How Do I Clean My Benchmade?

S

Scott Free

Joined
Sep 15, 1999
Messages
3,319
The blade on my BM 940 used to open and close with incredible smoothness. If I held the knife horizontally and released the lock, the blade would fall and swing like a pendulum. In the last few weeks, though, I must have gotten dust or pocket lint in it. The action is now slow and muted. I've tried running it under hot water. I've tried hitting it with an air compressor at about 75 psi. I tried re-lubing it with Miltech. So far, nothing has worked. Is there anything else I can do besides taking it apart, or sending it back to Benchmade?

Scott
 
Try something like a degreaser? Something a bit tougher than wd40 and let it soak. Just make sure it wont damage the handle.
 
Dish soap, tooth brush and hot water. Shake it out really good and hit it with a hair dryer. Apply some Militec-1 and you should be good to go.
 
Do you remember using the knife on anything that might have gooped up the pivot joint? If you do, that would point you to an appropriate solvent to clean the joint.

Water is a solvent to many materials, but if you have something non-water-soluable like tree sap in the joint, you'd have to use a solvent that's stronger; turpentine or paint thinner or varsol or whatever. Of course, you'd first have to make sure that the solvent won't harm any non-metal parts, like handles.

If cleaning by solvent doesn't cure the problem, I'd suspect there is a piece of something "solid" in the pivot joint; like hair or wood fibre. Then the knife may need to be taken apart to get it out.

Good luck! Maintenance is all part of the fun!
 
Although I just mentioned MPro7 gun lube in another thread, I have no personal interest in this product. It is some really slick stuff, though - claimed to be 4X slicker than teflon - and works great on guns and knives. After degreasing your pivot thoroughly, it would probably do the trick (as would Militec and some of the others). I just prefer MPro7 cleaners and lubricant.
 
I don't think there's anything like tree sap in there. I've tried spaying it with Gunk engine cleaner, but that didn't help either. Would it hurt to soak it in Gunk for a couple days? The 940's handle is aluminum. I'm not sure what other materials the pivot uses. Teflon washer, maybe? Would solvents hurt any of these internal parts if soaked for a few days?

Scott
 
If you can't fix it, you can send it to Benchmade. They will disassemble and clean it for free.
 
This is to the dip Sh*t that left a no name red chicklet saying help the guy out.. ..

Maybe you should read the entire post before leaving your opinion.. chicken sh*t

work the action with wd40 .. or get some militec-1.. that will solve everything
Click to expand...
 
The knife isn't that hard to take apart. You can get all the torx bits at home depot for less than 10 dollars. If no amount of cleaning and lubing fixes the problem, you have no other choice. Don't worry about the axis lock/spring, it's not two hard even with just two hands. This would void the warranty, but sending it to benchmade will take a month.
 
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