Des Horn help needed - pivot screw issue

CapitalizedLiving

CapitalizedLiving

Joined
Dec 1, 2007
Messages
3,798
I love the Des Horn but cannot carry it with the clip on. It has no traction holding it in place, so if I brush against it when taking anything out of my pocket it slides right off. Due to this problem, I very nearly lost it on a couple of occasions.

I tried to fix the issue by just taking the clip off and carrying it in my pocket. I like it better without the clip anyway, but this presents its own problem. I can loosen the screw to get the wire clip off, but the screw won't tighten back down all the way. As the clip screw is one of the pivot screws on this model, this makes the blade loose. This makes it off-center enough to rub the scale, plus the detent is weak and there is quite a bit of play.

As far as I can tell, the clip-side screw is too long to be used without the clip. I basically need a shorter screw, but how do I get one? If I ordered spare screws from Spyderco, assuming they have them, they will be the longer version that I already have and that cause this issue.

I really don't want to get rid of the knife because I cannot remove the clip, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
 
Worse comes to worse, you could use small hacksaw or dremel to remove the parts of the clip that go under the screw. Then you could just put them under the screw to take up the space, but it would not have the clip.
 
Is it possible to sand or cut the screw shorter? It's a very small part and I don't know how much would need to be removed. I would of course prefer a new, shorter screw to replace the longer one but I don't know how to make that happen.
 
It's possible. A belt grinder would be best, or a file if you don't have one.
You'll just need to remove an amount equal to the thickness of the clip.
Be sure the threads at the end are cleaned up before you try to screw it in.

If you want, I'll fix it up for you for the cost of return shipping. I've been wanting to see one of those in person.
 
Take two pieces of wire that are the same thickness that one can find at any hardware shop, cut to length for the slots and put them in. A non permanent solution.
 
marthinus said:
Take two pieces of wire that are the same thickness that one can find at any hardware shop, cut to length for the slots and put them in. A non permanent solution.
Click to expand...
+1

Shouldn't be too hard to find a nail or two, close enough in diameter to do the trick, to use as "donors".
 
spketch said:
It's possible. A belt grinder would be best, or a file if you don't have one.
You'll just need to remove an amount equal to the thickness of the clip.
Be sure the threads at the end are cleaned up before you try to screw it in.

If you want, I'll fix it up for you for the cost of return shipping. I've been wanting to see one of those in person.
Click to expand...


^ This is what I would do........ok, this is what I DO do! Steve'll make it look OEM.
 
My initial though was the screws were too long to be used without the clip, and butting up against each other inside the pivot. This was not the case.
The pivot barrel on this model actually sits a bit proud of the bottom of the countersink, preventing full tension without the clip. I removed about .4mm from the pivot barrel and a similar amount from the longer screws. The result is a pair of smooth, rock-solid, clipless des horns. Heading back you way Tuesday Capitalizedliving!


 
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