Ontario Rat 1 off centre

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deluxewarplaya

Joined
May 14, 2010
Messages
62
Hi all,

Long time reader, first time poster.

I've recently bought an Ontario RAT 1 and noticed it was starting to rust. No big deal, just put some WD-40 on it right?
Well, after opening it and spraying it then putting it back together, it seems the liner lock is pushing hard against the blade which causes the cutting edge to be pushed against the steel frame when I am closing it. It creates a scissors type effect which will damage the blade.

I thought it might be the screws are too tight, so I tried loosening them but that just made things worse. Then I thought it might be the ball bearing not sitting on the small track, but upon testing if it snaps closed when close to completely closed, it appears to snap normally (which tells me that the blade is sitting on the track properly).

There were a few small plastic washers that covered the copper/bronze? washers surrounding the hinge which I had removed earlier, but then I put them back into the opposite side of the liner lock to try and force the blade back into centre, but that made no difference.

I'm stuck for ideas on how to fix this.

Anyone got any?

Edit: Oops, this thread probably should go in Traditional Folders and Fixed Blades
 
Last edited:
It should be moved to the "general knife discussion". ;)

The ontario RAT1 is a good folder, but materials and finish aren't the best. Try tightening the pivot first.
If that doesn't do it, you can unscrew the screws in the handle, rub them in a direction so that the blade is centered and the screw them back in. That could help.
 
eygen said:
It should be moved to the "general knife discussion". ;)

The ontario RAT1 is a good folder, but materials and finish aren't the best. Try tightening the pivot first.
If that doesn't do it, you can unscrew the screws in the handle, rub them in a direction so that the blade is centered and the screw them back in. That could help.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean but unfortunately there is no slack after the screw mounts go in, so it's hard to slide the sides either way.
 
deluxewarplaya said:
I know what you mean but unfortunately there is no slack after the screw mounts go in, so it's hard to slide the sides either way.
Click to expand...

Disassemble the knife again.

Make sure to place the washers in correctly on each side of the knife.

When putting the pivot screw back in, adjust the tightness of the screw, this in most cases controls the position of the blade when closed. Too loose and it becomes a gravity knife, to tight and it will cause the blade to lean to one side.

This should cause the blade to be in the center properly
 
i had the same problem with mine when i took it apart to clean. I couldnt seem to get mine fixed, so i just put it back in the box and figured id mess with it at a different time. If any of the ideas listed here, let us know and i might have to get mine back together.
 
RevDevil said:
Disassemble the knife again.

Make sure to place the washers in correctly on each side of the knife.

When putting the pivot screw back in, adjust the tightness of the screw, this in most cases controls the position of the blade when closed. Too loose and it becomes a gravity knife, to tight and it will cause the blade to lean to one side.

This should cause the blade to be in the center properly
Click to expand...

It appears that the blade has been centred again.

The rest of this post is just as a record for anyone else with this problem.

I've double and triple checked the washers, they are in the correct position and not stuck underneath the pivot screw mount.

When I'm tightening the pivot screw, I found that if I tighten the screw on the non locking side, it forces the blade into the correct centre position, but by this time, the pivot is far too tight and the blade won't budge.

Also, I'm in Australia so we spell center as centre :p

Thanks for the above threads, I'll give them a try.

I fixed it by moving one of the plastic/teflon? washers from one side of the blade to the other, so the order is like this.

Locking side:
Teflon, bronze, teflon
Blade
Non locking side:
Teflon, bronze.

Thanks to all who replied.
 
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