Lazy Blades?

DeadFall27

DeadFall27

Joined
May 18, 2011
Messages
1,476
Morning all! How is everyone?

I had a question regarding lazy blades and tools on slippies. I have a SAK that, on it's tools (Cap lifter, Can Opener & Awl), they do not snap and close lazily in slow motion. Heck, the awl doesn't even close all the way at all. My apologies for the pic, my good camera is on the fritz....




Is there a trick or remedy to this issue? I tried dish soap to clean the joints out and all, but still no luck. I think the awl is contacting the scale as it closes, as I'm sitting here fiddling with it.

Has anyone else see this on their slippies before?

All best, thanks for lookin'

-Jim
 
If you've already given it a good scrubbing under running hot water, try oiling the joints. It may take quite a few cleanings. Get a can of Dust Off (canned air) and blow the joints out. A can of WD-40 would work too. Could have a lot of gunk accumulated as time has passed. Hot running water, blow it out with WD-40, oil the joints.

Somebody over in Maintenance and Tinkering may give you a better solution.
 
Yes I have a couple of old traditionals that do this...I think it's gunk and corrosion between the liner and the back spring that contributes to some of it.

On that particular knife run a big cup of steaming hot water and drop the knife in and let it soak for about 15 min...really hot water. Then dry it with a blow dryer and oil it thoroughly...back springs too. Work the blades to get the oil in and then drop in a ziplock to bathe in the oil...I use mineral oil.

I buy used Alox SAKs off an auction site and all of them go through this and a good scrubbing with a toothbrush.

Hope this helps.
 
Thank you both, i appreciate the help. Now, I do have one more question for SAKGuy. Have you had the problem of having the awl rub against the scale before? I can hear it scrape, and I do not know if it is off center because someone abused it or what.

I'm off to go bathe it, hopefully this works!
 
DeadFall27 said:
Thank you both, i appreciate the help. Now, I do have one more question for SAKGuy. Have you had the problem of having the awl rub against the scale before? I can hear it scrape, and I do not know if it is off center because someone abused it or what.

I'm off to go bathe it, hopefully this works!
Click to expand...

Yes on a really abused one I had...the awl had been bent slightly by prying ...I "gently"nudged it back the other way and it was better...

It might take a couple of baths if it's really gunked up....

----> edited to add:

Concentrated liquid dish soap used straight is very had to get out of knife joints. springs. etc and any residue left in there can attract dirt....Soap will keep coming out for a long, long time if you keep rinsing it.

I normally run the hot water over the end of a bar of Ivory Soap...just to get a little soap into the hot water...only do this on a initial soak if it's really dirty.
 
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Some knives just have lazy blades. Even new ones. The 2012 BF knife I had, had to be sent back to GEC because of some play in the Wharncliffe blade. When it came back, no play but the blade has a soft close that still kind of bothers me. Usually ive found that if the blade is lazy, the spring is light regardless of how much "gunk" you get out of the pivot. It thing in the past, some slight wobble was left in production knives to compensate for what turned out to be a soft spring in the knife. It still happens...
 
update: The Blade, Cap lifter and Can opener all open and snap just fine....but the awl is still giving me problems. It still feels 'gritty' when it is opened and closed and still won't snap, though I know I have flushed out the joints and bathed it in hot water and a bath of oil. Any Suggestions?
 
DeadFall27 said:
update: The Blade, Cap lifter and Can opener all open and snap just fine....but the awl is still giving me problems. It still feels 'gritty' when it is opened and closed and still won't snap, though I know I have flushed out the joints and bathed it in hot water and a bath of oil. Any Suggestions?
Click to expand...

Is the awl gritty through the entire range of motion? You might have to go in with a stiff toothbrush and scrub it. I bought special brushes...issue military M-16 cleaning brushes, to clean mine. They have a fat brush one end and a really skinny brush on the other to get into the bays.

Usually once does it but sometimes it takes more that one bath/scrub to get the tough stuff out. You might try just working that awl over and over with lots of oil in it.

Glad to hear the other 3 are better! :thumbup:
 
SAK Guy said:
Is the awl gritty through the entire range of motion? You might have to go in with a stiff toothbrush and scrub it. I bought special brushes...issue military M-16 cleaning brushes, to clean mine. They have a fat brush one end and a really skinny brush on the other to get into the bays.

Usually once does it but sometimes it takes more that one bath/scrub to get the tough stuff out. You might try just working that awl over and over with lots of oil in it.

Glad to hear the other 3 are better! :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Yeah, the awl is awful throughout the entire range of motion. It's funny that you mention those brushes, I just threw out some of them from my old kit....man....

I hope it is just dirt and rust. I'll end up using somesort of brush for a bit and we'll see how that goes.
 
Does the awl at least close all the way now? If not, you may have to apply pressure side-to-side to tweak it back to it's original placement. Try that even if it does close all the way. Sight down the awl from the layer it is in and see if it veers left or right. Tweak it in the opposite direction it veers. Heck, give it another blast of whatever pressurized oil or solvent you have on hand and then reoil the heck out of it. A brush will be helpful.
 
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DeadFall27 said:
Yeah, the awl is awful throughout the entire range of motion. It's funny that you mention those brushes, I just threw out some of them from my old kit....man....

I hope it is just dirt and rust. I'll end up using somesort of brush for a bit and we'll see how that goes.
Click to expand...

Those brushes are the best thing I've found for cleaning dirty knives...that small end gets down inside next to the back springs... I bought about 10 of them to put in various kits.

Another thing I do is take a wooden clothes pin, take it apart and "whittle" the thin end to the proper thickness to fit inside the bays to use with Flitz on corrosion.
 
Although those joints do sometime get "dry" and don't like to work smoothly, I find most of the SAK issues with weak snap, particularly the implements you mentioned, had more to do with things getting a little twisted and warped from use of those blades (like working the screwdriver blade hard)
 
You may just be right glennbad, maybe this end of the knife is just all bent, causing the malfunction. The gap is on the cap-lifter side. I feel like trying to tweak the awl where it needs to go would make it worse, no?

 
Where's your sense of adventure!!! Give it a tweak in small increments and see how it goes.
 
Oh, I have been trying to tweak it since it was brought up, just no real results as of yet. The action of opening and closing has become better ever so slightly, however. Progress!
 
AHA! I finally did it. Instead of pressing the awl against a surface and applying pressure manually, I put it on the edge of my hardwood floor and pressed onto it with my boot. The snap is light, but it is there. I may have to press on it a tad more to make it perfect.

I feel stupid since it took me this long to do this, hehe.
 
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