Can altitude and temperature affect knives?

Comeuppance

Comeuppance

Fixed Blade EDC Emisssary
Joined
Jan 12, 2013
Messages
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I recently sold and shipped an emerson to a forum member, and when I had shipped the knife it had been centered with no play and had smooth pivot action. Upon receipt, I was informed it had none of those! Since I had locktited the pivot, I wouldn't assume it would have any issues with loosening in transit, so what gives? It was 30 degrees and I live 5280ft above sea level and shipped it to GA. Could that be the issue?

There was also mention of the knife rubbing against the liner when using thumb studs. Given that I never carried the knife and only cycled it by holding the spine of the blade, I wouldn't have noticed, but are nylatron washers perhaps more flexible than other washers? Could the pressure on the blade cause them to squish slightly allowing for scraping?
 
I've never heard of altitude effecting knives/metal but temp deffinately can, not just knives but all metal. Heat causes expansion but was it not ~70*F in your house, where the knife was kept, probabily very close to the same temp in the guys house in GA.
 
I don't think altitude or temperature would affect anything. Maybe the difference in humidity would?
 
Comeuppance said:
Not too well, but I have no reason to believe he's being dishonest.
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I was wondering the same thing. If they are not trying to get out of paying, asking for a discount, or wanting to get a refund BEFORE they ship it back then they probably aren't.


I could understand <extreme> changes in humidity and temperature affecting some parts of a knife, but I don't see how shipping to a different state would have a significant effect on it. If that were the case, higher end knives would need adjustments in the store before they were made available to buyers.

What type of knife was it??
 
Like I mentioned its most likely very close to the same temp at your house as it is there. I am sure EXTREME temp differences could effect a knife, like from the desert to the arctic, but not a couple hundred miles across the country near the same latitude and climate.

Have you asked for pictures? Does the guy just want to return it for a refund or just complain or what's the end goal?
 
Comeuppance said:
Not too well, but I have no reason to believe he's being dishonest.
Click to expand...
It might not be a matter of honesty, it might just be a difference of opinion regarding what constitutes "blade-play" or a "smooth" opening. Different people will judge a knife differently. And people who are inexperienced with folders might not really know what "blade-play" actually means.

And I would think that a difference in temperature would have to be in the extreme (like red-hot heat or deep-freezing ) in order for it to have any effect on the function of a folder.

I say, if you believe that you were honest in your description of the knife, then you have no cause to feel responsible for the dissatisfaction of the receiver.
 
Definitely get a picture of the blade centering, or even better, a quick video of the opening. If I'd bought a knife from the exchange and had issues, I'd consider it a reasonable request.
 
Comeuppance said:
I recently sold and shipped an emerson to a forum member, and when I had shipped the knife it had been centered with no play and had smooth pivot action. Upon receipt, I was informed it had none of those! Since I had locktited the pivot, I wouldn't assume it would have any issues with loosening in transit, so what gives? It was 30 degrees and I live 5280ft above sea level and shipped it to GA. Could that be the issue?

There was also mention of the knife rubbing against the liner when using thumb studs. Given that I never carried the knife and only cycled it by holding the spine of the blade, I wouldn't have noticed, but are nylatron washers perhaps more flexible than other washers? Could the pressure on the blade cause them to squish slightly allowing for scraping?
Click to expand...

I moved from the New Orleans area - sea level, hot and darn near 100% humidity to the mountains of New Mexico - 8000 ft. elevation, cold and 10% humidity. No affect on any of my knives or guns or wooden furniture or anything, really.

At a loss to explain what happened. I would be tempted to think that it had more to do with the shipping process but no theory on what that might be, either.
 
I think the way the knife was packaged and shipped is more of a concern, I heard of guys working for FedEx, UPS, etc kicking packages around, throwing them, etc. Heck I've seen the guy who delivers my packages around here try to deliver something and since they weren't home threw, not tossed, threw the package to the back of the truck from the front and I heard the thud from across the street.

So ask how the package was when it was delivered, was it crumbled, dented, etc. Personally if I were to send a valuable knife somewhere now days it be in a plastic baggy and than have bags of styrofoam pellets taped around it, than dropped into a box of styrofoam pellets. Or some other setup which provides a lot of protection.
 
I'm not buying the complaint. Have them ship it back, refund the money...if it returns as shipped, or they have manipulated the assembly, post in GBU.
 
I'm sorry, but I' m not buying his story either. I live in Georgia and in the past I have traded quite a bit and recieved knives from all over the States and Canada. From Arizona, Colorado, south Florida to New England, Ontario, and British Columbia. These places have temperatures that vary noticeably from Georgia and every knife (including a couple of Emersons) I received arrived just as described by the previous owners. Either the package was opened and the knife was tampered with during transit, or the guy tampered with it upon receiving it and is fabricating an excuse to get some type of compensation.
 
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