"breaking" in new knives

Joined
Nov 14, 2000
Messages
940
I was wondering how people "break" in a new knife. I've got two BM's comming in and expecting another for the holiday's. I'd like any tips on inproving the actions Any suggestions would be helpful.

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In battle, use the common to engage the enemy and the uncommon to gain victory. - Sun Tzu
 
It may be that the actions are acceptable as received. Don't be in a hurry to fix something that isn't broken.

If the actions seem sticky, try a drop of PTFE/oil on the pivot point and tang area. Remember that the liner lock actually bears on the tang, and this area is easily accessible when the knife is folded.

The next step is hosing the knife out with some sort of solvent. Some have advocated brake fluid, others WD-40; I use 1,1,1,trichloroethane (Gun Scrubber). Then reapply the lubricant.

If this doesn't work, then you either send it back to BM and have them fix it, or bite the bullet and take the darn thing apart, degrease all the parts, and use some 400 or 600 grit to smooth the tang area and the end of the liner lock. If you have the knife apart, I recommend you use a PTFE/ or Li/grease product, or MoS2 grease. It tends to stay in place better. Sometimes nothing will fix the darn thing, as the problem is in the geometry of the tang/liner lock engagement. Some series of BM's are atrocious for lock variability. The now discontinued BM 970 and 975 series were notorious for crummy locks. I took several of these apart with sometimes only minimal improvement of the lock action.

Of course, you can still send the knife back to BM after you have disassembled and reassembled it, usually they won't hassle you unless you screwed something up. However, to avoid potentially embarassing questions, you should probably take note of the factory lubricant; they used to use a white Li grease. Reapplying something resembling the factory lube may prove a wise tactic. I suggest, of course, should BM ask you if you took it apart that you provide a honest and forthright answer.

Hope this helps, Walt
 
Walt,
Thanxs for the suggestions. Hopfully the knives work well when I get them. If their actions are sticky I'll try you suggestions. I hope it won't come to disassembly to fix/improve their actions.
Again Thankyou for your time
 
The only breaking in that a Benchmade needs is a thinning out of the edge. If you haven't had a BM before, your knife will likely arrive with a sharp but thick edge. Spend some yime thinning out the edge and you'll really improve performance.

Welcome to the forums!

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"Come What May..."
 
To break a knife in, do the following:

1. Open the knife
2. Close the knife
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 50 times or so

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Jason aka medusaoblongata
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"I have often laughed at the weaklings who call themselves kind because they have no claws"

- Zarathustra
 
Ya gotta run it over a couple of times with your car/pickup truck in order to break it in correctly.
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Dann Fassnacht
Aberdeen, WA
glockman99@hotmail.com
ICQ# 53675663
 
Thanks for the suggestions. Crayola, what do you mean by thinning out the blade? And how would one go about doing it?

[This message has been edited by Saberman (edited 11-22-2000).]
 
Meaning the blade was ground rather thick using a bigger angle than you preferred for a useful knife. The only thing you can do is to reprofile the blade using sharpening stones (using a smaller angle).
 
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