Question for experts: plunge lock play

[dano]

This one has me a bit stumped, and maybe not fixable...I have an original Masters Of Defense CQD manual folder. it uses a plunge or button lock. There is up/down, minor, but annoying play. It is an aluminum handled knife, that uses the handle as the stop pin; there is no actual pin. There doesn't seem to be damage to the actual lock "Plunger" or blade. Question: Would replacing the spring under the plunger tighten up the lock? I've tried stretching the spring a bit, but that didn't help, but a stiffer new spring may?

I also want to swap the assembly screws...the originals are Bristol/Spline drive screws, which aren't used anywhere in the knife industry....finding drivers was a pain in the ass.

TIA
dan

 

[kershaw72787]

This one has me a bit stumped, and maybe not fixable...I have an original Masters Of Defense CQD manual folder. it uses a plunge or button lock. There is up/down, minor, but annoying play. It is an aluminum handled knife, that uses the handle as the stop pin; there is no actual pin. There doesn't seem to be damage to the actual lock "Plunger" or blade. Question: Would replacing the spring under the plunger tighten up the lock? I've tried stretching the spring a bit, but that didn't help, but a stiffer new spring may?

I also want to swap the assembly screws...the originals are Bristol/Spline drive screws, which aren't used anywhere in the knife industry....finding drivers was a pain in the ass.

TIA
dan

Hello! I owned one of these beauties a looooong time ago and regret getting rid of it. However, it was for an Israeli friend of my brothers who was moving back home and he needed a good self defense knife; so it went to a good cause.

I had the CQD MKII, the smaller variant, and experienced a similar problem. I noticed snapping the blade open hard almost seemed to shift the plunge lock an imperceptible amount. It wasn’t enough to disrupt blade function, but the slight wiggle annoyed the crap out of me. I have a Wayne Clark AutoTech that has this same issue that led me to your question; in general, plunge locks (especially from 10-20 years ago) tended to suffer from blade play. I know I have been spoiled by Pro Tech’s, even some of my nice Benchmade have a little wiggle.

With all that said, the only thing I found that helped was a complete tear down, which it sounds like you have done. I think it may just be years of wear along the edge of the lock that sits on the pocket clip side of the handle. As the rim wears down, the lock has a little more room to rock.