problem for me.
 
Rsmith_77 said:
my reason for asking, and my concern
was to get folks's experience to find out if it was
1) something i SHOULD be concerned with
2) find out if it was something that would get worse over time.

if it was something that wont get any worse, than i wont worry about it

does that make sense?
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Yup!

But, didn't you/we/They determine in another thread regarding this same knife and its issue(s) that your blade isn't off-center/leaning so much as perhaps keening slightly within its grind?

Wait, here we go (the post I was thinking of, within this thread):

ea42 said:
This is kind of hard to explain, but when a blade is ground, in order to retain the edge as the blade curves up to the tip, a cam is employed to force the last few sixteenths of the blade into the grinding wheel. At the same time the blade is usually pivoted a bit into the wheel, again to retain that thin edge as the blade curves up. This is usually more pronounced on the pile side as that's usually the last side to be ground. Gives the illusion that the blade has been bent but it's really most often just the grind.

Eric

PS-n This is most noticeable on clip blades due to the geometry of the tip.
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?

What is clear is that the way the blade is seated (or "presents") bothers you, still.

Maybe a return to GEC is in order, as others have suggested?

~ P.
 
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