Emerson's Sticky liners Question

[rnjschloss]

I love emersons!! I just got my new to me Mini Commander BT and I LOVE IT almost more than my 7, I have EDC'ed it for a solid week and use the crap out of it (after buying all that expensive sharpening stuff I am still shocked at what the back of that legal pad can do for a blade!)But on to my question, Do the liners ever stop sticking or moving over? Or do they progressively keep moving over until you send the knife back to EKI? Sent a 7 in and they fixed it but I am wondering? Hard to get a straight answer on this question on "Other" forums. Will the TI lock always stick? and Will the liner always progressively move over until another repair?

Thanks guys

Ryan

**** Added Pics of my new mini com ****

 

[mongomondo]

The Ti lock will stop sticking after breaking in, this can take weeks in my experience. The lock will slowly and eventually move all the way over.

 

[STR]

The lock design makes it continue to self adjust from wear but most stick for a while when the contact is like those of the Emerson models. Only about a 1mm x 1mm part of the lock on those knives actually comes into contact with the blade and that is hard to believe for some I know but this is what binds in there sticking and its also what makes it wear and break in fast compared to others that have a more widely dispersed foot print over the bottom third or at least a larger portion of that third than a typical production Emerson folder. Once the lock has been used it usually does not stick as bad but in some cases it can actually go the other way and start binding worse. There really is no way of knowing the exact nature of what causes this to happen on one when another one of the model from the same company is different in behavior but otherwise identical anymore than there is to know why a lock of this type can be spine tapped periodically for years successfully only to suddenly without warning defeat for no apparent reason and then go back to working fine again passing the same test for the remainder of the life of the folder. Its just the idiosyncrasy of your particular knives I imagine.

After its wore in some you will probably be able to visually see exactly where the lock is contacting on the blade because it will usually leave a visible mark and when the folder is apart there should be another visible mark on the lock also. Thats the contact surface area or 'footprint' as I call it.

Once you know where the footprint is you then know where to paint some lead on the lock contact to put some graphite in there from the #2 lead pencil. Coat that good all around that area where it sticks and continue to reapply it as needed until it stops sticking and binding or until you get so fed up with it or thumb sore that you finally just decide to send it in and ask Emerson to fix it. Unfortunately some of the worst binding locks I've owned have been Emersons. The HD12 I had was absolutely horrible for this. Once I actually had to take the thing apart to close it it was stuck so bad and I've got a stout well callused thumb believe me! Fortunately it eased up and by the time I sold it it was a very smooth knife but right after buying it, particularly for that first week of break in it was just awful. But on the bright side with it sticking like that the chances of an accidental defeat are less and people would complain more about that and legitimately so I think. At least if it sticks some which makes it difficult to close it may indicate its somewhat more reliable.

STR

 

[Seanski]

Wow! A thread that actually makes me feel a bit better knowing that I perhaps am not the only one who is experiencing a sticky liner.
It's the only complaint I have with my Mini-Horseman is the sticky liner lock. But it is
getting better as time moves along and I carry and play with it.