I'm a real big fan of the Kershaw Leek. I have been since I picked up my first one at Elmendorf Air Base outside North Pole Alaska. At the time, I didn't know about the speed safe mechanism. In fact, I didn't know about it until I saw a newspaper article debating wether they were considered automatics or not. You see, I had gotten one of the one-in-a-thousand that was a little sticky. It was a small matter to loosen the pivot screw a wee bit, and I've been enthrawled ever since.
This article is intended to help you get the most out of your Kershaw Leek, and all your other Kershaw Speed Safe knives as well. As many regulars of these forums may already know, I have been advocating an S30V/G10 Leek for some time. My dream was recently been realized in the form of a package from KnifeCenter.com. I was un-neccessarily terrified that the sprint run of polished handle Leeks would pass me by here in the desert.
As with all the Leeks, Scallions and Chives I own (7 all combined), the first order of business was to squeeze an extra 4%-5% of performance out of the speed safe mechanism. I havn't done this with my Bumps, but I would imagine the same principals apply.
DISCLAIMER: This project is of moderate difficulty, and should not be undertaken by anyone who fears they might never get their beloved leek back in working order! Kershaw is incredible with their generosity when it comes to repairs and replacement parts, but you can't expect them to clean up any mess you might make by attemting these modifications!
A couple of notes on safety. The first thing I do when I start adjusting or modifiying a knife is put some duct tape on the leading edge of the blade. This ensures that I don't make any unintentional modifications to the geography of my hands and fingers. I've left the tape off in some of the picture for asthetic reason.
The materials and tools you will need for this project are a #6 and #8 Torx driver [image 1], light oil (I use sentry solutions tough glide), a stiff polishing substrate with some manner of super fine abrasive, blue Lock-tite® and some que-tips or pipe cleaners.
Before you begine the disassembly of your Leek, you will want to release the blade to the neutral position [image 2]. Under no cirucmstance do you want to disassemble you Leek with the blade closed. You can do it with the blade all the way locked open, but I recommend neutral, as the torsion bar is completly disengaged in this position.
Begin by completly loosening the spacer screws with your #6 Torx driver [image 3]. With the G10 Leek, it was kinda nice that the screws stayed stuck to the space, since getting all that lined up for re-assembly can be touchy.
Next, grab your #8 Torx driver and loosen the pivot screw. You will note a fair amount of resistance, as it is held fast with lock-tite® [image 5]. This makes a strong argument against just loosening the pivot screw, as this will break the lock-tite®, and reduce its effectiveness. Once you have the pivot screw out, you can disassemble your Leek [image 6]
The first perfomance enhancing step we are going to take is to polish the washers. I use 3 micron diamond polishing paste spread on a stiff piece of stropping leather mounted on a 1/2" slab of UHDP. You can also use chromium-oxide polishing compound, or even 4000 grit wet/dry sand paper. What ever you use, make sure it is not soft or flexible. Rub away untill the washers are nice and shinny [image 7]. be sure to keep the polish even. I never use power tools like dremels for this because of the risk of making a washer "not flat". Also, take care not to round the edges of the washers. That's why you don't want to use a surface that is too soft or spongy. I was unable to capture a picture of a nice shinny washer, as the autofocus on my camera insisted on focusing on its own reflection, instead of the washer [image 8].
You'll next want to give the root of the blade the same treatment. The DLC coated blades handle this step beautifully. The S30V blade... not so much. The intent here is to get rid of any manufacturing imperfections, and achive just a light polish. For the pivot hole on the blade, I use a cue-tip dipped in some chromium oxide powder. Give this only a minimum of swipes. The last thing you want here is to elongate the pivot hole. Once again, you're just looking to give a light polish. Not so much that you create any run-out on pivot hole.
CONTINUED ON NEXT POST
This article is intended to help you get the most out of your Kershaw Leek, and all your other Kershaw Speed Safe knives as well. As many regulars of these forums may already know, I have been advocating an S30V/G10 Leek for some time. My dream was recently been realized in the form of a package from KnifeCenter.com. I was un-neccessarily terrified that the sprint run of polished handle Leeks would pass me by here in the desert.
As with all the Leeks, Scallions and Chives I own (7 all combined), the first order of business was to squeeze an extra 4%-5% of performance out of the speed safe mechanism. I havn't done this with my Bumps, but I would imagine the same principals apply.
DISCLAIMER: This project is of moderate difficulty, and should not be undertaken by anyone who fears they might never get their beloved leek back in working order! Kershaw is incredible with their generosity when it comes to repairs and replacement parts, but you can't expect them to clean up any mess you might make by attemting these modifications!
A couple of notes on safety. The first thing I do when I start adjusting or modifiying a knife is put some duct tape on the leading edge of the blade. This ensures that I don't make any unintentional modifications to the geography of my hands and fingers. I've left the tape off in some of the picture for asthetic reason.
The materials and tools you will need for this project are a #6 and #8 Torx driver [image 1], light oil (I use sentry solutions tough glide), a stiff polishing substrate with some manner of super fine abrasive, blue Lock-tite® and some que-tips or pipe cleaners.
Before you begine the disassembly of your Leek, you will want to release the blade to the neutral position [image 2]. Under no cirucmstance do you want to disassemble you Leek with the blade closed. You can do it with the blade all the way locked open, but I recommend neutral, as the torsion bar is completly disengaged in this position.
Begin by completly loosening the spacer screws with your #6 Torx driver [image 3]. With the G10 Leek, it was kinda nice that the screws stayed stuck to the space, since getting all that lined up for re-assembly can be touchy.
Next, grab your #8 Torx driver and loosen the pivot screw. You will note a fair amount of resistance, as it is held fast with lock-tite® [image 5]. This makes a strong argument against just loosening the pivot screw, as this will break the lock-tite®, and reduce its effectiveness. Once you have the pivot screw out, you can disassemble your Leek [image 6]
The first perfomance enhancing step we are going to take is to polish the washers. I use 3 micron diamond polishing paste spread on a stiff piece of stropping leather mounted on a 1/2" slab of UHDP. You can also use chromium-oxide polishing compound, or even 4000 grit wet/dry sand paper. What ever you use, make sure it is not soft or flexible. Rub away untill the washers are nice and shinny [image 7]. be sure to keep the polish even. I never use power tools like dremels for this because of the risk of making a washer "not flat". Also, take care not to round the edges of the washers. That's why you don't want to use a surface that is too soft or spongy. I was unable to capture a picture of a nice shinny washer, as the autofocus on my camera insisted on focusing on its own reflection, instead of the washer [image 8].
You'll next want to give the root of the blade the same treatment. The DLC coated blades handle this step beautifully. The S30V blade... not so much. The intent here is to get rid of any manufacturing imperfections, and achive just a light polish. For the pivot hole on the blade, I use a cue-tip dipped in some chromium oxide powder. Give this only a minimum of swipes. The last thing you want here is to elongate the pivot hole. Once again, you're just looking to give a light polish. Not so much that you create any run-out on pivot hole.
CONTINUED ON NEXT POST
syndrome on my knives! Now I'm going for it!
