Tight 110 spring

[stevekolt]

In my second or third week of Buck ownership. I was at the local big box store for some groceries, and picked up another 110, brass and ebony. The spring seems really tight on this one compared to the other Bucks I've bought. Will this loosen up over time? Do I need to lubricate/oil it?
Sorry for the newbie questions, unfortunately I am sure there will eventually be more...

 

[Makael]

More than likely polishing compound. These are press fit, they will break in as well.

 

[afishhunter]

By "tight" do you mean it takes more effort to depress the lockbar to close the knife?

You can try cleaning and lubing it. (hot soapy water and a worn out tooth brush, rinse under running water, dry well, then lube) Sometimes there is a little polishing compound that gets stuck in there.

Welcome to the Buck Fraternity.

 

[eveled]

I have quite a few autos and the buck is the slowest out of the gate. I have rebuilt Buck knives that will pop out of your hand if you don't hold on tight. The difference is that the Buck knife uses a coil spring and the others use a flat spring. I wrote about this a while back, I was a tool and diemaker in a spring factory. The only way to make the knife spring stronger is to change the leg position on the spring. Most likely you cannot use a bigger wire size because the space where the spring fits will only take a certain thickness torsion spring. If you change the leg position you then risk over stressing the spring.

I talked with a guy a while back whose job during WW2 was at a shipyard. I forget his exact title but essentially he was a spring engineer. He had to spec and manufacture every spring on the ship. He was fascinating to talk too. I never thought about how different springs were from each other. From the thickness of the wire, to the diameter of the coil, different metals, the hardness, the end connectors, it’s lateral stiffness, it’s rate of increase resistance, relaxed length, compressed length, stretched length, on and on.

He was put in that position because nobody else wanted it. He had no idea were to start. So he started ordering and reading books and manuals and taught himself. It ended up being a lifetime career.

Just another member of the greatest generation who did what he had too and made a contribution.

 

[Lesknife]

It is probably a tight or binding spring pivot/ pin or some polishing compound that is in along side the back spring making it stubborn. You can use the same cleaning and oiling method as the blade pivot area. Sometimes it takes a wear in / break in period to get smooth and easy but eventually it will get better.

 

[stevekolt]

Thanks everyone!

 

[JOE NOWICKI]

eveled Thanks for understanding. It starts with material and diameter. There are compression, extension, torsion and flat springs. after being made they need to be heat treated, or sent out for passivating (only the stainless) put in a acid wash. Some need plating. There are so many designs, each made to fit in the product they are meant for. In my career I made thousands of different springs. I found one spring I made was fetching .75 ea. and the company was placing orders for 100,000 that meant $ 75,000 for just that one spring. I was shocked paid my salary for the whole year.