Does anyone know a cheap alternative to the shiro bits?

[TRfromMT]

I’m still trying to wrap my head around why someone would want cheap bits to work on an expensive knife.

Mostly because it irritated me I had have a special, proprietary tool (from Hinderer) at the time, and the stupid notion it had to be their thing.

Pissed me off. Some companies (Stider, Rockstead?) void the warranty if you service your own knife, and convince some folks they aren't smart enough. Screw that.

 

[SwissHeritageCo]

Here’s a little caveat though, Shirogorov makes all their own hardware, the screws and barrels are made from Ti and using hardened steel bits (or screwdrivers) tend to chew up the edges of the Ti heads, the specific bits made for these knives are actually tapered in a way to prevent this. Cheap options may be out there but it’s not worth sacrificing expensive knife parts.

Sounds like they really want to deter people from disassembling their knives.

 

[Jsega51]

Sounds like they really want to deter people from disassembling their knives.

I can’t say so much for years previous but that’s actually changed a bit as you can now get service kits through Recon1 which include new screws and bearings, they just need to offer some basic tools, not the fancy, engraved pen tools. The brand and knives are definitely getting more popular so I’m guessing their offering on ways to service the knives increasing as well.

I can also rest assure that I’ve carried a couple Shirogorov F95’s for at minimum a year without worrying about tear down and when I did, they weren’t that bad inside. I’ve also simply cleaned them under the hot water tap which flushes a lot out. With Ti and stainless steel, there’s really not too much to worry about.

 

[jjg6319]

It is a thread like this makes me appreciate Chris Reeves Knives. They want you to take it apart and make it easy.

 

[Jsega51]

It is a thread like this makes me appreciate Chris Reeves Knives. They want you to take it apart and make it easy.

“Make it easy” by giving you the wrench does sound good but I’ve spent my fair share of time in the CRK forum and there’s always recurring posts regarding people pinching/damaging the washers or not having everything lined up while putting their Sebenza back together creating other issues. Shirogorov knives simply have more parts especially counting all the ball bearings which makes it trickier taking them apart and putting them back together, I will admit fully taking apart and maintaining a CRK is much easier!

I bet there’s a lot of CRK’s sent back because owners have taken them apart and messed with them and then need help, other companies/makers tried to prevent this I guess.

 

[Diemaker]

If there was enough demand it would be easy to make custom ones from high quality generic bits. The steel may be hard but carbide end mills would cut it like hard butter with cycle times under 1 minute.

 

[Guy McVer]

As long as the screw isn't too tight, there's an old well known trick which works for things requiring special bits. I've used it myself and had some success with it.

What you do is take a bic pen, remove the the tip and the ink tube, and melt the end with a bic lighter. While the plastic on the end is still molten, you press it down into the head of the fastener you want to remove, and you let it cool off. Once it hardens, it takes the shape of the bit you need. Then you can unscrew it with the pen.

But this only works if the screw isn't too tight. If it's too tight then your makeshift bit won't be strong enough to unscrew it.

 

[dshx]

Since we’re talking about inexpensive tools, I’ve used this Green Thorn tool from AliExpress with no problems. Currently approx $60. It has the two bits - larger bit fits most Shiro large slotted pivot screws and the smaller bit fits most rear slots.