Blade centering

[Pat1966]

I just bought a Case teardrop single blade with red deep canyon scales. The blade just barely touches the liner when closed. Can I attempt to center the blade (and how) or do I risk damaging the knife? Thanks

 

[danbot]

You should ask this question here: https://bladeforums.com/forums/maintenance-tinkering-embellishment.794/
A lot of knowledgeable people in that sub-forum.

 

[Whitedog]

Show knife or user? Blade centering in slip joints is rather a hit or miss thing. Return it to Case and see if they won't center it. Figure on about six weeks turn around time.

 

[anthonycastorena2014]

I would just exchange it to wherever you bought it from for another one. Ask them to inspect the next one before they ship. I have however seen the “paper trick” on YouTube more than once.

 

[afishhunter]

If it was mine, I'd return it to Case and let them fix it, or exchange it for one without the poorly centered blades and without blade rub.

If Rough Rider can regularly produce a multi-blade slipjoint with centered blades and no blade rub on a knife that retails for $9 to $15, is it unreasonable to expect a knife from a major manufacturer that sells for four times (or more) the price of a Rough Rider (of the same pattern, no less) to have blades that are centered, don't hit the liners, and don't have blade rub?

 

[jbmonkey]

if a user wouldnt bother me. if if bothers you..... lots of good suggestions already given. what i wouldnt do is attempt it yourself unless you have the right tooling and know how or are a cutler by trade.

 

[Pat1966]

Thanks for the replies. Think I'll let Case fix it. Maybe if enough are returned for repairs they'll get the hint.

 

[Comeuppance]

Thanks for the replies. Think I'll let Case fix it. Maybe if enough are returned for repairs they'll get the hint.

The latter is unlikely, for a few reasons:
- The vast majority of Case buyers likely aren’t bothered by issues as trivial as centering
- No large-scale knife manufacturing facility is free from such quality control issues. Benchmade, Spyderco, KAI, etc all have the occasional issue.
- As previously mentioned, pin-and-press construction can lead to more centering (and, for that matter, blade play) issues than screw-construction knives.

For QC reasons that Case (and other) manufacturers seem resistant to address, I typically just shoot for Rough Rider knives if I’m in the market for mystery stainless slipjoints. The 154CM Tony Bose models are often a different story, but, Lionsteel’s efforts are making those largely irrelevant to me as well.

 

[afishhunter]

Comeuppance
Rough Rider uses 440A stainless.
I'm sure SMKW (an American company and owner of the Rough Rider brand) is honest about what steel they use.
I don't know what 10xx carbon steel they use for their carbon steel bladed knives.