New Case, Gritty Action.

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Lock1454

Joined
Jan 4, 2009
Messages
885
Alrighty, just got my Case wharncliff mini trapper in this afternoon and fell in love with it the more the day wore on. The minor flaws that I initially took some small exception too began to sink in as it being part of the unique persona of My Knife.

But one thing that hasn't gotten better over the day was the action of the blades, they were gritting at noon and they are just as gritty past midnight. I have been opening/closing the blades throughout the day to see if it just maybe needed to work itself out, no luck. I took a napkin to the exposed portions of the pivots to clean off the black grease that was visible and then tossed a drop of oil on either blade and worked them some more, still gritty. This is my first real slippie and I'm not 100% sure as to how to proceed. With a modern folder, I'd just take the knife apart and clean up the pivot, but since that really isn't an option with this lil beauty, what do I do? Do I just run it under some warm water or something?

Appreciate any help.
 
What I like to do is rinse it out really well with warm soapy water. Then I dry it as good as I can and oil it afterwards. I keep working the blade back and forth stopping to wipe off the excess oil from time to time until the black residue stops coming out. This usually helps to get rid of any grittiness in the action.
 
When drying it, would I just pat it dry the best I can with a towel or would it be a good idea to take a hair drier to it or maybe some compressed air? Or is a bit of water left in there to dry on it's own not really gonna bother anything?
 
Drying inside and out with a paper towel is usually good enough to wick water out of all of the gaps. The oil should displace anything that's still there.
 
Unfortunately, most new slipjoints get delivered very dirty from the factory. They all need to be cleaned and oiled when you get them. It's just the way it is.
 
Lock1454 said:
When drying it, would I just pat it dry the best I can with a towel or would it be a good idea to take a hair drier to it or maybe some compressed air? Or is a bit of water left in there to dry on it's own not really gonna bother anything?
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I've been in the habit of using WARM soapy water to to wash, then rinse under some more warm water. In fact, I get it almost hot, but so my hands can still tolerate it (for me, that's somewhere in the 110 -120 degree range).

The nice thing about doing it this way is, the almost-hot water will warm up the internals (blades, liners, pins, etc.) quite nicely, which will then aid greatly in evaporating any residual moisture that can't be reached with a paper towel. The knife will stay fairly warm for a bit after you've finished rinsing it, so it drys quickly and pretty completely. If you desire, use just a little bit of WD-40 in the joints afterwards, to displace any moisture that might be left.
 
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