Wearing of blade stop pin

A

AlphalphaPB

Joined
Apr 29, 2002
Messages
1,273
I have a hard-use folder that has some problems with the liner lock moving to the right after chopping.

I noticed that the problem disappears after disassembly, only to come back after only one hard chop to a piece of wood. The liner moves from almost completely to the left to the middle-right. Upon inspection, I noticed that the stop pin was being impacted by the blade, and this happened in multiple places along the circular pin(each place representing one disassembly and resetting of the pin). The point of impact is off-center, i.e. the wear mark is only on one side of the stop pin.

I believe that the pin is a stainless steel of some sort, while the blade is ATS-34. The blade shows very little wear at the contact point.

Is this a common occurence in hard use folders? If not, I'm going to contact the warranty department of the manufacturer, though I doubt that this is a problem that can be easily fixed.
 
Are you flicking the knife open really hard? That might be what is causing the wear on the stop pin. I'm not sure that the stop pin would affect the way the liner meets up with the blade tang though. That could be due to liner wear, or perhaps the knife is out of adjustment. Either way, you should probably contact the manufacturer and see if anything can be done to remedy the problem.
--Josh
 
basically whats happening is that each time you hit the wood ( I hope thats what youre chopping ) youre driving the blade back towards the stop pin, youre also kinda jamming all the parts partway out of alignment. If there is noticable wear on one part of the pin, then I would contact the manufacturer. I would also recommend you stop chopping with the knife. Folders, no matter how heavy duty, really are not meant for this kind of abuse for reasons too numerous to list. If youre in an emergency situation, it should be able to withstand it, but not as a normal activity. Hope this helps some, good luck -- Charles
 
I'm not flicking the knife open really hard. The impact that causes the wear is the chopping, since it places all the stress onto the stop pin. The two situations are similar though, in how they move the blade up with a large amount of force.

The reason I'm seeing the wear only on one side of the pin is because the blade isn't perfectly flat at the contact point. Perhaps this can be fixed at the factory.

As to why the stop pin affects the lockup: If the stop pin deforms just a little, the blade will move just a little bit further "up" (further away from closed position), leading the liner to engage just a little bit further to the right. This, I believe, is why I'm having these problems.
 
Originally posted by AlphalphaPB
As to why the stop pin affects the lockup: If the stop pin deforms just a little, the blade will move just a little bit further "up" (further away from closed position), leading the liner to engage just a little bit further to the right. This, I believe, is why I'm having these problems.
Click to expand...

Ah, makes sense. Good luck, I hope you can get it fixed.
--Josh
 
even hard use folders are not realistically going to hold up to chopping, especially repeated chopping. If the stop pin is dented in any way it could contribute. also the liner lock could be slightly worn enough also, to cause it to travel to far. another factor to consider would be the pivot becoming to loose, that can cause a problem also.
For those of us who make folders, there is much to consider, many factors in the proper adjustment of the lockup.
I would suggest sending it back to the manufacter, but when you get it back, trying using an axe instead. Your knife will last you much longer this way.
 
Thanks for the input. I suppose I was expecting this folder to handle some crazy stuff. I'll try a fixed blade, an axe, or a prybar next time, but first I'm going to contact the factory.
 
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