Just got my new 561... Lock is insanely strong.

H

High King

Joined
Jan 4, 2013
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235
Is this normal? It's possible that I'm not exerting sufficient strength because there's a blister on my thumb and a cut on my index finger, but this is easily the strongest lock I've ever had.

It's a gorgeous gorgeous knife, and I absolutely love it. No regrets whatsoever. But it's not going to be much use of an EDC if I have to struggle with the lock to close it.
 
Use a sharpie to cover the area on the blade that matches up with the titanium frame.
 
Oh, and can any thing be done about the detent? It's nearly impossible to open using the thumbstud. Is there a "break in" time?
 
I did pencil led on the blade tang and lock surface, but I dont know if it helped. what helped more was cleaning the face with a q-tip and opening and closing it 2-3 thousand times. My 0561 had to be unlocked with a prybar but after being persistent and even making my thumb bleed it wore in. I can now close it one handed with ease, it's very smooth. My lock has settled at about 70-80% but it seems to have stopped there and is very smooth. Just work on it every night and know it takes ALOT of time to wear in, in one or two months youll see significant progress in it's ease of opening. Good luck, you're not the only one who has gone through breaking this folder in, but it's worth it in the end.
 
Sikmike said:
I did pencil led on the blade tang and lock surface, but I dont know if it helped. what helped more was cleaning the face with a q-tip and opening and closing it 2-3 thousand times. My 0561 had to be unlocked with a prybar but after being persistent and even making my thumb bleed it wore in. I can now close it one handed with ease, it's very smooth. My lock has settled at about 70-80% but it seems to have stopped there and is very smooth. Just work on it every night and know it takes ALOT of time to wear in, in one or two months youll see significant progress in it's ease of opening. Good luck, you're not the only one who has gone through breaking this folder in, but it's worth it in the end.
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Thanks. I heard that the sharpie/lead trick is for sticking locks rather than simply one that has a lot of pressure, though.

And yeah, I love this knife. The profile, the sound it makes, the flipping action. Mmm...
 
The sticking is what causes it to seem so tight. I've used pencil lead on the ti lock face on a mid-tech (over and over) and it made it work fine. Try it, I doubt yours really is that tight, just sticking.
 
jill jackson said:
The sticking is what causes it to seem so tight. I've used pencil lead on the ti lock face on a mid-tech (over and over) and it made it work fine. Try it, I doubt yours really is that tight, just sticking.
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Actually, I think it might not be sticking at all. It's the last, say... 35% of the way that requires a lot of effort on my thumb's part to budge. At that point, the lock isn't touching the blade anymore.
 
That is not normal, my 0561 opens and closes easily and with no sticking. I would try the pencil trick, can't hurt anything. If that doesn't work you could send it to ZT and they'll fix it right up.
Can you post a picture of the lockbar and tang engaged?
 
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It is normal with titanium frame locks, some don't experience it because some seam to have graphite or sharpie on them from the factory. Just take it apart and do the sharpie trick stated earlier, let the sharpie dry well before use and it will keep it smooth while the knife breaks in.
 
The lock sticking is normal for titanium frame locks, but the op insists that that their lock is not sticky. It is not normal for the lockbar to be too stiff to unlock.
 
I use Nano or Tuff Glide instead of sharpies on the face of sticky locks. But there is a difference between sticky locks and stiff ones. If yours is really stiff, don't know what you can do. I had a Lion Steel with a lock bar so stiff I could barely close the knife. I returned it for a refund.
 
The knife isn't designed to be opened with the "thumb" studs.
 
spketch said:
That is not normal, my 0561 opens and closes easily and with no sticking. I would try the pencil trick, can't hurt anything. If that doesn't work you could send it to ZT and they'll fix it right up.
Can you post a picture of the lockbar and tang engaged?
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picture22xg.jpg


Hasn't been tinkered with. No tightening/loosening of any screws, or taking apart of anything whatsoever.
 
I guess I'm the only one that adjusts the lockup on almost every liner/frame lock I get as soon as it shows up. I just adjusted a buddy's damascus scallion yesterday and he couldn't believe it was the same knife. Pull 3 production frame locks off the shelf and they probably all have different lock up which means at least 2 of them aren't optimal.
 
IMHO your thumb will heal. It will get stronger (your thumb). The knife will break in and the thumbstuds are not thumb studs. They are blade stops and KAI has said in the past that this knife was designed as a flipper only. The only true purpose of the "bladestops" are just that. To ensure lockup. Also the detent is strong for a reason. It is to prevent deployment failure. If the detent was weak it would not open as fast or in some cases may not even open all the way.
 
A lot of this "flipper only" "they aren't thumbstuds" stuff... :rolleyes:

They are thumb studs, otherwise there wouldn't be such clearance on either side for access. A sticky lock is one thing, but don't blame lack of technique on design of the knife. The knife deploys with the thumb studs perfectly.

Skip to 2:05, notice how easily it deploys. It's been that way with the 3 0560s that I've had.
[video=youtube;81MlIACmh_M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81MlIACmh_M[/video]
 
bigconig said:
I guess I'm the only one that adjusts the lockup on almost every liner/frame lock I get as soon as it shows up. I just adjusted a buddy's damascus scallion yesterday and he couldn't believe it was the same knife. Pull 3 production frame locks off the shelf and they probably all have different lock up which means at least 2 of them aren't optimal.
Click to expand...

What process do you go through to adjust the lockup?
 
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