Gerber Paul Knife--disassembly

[ExMachina]

I have a Paul Series 2 knife that seems unwilling to be taken apart.

Another member here posted in another thread that he can remove the locking collar with finger pressure only, but unfortunately this is not true in my case.

I don't want to mar the knife up so any tips/techniques on disassembly would be appreciated.

Thanks,

-ExM

 

[ExMachina]

This is turning out to be more frustrating than I thought it could ever have been. I have made several phone calls to Gerber, trying to get through to customer service. When I finally got through this afternoon they had no information to help me. I then asked them if Gerber offered *any* support for discontinued Gerber products (like could I send them my knife for a cleaning) and they said no--only that if there was a manufacturing defect detected that they'd keep the knife and send me a "credit". What wonderful support!!

So, when is the bladeforum search feature supposed to be fixed...

-ExM

 

[ExMachina]

I just got off the phone with AG Russell Knives and talked to a guy there who seemed to know enough about the Paul knives to at least advise me *not* to try to take the knife apart.

Can't say whether or not I'll heed his advice but at least I now know that I'm not missing something obvious in being unable to disassemble it.

 

[Matt Shade]

I can't help you with taking it apart. Just a little heads up though, from what I have read here, the lock on the paul knives is very complex. It really has to be adjusted properly to work. Even in the event that you get it apart, its not necessarily going to go back together the way its supposed to.

 

[dsvirsky]

Originally posted by Matt Shade
I can't help you with taking it apart. Just a little heads up though, from what I have read here, the lock on the paul knives is very complex. It really has to be adjusted properly to work. Even in the event that you get it apart, its not necessarily going to go back together the way its supposed to.

Matt,
You can't believe everything you read. I own a Paul 2 and have taken mine apart many times (I'm the referenced member who uses finger -- actually thumb -- pressure to take his apart). The lock mechanism consists of 3 pieces, plus the locking ring: the button has a shaft that is "t" shaped (+), the pivot, which is hollow and has notches for that "t" and threads for the locking ring, and a spring. There are corresponding notches in the blade and frame, so that depending on the position of the cross bar of the "t" the blade is locked open/closed, or able to rotate freely. The axial lock is one of those designs that is brilliant in its simplicity.

 

[ExMachina]

Looks like I won't have to take it apart after all!!

After trying hot soapy water, gun scrubber and generous dousings of Ballistol to clean out the hidden grit (none of which worked)--yesterday I solved my problem by just blowing moderately hard through the lock! Shouldn't be *that* simple, but the knife is back to its old self.

Dave, thanks for the detailed description of the lock--I've always wondered exactly how the mechanism worked.

Now, if only all the rest of my hot air could be so advantageously spent

-ExM