Knives in cars in the summer

C

CAL

Joined
Aug 3, 1999
Messages
123

I hope this does not come off as lame questions.

I work in a federal building and have to go through a metal detector every day, as such I am not allowed to carry my knives. I park my car in a lot across the street but it gets bloody hot in the sun. I have a fixed blade car knife that I have carried for years that has not been hurt as far as I can tell. What I would like to do is have a folder that I can slip in my pocket after work.

My questions are:

1. Does a car get hot enough to hurt a knife?
2. Can the heat damage the nylon washers inside my Benchmade Pinnacle or any other knife with nylon washers?
3. Will Zytel take the heat or do I need to stay with G-10?
4. Will the heat cook off any lubricant in the pivots or any blade coatings?

The knives I own are not cheep and I do not want to ruin any of them. I own a Sebenza however, I do not want to leave it in the car. I was thinking of the Pinnacle, EDI Genesis II or maybe even the Sebenza if I have to.

If any one has any experiance with this, let me know before I ruin my knife.

Thanks for any information.
 
They make the employees go through the metal detector, too? The federal buildings I've been to in the last year or so (Oakland, Los Angeles, and Baltimore) let anyone with a government ID go around the metal detector.

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Dave

Let no one ever from henceforth say one word in any way countenancing war. It is dangerous even to speak of how here and there the individual may gain some hardship of soul by it. For war is hell, and those who institute it are criminals. Siegfried Loraine Sassoon
 
Actually I think it is a decent question.
That may not be saying much, but it is interesting to me.
(Might get roasted for that over in W&C)
biggrin.gif


I would not keep anything with natural materials (stag, bone, horn, wood etc) in my car. Even if these types of materials have been stabilized, I would think that the temp. changes would accelerate problems that are inherent with natural materials when they have been subject to fast changing conditions repeatedly. (BTW my favorite materials are the natural ones as a rule.)

As far as the Sebenza - I would not think it would be a concern. I keep an Apogee in my car since it is a little big for a pocket knife in the environment where I work. My Multiplier, Wave and SOCOM have not shown any stress from spending a lot of time in the car over the last few years. The interior of sealed cars in GA can get pretty unbearable at this time of year very quickly.
In the fall it is not unusual to use heat in the morning and A/C in the afternoon.



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" I am continually reminded of the rewards of dealing with custom knife makers and the custom knife community." Jeff J.
 
Cal,
I have kept the same Spyderco Endura in the car for 3 summers now and haven't had a bit of problem with it. Things get mighty hot and humid here in the Sunny South.About every 6 months, I take it out, wipe it down with Marine Tuf-Cloth and put one drop of Tuf-Glide on the pivot. This is out of a sense of protection rather than a result of any visible changes. Any of the knives you mentioned will do fine in the car with a minimum of maintenence. I chose the Endura simply because if my car ever gets broken into,I won't be out the cost of an expensive knife.
Hope this helps,
David

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AKTI# A000150
NC Custom Knifemakers Guild member
NC Knife Knuts member
 
I keep a BM Nimravus clipped to the visor in my Dart and it hasnt had any problems. Happy as can be!
 
The plastics that have the most trouble with heat are polystyrene (like they use for model airplanes) and soft polyethelene. Nylon and the filled plastics used for quality knife handles can take some heat. I would keep the knife in a shady spot near the floor of the car. This will be significantly cooler than behind a visor or in a glove compartment. Good places would be under a floor mat or on the floor under a seat. If you park early in the day over ground that has cooled-off overnight the floor of your car will stay cooler than the rest of your car (not cool, but cooler).

What ever you do, don't leave your knife on your dashboard or other sunny spot. The ultra-violet light is probably a bigger threat than the extra heat.
 
Nylon
I used to build radio controlled cars. Some of the parts were made out of nylon and I would boil them in water containing Rit dye in order to make them black instead of their natural white color. Boiling nylon parts was supposed to make them tougher (less likely to crack) too. In any case, I wouldn't worry about nylon (and especially not PTFE) washers suffering any heat damage.

Zytel
I have an old Gerber E-Z-Out that has been left in my car for at least a year or so. The Zytel and Kraton handles haven't changed in color or anything.
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Aalok

[This message has been edited by quattro98 (edited 08-09-2000).]
 
Thanks for all the information.

I have made the Benchmade 750BT (Pinnacle) my "car knife".

dsvirsky,
I work as a Network Administrator on contract to the Justice Deparment. The office is in a federal courthouse and I only have a contractors ID and not a badge so yes, I do have to go through the detectors.

Gus,
Of all the knive I have I thought the Sebenza could take it the best however, I just have a hard time leaving it alone in the car all day.

davidb415,
I have several Endura's that would work but I was not sure about the handles. You have a point about the price though.

To all the rest of you, Thank you for the information.
 
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