Did you ever have to file your kick down on your traditional?

Yup!

I lowered the sheepsfoot blade on my #66 Calf Roper by slowly and keerfully sanding its kick.

I don't have an untouched Before image; in this first one, I've already lowered the blade just a lit-tle bit:

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Here's where I stopped, with the sheepsfoot blade's spine just barely above parallel with that of the main clip blade:

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... though they look 'matched' from most angles:

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I stopped when I did in order to maintain full clearance with its nail nick(s):

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~ P.
 
Pertinux, I love that picture with the licorice. Beautiful knife and really great photo idea. The scales match the candy almost perfectly.
 
A few days ago, I filed the kick on my new Case yellow medium stockman's sheepsfoot, because when closed its tip/end was above the spine of the clip blade when closed. I followed arizonaranchman's advice and used an Emory board to very gradually file the kick. I didn't take too much off, and if I open the clip and spey blades it's clear that the sheepsfoot's tip still rides above the liners, but at least it's below the clip's spine when closed now. The clip is a very slim turkish(?) or california(?) clip blade. I stopped because I felt it was sufficient for now, and didn't want to risk affecting the backspring, which so far is unaffected. This was my first time ever filing a kick.

The spey blade scraped a bit against the sheepsfoot when opening, but I find that my other Case medium stockmen do that, too, and they all have slight scratch marks on the sheepsfoot blades. It seems normal for many Case knives.

Jim
 
I've never filed down a kick but often wonder that if I file a kick even a little that it will affect the underside of the knife.
 
csisland said:
Thanks for the feedback. It seems it's more common than I thought. I felt like I was nitpicking when I sent it back and being a ball buster. Guess not. :p
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I wouldn't feel like bad for sending it in. When I received my IRJ the tip was slightly proud. I spoke with Derrick and he told me I could do it myself, or send it in to them. I opted to send it in, and they filed it down for me. In the future, I'd probably do it myself, but it was a new knife, so I got them to do it.
 
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Crazy Canuck said:
I wouldn't feel like a ball buster. When I received my IRJ the tip was slightly proud. I spoke with Derrick and he told me I could do it myself, or send it in to them. I opted to send it in, and they filed it down for me. In the future, I'd probably do it myself, but it was a new knife, so I got them to do it.
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Same here. Mine was a brand new knife so I sent back to them and followed up with an email.
In reference to the above post about filing the kick down and it having an effect on the underlining on the same side of the kick, does this cause the lining or spring to lower a bit even with just filing down the very small change they made?
 
Let's watch the colorful expressions, please.
Billiards is discussed in a different forum.
 
I've filed down the kicks of several knives; both for cosmetic reasons and for points that stuck out in the closed position. All to satisfactory results.
 
csisland said:
In reference to the above post about filing the kick down and it having an effect on the underlining on the same side of the kick, does this cause the lining or spring to lower a bit even with just filing down the very small change they made?
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It didn't affect the backspring on mine, but I used an Emory board and did it very gradually, bit by bit, over about half an hour. Not half an hour nonstop, but a tiny bit, then checking the blade's position, the position of the spring with the blade closed, then doing a tiny bit more. Better to remove too little metal than a little too much.

Jim
 
Agree or disagree with this statement.

The kick doesn't affect the position of the back spring or liners.
 
If you remove too much of the kick, then yes, it can affect the backspring. I don't see how it affects the liners, though.

Jim
 
csisland said:
Agree or disagree with this statement.

The kick doesn't affect the position of the back spring or liners.
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With the backspring, filing the kick can affect it on some knives. The backspring's vertical movement sometimes will be dependent on the kick exerting pressure against it when the blade is closed, meaning it's position can 'sink' if the kick is filed down. On better-made knives, the lower 'flat' side of the tang, just aft of the kick and directly below the pivot pin, will rest against the spring when the blade is closed, and limit how far the spring can sink, regardless of the kick. If that's not in position to do so (by poor design or by heavy wear of the tang or spring), the kick is the only thing left to keep the spring from sinking, so filing it will allow the spring to sink deeper. In other words, when the blade gets closed, if the spring end first comes to rest against the flat of the tang, BEFORE the kick makes contact with the spring, the spring won't sink any further. If the spring doesn't come to rest against the flat of the tang, before the kick contacts the spring, then the spring will continue to drop until the kick (by itself) stops it. If the kick gets filed, that allows the spring to drop further.

If you watch the spring's vertical movement closely, while closing the blade, you can tell if the end of the spring is limited in it's movement by the flat of the tang, or by the kick. If it's limited by the flat of the tang, you'll see the spring stop moving inward before you feel the kick contact the spring. If the spring keeps moving inward until you feel the kick make contact, then the kick is likely the only thing keeping it from sinking further, and therefore will allow it to sink even more if the kick gets filed down. If you're lucky, the flat of the tang will be very close to contact anyway, and may limit how much further the spring sinks.

As for the liners, filing the kick has no effect on them at all (they're fixed in position, so they won't move, regardless of the kick's condition or position).


David
 
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csisland said:
I'm a little confused. Is the back spring visible from underneath?
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Yes. In the pic of my Queen stockman below, the 2 strips of steel seen between the brass liners (scales), and separated by the central brass liner, are the backsprings.


David
 
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When a slip joint knife is closed, the spring rests against the corner of the tang, and the kick, simultaneously. When you grind the kick, it always will affect the back spring depth, but it is probably so little you don't notice, unless you take a lot off. I think the ratio is probably close to 1/3. The spring moves one for every 3 you take off the kick. I expect the precise formula varies based on the exact geometry of the particular knife. Think of it this way. There is a triangle, the three corners of which are the pivot, the kick, and the corner of the tang that rests on the spring, in the closed position. When you grind the kick, you shorten the distance between it and the pivot, slightly. This allows the blade to rotate more, which drops the blade tip deeper into the liners, but it also lets the spring move a bit closer to the pivot as well, in the closed position.
If the only part of the blade touching the spring were the kick, the spring would push the knife open, not hold it closed.
 
Yes. I had to file the kick down on a Case Rough Black Stockman model #6318. I used the file on one of my SAKs to do it.
 
The knife I have and had the kick filed down on is the Northwoods Fremont Jack. I was told that the kick doesn't affect the position of the back spring or liners.
So if this was untrue, they wouldn't have filed the kick because it would have caused the spring to dip down a little, right?
 
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You can get the idea a bit better if you visualize it.
In my not very precise demonstration, it works out to be more like 1/2. I took 2/16 off the kick, and it dropped the spring about 1/16
 
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