Lenny
Gold Member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 1998
- Messages
- 2,486
So, I finally took a close look under good light at the pivot area of my knife.
To my horror, I saw rust all over. So out came the Torx bits to take it apart.
Gotta say, there are a lot of screws. I took every one out as the knife had never been apart before.
There was rust all around the pivot area on both sides of the tang. A little rust on the liners too.
Most of it wiped off with a paper towel and oil. But the rust on the tang required a Dremel with a buffing wheel and some polishing compound.
I got it all off but it left bright areas where the rust was. So, I lubed the washers (which are tiny) and started to put it all back together
again. I gotta say, this knife is built for strength. Besides the 3 keyed standoffs with 2 screws each, the keyed pivot also with 2 screws,
there were pins holding the liners to the handle slabs. I used a little Loctite on each of the screws, put it all back together, tightened down
the pivot screws till it was too tight, backed off the pivot screws till it had perfect action, and called it a day. Blade was perfectly centered
as always and action was sweet, glassy smooth. Not that the action wasn't sweet before. I only lubed it once or twice in the years I've owned it and it didn't
make much difference. This is a properly put together knife for the long haul. I'll make a habit to look for rust under the pivot area more often now.
To my horror, I saw rust all over. So out came the Torx bits to take it apart.
Gotta say, there are a lot of screws. I took every one out as the knife had never been apart before.
There was rust all around the pivot area on both sides of the tang. A little rust on the liners too.
Most of it wiped off with a paper towel and oil. But the rust on the tang required a Dremel with a buffing wheel and some polishing compound.
I got it all off but it left bright areas where the rust was. So, I lubed the washers (which are tiny) and started to put it all back together
again. I gotta say, this knife is built for strength. Besides the 3 keyed standoffs with 2 screws each, the keyed pivot also with 2 screws,
there were pins holding the liners to the handle slabs. I used a little Loctite on each of the screws, put it all back together, tightened down
the pivot screws till it was too tight, backed off the pivot screws till it had perfect action, and called it a day. Blade was perfectly centered
as always and action was sweet, glassy smooth. Not that the action wasn't sweet before. I only lubed it once or twice in the years I've owned it and it didn't
make much difference. This is a properly put together knife for the long haul. I'll make a habit to look for rust under the pivot area more often now.
