EDC XIII Which knife or knives are you carrying today?

LimpCroissant said:
Mornin guys. I got a new respect for my Umnumzaan the last couple days. I've always used the CRK grease in CRKs, just because I thought it'd be best. A couple days ago I used that little syringe applicator to drop a tiny bit of Hoppes #9 gun oil onto the washers and it completely transformed the action! I'd never been super happy with the action on it, and the unlocking of the lockbar always hurt my thumb after playing with it for a little while. It's way smoother now, and the unlocking is a bit better. I think I also put just the tiniest bit of leftover oil on the applicator needle on the lockbar/detent. I usually never do that, but for the first time I can easily flick it out with my left hand on this one. Much betta!

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The detent ball is the only place I ever put grease in any of my 10 CRKS, or any knives for that matter. I lube the washers and pivot with W10 NanoOil and put a dab of Finish Line Extreme Fluoro on the detent which smooths everything out and makes my CRKs all flickable. I do like my 'Zaan (WC StarTac) though it is the fussiest of all my Reeve knives to open and close. CRK mentions that the thumb opening action should be forward, not out, which does indeed work best.

So...I just got my StarTac out while writing and it was kinda stiff as it's been sitting awhile, I figured to tune it up and take it apart, thinking I could unscrew the over-travel stop and bend the lock bar a little, as it is pretty damn stiff. I soon learned that the OTS is press fit, putting the kibosh on that idea.

The knife was clean inside so I just re-lubed the washers and pivot, got that dab of Finish Line on the ceramic ball interface, and left the pivot screw just a little loose, which doesn't result in any play or centering issues. The opening action is flicakbly great again, but even properly lubed the 'Zaan is definitely not the easiest knife to close. With my arthritic old carpenter's mitts I've adopted the habit of moving my pinky to the show side of frame- and liner locks for better leverage and to get my thumb to more of a right angle to the lock bar which helps a lot, especially with stubborn closers like the Umnumzaan. Even one closing leaves a depression in the end of my thumb--it's definitely not a fidget toy....
 
ChazzyP said:
The detent ball is the only place I ever put grease in any of my 10 CRKS, or any knives for that matter. I lube the washers and pivot with W10 NanoOil and put a dab of Finish Line Extreme Fluoro on the detent which smooths everything out and makes my CRKs all flickable. I do like my 'Zaan (WC StarTac) though it is the fussiest of all my Reeve knives to open and close. CRK mentions that the thumb opening action should be forward, not out, which does indeed work best.

So...I just got my StarTac out while writing and it was kinda stiff as it's been sitting awhile, I figured to tune it up and take it apart, thinking I could unscrew the over-travel stop and bend the lock bar a little, as it is pretty damn stiff. I soon learned that the OTS is press fit, putting the kibosh on that idea.

The knife was clean inside so I just re-lubed the washers and pivot, got that dab of Finish Line on the ceramic ball interface, and left the pivot screw just a little loose, which doesn't result in any play or centering issues. The opening action is flicakbly great again, but even properly lubed the 'Zaan is definitely not the easiest knife to close. With my arthritic old carpenter's mitts I've adopted the habit of moving my pinky to the show side of frame- and liner locks for better leverage and to get my thumb to more of a right angle to the lock bar which helps a lot, especially with stubborn closers like the Umnumzaan. Even one closing leaves a depression in the end of my thumb--it's definitely not a fidget toy....
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Thanks for the wisdom you've gained through your experiences. I agree, the Zaan isn't much of a fidget toy unless someone either gets one with lighter lockbar pressure, or they have some sort of much gnarlier calluses on their thumbs. I do drive for a living now days, so they're not as callused as they used to be. I've also thought many times about lightening the lockbar pressure just a fuzz, but yeah that press-fit overtravel stop intimidates me too much too.

I've always been super leery about putting any lubrication on the ceramic detent ball/lockface because of my experience with titanium lockbars getting super sticky when some oil runs down onto them. I try to always keep that lockface clean as possible. However I will give that a try as I trust your experiences. Not to mention, a ceramic ball lockbar interface is much different than a standard Ti on steel interface, or steel on steel. Thanks man, I'll try that this weekend!
 
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