How often do you disassemble for cleaning?

bodog said:
Bill DeShivs' opinion on this is absolutely incorrect. There are plenty of reasons to take a knife apart. If you're unable to take a knife apart then you live with the knife how it is no matter what. If it becomes unusable you throw it away or toss it in a drawer. If you can take a knife apart you can adjust several things, polish washers, clean bearings, CHANGE washers, regrease or reoil exactly where you want. Plenty of reasons. I don't care that 100 years ago a pocket knife didn't come apart. 100 years ago people were still mainly walking everywhere, too. Times change.
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So some guys opinion is wrong. But your opinion is right?.... that's funny.
 
johnny_boy02 said:
So some guys opinion is wrong. But your opinion is right?.... that's funny.
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In this case, sure. I find myself sometimes needing to open up a knife. I'm sure people from 100 years ago, peeling a bunch of apples and potatoes and whatnot would've loved to be able to actually clean their knives instead of just rinse them off. Just because nothing was on the market at that time that allowed them to do it doesn't mean it's the best now that we have the capability to do something different. Hell, it wasn't too long ago they were using leeches to suck diseases out of people. They did it for generations,too. Do you think that's currently the best way to handle things just because that's all they had for many years? I also like pocket clips. For many generations they didn't have them. Are pocket clips unnecessary?

But seriously, the comment I replied to only said that bill Deshivs made a factual comment about the fact they didn't come apart. I was mistaken in saying his opinion was wrong if, in fact, he was only saying that was the case. It was. If he said taking a knife apart NOW was silly because they didn't do it in the past, well, then I'd argue that. Have a great day!
 
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Well in fairness I paraphrased what he said and out of context. The point being was screws werent used to make the knife be disassembled for cleaning easily....They were used rather than pins for ease of assembly. Its an interesting change due to lower skills labor and a need of more speed of producing faster. In that regard since knives didnt need to be disassembled for cleaning in the past....its interesting that people feel they do today.

In the end spyderco doesnt want their knives taken apart except by them. Sure we can but we lose warranty. Sure seems spyderco doesnt feel their knives need to be disassembled for cleaning either. Now doesn't matter to me what folks do with their property. Their adults and can do as they wish. Just discussing the topic......
 
jbmonkey said:
Well in fairness I paraphrased what he said and out of context. The point being was screws werent used to make the knife be disassembled for cleaning easily....They were used rather than pins for ease of assembly. Its an interesting change due to lower skills labor and a need of more speed of producing faster. In that regard since knives didnt need to be disassembled for cleaning in the past....its interesting that people feel they do today.

In the end spyderco doesnt want their knives taken apart except by them. Sure we can but we lose warranty. Sure seems spyderco doesnt feel their knives need to be disassembled for cleaning either. Now doesn't matter to me what folks do with their property. Their adults and can do as they wish. Just discussing the topic......
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It was easier to make pins back in the day than screws. They didn't take them apart because they couldn't. I'm sure if they could have they would have. Look at how many average guys used to work on their own cars back then. That's because they could. If it's close to impossible to take something apart without destroying it, then sure, most people won't. Generally speaking people LIKE being able to fiddle with their own things, even if they never actually do it. I LIKE being able to mess with my own car. My own house. My own stuff. I may never fully break down my truck's engine but I like being able to change my oil and brakes and spar plugs and whatnot. If most car manufacturers made it close to impossible to change my own oil I guess I wouldn't. That doesn't mean it's GOOD if manufacturers did that though, especially if they could make it easy to do.
 
I only brought it up as its an interesting change in manufacturing and why.......it wasnt done for ease of disassembly to clean. It was done for ease of assembly on the manufactuer side. I can clean even my gobbed with blood and hair and dirt and such folder without taking it apart. Its really a nonissue. Those who like to take them apart...its great that the makers went to screws for ease of assembling.

If one has all the right tools and equipment and knowledge they can still work on their vehicles.

No one is arguing being able to work on your own stuff is bad. Not sure where you came to that conclusion from?

Just like in the pinned knife days....if one had the right tools and equipment and knowledge they could take that knife apart as well...and still can today...just not as fast

Interesting discussion...thanks for your take and views on it
 
Does one HAVE to take his folder apart to clean it? No. One WANTS to take his folder apart to clean it.
 
I've taken apart, reconditioned, and reassembled several pinned traditional pocket knives. It wasn't complicated, really, but it did take a while. I would never do it just to clean one. And I've never taken apart a Spyderco. Never had reason or inclination, even when cleaning a used one, to think about taking it apart. Disassembly, to me, is repair or modification work. Cleaning is just cleaning. Traditional pocket knives, when they need cleaning, get mineral oil baths, toothpicks, floss, and qtips. Really can't see a reason to do it differently just because a knife is assembled with screws and such.
 
