Here are some notes about the 770 after deconstruction and reassembly.
Out of the box, the knife appeared off center near the butt, but no where else. Turns out the Carbon fiber has a bit of predisposed flex in that direction at the "top" of the one scale. The blade will not rub the scales.
The clip is set flush with the handle where the clip attaches. So for the clip to be reversible and still solid, the opposite scale would have to have an unsightly and uncomfortable gap in the scale. There is a threaded insert beneath the clip that the screw threads into. This torx screw doesn't grasp both pieces of the spacer, maybe only one. My eyeball measuring showed it as a close call.
Across from the clip screw in the other scale is another torx screw that doesn't grasp both spacer sections. So at the butt of the blade, the handle is not solidly attached by mechanical fasteners all the way through. There are other pins and such there that seem to make it unneccessary anyway.
The allen screw in the middle of the spacer goes all the way through the two extended liners from the Axis module, and the spacer and scales. I don't know why mine is an allen screw.
There are more alignment pins here in the middle helping hold it all together and making assembly a bit easier in my opinion.
The axis bar seems to have been put in as one piece. The clean out hole in the scale is directly connected to the bar's motion slot. The Omega spring is connected to the stop pin, an arrangement more intuitive than bending an end at 90 degrees and attaching it to the scale as I remember from my 705 the other Axis I disassembled. There seems to be more tension in the whole axis system in this knife.
The pivot pin is a torx screw again. No locktite was present on any of these screws, but there is now. The pivot is extremely sensitive to adjustment. If I screwed it in until the first sign of resistance, the knife was almost unopenable, but very very slight movements of the screw resulted in correct operation. Less than 1/8 of a turn between this tightness and blade play, probably just over a 1/16 of a turn.
My sample had metal washers, a nice touch for an upscale knife.
The handle doesn't offer the most comfortable grips for every style. A sabre-ish grip was most comfortable, and probably the kind of grip the "gentleman" will be using for the various chores the knife is put to.
It certainly has an elegance of line and finish, with decorative dimpling on the thumb and axis studs as well as on the "nut" of the pivot pin.
The clip is a substantial guage of metal and appears to work well in the task so far.
The blade is thicker than the 705 and the overall grind is steeper. The 770 is probably not the work horse the 705 is. The blade has a slight recurve, most of the curve coming just before the handle. The grinds were clean, crisp and well matched. Wasn't as sharp as the 940, my sharpes from the box BM. I think the steepness of the grind may influence that perception.
But it dresses up nicely. It should have a great people factor and still do mundane chores with aplomb.
Phil
Out of the box, the knife appeared off center near the butt, but no where else. Turns out the Carbon fiber has a bit of predisposed flex in that direction at the "top" of the one scale. The blade will not rub the scales.
The clip is set flush with the handle where the clip attaches. So for the clip to be reversible and still solid, the opposite scale would have to have an unsightly and uncomfortable gap in the scale. There is a threaded insert beneath the clip that the screw threads into. This torx screw doesn't grasp both pieces of the spacer, maybe only one. My eyeball measuring showed it as a close call.
Across from the clip screw in the other scale is another torx screw that doesn't grasp both spacer sections. So at the butt of the blade, the handle is not solidly attached by mechanical fasteners all the way through. There are other pins and such there that seem to make it unneccessary anyway.
The allen screw in the middle of the spacer goes all the way through the two extended liners from the Axis module, and the spacer and scales. I don't know why mine is an allen screw.
There are more alignment pins here in the middle helping hold it all together and making assembly a bit easier in my opinion.
The axis bar seems to have been put in as one piece. The clean out hole in the scale is directly connected to the bar's motion slot. The Omega spring is connected to the stop pin, an arrangement more intuitive than bending an end at 90 degrees and attaching it to the scale as I remember from my 705 the other Axis I disassembled. There seems to be more tension in the whole axis system in this knife.
The pivot pin is a torx screw again. No locktite was present on any of these screws, but there is now. The pivot is extremely sensitive to adjustment. If I screwed it in until the first sign of resistance, the knife was almost unopenable, but very very slight movements of the screw resulted in correct operation. Less than 1/8 of a turn between this tightness and blade play, probably just over a 1/16 of a turn.
My sample had metal washers, a nice touch for an upscale knife.
The handle doesn't offer the most comfortable grips for every style. A sabre-ish grip was most comfortable, and probably the kind of grip the "gentleman" will be using for the various chores the knife is put to.
It certainly has an elegance of line and finish, with decorative dimpling on the thumb and axis studs as well as on the "nut" of the pivot pin.
The clip is a substantial guage of metal and appears to work well in the task so far.
The blade is thicker than the 705 and the overall grind is steeper. The 770 is probably not the work horse the 705 is. The blade has a slight recurve, most of the curve coming just before the handle. The grinds were clean, crisp and well matched. Wasn't as sharp as the 940, my sharpes from the box BM. I think the steepness of the grind may influence that perception.
But it dresses up nicely. It should have a great people factor and still do mundane chores with aplomb.
Phil