Maintenance of early Umnumzaan?

[Naphtali]

I have my Umnumzaan maintenance kit. But I have no idea of the particulars of its use. The 4-prong pivot disassembly tool surprises me; it is plastic and does not appear to be particularly sturdy.

1. Are the 4-holed pivot joint covers merely screwed in firmly, or are they secured by Loctilte® or something similar?

2. Do I remove both joint covers or just either one?

3. How much CRK lubricant do I use when relubricating the ceramic joint? Does lubrication present need be removed prior to relubricating? If it need be removed, how to do this?

4. How often does maintenance need be done if the knife has not been used in unusually dirty conditions?

5. To lubricate the joint, does the entire knife need to be disassembled - that is, using a hex wrench to completely free handles?

6. If there are things to be done I have not asked about, please respond as though I asked.

 

[Haze]

The tools are "soft" so they don't damage anything, they will break before you do any damage to the knife. There is a male female part to the pivot and you may or may not have to use both tools to remove them. I only ever seem to need one when taking the knife down.

You only need to lube the area of contact at the washers, the lock is not helped by adding anything like lube and is probably more hindered by it. Use as little as you can as it does go a long way. Literally just a dab at 4 or 5 points under the washers is enough.

How often you need to take it down is a "how long is that bit of rope" question, it can't be answered by anyone but you.

:thumbup:

 

[1AbominAble1]

I carried one daily for 2 years before taking it down for a good cleaning and new grease, there are no obvious signs of wear or damage. I probably do this every 4-6 months now.
Yes, remove the old lube to make sure you aren't leaving anything nasty in the pivot area before applying new grease and reassembly. A paper towel works fine for me, occasionally I'll wash the scales under warm water with dish soap.
I try to remove the male part of the screw so that the blade stays on the handle while I take the knife apart kind of sandwich style- layer by layer. It usually takes both tools for me to do this but my knife is pretty tight and there's no loc tite needed to keep the pivot set how I like it.

Dive in, it's not as tough as you may think it is and it'd be really hard to mess something up.

Oh, after the pivot breaks loose I open the knife to 90 degrees so that it doesn't touch the handle while I disassemble it. I like the scratches to come from use, not maintenance
Just don't cut yourself while doing it and I think you'll be happy with how it comes out.

Have fun.