Lycosa said:
Does one HAVE to take his folder apart to clean it? No. One WANTS to take his folder apart to clean it.
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Possibly not.
But.

I have a Puma folder that had Iraqi sand in it
and I was able blast it out.
But the action is rough because of the sand.

Sure Spyderco does not like you to open them and I understand why not.
Because of mechanically inept people.

I simply follow my personal rules.
New knife gets flicked open no disassembly to MAKE sure all is good.
So if any warenty issues arrise. I give the manufacture no reason to deny my problem.

Pre-owned knives get opened after I am satisfied that seller/trader and i are square
before I do anything to it.
 
Several times I've taken apart what I thought was a perfectly clean knife, only to find hair, meat, scales, skin, gunk and debris of unknown origins crammed/stuck/lodged in places that soaking/flushing/brushing/blowing/shaking/banging evidently had no affect on.
 
Some people shouldn't take apart knives, some people have no mechanical ability whatsoever and given the opportunity to take a knife apart have no desire to do so and if made to do it will surely mess something up in the reassembly. JMHO Me? Like I said before, it's in my nature to take everything apart, it's what I've always done. Most cleaning is done with really hot water and a little dish soap if needed.

IKBS bearings get a little lint or grit in there and you have to disassemble to clean it out otherwise it'll stop it from lockin' up or defeat the smoothness of the bearing by introducin' grit and everything grinds to a halt.
 
some brands don't care and let us, spyderco does care and doesn't let us by taking away warranty. it is what it is.......
 
You can have great mechanical ability but that does not make you a cutler. A cutler has specialized knowledge and training, plus tools (e.g. assembly jigs) not available to the skilled home machinist...no wonder so many of them f-up a knife. If you can do it at home, you're special.

By the way, Bodog, leaches are still used in medicine today :)
 
T. Erdelyi said:
Some people shouldn't take apart knives,

some people have no mechanical ability whatsoever.
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Very true.

One company has a Dumbass fee.

MINIMUM CHARGE TO REASSEMBLE A KNIFE WHEN THE WARRANTY HAS BEEN VOIDED IS $20 PLUS PARTS.
 
jbmonkey said:
Well in fairness I paraphrased what he said and out of context. The point being was screws werent used to make the knife be disassembled for cleaning easily....They were used rather than pins for ease of assembly. Its an interesting change due to lower skills labor and a need of more speed of producing faster. In that regard since knives didnt need to be disassembled for cleaning in the past....its interesting that people feel they do today.

In the end spyderco doesnt want their knives taken apart except by them. Sure we can but we lose warranty. Sure seems spyderco doesnt feel their knives need to be disassembled for cleaning either. Now doesn't matter to me what folks do with their property. Their adults and can do as they wish. Just discussing the topic......
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Well technically we only lose the warranty if we damage the knife during disassembly. However, you'd certainly be led to believe they don't want people tinkering with their knives now that they're using red Loctite in Golden.
 
I just blast mine with compressed air. I only do it when the opening feels a bit rough or I can see the gunk. Most of the time, that smoothens it right out. Sometimes, it takes a quick spray of lube and it's good to go
 
Lycosa said:
Does one HAVE to take his folder apart to clean it? No. One WANTS to take his folder apart to clean it.
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In which case, the logical thing to do would be to purchase a knife designed for owner serviceability. The problem arises when people buy knives from a manufacturer who openly states their products are NOT meant to be disassembled by ELU's, then complain when they attempt to take those knives apart and something goes wrong.
 
I've only moved the clips around on a para2.

I've got an old pinned Endura that I clean out the pivot with the steam nozzle on my coffee maker.

Steam works pretty good if you repeat for a few days.

If you have to use oil, BreakFree worked wonders on a stuck handlebar stem on a 70's bicycle of mine.
 
The Deacon said:
In which case, the logical thing to do would be to purchase a knife designed for owner serviceability. The problem arises when people buy knives from a manufacturer who openly states their products are NOT meant to be disassembled by ELU's, then complain when they attempt to take those knives apart and something goes wrong.
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Yes, I agree. I don't think the problem lies in the taking apart as much as in the complaining. :) I have, for example, taken down my pacific salt to get some fish scales unstuck but I did it with full acceptance that if I botched something I would need to be willing to send it in and pay to have my damage undone. Nothing went wrong but you sure wouldn't have heard me whining if it had. The rules are there in black and white. We are all free to ignore them if we choose but I would look silly if I complained about them after I got poor results from not following them. ;)
 
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