Cleaning the Pivot on an EDC

T

tiguy7

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The blade on my William Henry gets rusty and crusty with regular use. The action slows down even as the ZDP-189 edge is holding up fine. The blade is sandwiched between 2 Teflon washers, so it needs touching up on both sides. The 1st 2 pix show the damage. The next 2 pix show the blade after wire brushing and the application of a fine metal polish. The next 2 pix show the blade after polishing with an extra fine Spyderco Sharpmaker triangular prism. This last step brings a flat mirror finish to the blade. The pits and recesses don't affect the action. The action now is as smooth as glass. I can flick the knife open and shut by depressing the lock button, and there is no blade play. Not bad for a 20 year old knife (last picture).View attachment 1613711View attachment 1613710View attachment 1613715View attachment 1613716View attachment 1613733View attachment 1613734View attachment 1613735
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Oil the thing, for pete's sake.
Then you won't have to take it apart, wire brush it and polish it.
That's what oil is for!
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Oil gums it up in my experience, and it won’t flick. It is not much of a deal to shine the parts when the knife is apart for general cleaning.
 
I would suggest a light coat of grease! Those first photos are pretty depressing to look at
 
My reaction to looking at the pics is- Definitely NOT a "safe queen".

I have nothing against "safe queens", but I enjoy seeing "users", and more specifically the results of them being used.

It's nice to see such a high-end knife getting used that much.

More power to you Tiguy7 :thumbsup:.

Heck, it's a knife after all, not a kidney machine or a pacemaker. A little corrosion and crud once in awhile aint' gonna kill anyone ;).
 
I have been repairing knives for around 50 years.
If your oil "gums up" I suggest trying different lubricants until you find one your knife "likes."
Moving parts made of metal require lubrication. If they are carbon steel, they need rust protection.
This is just common sense.
 
There are 2 things that exacerbate the corrosion: 1) I carry the knife in the placket of my shirt which is a high humidity, high temp environment. 2) I often use the knife for food prep including fruit. The Damascus cladding is supposed to be Stainless. The blade swings between 2 Teflon washers, so a semblance of slipperiness. The only natural oil that really resists oxidation is porpoise jaw oil which is getting harder to find. I have been using knives for over 70 years.
 
I use CLP BreakFree to lube my folders (excellent rust preventive, too). It doesn't gum up. A tiny drop each side will do.
 
Every time you wire brush and use metal polish, you are wearing the bearing surface. Letting that surface rust by not oiling it is also wearing it.
 
The wire brush and polish remove the red rust. By polishing the bearing surface with a fine flat stone, I am only shining the high spots. When I am finished, the original bearing surface is reduced by as much as 50%. This reduces the friction by that amount. The blade flicks much better than it did when the knife was new, and there is no play in any direction.
I have had similar results with Axis Lock Benchmades, except with those I have to shine the blade and the Bronze washers on the blade side. Chris Reeve accomplishes the same friction reduction by skeletonizing his washers.
 
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tiguy7 said:
The wire brush and polish remove the red rust. By polishing the bearing surface with a fine flat stone, I am only shining the high spots. When I am finished, the original bearing surface is reduced by as much as 50%. This reduces the friction by that amount. The blade flicks much better than it did when the knife was new, and there is no play in any direction.
I have had similar results with Axis Lock Benchmades, except with those I have to shine the blade and the Bronze washers on the blade side. Chris Reeve accomplishes the same friction reduction by skeletonizing his washers.
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You can try to talk it up as a "feature" all you want, but you're slowly destroying your knife...thats a fact. I guarantee that's not how ANY manufacturer or maker would recommend you treat their product...as Bill said, moving parts need lube and carbon steel needs oil.
 
