Identifying a screw

T

The_Portmanteau

Joined
Oct 25, 2020
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Hello everybody. First time post here from a casual knife enthusiast.

I recently bought a dual action, out the front Stinco, made by a company called No Limit Knives. I've enjoyed it thus far except for the loss of two of the screws holding it together. While it still functions just fine, I would like to replace these missing screws but I am not exactly sure how and where to search for them.

The most obvious answer would be to contact No Limit Knives but the address on the case the knife came in has been bought by another company and redirects to their site. Despite a fair amount of searching, I can't seem to find any way to reach out to them. The seller I bought it from could not help me and I believe that it's very possible that No Limit Knives no longer exists.

So, that option being out, the answer is to replace the screws via a third party, but identifying these guys has proven to be tricky. I've seen some that MIGHT be matches but I am not sure enough to pull the trigger on purchasing any of them. There's a lot of variance and it's generally described with words rather than pictures, at least on the sites I've visited. So, I've come here, hoping to get some input from someone who might know a thing or two about a thing or two (really just a thing or two about micro screws).

So, the screws are
  • silver tone
  • have a flat, straight sided round (but not rounded, if that makes sense) head that measures 4mm across. It takes a T8 bit.
  • total length of 5mm, 1mm is head, 4mm is thread

If anyone knows what type of screw this is and where to get them, please let me know. I have pictures if that would help. If I've posted this in the wrong forum, my apologies. Let me know and I'll put it where it needs to be. Thanks.
 
What you describe sounds like a "socket head" screw. If it's a knife made in China or Taiwan, it's likely a metric screw.

There are three ways to measure the size of a screw-

1. The width of the threaded portion (measured in millimeters for metric screws, measured in fractions of an inch for SAE or standard screws).

2. The thread pitch (the distance between the points of the threads measured in millimeters, or fractions of millimeters).

3. And the "tpi" or threads-per-inch (how many threads there are or would be if the length of the threaded portion of the screw were 1" long or longer).

The length of a screw varies depending on how long a screw is needed (a single screw can come in a wide variety of lengths). The width and height of the screw head can vary widely based on the type of screw head, the manufacturer, and the purpose of the screw.

I would suggest measuring the width of the threaded portion with a high quality metric ruler. That would be a good start. Although it might be too small to get a precisely accurate measurement.

One option is to find or purchase a screw thread gauge. This is a piece of metal or plastic with threaded holes of varying sizes that allow a person to thread a screw they have into the holes until they get the right fit, thus identifying the size.

Another option is to find an electronics repair shop and ask them if they can size the screw for you. Many electronic devices, made in Asia, are often assembled with metric screws, and those who repair such items would need to be able to size them. Ask nicely.
 
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You can also run down to a local hardware store and try to find a match for it. Then use a little purple or blue Loctite on them.
 
Here's another idea-

If you have any other knives that use screws, see if the screws from your No Limit knife matches the screws from any other knives. See if they fit/thread properly.

Then you can ask the membership here if we know what size screws the other knife uses. More people might have one of your other knives but not a No Limit auto of the same model as you.
 
If you have screws of a known pitch, you can use them like a pitch gauge. Be careful, there are some metric sizes that are very close to SAE sizes. Example: 1-72 and M2 x 0.4
4-48 and M3 x 0.5

A lot of computers and electronics use metric screws which may be another source.
 
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