Liner lock hardening?

Z

Zombie411

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Aug 5, 2017
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630
Hi,
I have an inexpensive (but older) Rough Rider flipper/liner lock knife that has some up, and down blade play due to a worn liner lock.
The stop pin, pivot pin, and blade look fine under 60x magnification.

I can peen the lockbar, and gain back the worn material but the laws of physics suggest that the now thinner material at the contact point will wear even quicker than the original configuration.

My question is... Can I heat/quench harden the end of the lockbar after peening in an attempt to gain some extended wear life.

Mechanically I have a solid background, and understand the geometry/dynamics of the system but I am a neophyte at metallurgy so PLEASE no comments about the knife not being worth fixing or "just replace it".
I have searched "Liner Lock Hardening", and the closest I have found involves Titanium carbidizing.
I also know I could use a TIG to build up the blade lock up area. I would first like to know if peening, and hardening the tip is a viable option

This is me getting my toes wet in knife smithing. I am purposely starting with repairing/modifying inexpensive knives.

Thanks for reading, and helping!
Ken
 
Last edited:
Probably not, unless the knife has high carbon steel liners.
Your knife probably has unhardenable stainless liners.
 
Thank you sir.
So in the case of Stainless liners the options for repair "could" be
1) Peen it, and live with that
2) increase the stop pin diameter, and change the overall geometry of the knife
3) Add some material with a TIG, (to the liner) and re-shape

This is all without considering replacing the liner or making a new one, of course.

Now to follow this up if I may...
I am assuming that you would always want the liner to be somewhat softer than the blade material.
 
I would try putting a sleeve over the stop pin. Maybe just try rotating the stop pin first to see if you gain anything. If you can tig weld, why not run it on the lockbar instead of the blade.
 
Hi 115,
Thank you for your suggestions.
I did mean adding material to the lock bar, and not the blade. I just phrased it wrong. Most zombies have a limited vocabulary (braaainsss). I also tried adjusting/rotating the stop pin.

Next step was to break it down, and inspect everything with a 60x loupe. The only part showing wear was the lock bar.
It actually has a reverse bevel from it sliding to 90-100% lock up for a few years I assume.

I'm sure a couple hammer taps will bring out the metal I need but I was not thinking nor was I aware that there was (most likely) a stainless liner that could not be hardened.

This is where a CAD water-jet would come in handy.
 
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