I just received my neutron from blade HQ. I love the feel of a knife, how thin it is, and the general fit-and-finish. Right out of the box, I noticed that the blade was very very close to the non lock side liner/frame. The knife will flick open with thumb studs. Just barely. It definitely will not close without a second hand. Any loosening of the pivot leads to the blade rubbing on the liner. I've emailed Blade HQ, I was just wondering if anybody else had similar issues with their new Neutron.
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New Neutron a lemon?
- Thread starter SmCaudata
- Start date
Just got mine today too. The blade is off center juuuuuuuuust a smidge opposite the lockbar, not enough for me to worry about, and it's not touching the liner or anything. Flicks open easily. Doesn't drop shut, but easily shuts one handed, either with a wrist flick or just using my index finger to push it closed. I suspect with a little time to wear in, and some additional lube, it'll be smoother.
Trying to decide if I want to roughen up the micarta or leave it as is....gonna give it some time before I do anything.
Trying to decide if I want to roughen up the micarta or leave it as is....gonna give it some time before I do anything.
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I don’t have a Neutron, but I had a similar “wildly off-center” blade issue with a BM 940 from BHQ. I called them right after I saw the condition, they emailed me a free return shipping label that day and I sent it back to them the next day. I used my account credit to buy another knife (from another manufacturer) that was problem-free and I’ve been happy with that one ever since.
If I was in your position, I’d do the same thing--ship it back to them at their expense and get an account credit. Good luck with your problem knife.
If I was in your position, I’d do the same thing--ship it back to them at their expense and get an account credit. Good luck with your problem knife.
I'd suggest reaching out to Three Rivers too, I suspect they would take care of it.
My understanding is this knife is sold out. So if the OP wanted to get the same knife he is SOL. But yeah, the credit thing would be valid.
ahh vtec
Gold Member
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Do this. TRM will make it right. Mine was a little stiff out of the box, but loosened up very nicely! However, the thumb stub started to rattle. They responded to my email in less than five minutes and said send it in and they would take care of me and refund any shipping to get it back to them.
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Just got mine today too. The blade is off center juuuuuuuuust a smidge opposite the lockbar, not enough for me to worry about, and it's not touching the liner or anything. Flicks open easily. Doesn't drop shut, but easily shuts one handed, either with a wrist flick or just using my index finger to push it closed. I suspect with a little time to wear in, and some additional lube, it'll be smoother.
Trying to decide if I want to roughen up the micarta or leave it as is....gonna give it some time before I do anything.
The natural micarta looks good. What do you mean by roughing up the micarta?
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- Jul 12, 2004
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I had a Neutron from the first batch with the same issue. Remove the outer scales -- they're interchangeable so you don't have to mess with the pivot -- and tighten down all the screws on the liners, I seem to recall them being Phillips heads. Then reinstall the outer scales and tighten them up as well. Be prepared to do this every now and then as the design of the knife has a big gap along the back with no support so it tends to flex a bit and loosen up.
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That's great to hear that they'll refund shipping for warranty issues like that. I don't think a user should ever be responsible for paying to ship a new and defective knife back to the shop to have it be made right.
I'll give this a shot. It reminds me of a techno I had with an after market back spacer that was to thick. I think the washers need to be a hair wider or something.
Didn't work to tighten those down. I cleaned it all out. It was actually really clean already. Still need to crank it down to keep it off the liner.
Well. Thanks for the help guys.
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- Jul 12, 2004
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That's a bummer. For all the positive press the Neutron gets I was never happy with the way mine flexed and didn't trust it to not get seriously bent at some point. If they would just add a stand-off halfway down the length of the back of the handle it would likely resolve those issues.
I received mine from trm last week, had the same issue and also came with one of the worst edges I’ve ever seen. They quickly sent a replacement, which also is a c-hair from the nonlock side. The knife feels flimsy to me, I suppose if I only used my knife to open mail and cut up the occasional apple it would be just fine but I use my knives(most of them), maybe abuse them cause I sure as shit don’t baby them.
I love that it's thin, but I agree it is almost flimsy. I compare this to another liner lock I have around, my Skaha and it isn't even close. One is a bearing flipper, I know, but I still think they could have done more with the Neutron to make it just a tad more robust.
After fidgeting with mine all afternoon the pivot loosened up and it went out of center. Took it apart, re-lubed everything, blue Loctite in the pivot screw, and reassembled and got the centering dead nuts on. Why no one puts blue loctite on pivot screws at the factory is beyond me...
First, get everything just barely starting to snug up. Then tighten the three screws at the butt end of the knife. Then the pivot last. That’s the order of operations that got me centered up nicely.
It’s perfectly centered, but doesn’t flick open super easily, but I suspect that’ll improve as it wears in a bit. It will do it, you just gotta mean it. Feels nice and smooth though. I kinda like “slow rolling” thumb stud openers anyways.
They did away with the Phillips head screws, it’s all Torx now. T8 on the pivot, T6 everywhere else.
