Fixing a Centofante

T

tubezipper

Joined
Nov 17, 2006
Messages
80
G'Day,
I recently posted an initial review on my centofante, where I stated that the blade was way off centre, the bevel often touching the liner if i don't take care to move it over when i close it. I have tried searching for threads regarding this problem, to no avail.
If anyone could either suggest the best way to fix this problem myself, or provide a link to a relavent thread, it would be much appreciated.

I am also wanting to take the knife apart, should I find any difficulty in this exercise? The only thing I'm not certain about is the lock to keep it closed. Is this a simple, straightforward design?

Thanks for reading.
Cheers,
Zac.
 
I think it should be fairly straight forward. Open the blade 90 degrees to take the tension off of the torsion bar. Contact Kershaw to get fresh torsion bars and washers (you are taking it apart anyway, might as well freshen up). Inspect for missing or damaged washers, then, carefully reassemble (disassembly pics may help to remember how everything should go). As you tighten everything up make sure the blade is centered the whole way. If you get off center back out a screw and recenter. If this doesn't do the trick just contact Kershaw and send it in.

The search is being wonky for me this evening. Someone may be able to get some helpful links up shortly.
 
Shifting the handles in relation to each other can help true up the pivot. There generally isn't much play, but the tiniest movement of the pivot can result in a surprising shift of the blade tip. As Spiral said, keep an eye on the blade as you tighten every thing up. It may be necessary to have the blade a little to far the other way before you do the final tightening.
 
kneedeep said:
Shifting the handles in relation to each other can help true up the pivot. There generally isn't much play, but the tiniest movement of the pivot can result in a surprising shift of the blade tip. As Spiral said, keep an eye on the blade as you tighten every thing up. It may be necessary to have the blade a little to far the other way before you do the final tightening.
Click to expand...

Whoa...I never thought of trying to do this...:D

The next time I have one I need to true-up the blade centering on, I'll definitely try this. With all the screws loose, as you say only a tiny shift of the handle halves with respect to one another should shift the blade tip.

Thanks, kneedeep! :thumbup:

Ray :)
 
Thanks fellas, I've requested a new torsion bar and pivot bolt set. Hopefully get some new washers with that?
Anyway, replies are much appreciated. Thanks again.

Cheers,
Zac.
 
UPDATED: [kudos again to spiralarchitect and kneedeep]

Yesterday I arrived home to find a parcel from Kershaw with my replacement parts.
-New pivot bolt set
-New torsion bar
I was shocked, it only took around a week. And i got this handy tool with the right size torx bits. This is better service than i get from companies in my own Country.

After using the tool to tweak up my Delica4 (correct torx bits were included for the handle screws and the pivot bolt, thanks Kershaw..) as a means to delay, I set to taking apart my Centofante.

First of all I must say, to anyone out there hesitant to open one of these up, do it. I was like that before.
As an engineering student, I was amazed at the simplicity of this knife. The torsion bar positioning, and the safety lock, everything amazed me. There is so much packed into my little knife.

That said, it was simple to fix my problem. After taking it down and replacing the pivot bolt and torsion bar, the biggest problem in getting it back together was lining up the torsion bar with the hole in the blade.
I found leaving the torsion bar in about the middle of its travel and pressing the knife together, then rotating the blade until the extension of the torsion bar engaged the hole, worked fine for me. It took two goes to get it to pop in. Anyone got any better ideas?

Anyway, after lightly tightening all the screws, I tightened the handle screw furthest from the pivot, then the closer one, and finally tightened the pivot bolt until it was just tight enough to not squeeze the blade to much, and the blade is now perfecly centered.

Sorry if my post is a little rambling, it's been a long day.
This is a perfect little knife now. I can't stop playing with it.

My only problem is now im obsessed with how much fingerprint i left inside the knife, and am now on a mission to clean it as thoroughly as possible. It never ends.
 
Congrats on straightening it out!

A week is pretty amazing, especially international, and all the way to Australia to boot!

If you are only obsessed with cleaning it, you are doing much better than most of us. We all ended up obsessed with getting more Kershaws. :D
 
Thanks for the write up, zipper. I think the most impressive thing about this story is that it only took a week for the parts to get to you. I have sent stuff to Oupa in the past and it has always taken much more time than that. Very cool. I'm glad we were able to be of some assistance to you. Don't be a stranger. :thumbup:
 
Awesome!!! Glad you got her all straightened out.
1 week to Australia, you can't beat that CS with a stick. :thumbup:
 
Yeah, incredible service.
They actually sent out two sets of parts, most likely due to an error on my behalf. So if there's anyone in Aus that's after a new pivit bolt set and torsion bar for their centofante...

Now I can get to sharpening this without fear of folding it in and scraping the new edge to one side..
Does 15~17 per side sound about right for a knife like this?
Certainly no tough work to be done with it, opening mail, packages around the kitchen, etc. but I'm not sure 440A would be much good any thinner than that. Am I wrong?

And yeah, the Kershaw bug has been biting hard.
There's an 'army disposals' store in town that's selling leeks with the speedsafe stuff removed (the torsion bar and safety latch) that are selling very cheap.
I was thinking of picking one of these up and asking Kershaw to send out the parts I need, but it seems like a bit of a scam asking for warranty parts for a knife that wasn't sold with said parts. I guess they did at one point, but I don't want to be that kind of guy..
 
15-17 sounds fine. I've took mine(440A) to 12 and it still holds a decent edge
for non-heavy duty cutting. If you hone real fine and or strop, It'll hold even longer.

As far as getting your hands on torsion bars and safety's, you could always
call/email Kershaw and ask if there's someway to purchase them. Couldn't hurt to ask.
 
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