Medford Praetorian T - The Big Fat Folding Axe

Addicted_to_Knives

Addicted_to_Knives

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I've been testing and carrying recently Medford Praetorian T. Something I wanted for long time... Other than it is an expensive, big, fat, folding axe - I actually do like my knives big and strong built, so it felt to my surprise very fine & comfortable in hand. Opening and closing it was smooth.

Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to take it apart... Just had to see why Greg Medford is so crazy wild about us taking knife apart and threatening us with voided warranty if we do dare to disassemble. What does Greg hide from us?

Simple frame lock design knife...

However, to my surprise I've never seen in any knife triple 0.2mm (0.007874 inches) thick bronze washers on each side of the frame with total 6 bronze washers on a knife!! Does Greg Medford suffer from washer addiction or is this a common knife design concept to have multiple washers on each side? Does it help the knife in any way? I personally do not see any benefit having 3 on each side? Why not just go with 0.5mm (0.02 inches thick) thick washers - one on each side?

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I own a lot of different brands, but I have never seen that on any knife. How does that work? The ones with washers have a “break in period” but how would a washer wear on another and the another, there must be an explanation
 
Grandmaster said:
I own a lot of different brands, but I have never seen that on any knife. How does that work? The ones with washers have a “break in period” but how would a washer wear on another and the another, there must be an explanation
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I've seen double-washers on my Japanese Seki City folders, but never seen the double triple sides... And what purpose does it serve that's what I am hoping to understand.
 
unwisefool said:
That seems weird, why don't you write Medford and find out?
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Greg Medford voids the warranty if anyone dares to disassemble the knife. Hence the proprietary pivot screws with different number of holes per model. If I tell Greg that I took it apart, I am sure he will fly in from Arizona just to kick my a$$. :) That's why I posted here, wondering maybe anyone knows... Maybe this is the Greg Medford knife-building secret - triple washers???
 
Grandmaster said:
I own a lot of different brands, but I have never seen that on any knife. How does that work? The ones with washers have a “break in period” but how would a washer wear on another and the another, there must be an explanation
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I've seen it on a few knives but usually more on one side than the other.
 
Quiet said:
Oh man, Greg probably sent out a black bag team as soon as he saw this pic. They're probably over your house right now, about to fast-rope down into your living room and serve you with a voided warranty letter. LOL
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Too late :) Greg's triple washer secret is out!
 
I know nothing about Medford knives, but has the blade thickness on this model ever changed? If so, they could have added the extra washers to make up the difference in thickness for a thinner blade, instead of changing the spacers/frame/etc.
 
I’m picturing Greg doing a bunch of math on a napkin and scratching his bald head, baffled why there’s 1.2mm of empty space between the blade and the scales. So he just adds a bunch of washers until it folds and threatens people with a voided warranty upon disassembly so he doesn’t look like a fool because his blades ride on 6 washers.
 
razor-edge-knives said:
Number of washers doesn't matter in my experience (I've done it every which way), it is only there to get the correct tolerance stack to match the backspacer/standoffs. That's the key, folder parallelism.
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Thank you, this offers a very interesting explanation. Does make sense in terms of getting the correct tolerance. However, why not use thicker, heavier washers - one on each side vs. Three on each??

Do those additional washers add improvement in opening smoothness? I do like when I see a washer between bearings and a blade, those work supersmooth for me and I love that setting, I can see and feel better action. Does the three together add any better action or improvements other than tolerances?
 
Blues Bender said:
I’m picturing Greg doing a bunch of math on a napkin and scratching his bald head, baffled why there’s 1.2mm of empty space between the blade and the scales. So he just adds a bunch of washers until it folds and threatens people with a voided warranty upon disassembly so he doesn’t look like a fool because his blades ride on 6 washers.
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This was my first logic assumption! Scratching his bald head lol Lets put more washers!

P.S. Thanks God he did not do the Hinderer trick and use cheap plastic teflon washers vs. the phosphorus bronze. 3 teflons would have sucked big time! Especially on a $700-$750 msrp knife.
 
Addicted_to_Knives said:
Thank you, this offers a very interesting explanation. Does make sense in terms of getting the correct tolerance. However, why not use thicker, heavier washers - one on each side vs. Three on each??

Do those additional washers add improvement in opening smoothness? I do like when I see a washer between bearings and a blade, those work supersmooth for me and I love that setting, I can see and feel better action. Does the three together add any better action or improvements other than tolerances?
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That would be a question for Greg Medford, I don't know why he chose to use 3 instead of 1 per side. No they don't offer any enhanced smoothness that I've ever felt. But if you want it even smoother swap them out for teflon ;D I absolutely love teflon and have never had an issue, plus they have a lower coefficient of friction than pb.
 
razor-edge-knives said:
That would be a question for Greg Medford, I don't know why he chose to use 3 instead of 1 per side. No they don't offer any enhanced smoothness that I've ever felt. But if you want it even smoother swap them out for teflon ;D I absolutely love teflon and have never had an issue, plus they have a lower coefficient of friction than pb.
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Thank you. I do intend to ask Greg, I hope he does not fly down here kicking my a$$ for disassembling his knife..

I always hated teflon, always swapped them for pb and criticize Hinderer like a madman for including teflons in $500+ valued knives. Always enjoyed my pb washers + kpl oil, the best action. Bearings are wonderful too but dust and pocket crap always manages to get in and do need to clean those thoroughly once every other month..

However I've never heard anything good about teflons, other than they're cheap. Thank you for those details, I might actually give a teflon chance just to compare to my edc pb washer knives, see if they are as good as claimed.

Thank you!
 
Addicted_to_Knives said:
Thank you. I do intend to ask Greg, I hope he does not fly down here kicking my a$$ for disassembling his knife..

I always hated teflon, always swapped them for pb and criticize Hinderer like a madman for including teflons in $500+ valued knives. Always enjoyed my pb washers + kpl oil, the best action. Bearings are wonderful too but dust and pocket crap always manages to get in and do need to clean those thoroughly once every other month..

However I've never heard anything good about teflons, other than they're cheap. Thank you for those details, I might actually give a teflon chance just to compare to my edc pb washer knives, see if they are as good as claimed.

Thank you!
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yeah give them a chance, it can make it feel like it's on bearings (w/ a drop of oil on each washer) without the issues bearings have. I originally felt the same way as you just because it's like "it's plastic so it must be cheap" but in the last 8-9 years of working on knives I have never seen a teflon washer have wear issues at ALL.
 
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