Thumb Stud Removal

[razorburn]

I was looking at my Rat 1 the other day and noticed a ring of rust surrounding the thumb stud.Is there a way of safely removing them without damaging them.

 

[Chris "Anagarika"]

I raised same question

As of removing the studs, if it has loctite, you'll need to heat it up, min to boiling water. Use two pliers, with the jaw sealed by leather or rubber hose (scratch prevention) and unscrew them. It usually screwed to each other, therefore needing two pliers.

I did to my sanrenmu & enlan, given the price tag, straight to plier, no protection.

 

[razorburn]

I'll try heating up the thumbstuds up with either a butane lighter or a torch with the smallest flame directed at the head.

 

[Chris "Anagarika"]

Just be careful not to ruin the heat treat ..

 

[jamesbeat]

You could try leaving the thumbstuds in place and using naval jelly to remove the rust.

 

[razorburn]

I got the thumbstud off, not really a hard task.Decided to use one of my cheap (piece of junk) $0.34 butane lighter from the dollar store to heat it up.Used the blue portion of the flame and not the yellow to avoid darkening the finish.Took about a minute,slowly heating it up every so often by touching the metal to make sure it wasn't too hot.I could of use a creme brulee type torch making sure to not use too much heat and limiting it to probably a sec or two on the first try and then on a few factions of a sec.

I it didn't work out It's no big loss since it's on $25 to replaced.Not to mention they now come with all sorts of colours.

Well, the Rat 1 folder is screwed together.You can see there are plier marks on them,it's not a big thing.

 

[Chris "Anagarika"]

The ring of rust on the blade is exactly what I got on my Enlan. Now I leave it studless.

 

[Bill1170]

After removing the rusty ring, what about replacing the thumb stud bedded in Loctite to exclude moisture from the interface of stud and blade?

 

[elasmonut]

A good way to localise heat for this kind of thing is with a soldering iron.

 

[Chris "Anagarika"]

I choose not to put back my studs as they got in the way during sharpening. Occassionally, if needed, I just put them back tightening with hand, so it's easy to take out again for cleaning & sharpening.

 

[razorburn]

The ring of rust on the blade is exactly what I got on my Enlan. Now I leave it studless.

I actually went over the blade pivot and thumbstud area on both sides of the blade with a Dremel carbon steel wire brush before taking a photo.As you probably noticed a little bit of pitting around the blade pivot area.Gotta admit I cut up all sorts of acid fruits with this knife while having a meal at work and don't always have the time.

 

[razorburn]

A good way to localise heat for this kind of thing is with a soldering iron.

I agree but using one of those small butane torches with the smallest flame is extremely fast.It sure beats waiting for a soldering iron to heat up which can take a few minutes,unless you have a soldering iron type attachment for your butane or propane torch