Noisy Benchmade Opportunist?

[ChrisB507]

I just received a new Benchmade Opportunist from knifeworks.com. Love the looks, the size and the weight…however, when I disengage the liner lock, there is a pretty pronounced gritty sound and stickiness. It’s not smooth at all... the noise is a little jarring and something I haven’t heard out of my other dozen-or-so liner locks. This liner lock really rubs hard.

So my question is: Should it go back? Is this something you think may smooth out and quiet down over a break-in period, or something that never should have made it out the door?

 

[Cynic2701]

Try cleaning it out maybe? Could be that there are some particulates, sand/metal/dirt, on the detent ball. When my knives get that gritty feeling, that's usually what it is.

 

[puukkoman]

Wash it out really well with warm soapy water, then blast it with compressed air (air-in-a-can works fine). Next, use some WD40 to displace any last bits of moisture, and let it dry. Now that it's clean, drop a tiny bit of your favorite lube into the pivot.

If the liner lock still feels gritty, I find that the best thing to lubricate them with is pencil graphite. Simply use a pencil to color on the tang of the blade where the liner makes contact. Cycle it open & closed a couple times, graphite again if necessary, and you're done.

Knives often come from the factory with dirt/gunk inside; it's just part of mass production.

 

[ChrisB507]

Thanks guys! I have clean and lubed it more than once. No help. It's still sounds like metal on metal.

It looks like the liner lock has a slight lip that sits on top of the flat, bottom edge of the blade. So, a normal liner lock looks like this, viewed from the side: liner edge-->ll<--blade

The Opportunist looks like this: liner edge-->Tl<--blade. I think I am getting the noise where the liner edge overlaps the blade, and the top lip of the liner is dragging on the blade when it's disengaged. It's odd.