Loosen up slipjoints?

Andrew Colglazier · Feb 9, 2009

I bought a couple of Kissing Crane Brown Mule Sodbusters the other day, and they have very tight joints. I have thought about working some toothpaste or other abrasive paste into the pivots and just working them.

Anybody have a better idea? How do you loosen up your tight joints? (Deep knee bends work for me!

)

Thanks!

Andy

RobbW · Feb 9, 2009

Are you sure the joints are clean and free from grit and debris? If they leave the factory that way, they can seem tight when in fact they are just dirty.

Are they properly oiled? If you can answer yes to both of those questions, you might either send them back or cycle them a bunch of times to wear them in.

OTOH, if the issue is an overly-stiff spring, they need to be sent back.

greenwoods · Feb 9, 2009

Those knives are broken Andy, send them to me

I use a spritz of silicon spray. But if they are broken...

Mark

Andrew Colglazier · Feb 9, 2009

to you, Mark!

Yup, I cleaned them up with hot, soapy water, then applied a drop of light oil, which did a little bit to loosen them, but the joints are still pretty darn tight. They cost $12 apiece, so I'm reluctant to send them anywhere, I'd rather try to fix the problem myself.

I thought about applying simichrome (semichrome?) to the joint, locking the blade in a vise, and working the handle. Anybody done this?

Andy

Andrew Colglazier · Feb 10, 2009

Well, I took both knives and worked simichrome into the pivots, clamped the blades into a vise, and spent some time working them back and forth. I did this until the paste turned gray, cleaned them up, dried them off, and lubed them, then tried the actions.

Stiffer than they were before. What is up with that?

These knives have brass liners. Do folders with brass liners bind more than folders with stainless liners?

Any suggestions?

Andy

RobbW · Feb 10, 2009

Hmmm, I've never known anyone to put polishing compound in the joints. My guess, and it's only a guess, is that the soft brass allowed the polishing grit to imbed, and is now working like a lapping plate against the blade steel.

Andrew Colglazier · Feb 10, 2009

RobbW said:
Hmmm, I've never known anyone to put polishing compound in the joints. My guess, and it's only a guess, is that the soft brass allowed the polishing grit to imbed, and is now working like a lapping plate against the blade steel.

Well, then more is better, right?!

You could be right. :grumpy:

Andy

Bill DeShivs · Feb 10, 2009

NEVER lap a blade joint with any abrasive. I doubt the knife will ever open correctly, as the polish imbeds and has no where to go.
Most slipjoints are hard to open because the tang length is long-causing the backspring to lift excessively.

Andrew Colglazier · Feb 10, 2009

Bill DeShivs said:
NEVER lap a blade joint with any abrasive. I doubt the knife will ever open correctly, as the polish imbeds and has no where to go.
Most slipjoints are hard to open because the tang length is long-causing the backspring to lift excessively.

Well, there you go.

Glad these were inexpensive. Now I can play with them to my heart's content.

Thank you!

Andy

Roger999 · Feb 10, 2009

Not really a good method but you could try stick a large flat head screwdriver in the front of the pivot and turn it very hard to loosen up the pivot.

Seals · Feb 10, 2009

Here's something i do,but dont recommend.Put a razor blade between the blade and the liner right at the pin joint.Tap it in with a hammer.Careful ,not too far.Check the fit.Still tight?Try the other side.Look at it closely,sometimes you can see where it's too tight.I don't recommend anyone do this.There,if you wreck your knife it's on you.

Andrew Colglazier · Feb 10, 2009

piglipsticker said:
Here's something i do,but dont recommend.Put a razor blade between the blade and the liner right at the pin joint.Tap it in with a hammer.Careful ,not too far.Check the fit.Still tight?Try the other side.Look at it closely,sometimes you can see where it's too tight.I don't recommend anyone do this.There,if you wreck your knife it's on you.

That's funny!

Actually, I seem to have reversed the problem through two fixes. First, I simply put a large amount of light gun oil in the pivot, clamped the blade in a vise, and manipulated the joint for about 5 minutes. My theory was that even if the abrasive is caught in the brass, further manipulation can help but a) knock the high points down, b) further smooth the steel of the blade, and c) flush/clean out the abrasive to some degree.

This did seem to make a difference.

Then, I took the handle to my belt grinder and took down the handle in the area of the nail nick. This exposed more of the spine of the blade, so there was more to get hold of to open the blade.

These two interventions seem to have done the trick, and the knife is now pretty friendly.

That was the medium knife. Now I need to do the same to the large.

:thumbup:

Andy