I've got some old slip joints that have blades sitting a little proud of the handle. I've heard that you can file the kick down to drop the blade into the handle more. I guess my first question is what exactly is the "kick" and how do you file it down?
And auto correct strikes again. The title should read "Slip Joint". Sorry
The "kick" is the part of the blade that contacts the spring when the knife is closed. This is to prevent the edge of the blade from hitting the spring and keeps the blade elevated enough above the liners/handles so that it can be more easily grabbed for opening. Here is a picture of a "kick" on one of my slipjoints. As you can see, the arrow is pointing at a flat spot on the kick, this is where I filed it down so the blade would sit lower. Originally that flat area was a point.
Filing the kick is simply a matter of very careful filing. File just a little at a time, like one, two, or three gentle strokes, then close the knife to check your results. Repeat as necessary to get your desired results. Depending on the steel, a standard file might work. But if your blade is made out of an especially hard steel, you might need a diamond file.
Sorry for the crappy picture, I kinda rushed it as my battery was dying.
Just like filing down the front sight of a fixed sighted handgun or rifle to bring the point of the bullets impact up.
File a teeny bit.. check point of impact and file again if necessary. Don't file to much!
And here's a tip (in case you didn't already think of it), wrap the edge portion of the blade with a thick layer of masking tape before filing. That way if you have a little slip with the file you won't ruin the edge.
By changing the kick on the blade, the back spring will sit lower when the knife is closed
So if the back spring was flush when closed, after filing the kick the back spring will be depressed below the liners
By changing the kick on the blade, the back spring will sit lower when the knife is closed
So if the back spring was flush when closed, after filing the kick the back spring will be depressed below the liners
Like most things in life, every thing has some "give and take", and for every action, there is an equal and opposite re-action. Not really on topic, but it was what came to my feeble mind at the time. :sleeping:
By changing the kick on the blade, the back spring will sit lower when the knife is closed
So if the back spring was flush when closed, after filing the kick the back spring will be depressed below the liners
Sometimes the drop of the spring will be insignificant, if not entirely unnoticeable, and sometimes the opposite; just depends on the build and condition of the specific knife. It's a risk, but not a certainty.
I used a Dremel to grind about 1/16" off the depth of the kick of my Queen Cattle King stockman's sheepsfoot (seen at left in the 1st pic below; compare to the spey's un-filed kick at the right of the picture), as it was sitting very high when closed, with the spine about 1/8" above the clip's spine. When finished, the sheepsfoot's spine was flush with the clip's spine (2nd pic), and the drop of the spring for the sheepsfoot was minimal (lower of the two springs in the 3rd pic). In this case, the spring came to rest against the radiused tang of the blade when closed, limiting the 'drop' of the spring, so filing the kick had little effect on the position of the spring itself. On an old knife with a lot of wear on the spring and/or the blade's tang (which reduces it's radius), that's when more 'drop' might be seen, if the kick is then the main factor in limiting how far 'sunk' the spring already is. My knife was relatively new and had little or no wear on the tang, nor on the inside of the spring's contacting face. That's another good reason to always 'oil the joints', and keep doing so, BTW...
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