- Joined
- May 5, 2000
- Messages
- 1,478
Based on all the advice I've seen, I decided to smooth out the very gritty action on my Carnie Cub.
I carefully disassembled it--and managed to hold onto the spring--and found something surprising. The thing was full of black grit. Looked like G-10 residue from the machining process. Not very reassuring. So I cleaned that all out, lubed everything down, and proceeded to re-assemble the knife...
...when the spring just flew across the room. I managed to keep my wits about me and, believe it or not, I found it. If anyone knows where I could get a couple of these springs, I'd really like to buy some.
Anyhow, I got it all back together, G-10 grit-free. But guess what...still rough. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the gritty feel comes from the lack of polishing on the round end of the blade where the rolling lock maintains contact through the opening arc. Unlike on my Benchmade Axis locks, this area of the blade on the Carnie wasn't really polished.
If your REKAT feels gritty, here's a test: pull the sliding lock release back all the way and then use the thumbstud to open the knife. If the gritty feeling is gone, then you have my problem. See, pulling the lock release all the way back means that the rolling lock is no longer contacting the rear end of the blade at all.
So...to make a very long story only a little long, I broke out the 600-grit paper and Tri-Flow (lube really helps on the paper), and proceeded to carefully polish the circular end of the blade. You also have to get into the small-diameter recess where the rolling lock sits when the knife is closed. The machining in there was anything but polished.
End result: it's actually pretty smooth.
Final opinion on the Rolling Lock: I have no doubt that it's as "strong" as my Axis locks, and it beats any liner lock around, but it's clearly less refined than the Axis. It just doesn't have that butter-on-glass smoothness, due largely (I think) to less-precise machining, a plastic part, and one-sided operation.
The last comment is especially important, and not because I want ambidexterity. The Axis lock is very smooth (and very reliable) because there's equal force exerted on both sides of the locking bar, thanks to the double springs. The Rolling Lock doesn't share this feature.
That said, I consider the Carnie Cub (with my aftermarket mods) one of the ideal sub-3.5" tough folders. For the price, I'd expect better machining, and if I were truly obsessed I might get a Benchmade 710 and grind off half an inch of blade. But that's for next weekend.
I carefully disassembled it--and managed to hold onto the spring--and found something surprising. The thing was full of black grit. Looked like G-10 residue from the machining process. Not very reassuring. So I cleaned that all out, lubed everything down, and proceeded to re-assemble the knife...
...when the spring just flew across the room. I managed to keep my wits about me and, believe it or not, I found it. If anyone knows where I could get a couple of these springs, I'd really like to buy some.
Anyhow, I got it all back together, G-10 grit-free. But guess what...still rough. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the gritty feel comes from the lack of polishing on the round end of the blade where the rolling lock maintains contact through the opening arc. Unlike on my Benchmade Axis locks, this area of the blade on the Carnie wasn't really polished.
If your REKAT feels gritty, here's a test: pull the sliding lock release back all the way and then use the thumbstud to open the knife. If the gritty feeling is gone, then you have my problem. See, pulling the lock release all the way back means that the rolling lock is no longer contacting the rear end of the blade at all.
So...to make a very long story only a little long, I broke out the 600-grit paper and Tri-Flow (lube really helps on the paper), and proceeded to carefully polish the circular end of the blade. You also have to get into the small-diameter recess where the rolling lock sits when the knife is closed. The machining in there was anything but polished.
End result: it's actually pretty smooth.
Final opinion on the Rolling Lock: I have no doubt that it's as "strong" as my Axis locks, and it beats any liner lock around, but it's clearly less refined than the Axis. It just doesn't have that butter-on-glass smoothness, due largely (I think) to less-precise machining, a plastic part, and one-sided operation.
The last comment is especially important, and not because I want ambidexterity. The Axis lock is very smooth (and very reliable) because there's equal force exerted on both sides of the locking bar, thanks to the double springs. The Rolling Lock doesn't share this feature.
That said, I consider the Carnie Cub (with my aftermarket mods) one of the ideal sub-3.5" tough folders. For the price, I'd expect better machining, and if I were truly obsessed I might get a Benchmade 710 and grind off half an inch of blade. But that's for next weekend.
