Recommendation? Removing thumb studs on a Microtech Socom Elite

[marrenmiller]

I'm looking to get my Socom Elite reground, but in order to do so I'll have to remove the thumb studs. They're probably threaded together and locked with permanent threadlocker, but I can't confirm this as I've never seen a pair of them taken apart before.

My plan at the moment is to use a soldering iron to break the loctite and then to try to unscrew the thumb studs with some pliers (tipped with plastic; I don't want to scratch up my nice knife). Any thoughts on this plan before I attempt it? Has anyone here tried this or anything like it before?

 

[marrenmiller]

Update for anyone interested: this ended up being a gigantic pain, but it worked out in the end. I covered the blade in aluminum foil and placed heavy steel washers around the thumb stud to enclose it, then heated the stud with a butane torch. I then wrapped small zip ties around the thumb stud while it was still hot and used two pairs of vice grips to unscrew the thumb stud.

The blade got a bit hot but nothing too bad; hopefully the temper wasn't affected at the cutting edge. There was definitely red loctite in the thumb stud, and I'm cleaning out the remnants of the threadlocker with some barkeeper's friend in an ultrasonic cleaner.

Anyway, this is what the thumb studs and blade look like when separated. I'll try to post again when I get the knife reground.

Thumb Studs