Microtech Ultratech

[Bailey G]

Let me start off by saying that I may legally own, and carry this knife in my state as well as my city. I'm very lucky to be able to legally carry this knife on a day to day basis, With that being said I'd also like to state that I bought this knife brand new with the intent of using it! I realize sharpening the knife, as well as disassembling it voids the warranty. Now for the actual review, right out of the box this knife came hair popping sharp i'm really impressed with the Elmax steel microtech uses, It holds a shaving sharp edge for about 3 weeks of use. I have used it every day since I got it and it sees use everyday, such as cutting tape, breaking down boxes as well as the occasional letter opener. I do sharpen the blade myself, I Use a KME knife sharpener and it does a fine job making this knife razor sharp with minimal effort. As far as the fit and finish goes It's perfect everything is lines up just right and fits perfectly. The finish is beautiful I decided to go with the red finish and it looks great it's held up great so far even sitting in the same pocket as my truck keys which still haven't managed to scratch the finish. The only complaint I have with this knife would be the glass breaker it is ridiculiously sharp and has scraped my hand many times when reaching for the knife to take it out of my pocket. I did find a way to " solve" this byt testing the glass breaker on a few Ball mason jars. After about 3-5 hits againt the tough glass the tip of the glass breaker starts to dull a fair amount, and it seems once the tip dulled I didn't have a single problem with the glass breaker scraping me up. As far as the action goes it is extremely smooth and quick, but the blade has managed to fail to properly eject and lock into place over 10 times. There seems to be nothing in particular that makes this happen it will just randomly fail. It will either only parshially eject, or it will fully eject and the locking mechanism completely fails to latch. sometimes it will happen 2-3 times in a row i'll fire it and it will fail, I reset and it will happen again. I have no idea what causes this I have cleaned it out with compressed air as well as dissasembled it to look for a blockage between the locking mechanism and the blade, I have yet to see a reason for the failure. and Yes before you ask I do lightly lubricate the contact points regularly. Anyhow hopefully you guys enjoy reading this! if anyone has any idea what could be causing the failures let me now.

 

[blade man]

Probably your regular lubrication. OTFs don't like much lube. Flush it out with Naptha and see if that fixes it.

 

[PURPLEDC]

Great observations on the ultratech. My only criticism is something I quite often forget which is to put a space between paragraphs. Its hard to follow too long without breaks. Otherwise great job.

as to you issue with failing firing I find the majority of issues related to misfires is too much lubrication and of the wrong type. You dont want to use any lubricant that is thick. Even in small amounts this can actually cause more friction than it reduces. If you put grease on a washer and slap it to a piece of steel its going to stick. Sure it helps with wear but you want the blade to slide and glide with as little resistance as possible without being too slick. Yes I said too slick. Just like anything in life there needs to be a balance. With Microtech OTF knives if you uses something that is super slippery and too much of it you can experience what I call blowback. ITs when the blade flies so fast that it reaches the end of its travel and bounces off the end of that travel and back into the handle before the locking sear has a chance to engage the blade. If too much lubrication is used it can also attract dirt, dust and pocket lint. A relatively small amount of lint can foul up the action of an otf in short order. Before going to the next possible cause I would recommend cleaning every surface with lighter fluid. The blade, the area the blade glides on, all of it. Then try it with no lube at all. If your knife operates fine then the only need for lubrication would be a very small amount on the flats of the blade if reducing scratching is of concern. If you do insist on using lubrication I would recommend rem oil, tuff glide or tri flow. And literally so little of it you will question if its enough.

You however are claiming to not be finding anything inside the knife doing such a thing. One other thing that could be happening is that the locking sear for keeping the blade open is hanging up. This can happen with poor tolerances. If the sear isnt seated properly or if something is out of spec the sear may not move freely and the blade wont lock open. Signs of this happening would be hard to see with the sear in place. You would have to use a light and physically remove the blade and move the sear over and see if it is scratching through the anodizing. If this is not happening on the body of the knife check the top when removed and see if there is any signs of rubbing there. Even if there isnt it could still be the issue. A way to test this would be wait for a moment where you are getting repetitive failures. Then back off the handle slab screws a 1/4 turn each. Just enough to relieve any pressure the top might be putting on the sear. If that solves the problem you know that is your cause which would require more in depth troubleshooting to correct. If that is the case it could be as simple as not cranking down on the screws in the top.