Breaking-in a knife

B

bladeboss

Joined
Mar 6, 2012
Messages
3,530
Howdy!
Remember the Leek I've been carrying?
Well, it sat in my cabinet for so long because it wasn't that great at first....
The bolts loosened themselves just from opening, the blade want straight, and it had play.
But I always liked the blade shape.
So the other day, I got my screwdriver out and got it pretty close, and threw it in my pocket.
Just over the last week of using it, the blade is darn close to perfectly straight, with no play, and the bolts stay tight.

Have you ever had to break-in a knife? I know this is the only one I've ever had to break in.
 
It does happen, there can always be manufacturing issues, a burr, pinched washer, way too much loctite, poor assembly etc. that get corrected over time/use or just a disassembly/reassembly. It could be that it was assembled improperly with "tension" (many companies/people will induce stress into the assembly to try and center a blade to compensate for poor tolerances and for example then due to that stress the screws tend to loosen over time as the assembly tries to return to "rest".

One of the best marketing schemes ever designed was when someone somewhere in some industry sold their customers on the myth that their tolerances were so amazingly high that the product might not work properly until X amount of break in. When in reality it's just an excuse to avoid proper fitting/mating of the parts and function checks before it's sold. In the gun world now many 1911 companies don't want to discuss an issue until you've put 500-1000 "break in" rounds through the gun. Essentially paying a few hundred dollars in ammo to do the job they should have done at the factory. It's true that over time all parts will mate further as they wear, but the product should still be fully functional out of the box.
 
Strange, but I've seen it happen. My first 0566 had a bit of a pivot problem, in that it would start to loosen up after a few flicks and I'd start to get blade play. Well one day, I decided to de-assist it. After I took the torsion bar out and cleaned her up, I put it back together forgetting to loctite the pivot. I swear I got it centered and the action was perfect, and it never loosened up on me again.
 
It's very rare for me if i ever get an already broken in "new" knife. Most need a fair bit of the old "open close open close" It's funny, I just had a couple of high end customs finally delivered after a looooong wait. I was a little bummed that they weren't perfectly dead centered. After a weekend of working the pivot (just opening and closing, no tuning) they are both almost dead center. I think the bearings are starting to bed in to the Ti finally. I'm pretty sure they were machined with that in mind...
 
Akapennypincher said:
Could we please have a medic check this members pulse for sign of any life.
Click to expand...

Really...?

Anyhow, to the OP. I have a Manix 2 G10 that was all over the place even after adjusting the pivot....but since the last adjustment, it has stayed straight and tight. I have a ZT0550 that has taken three months to break in....now it is like butter.
 
I think it's a big thing with Zt/Kai. Every knife I've had from then only gets better as you break it in. My 562 on the manual or whatever even tells you there's a break in period
 
Yeah, I'Ve had that happen too, on a couple of occasions. One was a BM and one a ZT, IIRC. Glad yours straightened out and is working for you.
 
Sure has happened to me - on my first Endura FFG. After a morning's yard work and cleaning after it was good to go. Strange but true.
 
I have had a few (less expensive) knives that became much smoother and more centered after I disassembled, cleaned, lubed, and reassembled the knife. Not that unusual in my experience.
 
Well, yeah, dismantling, cleaning and lubing a new folder will likely do good things, but I don't find this at all surprising. It's more semantics than magic.
 
Screwdriver said:
Really...?

Anyhow, to the OP. I have a Manix 2 G10 that was all over the place even after adjusting the pivot....but since the last adjustment, it has stayed straight and tight. I have a ZT0550 that has taken three months to break in....now it is like butter.
Click to expand...

It is called an opinion, thanks for stating your.
 
Medford knives, on occasion, need up to 1000 cycles to break in.

They don't seem to go out of tolerance after that though. Either that, or they're so fat that they don't shift too badly or noticeably.

2 of the 20 I own were slower. Most were good almost out of the box.
 
Akapennypincher said:
It is called an opinion, thanks for stating your.
Click to expand...
No, its not called an opinion.
"Check me for sign of life" is not an opinion. Its called rude and immature. If you disagree with me, leave my thread, or tell me in a mature manner.

Thanks for the normal replies though, folk! Good to see I'm not crazy. (Completely)
 
I have had knives that mysteriously worked out the kinks over time but usually I find they are poorly adjusted and simply need some tweaking. Rarely though is it something that cant be helped along. If it cant I usually dont keep it long enough to find out why.
 
I'm with you Bladeboss on this one. Every folder I have ever owned and there has been a few in the last 50 yrs., I use for awhile then do a complete disassembly clean out all the old grease and grime, re oil with nano oil, then re assemble with a touch of blue Loctite on screws especially the pivot. New parts need to wear in and mate to each other, just part of the breaking in process. Today's top makers realize some folks like to tinker so they make their knives to disassemble and also give detailed instructions on how to reassemble to achieve "blade centering" and to hit that " sweet spot " with the pivot screw.
 
I've had gritty pivot screws that needed cleaning. Once cleaning things ran smoother. Also I've adjusted a pivot screw here and there to get the blade retention just the way I like it. Adjusting the pivot can sometimes center a knife I think.

As for wearing in... Well I suppose any roughness in the machining process could be worn off by use. Mostly though I think it is our minds adjusting to the tool, not the tool adjusting to us. :)
 
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