Centering question

[Eric5273]

So I just purchased a new Herman Knives Micro Sting, definitely the most expensive knife by far that I’ve ever purchased.

Upon unboxing it, everything was perfect, but after a day or two of flipping it (and not using it for anything else), I noticed that the blade was off center, so I tightened the pivot about a quarter turn and the centering returned to normal. Now after a few more days of flipping the knife, the centering is off again.

As this is a $900 knife, I don’t want to mess around with it unless I am 100% sure what I am doing, nor do I want to have to keep tightening the pivot every few days. I’m guessing the best thing to do would be to remove the pivot, clean off any thread locker, and then add some new blue thread locker and tighten up the pivot until the blade is once again centered, and then let it sit for a couple of days and dry?? Would this be the best way to solve this problem?

 

[jbmonkey]

how far off center are we talking? rubbing scale/liner or just a hair off?

many are gonna disagree with me, but ya shouldn't have to work on a 900 knife to get it to stay centered. I'd contact the maker and get them to do it.

 

[Eric5273]

how far off center are we talking? rubbing scale/liner or just a hair off?

many are gonna disagree with me, but ya shouldn't have to work on a 900 knife to get it to stay centered. I'd contact the maker and get them to do it.

Not rubbing the scale, but maybe half way there. The issue is that the maker is in Poland and I’d rather not deal with international shipping to send it all the way back for what is probably an easy adjustment.

 

[jbmonkey]

Not rubbing the scale, but maybe half way there. The issue is that the maker is in Poland and I’d rather not deal with international shipping to send it all the way back for what is probably an easy adjustment.

adjusting and aligning it aint hard....same with loctiting the pivot screw. I'd be more worried it continues, regardless of loctiting it. once you've played with it many makers warranty goes right out the window. that's all.

in that regard why not contact the maker and explain the the issue and see what he recommends on fixing it yourself, as in best practice that wont void any warranty later on if needed.

it's your knife. I'm not telling ya want to do or not do just saying what I would do is all.......

 

[scorpnsnake]

Zero explanation to give. Kind of like when you bang on something and it starts working lol. But..

I've had a few pivots that backed off 3-5 times when new. After tightening them down a little each time they stopped and held strong. I'm sketchy about thread lock on pivots.

Parts mating maybe.

 

[Mitchell Knives]

I'd Loctite it in place myself.

As long as you use the right grade of Loctite, little can go wrong.

 

[killgar]

When you said "flipping", I thought it was a butterfly knife. So I looked it up and see it's a normal type folder with a flipper tab.

It sounds like maybe the pivot screw is loosening from the action of opening and closing, which is not unusual in a folder. I can't help but wonder what exactly you mean by "flipping", if you are sitting around repeatedly opening and closing the knife, that could certainly cause the pivot screw to loosen. Even if threadlocker was originally used in the pivot, it's possible it didn't cure properly due to contamination (oil on the parts).

I would clean the screw and pivot, apply a small amount of blue threadlocker to the screw, tighten to the point the blade is centered, wait 24 hours (blue threadlocker cure time), take a sharpie and put a dot at the 12 o'clock position on the screw, then see what happens as you open and close the knife for awhile. If the dot on the screw moves, then you know the screw is loosening.

 

[SwissHeritageCo]

When you said "flipping", I thought it was a butterfly knife. So I looked it up and see it's a normal type folder with a flipper tab.

It sound like maybe the pivot screw is loosening from the action of opening and closing. I can't help but wonder what exactly you mean by "flipping", if you are sitting around repeatedly opening and closing the knife, that could certainly cause the pivot screw to loosen. Even if threadlocker was originally use in the pivot, it's possible it didn't cure properly due to contamination (oli on the parts).

I would clean the screw and pivot, apply a small amount of blue threadlocker to the screw, tighten to the point the blade is centered, wait 24 hours (blue threadlocker cure time), take a sharpie and put a dot at the 12 o'clock position on the screw, then see what happens as you open and close the knife for awhile. If the dot on the screw moves, then you know the screw, or pivot barrel, is loosening/rotating.

Good advice.

On the flipside, from what I understand it takes about a month to get your knife back from Herman via DHL.

I'd still try properly cured loctite first.