Kershaw Lahar washer swap

C

cadjak

Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Messages
210
I just bought a Kershaw Lahar. Being a true blue knife Knut, I started getting advice from anyone with an opinion. One opinion was that I should swap the stock delrin pivot washers with bronze phosphor ones. This is a brand new knife. Your dad and I went to the same school and learned the same lesson. If it ain't broke.....you know the rest. What's your opinion? (you actually have an opinion I will trust). The knife hasn't even arrived yet. Will I be improving the action on the knife in a significant way? If I decide to install the BP washers, do you know, off hand, what size it takes? What kind of a job would it be to change washers on a Lahar?
Thanks,
 
Personally I've had more negative issues with PB washers than delrin, teflon, nylatron or whatever else is available. I used to use PB exclusively but started getting knives back to me for gritty feeling actions and asked on occasion to do something else only to discover some things like this here which alarmed me needless to say.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=72027&d=1179145990

Now some metallurgists suggested this had nothing to do with the PB washers but I gotta tell ya, I've spoken with other makers that had problems with them too and for what its worth I never saw anything like this again when I switched to teflon or nylatron washers. Granted all this mess wiped off this stainless blade and was just surface only rusting but probably moisture and the copper provided the catalyst to promote it in the first place. I really can't say its a common issue because I've not seen it but a handfull of times but then again I may have more out there doing it and just not know. Anyway, it prompted me to switch to a different washer and like I said apparently that fixed it. I really don't want a big argument going about the pros and cons. I'm just calling it as I saw it the few times it happened. All I really know is that the teflon never saw anything like this and corrected the issue for me.

Besides this there is more to know if you do want to switch washers and that is that regardless of what material your new ones are going to be you would first need to know the thickness of the washers you are replacing to be sure to select some new ones in the same thickness. Its not just a matter of picking a new washer. If the ones in there now are .005" thickness each and your new ones are .035" each well you just did more harm than good and may have set yourself up for losing a stop pin or something of that nature.

Also the outside diameter is important particularly where the one goes on the lock side. You don't want a washer so big in outside diameter that it blocks the lock partially so it bumps or bends it as you work the action.

If you have thicker washers now and went thinner you can mess it up just as easily by the stop pin being so long it actually holds the body open and promotes blade play so personally I'd say use what is in there and wear them in. I owned one of those Lahar knives and saw nothing needing much in the way of improvement personally. But thats just my opinion.

STR
 
I'd say use what is in there and wear them in. I owned one of those Lahar knives and saw nothing needing much in the way of improvement personally. But thats just my opinion.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I needed. Thanks (as always) for taking your time to answer.

How goes the BUSSTR project?
 
Oh moving right along. So far so good. I'm waiting on the thicker blades from Christof at this time and once those arrive I'll hit those and knock them out like I just did the first five Cobbler blade models. I posted three of those in my blog link if you care to see them.

STR
 
No more Ti scales? Christof lives near me and I am the proud pappy of this baby.
MyKoyote.jpg
 
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