Kershaw threadlock drowning strikes again

Bummer. Id prolly throw the knife in the bay by now if I was on your shoes haha.
 
I had a Kershaw Chill that stripped threads undoing the screws, I've never bought another Kershaw.
 
I will give Kershaw the benefit of the doubt and call it bad luck not appalling QC, but if they don't rectify this I may very well just cut Kershaw out. The Kai products I have had next to no issues with were ZT. I can live with only ZT.
 
I can agree that the only problems I have had with Kershaw knives have been with their budget lines. The American made Kershaws and the ZTs have never given me any trouble.

If you get rid of the 7k before or after sending it in let me know. Thanks to you I want a tanto bladed knife. :)
 
dkb45 said:
Just an update, my replacement 1k came in, and one of the clip screws has to be cut off. Stripped out instantly, and I can't even grab it and twist it out with pliers. Kershaw is getting a very irate call tomorrow.
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That's annoying...
What method did you use to heat up the loctite on the replacement?
 
spketch said:
That's annoying...
What method did you use to heat up the loctite on the replacement?
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I got one of screws out with minimal snag. The second I applied the same force to and my driver just plowed the threads out of the Philips head. There is now no actual grooves to get a screwdriver into. Since it is the clip I could actually heat it and hope for the best. I was just going to grind the head off and use a vice grip to get the post out.
 
If you can get the other screw out too, you may be able to turn the stripped one by slightly lifiting the clip to apply tension and turning the whole clip. Since you know thy use a ton of loctite, definitely heat it up first though.

Once the screw is out, the extra loctite in the hole shouldn't be a problem. No need to clean it out really unless you wanted to add more.
 
I finally got the damn screw out. Tried everything (aside from heat, couldn't find my soldering iron or heat gun) before I cut a slot to try a flathead. Turns out the screw was basically unhardened steel. The slots I cut allowed me to break off the head with the clip with only minimal bending. I barely even got the post out with some damn vice grips. The pivot also doesn't loosen because it is, like everything else, drowned in threadlock. Kershaw is definitely getting a manager call on Monday. I have had $10 knives that have sucked less.
 
dkb45 said:
Kershaw does not explicitly tell you to take the knife apart, but I have spoken with multiple people at Kershaw, and they actually in favor of it, if you know what you are doing.
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Not to be harsh, but you do not fall into this bolded category and should probably not be disassembling anything you don't want to destroy.
Important lessons for the amateur tinkerer:

-Don't force a screw too much, especially a slotted or Philips head.
-Use heat to break excessive or strong thread locker. Seriously, don't just force the screw.
-Learn from your mistakes.

At this point I'd say fault lies with you and there is no reason for an angry call to Kershaw. At least you got the screw out. I suggest you remember the lesson and move on.
 
spketch said:
Not to be harsh, but you do not fall into this bolded category and should probably not be disassembling anything you don't want to destroy.
Important lessons for the amateur tinkerer:

-Don't force a screw too much, especially a slotted or Philips head.
-Use heat to break excessive or strong thread locker. Seriously, don't just force the screw.
-Learn from your mistakes.

At this point I'd say fault lies with you and there is no reason for an angry call to Kershaw. At least you got the screw out. I suggest you remember the lesson and move on.
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My point still stands. This much threadlock is like taking care of a spider with a hand grenade. It is solving a minor problem for a small majority with overwhelming force that just makes everything worse. The fact that my knife can't be adjusted or cleaned without heating it up means that something is wrong (no, I do not clean a knife without disassembling it, much easier and effective that way). The fact that the pivot on the 1k is both free spinning AND murdered with threadlock means that even when heated it just may not come off unless I cut a slot into it.

I can actually take most of my frame or liner locks apart with my eyes closed. I have worked through dozens of threadlocked screws without any issue. The only problem I had with these knives was the fact that they had an obscene amount of threadlock. Was the threadlock not literally as much as they could pack in, I wouldn't have an issue, aside from the unhardened screw and free pivots. I wouldn't have anything that would warrant calling Kershaw over.
 
Right, but given that that IS the situation now...you've received a lot of good advice on how to move forward. They shouldn't be putting that much loctite on, but since they are, heat the screws.
 
