Cold Steel SR1 PB washer replacement.

[OldManBear]

Has anybody replaced the Teflon washers with phosphor bronze ones? And if so, where did you find them?

 

[RickHuf]

I don't mean to take you off on a tangent here but what would the advantage be to do this?

I've changed bearings to nicer ones and it's night and day, but Teflon washers on a lovkback doesn't seem like something that could really be improved upon

I dunno, just curious. Maybe I should just go YouTube it and see what people have to say

 

[Alberta Ed]

I bought a set of bronze washers some time ago to replace the Teflon ones on my Emersons (CQC-7A, CQC-7BW), but so far haven't found a reason to do so. The Teflon ones work just fine and under some conditions like salt water exposure may be preferable to bronze. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[kreole]

I don't mean to take you off on a tangent here but what would the advantage be to do this?

I've changed bearings to nicer ones and it's night and day, but Teflon washers on a lovkback doesn't seem like something that could really be improved upon

I dunno, just curious. Maybe I should just go YouTube it and see what people have to say

They don't rip like Teflon ones, and they break in smoother than the factory ones can possibly feel (benefit of Teflon is they're smooth from the start, no break in).


O OldManBear
I replace all mine. I believe mine are from usaknifemaker. They offer .500 od ones that fit bigger Cold Steels like a champ

 

[killgar]

I replaced the Teflon washers in my Cold Steel Ti-lite 4 with bronze phosphor, then I switched back to Teflon. I found that with a snug pivot the knife opened a lot easier with the Teflon washers than with the bronze phosphor washers. Teflon has a noticeably lower COF (coefficient of friction) than bronze phosphor (Teflon is more slippery).

I think if a Teflon washer tears there must be something wrong with the knife, or it was assembled/reassembled wrong.

I used to prefer bronze phosphor washers (my assortment pictured below), but now I prefer Teflon. I would no longer switch from Teflon to bronze phosphor, but I have switched out bronze phosphor for Teflon, particularly in my autos.

 

[kreole]

Teflon has a lower coe but higher static friction and stiction. That means PB has a smoother start/ more consistent feel start to in motion to end.

Being softer it also deforms under compression, so you need to run the pivot looser. With PB you can tighten the pivot further, which at least for me feels better usually. Any pressure you're putting on the blade sideways pushing it open adds to that compression, adding to that stiction and static froction. Plus that softness means debris gets embedded (which is part of the point but not good long term for smoothness).

As for rips, I've seen them pinched from the factory a number of times. It's always the inside edge. If you're doing maintenance on your knives, multiply the risk of that times however often you take it apart--though to be fair the nice part of Teflon is they go and go without cleaning.

K killgar that is an awesome way to organize washers. Definitely taking that idea.