Southard question

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Jan 23, 2013
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Fellow Southard owners out there, I need your help. Are the washers in your pivot (between the bearings and the titanium frame) dished or are they flat? Mine are very dished with a discernible shiny groove. I can't get my blade to center without tightening the pivot quite tight, at which point flipping is extremely difficult. Thoughts?
 
All I can say is my Southard was weird with centering. The pivot had a bit of play in the handles. You could rotate the screw without actually loosening or tightening. This impacted centering greatly.
 
All I can say is my Southard was weird with centering. The pivot had a bit of play in the handles. You could rotate the screw without actually loosening or tightening. This impacted centering greatly.

I found that I couldn't tighten mine enough to get it to center. It has to do with the tightening on the other side, the side with the little piece of G10 that limits the travel of the lock bar.
 
My washers are dished as well. Have you tried one of the standby blade centering tricks? You can either loosen all of the screws and partially open the blade and then re tighten them while pushing down towards the butt end of the handle on the scale on the side the blade favors while simultaneously pushing upward towards the pivot on the other side. You aren't pressing the scales together, your shifting them up and down to center the blade. I find it easier to balance the knife on a table at a slight angle so only the bottom corner of the scale you want to push up it touching the table, then push down with your finger on the top corner of the opposite scale while you tighten the screws. It's a bit of a juggling act and kinda dangerous unless you tape up the blade first, but it works most of the time.

Your other option would be to tighten the pivot all the way and loosen the body screws, wedge a folded up piece of paper in between the blade and the scale so it pushes all other way over to the opposite side than before, then tighten the body screws, starting with the bottom and moving up towards the pivot. You can then remove the paper and back the pivot screw off a bit until it is centered.
 
Thanks for the suggestions - will give them a try.

Just to see what would happen, I removed the washer from the non lock side (the side with the gap - opposite the side the blade favors) and it centered nicely and flipped easily even tightened. Not keeping or using it that way, but just wanted to give it a try.
 
I have been carrying mine for months now, and have no idea at all about the washers. It opens and closes just like it should, and the blade always is centered.
 
Every example I've seen had perfect centering and perfect fit and finish. I'm not sure if you guys have been disassembling and then reassembling your knives or what, but each one I've seen from factory was dead on.
 
Play with tightening both sides of the pivot evenly and notice how it affects centering. May take some figuring out, but you should be able to get it right.
 
Play with tightening both sides of the pivot evenly and notice how it affects centering. May take some figuring out, but you should be able to get it right.

You mean the barrel spacers? The pivot itself has a "D" shaped post on the lock side, so no adjustment is available.
 
Every example I've seen had perfect centering and perfect fit and finish. I'm not sure if you guys have been disassembling and then reassembling your knives or what, but each one I've seen from factory was dead on.

I bought mine used and modded - carbon fiber scale and anodized titanium lock/frame.





 
You mean the barrel spacers? The pivot itself has a "D" shaped post on the lock side, so no adjustment is available.

No, I mean the pivot. You can tighten and loosen both screws in the pivot. Also, it does not matter how tight I take them, the knife still flips open easily. Both jammed down all the way does not result in the best centering, however it is close. The way mine behaves is the screw with the G10 over travel piece is more of a tighten to lock loosen to unlock adjustment, and the other screw (with the knife closed) is used to get it centered. So, I unlock it with one, play with the other, and lock it back. Not sure if that is the design intent, just how mine behaves.

To your question about the washers. I don't remember and I am not crazy about opening it back up to find out. Maybe you put them in backwards though and that is how you are getting total lockdown and stiff action. IIRC, other Southard owners noted that because of the bearing pivot design they too could not "lock" the blade down by over tightening like bronze washers knives. You making it difficult to flip easily is a red flag in my eyes.
 
I stand corrected. I didn't know the lock bar side was a screw also. That makes me happy, I know I'll be able to center it now.
 
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