Slipjoint is tight, need help.

[Morablades]

What is the best thing I can do/use to ease the tightness on one of my barlows? Thanks for the help.

 

[coffeecup]

Keeping in mind that I have a well-deserved reputation as a person of low tastes and lacking in couth, here's what I'd do (what I did the last time I had this problem). I cleaned the knife joint well, dried it with a heat gun, and oiled it. When there was no improvement, I packed the joint with JB Bore Compound and went through about a thousand open/close cycles, adding JB as needed. Then I flushed it out with brake cleaner. That is now the slickest knife I own.

You could try some of that green lapping compound used on strops to do the same thing; its a little more aggressive than JB, so would probably be quicker.

 

[rhino]

Will polishing help that much if the problem is the springs being way too tight?

 

[coffeecup]

Will polishing help that much if the problem is the springs being way too tight?

Are the springs too strong, or are they peened too tightly?

Generally, polishing reduces friction. Use of such a mild abrasive won't really remove much metal, so if the springs are peened too tight it probably won't help much.

 

[tracker42]

If it is peened to tight use a box cutter blade to stretch the pin a wee bit. Use it like a shim and tap it with a small hammer , go slow so you don't stretch it to much or you will have a bigger problem.

 

[3wolves]

I leave all of my tight slipjoints in the half open position for a couple of days, it significantly reduces the tension.

 

[smitty0331]

Awhile back, I had a Case with a loose blade and sent it back to Case. It was back in my mailbox 5 days after I mailed it, nice and tight, and buffed to a mirror finish. Tme moral of the story: Send it back to the manufacturer.