My new Buck 112 is too stiff

DocT said:
After an hour it should have smoothed up some. It does not sound like the bolsters or the lock bar. There may be an issue with the pivot. I had a Boker that literally froze up on me even though I had oiled it. I sent it in and there was an issue with the washers or something (long time ago) so they had to take the knife apart, relube it, then put it back together. I would send it to Buck and let them fix it for you.
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That's a thought! Perhaps the pivot pin is slightly crooked, that's something that would cause the blade to suddenly become stiff as it presses against the bolsters part way through opening...
 
If you just don't want to fool with Buck fixing it I understand.

But, if you walked up to the Buck Collectors Club area at the recent Blade Show, where Bucks Customer Service guru had a knife display, he would have looked it over like chiral and said" give me your name and address and I will have it fixed and mailed back to you NO charge." I will swear on a stack of the Good Books, that if you email or call customer service at Buck and say attention Joe Houser or ask to speak to him you WILL get your knife fixed or replaced for free. They want to see what is wrong and I bet several people will look at it to figure how and why it is that way...... 300

And just for general FYI, I use Brasso or Mother's Mag Wheel polish for all polishing projects.
 
I had to send in my 500 Duke once and I can testify that it was fixed and sent back to me very quickly. Send that 112 back and let Buck fix the problem.
 
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Problem solved. This is what it took:

1. I dropped some kerosene in the pivot area and worked the blade open and closed. I thought all the grit had been cleaned up, but managed to further clean a little bit of black gunk out with the kerosene.
2. Cleaned the knife again under hot water.
3. Tried DocT´s white toothpaste trick again. This time I did it a little differently. I applied a very generous amount in the pivot area, and I actually used some strenght to repeatedly open and close the blade for a couple of hours.
4. Cleaned the knife again under hot water, using clean rags and a piece if wire. Had to spend a lot of time cleaning it, to clean all the toothpaste accumulated in hard to reach spots.
5. Let the knife dry out.
6. Dropped a little militec in the pivot area.

The knife now opens very lightly and smoothly, better than most folding knives I ever had. It still locks up very tightly, with absolutely no bladeplay.

I use warranties as a last resort, only if the problem is really insurmountable. Thanks everybody for the helpful suggestions. It really is appreciated.
 
Glad to hear you got it sorted out. That cleaning with kerosene probably did the track. That last bit of black gunk may have been the problem.
 
Yeah, good to read it's resolved. The 112 is a great traditional lockback.
 
I have been using my 112 a lot. I used to have a Buck 110 years ago, but I ended up giving it away to a relative. When I bought another one, I decided to try out the 112, and I chose the finger grooved one.

What a great knife.
 
Valle said:
DocT, I regret to say the white toothbrush did nothing to improve the situation. I smeared a fair amount of it in the pivot area and worked it opening and closing the knife for an hour. The stiffness did not improve at all. I will take another picture and post it, perhaps I could try something else. I won´t be sending this knife back to Buck, I am sure you understand.

Chiral.grolim, I have just done your test. When the blade is getting opened downwards of 60 degrees, it gets stiff to open or close, even with the lock-bar firmly and fully pressed. I agree that tight bolsters should pinch the blade regardless of the angle it's open, but that is not what is happening with this knife. It starts opening lightly and smoothly, and suddenly it gets stiff. I will take anoher picture to illustrate what I mean.

Pack Rat, the picture in the first post is an actual picture of the knife. It is very unlike a new Buck 110 I had (post 13 in this thread). This new 112 is impossible to open one handed. I want to be able to open it one-handed, yes.

Modoc, have you tried this method before? Should it not cause more problems? Keep in mind it is already very light and easy to start opening the knife .
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What I normally do is open the knife put the blade in a sturdy bench vice add plenty of penetrating oil on pivot point and move knife side to side ,repeat untill it works (this works every time on the SAK)
 
Glad you straightened her out Valle! I'm a big fan of Militec but it is a pain to get due to having to order it. I've been looking for an alternative for a while and recently found it. My sister-inlaw recently got some cleaning things for her pistol and one of them was the new Hoppes Elite Gun Oil. It has no smell and slicker then frozen goose snot! My custom shop 112 was noticeably more stiffer then my reg. one and almost as stiff as my 500! This new to me oil really did the job!
 
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