case blade wobble

joesrx

joesrx

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Oct 4, 2008
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I have a case sodbuster that had a lot of blade wobble. Put in a vice and squeezed. No blade wobble, but now a bugger to open. Can anything be done?

thanks
 
Hi Joe! I have a case yellow handled cv sodbuster jr. that was exactly the same. I did exactly what you did, and got exactly the same results. :rolleyes:

What I did next was to wrap the blade in a shop towel, lightly grip the blade in the jaws of the vise, and apply sideways pressure on the handle, first one way then the other, until it loosened it up a bit. And I didn't get it right on the first try, either - back to blade wobble. Squeezed the pivot pin on the corners of the jaws of the vase again - blade wobble gone, but too tight to open. Repeat sideways blade pressure.

I probably did this about 4 or 5 times until I got it to where I could live with it - no wobble and it opens and closes with an acceptable amount of effort. :D

I guess the main point I'm trying to convey is that these case sodbusters are a pretty tough knife and will take the abuse shown above without falling apart. I was a little hesitant to keep tightening & loosening for fear I would permanently damage the knife, but at least in my case it turned out OK. I figured it was an inexpensive knife and if I ruined it I would chalk it up to "live and learn". Your mileage may vary, of course.

There will probably be other, better ideas that come along here. Good luck and let us know how you make out!
 
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joesrx said:
Bingo,

thanks a bunch. Man these sodbusters are tough.
Click to expand...

"Bingo" - does that mean you've already tried it and it worked for you too, Joe?

I was amazed that I didn't break or damage mine when I tried it! They ARE tough!
 
It's only been a month, but so far I love it. The thick handle and stiff spring mean business, and I can shave with that thin CV blade after a few swipes on the stone. Also, instead of a finer point, Case opted to give the blade more belly and a more polite tip.

Time will tell, but I see this one falling into my pocket often in the future.
 
I got one in today and it had a little blade play. I put it on the counter and pushed down with thumb as hard as I could.
Didn't expect it to help, but it did...for now at least.
 
Case Sodbusters use a "nail & washer" type of rivet, you may be able to put a very thin putty knife between the liner and blade to "loosen" the blades you have tightened. Best way to tighten the main blade is to take a small hammer and lightly tap the main pin checking play after each tap. Be careful and it works OK.
 
I have a Sodbuster Jr. I bought this over a year ago and was disappointed at the blade play. I lived with it figuring I could either return it or send it back to Case. I did the magazine/hammer fix. I placed the pivot between the pages (equal amounts of pages in between) and then took a hammer to the pivot area. I whacked a few times fairly hard but, was reluctant to really put some oomph behind it fearful I'd crack the handle. No luck. Did it a few more times flipping it over. No luck. I then figured I'd go all-in and really pound it. After maybe 20 good full on whacks I tried it. No cracks....that was good......opened blade....no play! It worked! Blade is centered spot on. No cracks, no damage. There is a teenie-tiny amount of play but I'm not totally anal about that. I please easy and this was a case of that. I'm happy. The knife is now as it should have left the factory. I understand others may not get the same result and it's not without the risk of harming your knife but, it worked for me. Yee ha!

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Unless the heads of the pivot rivet are peened after squeezing them, they'll tend to eventually loosen up anyway, if they're initially a little too snug. I noticed this with my large stainless Sod Buster (2138 SS), after squeezing it in a hobby vise a couple of times; it always loosened up again. The vise (with plastic jaw inserts) was squeezing the handles together without compressing the pivot rivet, leaving the edges of the rivet's head just slightly proud of the surface. I eventually used a ball-peen hammer and pin punch (with flat head, and just slightly smaller than the pivot rivet's head diameter) to gently peen or compress the rivet a little bit, after which it's stayed tight. Probably a little too snug, but I can live with it, because it's not wobbling at all anymore. :)


David
 
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The blade wobble seems to be an issue with Case knives. At least anyway as I've seen it mentioned here a few times. Last couple newer Case models I purchased had too much wobble to suit me. I ended up gifting them to low info knife users who think they're great. And they're nice knives, just need a bit better QC or something. I won't buy a Case now unless I can handle it first.
 
That style of soddie is a friction fit pivot pin. Compressing it will tighten things up, but you could tighten it too much and affect the action.

If it has come loose, it will probably do it again with use.
 
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