Sodbuster=Oil Monster?

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thesouthernguitarist

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Last night while looking at my Case Sodbuster i began to think, this thing always seems to need oil. After about one week of carry, it needs oil. It's "crunchy" when opening it, and i'll oil it, and it will be fine. but just a few days later, it will be "crunchy" again. Btw there is also a little bit on blade play in it. Are these things normal?
 
Most likely your lubrication is compensating for less than optimal build quality.
On some knives you may get temporary relief from the poor fit of tang and spring via oiling the joint but it's no substitute for a good build in the first place.

Sodbusters are very basic production knives (generally speaking) and ordinarily are not very refined. I'd keep the joint oiled and just use the heck out of the knife.
They're easily replaced if need be.

A little bit of play is not at all unusual.
 
It probably heeds a good cleaning to remove the polishing compound from the joint.

I soak the joint with a drop or two of dishwashing detergent for a few minutes,scrub with a toothbrush, then run it under very hot water for a while and then re-oil it

Blade play is very subjective. I hate any and some don't mind a little. You can try peening the pins lightly or sending it back to Case.
 
o ok. glad to know this isn't unusual. i suspected that it might be to poor quality but with litte experience in traditional knives i was unsure... thanks for the help
 
Tom brought up a good point I had blown right by. I'd definitely try his suggestion and see whether it is leftover gunk that could be contributing to your knife's issues.
 
I have yellow handled Sodbuster Jr in CV and have not noticed any issues except that it does seem to attract lint from in the pocket. I started using Tuff Glide and the amount of lint decreased.

What type of oil are you using?

Just my experience with the Sodbuster.

Francis
 
will62 said:
I have yellow handled Sodbuster Jr in CV and have not noticed any issues except that it does seem to attract lint from in the pocket. I started using Tuff Glide and the amount of lint decreased.

What type of oil are you using?

Just my experience with the Sodbuster.

Francis
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Corey (crbauhs) has my yellow sodbuster now, but I concur with the use of Tuf-Glide. It's all I use to oil the joints on all of my knives.
 
I got the same problem minus the blade play. I use clp and I'll be damned but it seems to need it every 4 to 5 days. Works great on all my knives cv, carbon or ss except for that soddie. I don't get it.
 
many of my gecs out of the tube seem to have a dark residue near the tang junction. i blow it out with rem-oil or wd40 & you can see the trash drip off onto a paper towel. i'm not concerned since this is not a defect just a dirty knife.
dennis
 
Its a Case :lol:

But in truth, and as mentioned, it could be that there is a bit of debris from manufacture in there still

One way to clean it is to use the air hose at a gas station
 
This is a problem sometimes with slipjoints. The solution is oil. But it's only a temporary solution, as you've noticed. In fact, I suspect prophylactically oiling causes this problem as often as fixes it. A knife with sufficiently hardened and polished wear surfaces rarely needs oil, and adding it just invites contaminants into the joint and wear surfaces. Which then demands repeated cleaning and oiling, and so on.

In this case, it's possible that the tang of the blade and the wear surfaces of the liners and backspring are galling from insufficient hardness and/or poorly matched mating surfaces, something I've encountered with Case knives before. Again, oiling is only a temporary solution, and the only choice, as grinding will never truly be stopped.

If it is caused by residual buffing grit, very thorough cleaning might stop the problem.
 
Most soddies aren't art knives. They are made to be used as tools. For honest, hard work.

With that in mind, I would do as others have suggested, and that is clean up the joints as much as you can. Make sure you flush it out good (when mine are gunky, I use brake cleaner!), then wipe dry.

With the blade halfway open, make sure you clean the exposed backspring as well. Inspect to make sure the surfaces are clean and free of debris there, too. My Queen soddie actually had burrs on the liner leaves that I carefully rubbed smooth with emery cloth. For that knife, the backspring/liner connection was the culprit for grinding, not the pivot joint. A little work on the grinding friction points and a dot of oil after smoothing and it is fine.

I also have Bulldog that is a really hard worker. It has great snap, medium pull and is a pretty knife. But when open, the backspring is about 1/16 of an inch recessed into the handle. It was annoying at first, but it doesn't diminish its utility value, and since I bought it to use ($22) I am fine with it.

You need to have realistic expectations. None of these are perfect in fit and finish at the utility level of pricing, almost all the good soddies are great users. Finding a perfect soddie is like finding a real pearl in an oyster.

I don't believe I would send it back to anyone as you might get one that is worse, and the postage alone would be about 1/3 the cost of a new knife. I would clean it up, oil it and use it until the blade was gone. Then go buy another one!

Robert
 
I wonder if you are using it and getting earth or sand in the joint? This really plays havoc with slipjoints used in the garden or horticultural tasks, compressed air then oiling?
 
I used WD-40, a thin towel, and a butter knife to clean mine. I soak with WD-40 then wrap the butter knife with towel and wipe it through over and over and repeat WD-40 as needed.

After I'm all done I wash is dish liquid, shake the poo poo outta it and leave it to air dye for around 24 hours. After all that I oil with 3 in 1 gun oil.

Works like magic!
 
Noddy said:
Its a Case :lol:
Click to expand...

That sort of talk can get you in trouble around here. :mad: Them's fightin' words! ;)

My first thought was that the knife needed a good cleaning. Most slipjoints, especially "workman" models, need a thorough cleaning before the true blade action reveals itself. Knives that feel "gritty" at first can almost always be cleaned to the point where they will open and close smoothly. Once the joint is cleaned out completely, it's easier to keep it clean and working nicely.

A big +1 to the Tuf Glide recommendation. While I don't use it exclusively- (I use Rem Oil as well) I use Tuf Glide a lot. A little bottle will last a LONG time. I've been using the same tiny little, .5 oz. bottle- the one with the steel "needle" applicator- for about 8 years now. The bottle is still half-full! :thumbup:
 
I know this is a older post. I also had a gritty Case sodbuster. Where I worked we had a ultrasonic cleaner. I figured what the heck, its a $20 Knife. I threw it in and you would not believe the amount of grit that came out. It came out the joint, the liners, everywhere. I took it out, blew more stuff out with the air hose, and repeated a couple times. I then oiled it up, and its been fine since. I don't think I would stick a nice knife in the uc cleaner though.
Keith
 
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