Thumbstuds difficult to reverse

F

Feuerfreiguy

Joined
Mar 28, 2015
Messages
71
So I'm a southpaw, and because of that my ritual when getting a new knife is to swap pocket clips and flip the thumbstuds over to the left handed carry side. Now the thumb studs are supposed to be reversible (at least this is what I've been led to believe) on cold steel knives like the code 4 and recon 1, however out of maybe 5 knives that I've bought from cold steel now, they've all been near impossible to switch. The problem is always the same. The female end does not fit into the side opposite the factory installed one. The hole is just a tad too small. I've had to literally hammer it in on almost every knife now before screwing in the male thumbstud. If our resident cold steel rep sees this post, maybe he can shed some light on this. Are the thumb studs not meant to be reversed, only taken off for cleaning /sharpening and put back on in the factory orientation?
 
I'm a righty, so I've never experienced the problem, but I think I remember someone saying that they hadn't really deburred the hole for the thumbstuds and it made them difficult to reverse. Might that be the culprit here?
 
Could be. Just strange that it's been like that on every knife I've gotten. It was making me think they weren't meant to be reversed.
 
I've never seen or experienced this problem.
Very interesting. Thanks for the heads up. I'll look into this
 
Not the same issue, but closely related:

I tried to raise the thumb stud on my 4-inch Hold Out, in order to make it easier to open and it didn't work very well either.

It wasn't easy to turn the thumb stud and it is slightly loose now.
 
Cold Steel Knives said:
I've never seen or experienced this problem.
Very interesting. Thanks for the heads up. I'll look into this
Click to expand...
Thanks. It's been an ongoing issue for me. I imagine that the majority of customers are right handed so this problem never arises for them. For myself though I generally have to hit them quite a bit with a rubber mallet to get the stud to fit. Honestly some of them would require a plier to remove them again if need be. I'd love it if all your knives came with studs like the voyager where they're the same length on both sides. It'd definitely save me the trouble!
 
Cold Steel gave the thumbstud and nail nick option for the Mackinac Hunter (Fantastic knife btw-sad to see it gone, glad I got one). I wish that CS would offer some of their thumbstud models with the thumb plate/wave opener.
 
Just decided to try reversing the thumbstud on my Hold Out III. No problem. The hole seems to be the same size on both sides of the blade.
Was a bit surprised to see blue loctite on the screw side since it unscrewed so easily, though. LOL
 
ursamajor said:
I wish that CS would offer some of their thumbstud models with the thumb plate/wave opener.
Click to expand...

My only experience with thumb plate/wave opener (if I understand that term correctly), is with this knife....CRKT G-10 Heiho Assisted Folding Knife 2901 Small Hissatsu James Williams . Once activated, it is VERY fast and strong enough to nearly rip the knife from my hand, but is VERY hard to activate (at least for me). I experience no such problems with any of the Cold Steel and Kershaw knives in my collection, thumb stud or assisted opening.
 
The Heiho you mention is a spring assisted knife. The design of the mechanism is known to be difficult to operate sometimes, it really has nothing to do with the plate itself. Instead of a stud it has a plate, but the plate/wave on the cold steal is mounted higher than the spine of the blade and operates just like any non-assited folder with the exception that it can be snagged on the pocket on the way out, much like an Emerson.
 
jstrange said:
The Heiho you mention is a spring assisted knife. The design of the mechanism is known to be difficult to operate sometimes, it really has nothing to do with the plate itself. Instead of a stud it has a plate, but the plate/wave on the cold steal is mounted higher than the spine of the blade and operates just like any non-assited folder with the exception that it can be snagged on the pocket on the way out, much like an Emerson.
Click to expand...

The Heiho you mention is a spring assisted knife.
Really? I clearly have one so I kinda knew that all ready. :rolleyes:Well then James Williams should have spent more time studying the CS design. I like Williams but this Heiho is poorly designed. OTOH... As far as the ever more popular, snag on the pocket opening, it's BS, as far as I'm concerned.... its for mall ninjas. what normal, every day person has a compelling need for an extra 1/2 second to open his/her knife? Gimme a break. Waiting for incoming. :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
^

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you didn't know it was spring assisted, just trying to explain why I think the Heiho is difficult to deploy vs. another type of knife. My point being that I don't think its the thumb-plate, just the strong spring. Then I attempted to explain what the difference is between the Cold Steel Thumb-plate vs. the CRKT. One is simply for thumb opening (CRKT) and the other can be used as a "wave" (CS). Again, sorry if I offended you, but by saying " (if I understand that term correctly)", I wasn't sure if you knew what he was talking about. Just trying to be helpful, wont happen again.
 
No sweat jstrange. It may have sounded like I was offended, I sometimes come on too strong, but it takes way more than your reasonable, and helpful, post to get my dander up. ;')
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top