Question about spring tension

[kingston73]

I recently bought an old Camillus army engineer knife and the main blade does not lock open. The spring isn’t broken but it also doesn’t seem to place any pressure on the blade either open or closed. I will post some pictures later but I’m wondering if there are any suggestions or if it’s irreparable?

 

[Ernie1980]

Pictures would confirm this, but there is probably not a fix. I have seen similar issues with knives that have had their kicks filed down too much or have heavy wear on the tang or spring.

 

[Wowbagger]

Have you tried cleaning the pivots (blade and spring) . . . WD-40 etc.
Blow it out with air.
I even vacuum my knives with a strong shop vac.
Then some really light oil on the end of the spring at the blade and between the spring and the sides of the liners.

Work it around.
Maybe even pry a little with the blade if there is any chance the knife has gotten crushed and put too much pinch on the blade or spring.
?? ??

 

[Buzzbait]

I recently bought an old Camillus army engineer knife and the main blade does not lock open. The spring isn’t broken but it also doesn’t seem to place any pressure on the blade either open or closed. I will post some pictures later but I’m wondering if there are any suggestions or if it’s irreparable?

Unfortunately, a fair number of the Camillus engineer knives on the market are parts knives. The story usually goes that one knife had a main blade sharpened down to a toothpick, and another knife had a busted awl. So somebody assembled the best pieces into one knife. Unfortunately, this sometimes results in a knife with not-so-good levels of fit. This is the downside of buying a knife with such extraordinarily large production numbers.

And then sometimes the knife has just been worn out. It happens.

Can you post a picture of the backsprings? Parts knives are often easy to spot by looking at the backsprings.

 

[I'mSoSharp]

I recently got this cheap Richards knife with the same symptoms, might be your problem too.

 

[kingston73]

The bottom knife, you can see the sunken end. I’ve tried cleaning it as best I could, didn’t make a difference.

 

[kingston73]

Sorry, duplicate post