Got my first ZT today, 0550, some thoughts

W

Whelen Nut

Joined
Jan 2, 2011
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101
I'm more a fixed blade guy but my para 2 has served me well and with all the good reviews I ordered a zt 0550. Came in the mail today and here are my thoughts.

I like:
blade shape
not too heavy
looks solid

I don't like:
blade isn't centered
there is hardly any detention of the blade
it isn't sharp
grinds are uneven
the blade has side to side play

So overall I'm pretty disappointed. Considering the para 2 cost half and had none of the negatives this knife had. Am I seriously asking to much for a knife that cost me almost $250 shipped to my door?

So I'm all ears as to what I can do about this. I can reprofile it, not sure what to do about the low detention. I can hold the knife and "wobble" my hand gently and the blade opens up. I have zero confidence putting thing tip up or down for that matter in my pocket. Side to side play, tighten screws? What are the torque specs for each screw?

My other options are send it back where I bought it (eat a 15% restocking fee and pay shipping back), send it to the US to have it fixed and pay a bunch shipping/duties etc, try and sell it to someone that doesn't care for any of the negatives and try to get some of my money back.

I don't think it's too much to ask that a knife costing what this one does should have none of the negatives I listed. I can live with a slightly off center blade if everything else is perfect but it isn't.

I'm all ears.
 
You sound really mad about it. If it were me, i would give it a once over. Take it apart, tighten everything up and see if that takes care of it before doing anything more cumbersome
 
That sounds nothing like mine. Mine was hair popping sharp. Mine was centered and equal on the grinds. Mine had detent on cherrios! It was almost too tight. I left it open partway for 3 days and it is breaking in very nicely.

Mine had no side play. no play at all. Mine is rock solid. If all you say is true you should either return it as defective and pay NO restocking fee or send it to ZT and let them warranty fix it! Your choice of course.

I don't know where you are as you didn't say, but they don't make knives you like locally?
 
greetings,
have to add my comment on the 0550. having owned a 0200, 0350, 0301, and 0302, i will say my 0550 is probably the closest to perfection. fit and finish are superb. smoking sharp. perfect grind. dead-on centering. detent like a vault. in closing, this thing looks hand-fitted. sounds like you may have got a fluke. not to sound prejudice, but never had a spyderco that came close to a ZT.
mike
 
My 0550 came in pretty good shape. Blade retention is similar to the Hinderer I used to have which was to say weak. Has not opened in my pocket though and I have used and carried it alot. Blade is centered and lockup is very solid. I had mine apart to put on a new scale and it went back together centered and perfect. As to the grind one side was <20 degrees while the other was about 26 degrees. For me that was not a killer since I did a reprofile on it using my Edge Pro. Now it slices so much better and has stayed hair popping sharp with very little touch-up.

I would send it to ZT to have it corrected if possible. They need to be aware if there are any QA issues with the knives they are shipping out.
 
i have a 0550 and i can say i have none of your issues. i would also be very disappointed. from what i hear the kershaw customer service is second to none. i would send it in. mine does have a slight vertical play, it seems that the thumbstud doesnt fit perfectly when opened. i can only notice the play if i open the knife and hit it into my palm, i can hear the blade slap just a little but. i thought this would go away after break in but doesnt seem to be. i however consider this such a minor issue that i wouldnt want to part with it for the time it would take to send it.
 
I have two 0551's. both are perfect. Solid, no blade play, great retention and lock up. Very sharp too. Send it back and they will make it right.
 
Whelen Nut said:
I'm more a fixed blade guy but my para 2 has served me well and with all the good reviews I ordered a zt 0550. Came in the mail today and here are my thoughts.

I like:
blade shape
not too heavy
looks solid

I don't like:
blade isn't centered
there is hardly any detention of the blade
it isn't sharp
grinds are uneven
the blade has side to side play

So overall I'm pretty disappointed. Considering the para 2 cost half and had none of the negatives this knife had. Am I seriously asking to much for a knife that cost me almost $250 shipped to my door?

So I'm all ears as to what I can do about this. I can reprofile it, not sure what to do about the low detention. I can hold the knife and "wobble" my hand gently and the blade opens up. I have zero confidence putting thing tip up or down for that matter in my pocket. Side to side play, tighten screws? What are the torque specs for each screw?

My other options are send it back where I bought it (eat a 15% restocking fee and pay shipping back), send it to the US to have it fixed and pay a bunch shipping/duties etc, try and sell it to someone that doesn't care for any of the negatives and try to get some of my money back.

I don't think it's too much to ask that a knife costing what this one does should have none of the negatives I listed. I can live with a slightly off center blade if everything else is perfect but it isn't.

I'm all ears.
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Besides a weak detent it sounds like a pretty good knife to me. Factory sharpness and if the blade is centered are pretty loose points to be judging so hard, you can fix the centering by proper screw adjustment and the sharpness is something you will need to maintain all the time anyways so just sharpen it and be done.

