Can strong springs damage scales?

Will Power

Will Power

Gold Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
33,363
Result in damage to the scales on a knife?

The reason I ask is that last week I got a GEC No.73 single blade in Burnt Orange jigged bone. This is a square bolster,barehead knife that is slimmer than the Tidioute 73 Beaver Tail I also own. Its scales are thinner and unusually they are slanted/angled away from the brass liners unlike any other knife I have. Like most GEC knives it has a formidable spring,this one is really lethally sprung,but I usually like this. Until now.

To my horror I noticed a crack in the bone that suddenly appeared between the centre pin and the liner,this just 3 days after getting it. I inspect my knives on arrival through a 10x magnifier and saw no problems with the bone whatsoever.I certainly do not drop knives or bang them against things so this is not an impact fracture. I'm wondering if the spring is so ferocious that this has put too much strain on the scales,is this possible? As I wrote, it has odd angled scales (presumably to cut down on weight & for appearance)and this means the pin has less mass to 'hold' onto perhaps? I will have to return it to the manufacturer which is a drag so soon after getting it and because I live outside the USA.

What do the rest of you think? Have you ever had a very strongly sprung knife giving these problems? Could the spring damage the handles? Or, is it a fault in the jigging process that's created a crack? But this was so sudden and not because of damage either. Real pity as the knife has beautiful scales and I was already getting a dark blue colour on the blade from cutting up some punets of strawberries!

I put this question here in preference to Maintenance simply because there are many makers on this forum and a wealth of members with experience of bone handled knives. My apologies if it is the wrong place.

Regards, W
 
Perfect timing with your post. I had the same thing happen Sunday with a Winchester 2904 slim line trapper. Got it Sat. night and checked every thing carefully and the scales looked perfect. I put it in my front pocket Sunday morning to start a 12 hour shift. I had it out a couple dozen or so times to look at it and open and close it. By 11:30 am I noticed it developed a small crack about the same place yours did. This knife has strong springs also, but I was careful not to let the blades snap shut. I have been thinking it could have been the springs or the climate change from being in a box for 20 years to a front pocket. Well, maybe that is a long shot.
I am waiting for Blue Grass to get back to me on fixing or replacing the scales. The nice lady there said they would have to check on material inventory.




Patrick
 
i think the bone was going to crack at that spot regardless of spring strength. more likely due to thin scales and humidity changes.
roland
 
That should not happen with a new knife, regardless of spring strength. I would send the knife in to GEC for warranty service.
 
Short answer...yes. Extended answer....yes, if you let the blade snap shut. The crack was probably already started, though, upon assembly. Just guessing.
 
OK it will go back for sure but it could be a long wait as I'm far off...

Yes, I think the crack might have come with assembly as it is a new knife so climate/humidity can likely be ruled out. But, I did check it closely under the magnifier and saw nothing.Maybe the batch of bone was brittle or badly treated? I suspect these bevelled handles...

No blade snapping shut here Sir! Too unseemly....
 
Willgoy, All your reasons are valid... It's a common occurrence on all Mfgs knives with bone scale covers.. As Kerry stated it probably happened during pining the center pin...

Sorry for your misfortune....
 
Got in touch with GEC, they tell me they are out of this scale material (that was quick,it was only released mid March!) so they are waiting to see what they can do.

I hope this is not going to turn into some saga as I've been pleased with their knives so far and I don't want to be forced to change my attitude...

I feel they should re-scale the knife in something else if they've run out of this bone,after all, it failed in 3 days,which is not acceptable at all. I will keep you informed on the progress of this.
 
Pleased to say that GEC up dated me again.Said they can't get more of this bone until end of June/July.Asked me to to contact my dealer who would help me.He did, replaced it I got it in 5days (I live in Europe remember,this was FAST.) All's well that end well.My thanks to Christine Tucker at GEC and Greg Holmes from TSA Knives for courteous attention.
 
Glad everything worked out. I recently picked up the same knife but in the antique amber and think its great. Saw this post and it concerned me a bit but after having opened and closed it for a week now, the bone seems fine. Strongest springs I have run across to date. Good thing that the peachseed jigging allows for a good grip or I would be concerned with using it.
 
It's a really nice pattern, slim in the pocket, this one's spring is not as heavy as the first one,good job!
 
Tony and I were talking about this issue last night. He reminded me that a benefit of tapering the center and rear pin holes in the handle material is that the spring pressure is then bearing on the liner and not the handle material. Otherwise it would more easily crack the handle material.
 
Very interesting this tapering strategy.

In this particular GEC knife I'm convinced that having scales that slant/angled away from the liner exacerbate this potential cracking/stressing problem. We shall see....
 
A lot of Old Remington Pearl scale covered knives, the center pin is peened under the scale covers. All that shows is scale cover pins, in top and bottom bolstered knives......
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top