SOG Flash II - Cleaning

S

systemadude

Joined
Jan 22, 2008
Messages
13
Hi.
As my very first knife I've just purchased a SOG Flash II. I know very little about knives (just what I've learned on this forum in a short amount of time) and while I would try and experiment by opening any simple knife to try to clean and oil it, I have a feeling that the Flash II will be more complicated because of the S.A.T.
feature as well as the locking mechanism and the safety feature.

Could anyone tell me if this knife is easy to clean and if it's something I can open up myself (and put it back together myself also lol)?

Thanks.


Also, does anyone have any suggestions of how I can eliminate the lateral blade play that my Flash II came with?

Cheeers and thanks
 
I don't usually strip a knife down unless it is very, very fouled....like after dropping down inside a concrete form and not being able to clean it up right away...that kind of fouled. Even though I routinely get tons of sand, dirt, sawdust, metal grit and all sorts of other crud in my work knives, I mostly just clean them up with high pressure air. You can get canned air with a little plastic straw for directing it from photography shops. Works great. Sometimes I will get a knife thoroughly corrupted in caked grease and oil. I use a knife friendly degreaser to loosen the worst of the gunk out, then soak/wash the knife in hot dish soapy water, rinse, blow dry with compressed air, and apply a smidge of lubricant to the pivot.

Everyone has their favorite lubricants. I like the synthetic Mil-Comm stuff...doesn't stink, and performs great even when your knife is wet and/or heavily fouled.

Can't really help you with the Flash II as I don't own one. The lateral blade play should be able to be improved simply by tightening up the blade pivot screw a bit...a wee bit, it might not take much.
 
I don't advise taking the Flash apart. If you do, make sure it is open when you remove the screws. There is also a tiny ball bearing that fits in the detent for the safety that probably will disappear as soon as you take the knife apart. Don't try to remove the blade after you have the front handle off, either. Very difficult to reassemble.
My suggestion is to use detergent and hot water with a tooth brush, then soak the knife with WD 40 (to displace water inside) and towel dry.
I have been carrying one for several years and have had no reason to disassemble it, except for converting it to automatic.
Bill
 
Thanks Bill, I'll take your advice and leave this one alone (at least for not :), I haven't been using it to slice boxes and open bags of milk (I'm a Barrista) so I thought that the milk might get in and rust or something but it's far from as Headroom says "fouled" and definitely hasn't been dropped in cement.

Thanks to both of you for your help.
 
I agree with Bill, that bearing disappears quick. Plus the spring for the S.A.T. is tricky, much like a coil fired auto. Unless absolutely necessary don't disassemble the Flash. :)
 
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