New ZT 0456 question

B

Belly

Gold Member
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May 21, 2000
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199
Just received my brand new 0456.

Very nice but one issue - the pivot is so tight I can barely get the blade open. It's not the strong detent either. Once past the detent, the blade still is very tight.

Since this knife has the KVT bearings, can you still loosen or tighten the action by adjusting the pivot? I tried but it's not budging.

Any advice?

Thanks!
 
I had the same problem and Whitty at USA Made Blade sent me a replacement and this one works like butter. My problem seemed more of a detent issue.
 
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The ZT's have loctite on the pivot, so you need to break the loctite with a hairdryer or something like that. After you've broken the loctite you can adjust the pivot to adjust the action
 
Sounds to me like something is not right on it. I would return it for a replacement. This is rare but I have heard of it happening one or two other times.
 
Boy, that's a shame to pay such high prices for a knife and it all screeches to a halt before I even get to enjoy the purchase!

I contacted the company I bought it from and they're making me pay for the return shipping,even though this is a defective knife! They asked if I wanted an exchange or a refund - well if I have to pay for the shipping, then the heck with them. I'm not giving them any more business.

Perhaps once I cool off I'll reorder it from whitty.
 
Belly said:
Boy, that's a shame to pay such high prices for a knife and it all screeches to a halt before I even get to enjoy the purchase!

I contacted the company I bought it from and they're making me pay for the return shipping,even though this is a defective knife! They asked if I wanted an exchange or a refund - well if I have to pay for the shipping, then the heck with them. I'm not giving them any more business.

Perhaps once I cool off I'll reorder it from whitty.
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I do not know where you bought it from but it is not uncommon to have a customer pay for return shipping on a defective product. Once they get it and see the problem then they should definitely reimburse you for your shipping. It truly depends on the customer and situation as to how we handle it. Sorry you have a bad taste in your mouth but I hope you will give another 456 a try through us or another Blade Forum supporting dealer. It is an awesome knife. I carry mine pretty much every day and have been blown away by it.
 
If they were going to reimburse me, I wouldn't be upset. If I just didn't like it, then, yes, I should pay the return shipping. However, in this case, since it's defective, they should be covering it.

We'll, I've been buying and collecting knives for about 20 years now and I ALWAYS seem to get the defective ones. It's happened so many times I can't even remember them all. Oh well, I'll let this sit for awhile and revisit it later.

Thanks for the replies.
 
Belly said:
If they were going to reimburse me, I wouldn't be upset. If I just didn't like it, then, yes, I should pay the return shipping. However, in this case, since it's defective, they should be covering it.

We'll, I've been buying and collecting knives for about 20 years now and I ALWAYS seem to get the defective ones. It's happened so many times I can't even remember them all. Oh well, I'll let this sit for awhile and revisit it later.

Thanks for the replies.
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We do a ton of shipping and very rarely ever have shipping issues. With that said we have a good customer who always seems to get the shipping issue. It seems every other package we ship to him goes somewhere else first before it gets fixed and eventually makes it to him a week later than expected. We even shipped a box to him UPS instead of USPS and it went whacky. Some people just have all the luck!
 
Belly said:
Just received my brand new 0456.

Very nice but one issue - the pivot is so tight I can barely get the blade open. It's not the strong detent either. Once past the detent, the blade still is very tight.

Since this knife has the KVT bearings, can you still loosen or tighten the action by adjusting the pivot? I tried but it's not budging.

Any advice?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Please don't take any offense to this question but are you keeping your finger on the lockbar when trying to open the knife? This knife is well known to have problems opening if you keep your finger on the lockbar. If you move your finger to the pocket clip it might work better. If I have my finger on my lockbar mine will barely budge but if I move it to the pocket clip it flips very well.
 
No offense buddy. Yes, I am being careful not to press or put pressure the lock bar. I have 2 other integral lock knives and they too are sensitive to that.

This particular example of the 0456 is so tight that it takes effort to get the blade open. There is absolutely no using the flipper in any way. I have to use 2 hands to get past the detent, then you have to use 2 fingers to pull the blade open to the locked position.

I'm refusing to do the whole "heat it up to break the red locktite". For $240, I ought to be able to pay my money, get my knife, and be able to enjoy the KVT bearings. There are hundreds of people who got just that. I got a defective, very expensive knife that should not have gone out the door in this condition. In addition, I have to now pay the $8 to $15 to ship it back to Knife works. This is the second time I've had customer service issues with them, and my LAST!
 
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Hey Belly, hang in there Bro! I had a similar problem trying to get a certain knife that's generally considered "perfect". Knife after knife I had issues of one type or another. It took some trying, but all ended up well in the end. Try to work with retailers who take an interest in each sale. Sometimes with the "big" guys, you keep getting sent knives that were already returned by somebody else. It's not your luck, but the simple fact of when you're buying it on the demand curve.

I don't own the 0456, but I've never had a ZT that I considered a "lemon". Good luck to you and let us know how this turns out.
 
I just saw your last post, try to talk to Knife Works. I've had good luck dealing with them on knives. I agree with you, a $240 knife shouldn't need "fixing" or special breaking in.
 
I called them this afternoon and spoke to a woman. I explained the issue, she asked if I wanted a refund or an exchange. I asked if I had to pay for shipping. She said yes. Because of that, I asked for a full refund. I'm not giving them my business because I disagree with paying return shipping on a defective knife. If I decide to try my $240 again, I'll contact a business that values their customer more and has better quality control. It's not my fault the knife is faulty. Why should I have pay to send it back? I'm fed up with companies taking my money and me getting sub par quality and poor customer service. They had their chance. They no longer get my money.
 
sorry to hear that. I can totally understand why you are upset with the situation and KWs suggested solutions. I am not sure how many dealers would cover the returning shipping fees. In my only two experiences (similar to your case although with two other dealers, both very reputable), I paid the return shipping for a replacement and another for refund. Not try to justify anything for KW, but it did lose money even if you pay the returning fee.
 
For us if it is a repeat customer then we will typically send them out a replacement with a return shipping label for the bad knife. If it is a new customer or one with very little history ordering from us, we will ask them to send it back. If it is defective we replace or refund them and pay them back for their shipping cost. I kind of see it as our responsibility to check the knife before it goes out the door. Even though we try to check every knife we still miss a few from time to time that have problems. It especially gets tough on days where we have a ton of orders in and are trying to get everything to the post office before 5:00. We are small fries compared to someone like Knifeworks so I can not imagine the struggles they would deal with on checking every knife that goes out the door. I imagine it is beyond impossible.
 
Since when does ZT use red loctite? Every one I have disassembled has been blue loctite and was relatively easy to adjust the pivot.
 
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