I'm glad you aren't one of my customers! Sounds like you are pretty unreasonable.
Kershaw doesn't want you taking their knives apart. They assemble them with screws because it's cheaper to do it that way. None of this is Kershaw's fault-it's YOUR fault for attempting disassembly.
You should leave your knives alone, as you apparently don't have the acumen to disassemble them. as you have been told, cleaning a knife does not require disassembly.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
I'm glad you aren't one of my customers! Sounds like you are pretty unreasonable.
Kershaw doesn't want you taking their knives apart. They assemble them with screws because it's cheaper to do it that way. None of this is Kershaw's fault-it's YOUR fault for attempting disassembly.
You should leave your knives alone, as you apparently don't have the acumen to disassemble them. as you have been told, cleaning a knife does not require disassembly.
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Quite the unnecessary personal insult there. I can easily take a folder apart, and the factory finish (washer condition, pivot tightness, and lubricant used) is notoriously bad for most discerning customers. Taking the knife apart is nothing new but you guys all act like I am committing some kind of deadly sin for doing it. I have said numerous times that I should have heated the screw, but you can almost always finesse past threadlock. The fact that heat is REQUIRED to take the knife apart is what I am upset about.

I do not know where this elitism is coming from, but I am already starting to regret upgrading my membership a few days ago. This is a website for knife lovers, but I am being attacked like I am an idiot because I did the same thing that has worked even with red threadlock (yeah, the supposedly permanent kind that you are supposed to use heat for). Had the threadlock not been applied like a decimal point wasn't carried over, this would have been a complete non-issue. There was enough threadlock that it snapped my damn pivot screw! That was a fully hardened screw. This is not rocket science, I made a mistake that is easily made, and Kershaw let a knife go out with easily triple the necessary threadlock.
 
Nothing personal about it. Sorry if you took it that way. It's an observation.
But, just like it's Kershaw's fault that you can't take their knife apart, I guess you would take it as an insult.
 
I know I don't have to take a knife apart to clean it, but it is a whole lot easier to clean. I can take a folder apart and clean it in under 5 minutes, but to wash is out and blow it out and reoil I am looking at 15 (partly because my compressor and sink are in the garage, and I don't work on knives out there). The fact that I have taken apart at least 100 folder with little to no issue means that it is not me, it is the folder. I have had less trouble taking an axis lock apart, which is arguably one of the more difficult mechanisms to work on (unless you use the cheating take the blade out method leaving the handle together). A poor design folder is a poor design (1k) and a botched threadlock is a botched threadlock.
 
Anything can happen and it takes practice. I have taken apart and rebuilt, cleaned or customized closer to 1,000 knives production and custom. Only stripped one crkt pagoda, Emerson disk screw and my sebenzas clip screw in that time. Both the crkt and Emerson were sealed with red goo. Not a bad run for the past ten years. But it was my fault and due to the lack of forgiveness around here. I never would bother to bring it up when I knew in hindsight it could have been avoided.
 
BellaBlades said:
Anything can happen and it takes practice. I have taken apart and rebuilt, cleaned or customized closer to 1,000 knives production and custom. Only stripped one crkt pagoda, Emerson disk screw and my sebenzas clip screw in that time. Both the crkt and Emerson were sealed with red goo. Not a bad run for the past ten years. But it was my fault and due to the lack of forgiveness around here. I never would bother to bring it up when I knew in hindsight it could have been avoided.
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I actually don't think I have stripped a single properly made screw (or good screw with a garbage driver, that has since been rectified), threadlock or not. I have had a few butter soft screws, like the clip screw on the 1k, and a few improper formed ones where they stripped out from almost no driver contact. I literally did not know a screw could be as jacked us as both of the Kershaws have had.

It's not like I am going to pull the Princess routine and demand they fix it now. I will definitely ask for this to be fixed because Kershaw is in the wrong here, but I don't have it in me to be rude to customer service. I have worked customer service so I understand that the representative I talk to didn't do it and doesn't deserve any crap. If I really was pissed off I would have trashed the knives. I kept them and will get this fixed because I just needed some time to cool off.
 
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