- Joined
- Apr 2, 2012
- Messages
- 395
I will put up the disclaimer that this process may possibly make the screws too hard and brittle (prone to snapping). I tried this procedure on two Emersons, from 2011 and 2012. Worked perfect for me, but i have to CMA (Cover My Donkey).
I've owned three Emersons and found the small assembly screws to be too soft. They cam out easily and I end up with crappy-looking screws on my knife. I do use quality screw drivers for the task, but the screws just don't seem to be made for repeated disassembly. I feel that the hardening process strikes a good balance of toughness, without making them overly brittle. With the original screws, I found myself having to push the screwdriver pretty hard to make sure it didn't cam out and make the screw look like hell in the process. Repeated cam-outs also destroy the "socket" for your screwdriver head and make it that much harder to take apart the next time.
Tools Needed:
Directions:
One note is that the screws won't be quite as black as they used to be. The won't turn shiny (in my experience), but the original finish won't be the same. To me, that was small price to pay. I found on my newest Emerson that doing this made the screwdriver much less likely to cam out of the philips slotted head and also keeps the screw looking like a new screw. This is a fairly quick and easy job to do and to me has provided excellent results. The photo below shows my Commander after I did the screw hardening. The photo also shows my "epoxy smoothed" scale, which I wrote up another thread about:
I've owned three Emersons and found the small assembly screws to be too soft. They cam out easily and I end up with crappy-looking screws on my knife. I do use quality screw drivers for the task, but the screws just don't seem to be made for repeated disassembly. I feel that the hardening process strikes a good balance of toughness, without making them overly brittle. With the original screws, I found myself having to push the screwdriver pretty hard to make sure it didn't cam out and make the screw look like hell in the process. Repeated cam-outs also destroy the "socket" for your screwdriver head and make it that much harder to take apart the next time.
Tools Needed:
- Blow torch. I used a small butane torch, but a full-size pipe soldering torch will definitely work.
- A #1 Phillips screwdriver to removing/installing the screws.
- Pliers or some other clamping tool to hold the screw in the flame.
- A cup of water for quenching the hot screw.
Directions:
- Remove the screws you want to harden using a #1 Philips screwdriver. I hardened all the "rear" screws on my knives, plus the thumb disk screw.
- One screw at a time, hold the screw head in the flame of the blow torch until it glows orange, or yellow. Hold the screw gently on the threaded end and leave the head exposed for the flame to do its job. You're not trying to make the entire screw glow orange, just the head area.
- IMMEDIATELY after the screw head is heated to an orange/yellow glow, drop it into a cup of water. You don't want to give the metal time to cool naturally. The water should be room temperature, but colder is OK as well. The screw will return to the temperature of the surrounding water in only a couple of seconds, given it's small mass.
- Reinstall your screws and you're done!
One note is that the screws won't be quite as black as they used to be. The won't turn shiny (in my experience), but the original finish won't be the same. To me, that was small price to pay. I found on my newest Emerson that doing this made the screwdriver much less likely to cam out of the philips slotted head and also keeps the screw looking like a new screw. This is a fairly quick and easy job to do and to me has provided excellent results. The photo below shows my Commander after I did the screw hardening. The photo also shows my "epoxy smoothed" scale, which I wrote up another thread about: