Lockback + Lint: Lock failure?

S

steelscout30

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Aug 1, 2006
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I was examining my girlfriend's father's own Buck Prince last night, and realized how sticky and chunky the knife felt when being opened and closed. Upon closer examination, I realized that the bar of the lockback was coming flush with the back of the handle, and that the lock wasn't fully engaging.

I took a small pack of Q-Tips and a small screwdriver and used these tools to remove the lint. The lock was mounted flush. The knife was still horribly unsmooth in its opening and closing action, so I applied a conservative amount of oil after blowing out the interior with an air compressor in my family's workshop. I took the knife, put it through its paces on a SharpMaker and DMT folding stones, and it's as good as new. It opens and closes smoothly, locks again, and is sharp.

It got me to wondering: has anyone else's knife been so adversely affected by lint when carried deep in the pocket, i.e. as when without a clip? I was surprised how much this dirtied up and detrimented the performance of this knife, especially a Buck.

Thanks, and God bless.

KATN,

Wade
 
It will and can happen to any lock back.. It has happened to every lock back I have owned.. Gotta clean it at some time or another
 
About the only thing you can do is carry your knife in a tight belt pouch.
Even then you will still get some "dust", although nothing like a pocket.
 
Yep..... you gotta keep em' clean.
It will happen to any brand..... not just a "Buck". :thumbup:
 
I pulled my Spyderco Centofante 4 out of my pocket one night and opened it and I felt it didn't "clack" into the locked position. I immediately looked down to see lint caught between the blade and the lock. I closed the knife a little and blew it out with my mouth. Done. You just gotta pay attention to your knives and get used to them when you open and close them.
 
I get lint in my lockbacks all the time but never to the point that I couldn't blow it out myself. The only time I've had to resort to an air compressor was when I got some gritty dirty old grease in the mechanism, wd-40 + air compressor took care of that quickly and easily.
 
David Lowry said:
You just gotta pay attention to your knives and get used to them when you open and close them.
Click to expand...
Excellent point David..... :thumbup:

When you use something enough & pay attention ......... you can hear and/or feel when something is not right.
 
With a lockback, it's not just the dust and lint that you have to worry about. I was once carrying an A.G. Russell "Gentleman's Lockback" in the same pocket as small wad of one dollar bills. Somehow, during the day, a couple of the bills worked their way under the tip of the blade causing the blade to be half opened in my pocket.

When I tried to pull the dollar bills out of my pocket I felt a sharp pain in my leg and then discovered that the knife had opened. The scary part was that the blade was pointing in the direction of something more valuable to me than a few dollars. I feel fortunate that I did not have to do anything strenuous that day prior to finding the knife opened.
 
I knew that it would be an inherent part of the design that if one lockback malfunctions from lint, that it would probably make sense that it would happen to others. It's never happened to any of my knives because I usually don't have them in deep pocket carry. I carry them in a host of Kydex belt sheaths, in my watch pocket, etc. This was just an eye opener for me. I apologize for sounding naive, but traditional knives and pocket carry are not my forte! :D
 
Never happened to me. Not to say that it can't, however it has yet to.

I have gotten lint to come out when I flick the blade out, though.
 
It's happened to my lockbacks, I use a toothpick to clean out the gunk in it while depressing the lock.
 
Culhain said:
With a lockback, it's not just the dust and lint that you have to worry about. I was once carrying an A.G. Russell "Gentleman's Lockback" in the same pocket as small wad of one dollar bills. Somehow, during the day, a couple of the bills worked their way under the tip of the blade causing the blade to be half opened in my pocket.
Click to expand...

That can happen with any other type of locking blade too.

I use some of that "duster in a can" stuff they use to clean dust between keys on a keyboard. Blows out lint and junk like it's nothin!
 
I read this thread just after my Spyderco Dragonfly closed with a slight pressure. Plus, It would not lock into place with that familiar click. A warm soap and water wash later, good as new.
 
Any tool with moving parts (be it knife, gun, whetever) that`s carried on a daily basis needs regular cleaning & lubrication....neglect this, and that tool may not work properly when you most need it to....
 
outlaw918692000 said:
Try turning your pockets inside out when you wash your pants. Works like a charm!
Click to expand...

I'll give this a try. I've been having the lint problem, and the problem is that the knife doesn't lock up the moment that you need it. Cleaning the lint out has never been a problem.

Tom
 
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