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- Mar 19, 2002
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This tutorial is for the Chris Reeve Umnumzaan. There are many ways to maintain this knife and this one is my method. Feel free to use or modify to suit your needs.
Tools and materials needed
1) Lube- CRK usually provides this with a Umnumzaan. Use what you prefer, but I recommend what CRK provides.
2) 5/64 hex wrench (2mm hex wrench will also work in a pinch)
3) Pivot tool- In this case, I have an aluminum pivot tool for the older pivot. The newer pivot is 1/8th hex.
4) Cotton swab- Totally optional as is a paper towel. I use both to clean the nooks and crannies.
5) Loc-tite 222MS low strength. (blue/purple- I have a hard time discerning between the two). Never use anything else as far as loctite is concerned. Usually this is provided by CRK when the knife is bought new.
6) Painters tape- Totally optional to cover the blade. Safety item
Work area
It's somewhat important to have a flat surface free of clutter to keep from losing components. While it's not the end of the world to lose a component, it may cost time and money to replace them. Some pieces, if lost, require that the knife be sent in to Chris Reeve Knives for replacement. i.e. Washers
Let's get started!
In the tutorial below, the instructions will be followed by the pic they are referring to.
This is a pic of the supplies that I will be using sans loctite and cotton swab. This is also a good place to put painters tape over the blade for safety.
Remove the fastener pictured here with a 5/64 hex wrench. Completely remove the male and female portion. If needed, you can use the end of the hex wrench to push the barrel through.
The rear fastener is removed and we can see the backspacer is removed as well.
Remove the pivot using the proper tool. In this case, it's a tool that I built (and didn't deburr- I will fire myself later for that). In the newer style, it's a 1/8 hex wrench.
Here the parts are disassembled. Careful noting of where the individual parts came from is a good idea, but should be pretty obvious. There is some grime in there. Let's get that cleaned up using the paper towel and cotton swab.
In this pic, I am using the cotton swab that I cut one end off of to clean out the through hole and the pivot hole.
All clean and ready to assemble.
Just reversing how it came apart. I am using the lockbar side, you can assemble from the flat side if you wish. It's probably easier. Anyway, insert the barrel side of the pivot in to build from the ground up. Insert the barrel portion of the fastener and the rear backspacer to the rear or right side as well as the lanyard. Lanyard optional. This is what we should see when we are done with this step.
Add some lube to the bushing and the barrel of the pivot. This is a bit liberal on the lubrication, but good for the photo. Any excess will be pushed out anyway.
Add the blade to the assembly. If it makes you nervous dealing with the sharp edge of the blade, cover it in blue painters tape. The lockbar is making this a bit difficult as I am doing the photography as well as holding things together.
Add some lube to the blade around the pivot as indicated in the pic.
Washer added on top of the lube.
Full assembly only needing the presentation side scale.
Scale added.
Insert the male portion of the rear fastener with the 5/64 hex wrench.
This is the part you would put loc-tite on. I would probably put it on the last thread using a toothpic. A small drop is good. Some people will use a bit of teflon tape for the same purpose. Use what you like. I personally do not use loc-tite. There are variations on thread fits. Mine seems pretty good, so mine doesn't seem to require it. It's probably a good idea to use loc-tite as CRK recommends it. Personal preference.
Putting the pivot back together with the tool- Yes, I am recycling a pic. If you use the loc-tite, then tighten this down until snug (feel resistance) and then back off slightly. For my useage, that would be about 1/8th of a turn or less. Since this is the part that makes the pivot adjustable, this is up to you.
Cycle the blade slowly to make sure all is well and there isn't any binding..If all is well, then we are done!
Tools and materials needed
1) Lube- CRK usually provides this with a Umnumzaan. Use what you prefer, but I recommend what CRK provides.
2) 5/64 hex wrench (2mm hex wrench will also work in a pinch)
3) Pivot tool- In this case, I have an aluminum pivot tool for the older pivot. The newer pivot is 1/8th hex.
4) Cotton swab- Totally optional as is a paper towel. I use both to clean the nooks and crannies.
5) Loc-tite 222MS low strength. (blue/purple- I have a hard time discerning between the two). Never use anything else as far as loctite is concerned. Usually this is provided by CRK when the knife is bought new.
6) Painters tape- Totally optional to cover the blade. Safety item
Work area
It's somewhat important to have a flat surface free of clutter to keep from losing components. While it's not the end of the world to lose a component, it may cost time and money to replace them. Some pieces, if lost, require that the knife be sent in to Chris Reeve Knives for replacement. i.e. Washers
Let's get started!
In the tutorial below, the instructions will be followed by the pic they are referring to.
This is a pic of the supplies that I will be using sans loctite and cotton swab. This is also a good place to put painters tape over the blade for safety.
Remove the fastener pictured here with a 5/64 hex wrench. Completely remove the male and female portion. If needed, you can use the end of the hex wrench to push the barrel through.
The rear fastener is removed and we can see the backspacer is removed as well.
Remove the pivot using the proper tool. In this case, it's a tool that I built (and didn't deburr- I will fire myself later for that). In the newer style, it's a 1/8 hex wrench.
Here the parts are disassembled. Careful noting of where the individual parts came from is a good idea, but should be pretty obvious. There is some grime in there. Let's get that cleaned up using the paper towel and cotton swab.
In this pic, I am using the cotton swab that I cut one end off of to clean out the through hole and the pivot hole.
All clean and ready to assemble.
Just reversing how it came apart. I am using the lockbar side, you can assemble from the flat side if you wish. It's probably easier. Anyway, insert the barrel side of the pivot in to build from the ground up. Insert the barrel portion of the fastener and the rear backspacer to the rear or right side as well as the lanyard. Lanyard optional. This is what we should see when we are done with this step.
Add some lube to the bushing and the barrel of the pivot. This is a bit liberal on the lubrication, but good for the photo. Any excess will be pushed out anyway.
Add the blade to the assembly. If it makes you nervous dealing with the sharp edge of the blade, cover it in blue painters tape. The lockbar is making this a bit difficult as I am doing the photography as well as holding things together.
Add some lube to the blade around the pivot as indicated in the pic.
Washer added on top of the lube.
Full assembly only needing the presentation side scale.
Scale added.
Insert the male portion of the rear fastener with the 5/64 hex wrench.
This is the part you would put loc-tite on. I would probably put it on the last thread using a toothpic. A small drop is good. Some people will use a bit of teflon tape for the same purpose. Use what you like. I personally do not use loc-tite. There are variations on thread fits. Mine seems pretty good, so mine doesn't seem to require it. It's probably a good idea to use loc-tite as CRK recommends it. Personal preference.
Putting the pivot back together with the tool- Yes, I am recycling a pic. If you use the loc-tite, then tighten this down until snug (feel resistance) and then back off slightly. For my useage, that would be about 1/8th of a turn or less. Since this is the part that makes the pivot adjustable, this is up to you.
Cycle the blade slowly to make sure all is well and there isn't any binding..If all is well, then we are done!
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