Well, the knife has been in continuous use for over 20 years and has not only survived the “abuse” but works better than it did when new. It is also tighter than a drum. I voided the warranty soon after I got it by disassembling it. I have made several upgrades and improvements. It has knocked all the competitors out of my pocket. I am very happy with this tool. If it ever wears out I have a drawer full of backups. I often buy backups when I really like an item. I don’t foresee it failing any time soon, but I could lose it.
I also have a non-Damascus San Mai blade for it that is a ZDP 189 core with 420 Stainless cladding. So if I get tired of shining the Damascus blade, I can switch it out.
 
tiguy7 said:
Oil gums it up in my experience, and it won’t flick. It is not much of a deal to shine the parts when the knife is apart for general cleaning.
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Try Gunny Glide from what I have heard from a lot of people it's a really good lube,it use's Graphene and H-BN and they act as a lube that embeds into the metal from what the maker Scott Gunn told me and he said that if you open and lose your knife a bunch it get's smoother in about a week.

From what Scott told me the oil is just there for a carried for the Graphene and H-BN,I have used Scott's Gunny Juice emulsion and all I can say is nothing I have tried works as well as his and I also know Scott personally and he always try's to find the newest and latest great stuff to make a product with.

If you try looking for it right now it maybe hard to find because KPL Knife Pivot Lube sent Scott a Lawyers letter saying that he copied their bottle which is a generic bottle that Boker also use's as well and the same with KPL and Scott's is taller plus they claim his logo looks to much theirs and also they claim they own the term pivot lube and all I can say is gritomatic and other retailers that sell it are sold out right now from what I hear because KPL's stunt backfired when the knife groups on facebook heard about it and ditched their KPL and ordered Gunny Glide.

You may also look at Go-Juice that's a great oil that is slick as hell for sure,it's just really thin and if your using it to keep the pivot really smooth all the time then you need to use it every 3 to 4 day's.
 
wade7575 said:
Try Gunny Glide from what I have heard from a lot of people it's a really good lube,it use's Graphene and H-BN and they act as a lube that embeds into the metal from what the maker Scott Gunn told me and he said that if you open and lose your knife a bunch it get's smoother in about a week.

From what Scott told me the oil is just there for a carried for the Graphene and H-BN,I have used Scott's Gunny Juice emulsion and all I can say is nothing I have tried works as well as his and I also know Scott personally and he always try's to find the newest and latest great stuff to make a product with.

If you try looking for it right now it maybe hard to find because KPL Knife Pivot Lube sent Scott a Lawyers letter saying that he copied their bottle which is a generic bottle that Boker also use's as well and the same with KPL and Scott's is taller plus they claim his logo looks to much theirs and also they claim they own the term pivot lube and all I can say is gritomatic and other retailers that sell it are sold out right now from what I hear because KPL's stunt backfired when the knife groups on facebook heard about it and ditched their KPL and ordered Gunny Glide.

You may also look at Go-Juice that's a great oil that is slick as hell for sure,it's just really thin and if your using it to keep the pivot really smooth all the time then you need to use it every 3 to 4 day's.
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I was able to get some of the Gunnu glide. It works very well with no gumming up. Don't hesitate to pick some up if you can
 
Bob9466 said:
I was able to get some of the Gunnu glide. It works very well with no gumming up. Don't hesitate to pick some up if you can
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I tested some of Scott's emulsion's to review when they first came out and I purchased a few bottles afterwards and there was a problem with the bottles letting in air around the threads and that cause's the emulsion to dry in the nozzle so Scott just replaced and they are on their way to me with some Gunny Glide he sent to me to test.

The shipment I have coming has stopped moving now it's close to the Canadian boarder and I'm not sure how long I'll have to wait for it to cross over.

I know after the stunt KPL pulled with Scott it caused such a backlash for them that Gunny Glide sold out over night literally at gritomatic and they just got a shipment of it a week before I think.
 
It sounds like what you are doing is working for you. A bit of TLC once in a while and you have a knife that you love using, that's all that counts
 
I take apart my knives every year and add a drop of oil to the pivot. Never had a gumming problem.
 
tiguy7 said:
The only natural oil that really resists oxidation is porpoise jaw oil which is getting harder to find.
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Just realized OP could be joking... if so, I am laughing, if not, well I am still laughing, but I see that I have homework to do. Were you a merchant marine?
 
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