slippy maintenance

RescueRiley

RescueRiley

Joined
Mar 22, 2006
Messages
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I asked about this a little in my last thread but figured it deserved one of it's own... all the slipjoints I've had, my saks, and my buck 303 which I just got yesterday.... seem to develop a grinding sound when opening and closing the main blade they also seem to be stiff...if I work the blade repeatedly small amnts of metallic dust develop in the joint....Illburche was kind enought o direct me to a slip or a pocket sheath... For the mean time I made on from a minimaglite seath...I think this problem stems from debris in my pocket i guess but I imagine the more I use my knife the more debris will get in there regadless of how I carry it... Is this to be expected as part of owning a slip joint???Over years of use to phases like this come and go?? I guess what I'm asking is this normal? and can I just do normal maintenance and disregard the gritty action? Any help would be appreciated and any pointers on gen maintenace ont slipjoints would be great.
 
Are you over lubing your pocket knife?

Take whatever knife is doing that grinding noise, and wash it out at the kitchn sink with warm water and dishwashing soap like Dawn. Use an old toothbrush to get down in the joint cracks. Dry well and see it its still making any of the same grinding. Too much oil will atract dirt. You only need a very tiny amount of lube. After I washout the knife, I'll use a single small drop of Hoppys gun oil. Some of the guys will use mineral oil, thats good too. It may take repeated washings to get the knife hinge clean. Did you ever clean out the knife when you first got it? Sometimes polishing grit from final factory assembly can be in there. I treat all new pocket knives like a new gun-clean well before using. At the factory they just give it a final wipe with a rag and in the box it goes.

Are you in some kind of job where you are in a more than usual dirty environmet? Even in the machine shop, I never had much trouble with the pocket knife getting what you are desribing. In the morning try turning you pants pocket inside out and give it a good shacking out.

I've very surprised that you got this problem with a Victorinox sak like you said in your other post. Those are usually some of the smoothest opening and closing knives on the market, with good polish on the internal parts.

At the most, maybe you should consider a small nylon belt pouch. then you caould make it just enough over size to piggy back a small AAA flashlight with the knife in the same pouch. Its a handy arrangment. I use a AAA Dorcy pocket lite with a Wenger SI.

Good luck.
 
I agree give it a good cleaning. I don't even oil mine unless they are really really hard openers. After the cleaning I'd suggest forgetting/disregarding the opening action, and just use it. Most slipjoints are rarely as smooth as most linnerlocks.
 
I've also used Hoppes gun oil to great extent on my slippies. Works a charm! Just don't over do-it cuz it will attract grit. I don't lube my saks, but all my other slippies are carbon, so they get oil.

Now, I did use Pro Link on one of my knives earlier this year, and it seemed to work otu great, settled into a semi-dry lube. Unfortunately it got lost before I could do a good long-term evaluation on it... Maybe I'll use it again one of these days.

I've also found Poly Spray (by Wrenchforce) to work quite well as it dries to a teflon film. Both of these products are bike chain lube, as I work in a bike shop.
 
I agree with the thorough washing with warm water and Dawn and a brush to get it clean first (I usually spray it out thoroughly with WD40 after doing this, then work it some more to see if it's smooth - if not, repeat wash cycle) -- then let it dry and give it a drop of Militec-1. This stuff is great for pocket knives -- it basically forms a dry "film" that doesn't tend to attract dirt. I wouldn't ever use a pocket knife without some sort of oil - especially if it's carbon steel. But a small drop will do for maintenance.

One thing to note -- slippies with half stops (square tangs) are somewhat "self cleaning" - they will naturally move debris away as they operate (unless it's in the actual pivot joint itself of course). Those with rounded tangs won't do this and have to be helped.
 
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