I cant center my emerson :(

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ericzhao517

Joined
May 25, 2013
Messages
385
Hello, So I first got my Emerson Gyspy Jack a few months ago. Came perfect except that the blade centering was off. No big deal since I like to tinker with my knives anyway :) But for some reason this is the toughest knife I have ever had to try and center! I looked up multiple youtube videos, tried all the usual tips and tricks. Loosened the screws and retightened them like it was a tire, to get equal torque all over. The cardboard trick while tightening the pivot. Leaving the cardboard in between the blade and liners to where the blade is centered for a couple of days and still no luck... I really do not want to send it out cause it hasn't really had any pocket time... Can anyone shine some light on my situation?
 
Close the blade, hold the knife like you hold a sandwich. with the blade facing you, thumbs on bottom, index and pointer on top slightly tweak or bend the opposite way the blade is wanting to go. That should work. From my experience its do to the liners being off kilter. You will figure out exactly how much pressure needs to be excreted.
 
dasknife said:
Close the blade, hold the knife like you hold a sandwich. with the blade facing you, thumbs on bottom, index and pointer on top slightly tweak or bend the opposite way the blade is wanting to go. That should work. From my experience its do to the liners being off kilter. You will figure out exactly how much pressure needs to be excreted.
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So I need to bend my liners? Im sorry its late over here and im tired from work. Could you elaborate some more please. This is the first time ive heard of this technique.
 
Loosen the body screws and pivot screw so that they're still on, but the whole knife is a little loosely assembled.
With the blade closed, try to slide the scales in opposite directions while keeping an eye on the blade.
You'll notice that the blade will favor one side depending on which way you slide the scales apart.
Slide the scales apart in the orientation that makes the blade lean away from the side it was almost touching before you decided to do this, and keep it held like that.
Tighten the body screws from farthest to closest, with respect to the pivot.
 
Yeah basically one of the liners is possibly applying a little too much pressure on the pivot causing the blade to favor one side. Hold the knife long ways, blade facing you, pivot in left hand and lanyard hole in right hand. Apply enough pressure to the opposite direction the blade wants to go. Notice how the blade moves. You will figure it out. Done it to plenty of my Emerson's and its worked for all.
 
dasknife said:
Yeah basically one of the liners is possibly applying a little too much pressure on the pivot causing the blade to favor one side. Hold the knife long ways, blade facing you, pivot in left hand and lanyard hole in right hand. Apply enough pressure to the opposite direction the blade wants to go. Notice how the blade moves. You will figure it out. Done it to plenty of my Emerson's and its worked for all.
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Thanks for the tip!! Unfortunately im visiting my gf for the weekend and wont be able to try this out just yet :(
 
I wish I could go back to the time when blade centering did not cause me to have an aneurysm... :o

Anyway, I centered my Spyderco Stretch by barely bending the liners. Trial and error, do not bend them much. I tried to bend them by opening it and torquing on the blade, but that did nothing.
Now when I reassemble it I do not use any tricks and it centers every time and stays there.

Really though, there are so many things you could do to change the centering once it is disassembled. It could be any single part or a few of them or even all of them. Even very skilled knifemakers have trouble finding the reason for poor centering once the finalized knife is assembled.

Be gentle and cautious. ;)
 
I tried every technique to get my slightly off center Journeyman to center. The "paper wedge", the "scales sliding", assemble/reassemble etc. Finally I bent the detent on the liner ever so slightly and that allowed the blade to center and have the action that I like. Eureka!
 
Yes, the non lock detente is a factor, which I like as the retention can be adjusted without tinkering with lockup tension.
 
Officer's Match said:
Yes, the non lock detente is a factor, which I like as the retention can be adjusted without tinkering with lockup tension.
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This was my problem! Slightly bent it in and re-assembled and BAM! Perfect! Thanks guys for all the help. I was seriously about to send it back for a spa service.
 
Indiana Joe said:
Man, this is going to sound noob-ish -- could you explain that a bit further?
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Sure, I think I can shed a bit of light. Typically the detente to hold the blade closed is a little "nub" on the side surface of the sprung lock bar. This nub engages a small hole in the side of the blade tang when the blade is in the closed position. You can usually see a little line on the blade tang where the nub touches it as it pivots open. Emerson's have this lock-bar nub like most other linerlock/framelock knives. Where Emersons are more unique however, is that they also have a second "detente nub" on the non-lock liner as well. This engages the same blade-tang hole, but on the opposite side of the tang. So in essence, the retention on an Emerson is the product of the blade being squeezed between two retention nubs.

This makes for some different characteristics. It allows the retention pressure to be adjusted somewhat without tampering with the lock-bar. It causes a "drag" on the blade even when the lock-bar is held off the blade (when closing typically), which means your razor-sharp chisel edge is less likely to "fall" on your thumb that's holding the lock-bar. And, as is the case in this thread, it creates one additional factor for adjusting centering.

Once the user is aware of and understands the second detente, it becomes just another part of the Emerson philosophy IMHO.
 
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