The "REAL DEAL" on zt 0561

I love my 0561 but have a small issue with up and down blade play....It isn't to much of an issue to me right now as it is minor but up and down blade play on a $200+ knife is an annoyance. My serial # is in the 1800 area...I might send it in but right now it's just a small annoyance. I love everything else about the knife...the blade shape is great and I love the elmax steel.
 
I have a 560 and a 561 and they were both perfect. One of the best knives I have ever owned! That elmax steel sure is some steel. You don't have to sharpen it.
 
I've had my 0561 for a few months now, and literally never leave the house without it. Fit and finish are fantastic, quality is second to none.

The knife opens for me as smooth as silk, using either the flipper or the left hand thumbstud (I'm a southpaw), but I have noticed that if I, or a couple of right handed friends that I have asked to try it, want to open it, the flipper must be used, with the right hand thumbstud, it is extremely difficult to open the knife, and it appears to be because our fingers are wrapping around the handle when we try the thumbstud, in such a way that we are pressing lightly on the framelock, enough that the detent is holding on to well. If we adjust our grip to use the flipper, we are no longer touching the framelock and then it's fine.

Since I'm a leftie, I don't really care. :)
 
Just take it apart and clean it. I had my 0561 develop blade play and decided instead of sending it in to clean it first. Sure enough wouldn't you know, the play is completely gone. It had some crud on the blade tang and lockbar surface so it would slip with a little pressure, but I can't get it to fail even forcing it. Lesson to remember; CLEAN AND MAINTAIN YOUR KNIVES!!! Oh and make sure to put a couple coats of sharpie on the lock face and let it dry each time. It really does wonders to keep closing smooth.
 
BLUEGINGER said:
Just take it apart and clean it. I had my 0561 develop blade play and decided instead of sending it in to clean it first. Sure enough wouldn't you know, the play is completely gone. It had some crud on the blade tang and lockbar surface so it would slip with a little pressure, but I can't get it to fail even forcing it. Lesson to remember; CLEAN AND MAINTAIN YOUR KNIVES!!! Oh and make sure to put a couple coats of sharpie on the lock face and let it dry each time. It really does wonders to keep closing smooth.
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I'm anal with my knives....so yes it is clean, razor sharp, and it pivots smooth...everything is great except the lock rock which is a known issue with the 0561.

Think I'll replace this with the 0801 when it comes out as that model has a steel lockbar insert.
 
My ZT0560 is #2415. Got it about two months ago from Kershawguy.

At first the blade was little sticky on deployment. I have flipped it open a half dozen or so times a day and it has worked in well. This is one knife that I can use the thumbstud for blade deployment. I have a lot of smaller knives where I can't.

One thing to pay attention to when opening the 560 (and the 550 for that matter) is the position of your fingers as they grip the knife on the lock side. You do not want to apply pressure to the frame lock with your fingers. This will make blade deployment difficult. Blade is centered, locks tight and no blade play.

I sharpened mine a couple weeks ago and got a nice sharp edge. More of a bevel on one side than the other but it is sharp. Will try to even out the bevels next time I sharpen.
 
The 056x knives are my favorite production folders. You are going to have to break it in that just goes with getting a new knife. Both of mine were perfect to begin with then started developing some lock stick. Yes I put sharpie on the blade tang/lock face and this completely cured it while it broke in. By the time the sharpie wore off the knives were fully broken in and worked like a dream. Put in the effort, these knives are worth it.
 
I got my 560 back from Kershaw for lock rock/lock slippage and it had sticky lock for a sec but it wore it self in and its better than ever...its a great folder but im carrying my 0550 atm...both are great knives.
 
sticktodrum said:
It's not as good as a CF Blur. You'll end up wanting one of those.
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I have two. Gave one to my brother for Christmas. Great knife, but... you know, it's not a flipper. (Nor is the 550.)

I sent my 561 back, but there wasn't really much wrong with it. ZT told me to send it back since I was sending a red Skyline in anyway. Had a few intermittent issues.
 
I've had mine for close to a year now.When new the lock was slightly sticky but it broke in in less than a week.This is common with most side locking knives with close tolerances. Some people use a sharpie or pencil lead but I prefer to let the two surfaces mate with use. My Para2 was the same way.The one I have is #1411 and it has zero blade play in any direction.When I first got it I put a half drop of nano oil on each side of the pivot and when the lock is disengaged the blade drops closed by itself.I've only had to sharpen it once other than occasional touch ups on a strop.Imho, this knife was worth every penny! :):thumbup:




 
I suppose I should be a bit more detailed about my ZT Hinderer. It had a sticky lock from the very first, but the application of the sharpie several times did wonders for that and I noticed that as long as I wasn't sloppy with disengaging the lock it wouldn't start sticking again. Lockup was a little over a half and there was no rock or side-to-side movement. The detente was rather weak, in the sense that to flip it open I really had to use good technique and also had to strengthen my index finger. I got pretty good at this but sort of envied the people who could ignore that because they had strong detentes and could build up a fair tension before release. I originally also used the thumb stud, but because the stud is placed in an awkward position it's not an especially ergonomic way of opening so I finally decided that the flipper was the way to go, and that the detente on mine was too weak. Also, I wanted to use the knife in the tip up position on the left and found that the mounting screws for the clip wouldn't grab on the G10 side, so wrote to see if ZT would send me longer screws. They said to return the knife. Since I was returning a Skyline anyway (off center) I could just put it in the same box for the same price. So they're both at KAI getting "the treatment."

The 561 is actually a little big for me, since I have smallish hands, but it still felt pretty comfortable because of the well made ergo handle. The 3D machining on both the G10 and Ti-Lock side is beautiful. I'm not sure that the bearing system works as well as the one used on the Spyderco knives, but it's pretty nice and worry-free, although I haven't tried it in sandy/dusty country. I have the 566 on pre-order.
 
I have the 0560/1 and the 0550 (low serial numbers bought when they first came out.) I also have a couple of 3.5" XM-18s.

For the most part, I rotate between the 0560, 0550 and XM-18 as my main EDC blade. I'd estimate that I divvy up my carry time between the three as follows: 0550 50%; 0560 30%; and XM-18 20%.

The lockup on the 0550 is getting to be very late and the 0560 is past 50%. Both have developed small amounts of lock rock, but I've been able to fix it by tightening the pivot screws. When I first got the ZTs, I applied silver sharpie to the blade tang, which completely solved to sticky lock issue.

The XM-18 is definitely a more solid knife, but in some ways the 0560 and 0550 are better knives. Both deploy incredibly fast and always engage. The XM-18 is very smooth and deploys well, but often requires a flick of the wrist to engage the lock.

I do fear that my ZTs could eventually develop lock rock, but am confident that ZT will fix them if they do. I think the ZTs are built well enough to depend on in a survival situation, even if they are not quite as rock solid as the XM-18 or other more expensive tactical folders.
 
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