To fix the center and play start by loosening all screws. Next you will need to re-tighten in a correct order, starting left to right with left being the pivot screw and right being the butt end screw number them 1234. Start with screw 3 and sung. Move to screw #1 aka pivot screw and tighten all the way. Follow by tightening screw 2 then 4. Return to screw #1 and loosen 1/4 turn.

At this point the blade should have slight play that you fine tune adjust out by making very small adjustments with the torx driver.

Once complete you may find the knife to have better/smoother lock-up, a centered blade, zero play in any direction, and possibly a better detent.
 
Thank you I will try this. What about the screws on the otherwise of the knife? The one that only has 3? Do they stay tight during this sequential tightening?
 
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3 plus the pivot screw is 4.

T10 for the body and T9 for the pivot.

The body of the knife actually has 6 screws, you just want to loosen the G10 side.
 
I would first try the assembly screws for tightness by putting a bit of CW torque - ie, snug 'em. Next, I'd look at the off center blade tip. If the blade has slop - and flops open - the tip is likely closer to the G10 side. The pivot screw is too loose. I'd oil the knife pivots while it's loose - a drop or two of a decent gun oil will do (RemOil, etc.) on each side. Tighten the pivot screw until the tip appears centered - the blade should still open - but with more effort. If it doesn't move, loosen the pivot screw. That will likely 'fix' several faults. Work the blade - open/close - to distribute rhe oil - re-adjust the pivot screw in a day or two. I sincerely hope this helps - it has 'fixed' several 0551s. They were just not adjusted correctly at the factory. The sharpness, or lack thereof, is unfortunate - but all too common nowadays. A Spyderco 'Sharpmaker' will rectify that fault - S35VN is easily resharpened. Good luck!

Stainz
 
It makes me wonder where these knives are assembled. Are the 550 551 series really made in the USA and assembled in the USA like the box says?

There does seem to be a 'luck of the draw' factor in getting a good or bad finished product.
 
I am still at work but will try the suggestions when I get home. I just wanted to ask quick about using moly greese for the washers. I use this on the lugs of my bolt guns and it is excellent. Thanks.
 
Billthesheepdog said:
It makes me wonder where these knives are assembled. Are the 550 551 series really made in the USA and assembled in the USA like the box says?

There does seem to be a 'luck of the draw' factor in getting a good or bad finished product.
Click to expand...

I can assure you that if Thomas/ZT/Kershaw says these knives are made in the USA, you can believe that without a doubt. As to why some aren't as good as others, that's just how things are with production knives. I know that's more of an excuse than a reason, but it's something we all deal with. You're not going to get 100% perfection unless it's a custom piece. I have received knives from all the big name manufacturers with at least some form of defect.
 
00ChevyScott said:
I can assure you that if Thomas/ZT/Kershaw says these knives are made in the USA, you can believe that without a doubt. As to why some aren't as good as others, that's just how things are with production knives. I know that's more of an excuse than a reason, but it's something we all deal with. You're not going to get 100% perfection unless it's a custom piece. I have received knives from all the big name manufacturers with at least some form of defect.
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and a quality control employee or few could stop those defects most probably. Mine is great and I am thankful all it needed was a break in. If I had received a knife like a couple have here it would have caused me to wonder if the company was worthy of my money.

And it isn't even if an occasional knife is defective that bugs me. The threads have talked about them and not a single ZT or KAI person has chimed in to lavish superior customer service on the threads. To my knowledge we have at least two don't we?

Thomas spoke in my thread about my 551 concern. They said to give the knife a little break in time but that the warranty was there for me if it needed work. That helped me. Chiming in couldn't hurt. Just saying'.
 
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You have to realize that this forum is a secondary form of communication for them. Problems with a knife are to be handled by customer service at Kershaw, not on this forum. We do this to ask help of other members, and in some lucky cases get direct help from either Thomas or Jim. I think they do a great job here at BF, but their job is not to constantly monitor this forum to handle customer service issues.

Another thing to consider is that we see a very low % of the total knives having problems. They do a good job making sure these don't slip out, but they aren't perfect. If they were trying to be perfect, it would take much longer for these knives to hit the shelves. We're already impatient enough as it is.
 
00ChevyScott said:
You have to realize that this forum is a secondary form of communication for them. Problems with a knife are to be handled by customer service at Kershaw, not on this forum. We do this to ask help of other members, and in some lucky cases get direct help from either Thomas or Jim. I think they do a great job here at BF, but their job is not to constantly monitor this forum to handle customer service issues.

Another thing to consider is that we see a very low % of the total knives having problems. They do a good job making sure these don't slip out, but they aren't perfect. If they were trying to be perfect, it would take much longer for these knives to hit the shelves. We're already impatient enough as it is.
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Umm yea, all of this +100000000
 
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