These pics show the natural micarta color better, darker brown with a little reddish hue. By “roughing it up” I mean sanding it to make it not so smooth, it’s almost slippery now.
And if you bought one of the thinnest liner locks around, expecting it to be super robust, you need a better understanding of physics. For most folks “EDC” duties I think it’ll be plenty stout enough.
First, get everything just barely starting to snug up. Then tighten the three screws at the butt end of the knife. Then the pivot last. That’s the order of operations that got me centered up nicely.
It’s perfectly centered, but doesn’t flick open super easily, but I suspect that’ll improve as it wears in a bit. It will do it, you just gotta mean it. Feels nice and smooth though. I kinda like “slow rolling” thumb stud openers anyways.
They did away with the Phillips head screws, it’s all Torx now. T8 on the pivot, T6 everywhere else.
These pics show the natural micarta color better, darker brown with a little reddish hue. By “roughing it up” I mean sanding it to make it not so smooth, it’s almost slippery now.
And if you bought one of the thinnest liner locks around, expecting it to be super robust, you need a better understanding of physics. For most folks “EDC” duties I think it’ll be plenty stout enough.
I tried various orders of tightening. Tried doing with blade closed, blade open, blade half open. Nothing seemed to work. Like I said, it was barely avoiding the liner upon first open, it didn't settle that way with use.
When I used robust, I didn't mean in the durable, prybar sense. I meant in the way that with normal use and normal cleaning, the design was good enough to feel solid every time. A shouldered bushing system at the pivot, or another standoff near the pivot would make this knife perfect and more easily user serviceable IMO. I'm not a knife designer, but it just seems so close....
Again, I really wanted to live this knife enough that I refreshed the blade HQ page a bunch during the day.
When I used robust, I didn't mean in the durable, prybar sense. I meant in the way that with normal use and normal cleaning, the design was good enough to feel solid every time. A shouldered bushing system at the pivot, or another standoff near the pivot would make this knife perfect and more easily user serviceable IMO. I'm not a knife designer, but it just seems so close....
Again, I really wanted to live this knife enough that I refreshed the blade HQ page a bunch during the day.
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Anyone can email mh@threeiversmfg.com for direct contact with me.
Marianne Halpern
Co-Owner TRM
I'm trying to find more time to stay active on Blade Forums, but the days just get away from me.
Thanks for all the feedback on the Neutron. We are always trying to improve our QC and have EVERY knife live up to the high expectations set for TRM products.
I'd like to respond to a few comments.
The Neutron will never be considered a "robust" knife. It was designed to be slicy, lightweight and built with quality materials. We have had a few returns because "it just didn't feel right." It's so hard to really know a knife until you have it in your hands.
Our first Neutrons had the pivots loctited from the factory, then we decided to let everyone set their pivot tension and use the supplied Loctite. We actually conferred with Loctite techs who told us to use the Loctite inside the pivot rather than on the screw. With the fine threads the Loctite would just ooze out. So for now, we will continue to ship all our knives without any thread locker.
We realized there may be a problem with the thumbstuds after a few were already shipped. If yours is loose, don't worry about its falling out. You can't fix it yourself so just contact Jennifer at ticoon@threeriversmfg.com if you encounter this problem.
A tip for off center Neutron blades in another post to come.
Marianne Halpern
Co-Owner TRM
I'm trying to find more time to stay active on Blade Forums, but the days just get away from me.
Thanks for all the feedback on the Neutron. We are always trying to improve our QC and have EVERY knife live up to the high expectations set for TRM products.
I'd like to respond to a few comments.
The Neutron will never be considered a "robust" knife. It was designed to be slicy, lightweight and built with quality materials. We have had a few returns because "it just didn't feel right." It's so hard to really know a knife until you have it in your hands.
Our first Neutrons had the pivots loctited from the factory, then we decided to let everyone set their pivot tension and use the supplied Loctite. We actually conferred with Loctite techs who told us to use the Loctite inside the pivot rather than on the screw. With the fine threads the Loctite would just ooze out. So for now, we will continue to ship all our knives without any thread locker.
We realized there may be a problem with the thumbstuds after a few were already shipped. If yours is loose, don't worry about its falling out. You can't fix it yourself so just contact Jennifer at ticoon@threeriversmfg.com if you encounter this problem.
A tip for off center Neutron blades in another post to come.
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I just came across this thread while researching TRM's Neutron. Good info.
dgaddis posted that he had replaced the Phillips head screws in the liners with T6 Torx. If my understanding of Torx is correct, both SAE and metric threading systems are available. Does anyone know if the Neutron uses the SAE or the metric?,
Thanks!
rummels
dgaddis posted that he had replaced the Phillips head screws in the liners with T6 Torx. If my understanding of Torx is correct, both SAE and metric threading systems are available. Does anyone know if the Neutron uses the SAE or the metric?,
Thanks!
rummels