My new SR1 and vertical blade play

Well, guess what I was pretty disgusted with mine. So, I just went got the tools out and tightened the pivot up real tight. Had to put the bit in a screwdriver to get it to move. The movement is gone, the knife is definitely harder to open, but I can still thumb it open, slowly. I can live with that easier than vertical blade play. I can't stand blade play particularly in a new never used knife.
 
Sounds like tightening the pivot and with that squeezing the scales tighter together increases pressure on the stop pin and reduces the problem....still not satisfying
 
To be fair the play disappeared before I tightened it down even further so there may be a sweet spot. I just haven't experimented with that, as I was a bit elated to like my big bad ass knife again.
 
jill jackson said:
They won't find blade play unless they hold the handle tight in one hand and the blade towards the end in the other, then put a fair amount of up and down pressure on the blade. I thought mine was tight until I read this and checked in that manner. I doubt many vendors are going to check this way. I still say the people making these should know if a supposedly bad ass knife has any lock up issues.
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I agree with this. I m on the phone to Midway right now to see if my knife can be checked if it hasn't t already shipped. I ll describe to the rep the way I would like it checked.
We ll see.
 
Tightening the pivot wasn't a good idea. Yes, it reduced bladeplay but it took away the smooth opening/closing the knife has been praised for...plus the screws were very tight and my torx left some marks in it....so I guess nobody will replace the knifes now :-/....yeah I know "think before you act"....
 
Did you use the correct bit? Mine has no marking and it's still smooth opening, just not as fast. It's vault tight now , I can open it one handed. I like the knife again.
 
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The blade won't fall shut when I push down the lockbar and flicking it open requires a lot more force now I tightened the pivot
 
Well, it's hardly a bearing flipper. But, if you like the fast opening and looser blade, you might have to live with a bit of blade play. I like the solid lock up myself and will trade off the fast flick opening.
 
From my other CS knives I know that I can have both: Smooth opening and solid lock up. I guess this was also intended for the SR1 and I believe future batches of the SR1 will provide this.
Tightening down the pivot will be my last option if I don't get exchange or refund so I can wait on future batches...but it's good to know to have that option, so thanks for the tip with the pivot screw
 
I just adjusted mine and there is no sweet spot. It has to be cranked down tight to eliminate the blade rock. Makes it slow to open via thumb stud and closing a two handed affair. Feels really solid though. Cold Steel dropped the ball again. In fact pivot adjust really shouldn't be much of a factor , if any on vertical play.
 
k-shi said:
Okay, please send email to customerservice@coldsteel.com and tell them your problem and if they are willing to give you a replacement knife via the european distributor. If they confirm, we and you just have to wait for their email about your customer replacement. Then, you will have a flawless SR1 within 1 week. It just depends on the time Cold Steel is contacting my company. Give it a try! This is the only way because you haven´t ordered directly from us.
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K k-shi I got the reply from ColdSteel within 20min and after exchanging several email they gave me a green light to contact your distributor. Ive sent the email explaining the situation and if they can track you so you get back in touch with me. I dont know what departement you work for.. Hopefully I didnt do anything wrong but I was unable to find a way to contact you privately on this forum.

I must say I was plesantly suprised by Cold Steel support. Maybe I do end up with a good SR1. Dont want to give up on this one yet. Maybe it was just a bad batch. I cant belive none of the reviewers checked for the blade play. When I get a new knife I always do quick checks that take less than a minute. So far I only returned one knife before this one and it was due to bad sharpening job where they messed up the tip and it needed reprofilling. So Im not some perfectionist nut.
 
If my memory serves me this situation came up in another post and I believe that thelockbar pivot and stop pin were switched.I suppose this could happen at the factory if OP didn't disassemble. Just a thought.
 
Yeah somone had that problem with CS Recon. I doubt its the case here since the stop pin looks much thicker. Besides I'm not going to mess around the new knife voiding the warranty. Also I heard of problems on SR1 with the screws stripping and being too soft for repeated assembly/disassembly.

I think the problem here is the case of imprecise cnc machining.
 
MiL said:
K k-shi I got the reply from ColdSteel within 20min and after exchanging several email they gave me a green light to contact your distributor. Ive sent the email explaining the situation and if they can track you so you get back in touch with me. I dont know what departement you work for.. Hopefully I didnt do anything wrong but I was unable to find a way to contact you privately on this forum.

I must say I was plesantly suprised by Cold Steel support. Maybe I do end up with a good SR1. Dont want to give up on this one yet. Maybe it was just a bad batch. I cant belive none of the reviewers checked for the blade play. When I get a new knife I always do quick checks that take less than a minute. So far I only returned one knife before this one and it was due to bad sharpening job where they messed up the tip and it needed reprofilling. So Im not some perfectionist nut.
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Same here: They told me I could send it to their European distributor for exchange. I was really pleased with that fast and uncomplicated service.
Now I'm waiting for an answer of the distributor. I wrote them an e-mail because it sounds to good to be true to get an exchange knife even though the original knife hasn't been bought at Cold Steel directly.
I also had to explain that I left some tiny marks inside the pivot screw. Hope that doesn't ruin my chance for a replacement. If they replace my knifes this would be an example of a really good and accommodating customer service.
So far I can just say that I'm impressed with how easy communication with Cold Steels US customer service has been :)
 
I notice mine has a tiny bit of play too. Does it affect the function of the lock? Ie the strength of the lock?
 
Probably not, other than giving the blade play to work it's self looser during very hard use. Like anything else with play it could get worse, say with chopping. But, mine sure feels a lot more solid with the pivot tightened down, absolutely no play. I was hating it when it had a bit of a tick under hand pressure, now I like the knife again, it seems tougher with the blade so solid. Doesn't bother me it won't open and close as fast. I have bearing flippers for that.
 
ive been waiting about a month for mine to return from CS should be here any day.I never even got far enough with it to check for blade play after having the issues with the pocket clip screws stripping out for no reason.if it has blade play at this point ill either live with it or sell that pig iron and be done with it.oh, and I just checked my lone star hunter and mackinac as well,both have up and down play,mackinac is slight lone star has a lot, although its still new never used it should lockup solid...
 
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I am surprised too that none of the YT reviewers noticed bladeplay. Maybe they got their knives from the very first small batch that was released in early May i think. Maybe these were flawless
 
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