Need help with a stick lock bar on a frame lock

Kaizen1

Kaizen1

Gold Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2006
Messages
6,265
Hey people,

I just got a Hinderer XM-18 Gen 2 (awsome knife) and the lock bar is really difficult to disengage. Mattafac, it's the most difficult I've ever experienced trying to disengage a lock. The thing hurts my fingers.

I've done the pencil trick and will continue to do it and I'll keep tring to break it in, but does anyone have any other suggestions?

Thanks
 
Its the down side of titanium. It is ti right?
 
I have found if you throw it open very hard it will reset the lock. Might move the lock bar over to the right a tad, but most of the time it does the trick.

That said, it would be hard to do that to a gen2 XM. ;)

Maybe try some lube on the lock contacts? I thought this was crazy talk but the CRK page says to do so. Crazy I know! :confused:
 
Two things you can try ... first, take an ordinary pencil and apply some of the "lead", actually graphite, to the surface of the lockbar that engages the blade. This may provide enough lubrication to make it less sticky.

If that doesn't work, try treating it with a little Militec-1, using a hair dryer to cure it and help it bond to the metal. Same idea as the graphite, just a bit of lubrication.

But a word of caution with either method: realize that anything you do to reduce the amount of friction between lockbar and blade could potentially compromise the reliability and safety of the lock mechanism. The two methods I've mentioned are at least reversible.
 
A quick update. I've been putting a bunch of the graphite stuff on the tang and lock bar and it seems to be working fine now. I'll keep an eye on it just in case it has compromised the security of the lock up.

Thanks for the help everyone.
 
Kaizen1 said:
A quick update. I've been putting a bunch of the graphite stuff on the tang and lock bar and it seems to be working fine now. I'll keep an eye on it just in case it has compromised the security of the lock up.
Click to expand...
Cool! Graphite may be low tech, old school, but many times it's a great solution.

FWIW the way I like to test the lockup on frame and liner locks is to clamp the blade nice and tight in a vise, protected by soft jaws (cardboard is fine) and a few layers of clean cloth or paper towel, and then grab the handle and lever it up and down, side to side, and give it some good, hard twists to make sure the lock stays engaged. I've never seen a knife that could pass this test have a problem in real world use.
 
Graphite is good stuff, unless the lockbar is welded onto the blade (figuratively) then I wouldn't worry, titanium doesn't take long to wear down from the S30V blade. Cheers and enjoy that knife.
 
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