What are your “tricks”?

Comeuppance

Comeuppance

Fixed Blade EDC Emisssary
Joined
Jan 12, 2013
Messages
4,765
Over years of handling knives, I’m sure we all come across or develop some non-intuitive processes and procedures that accomplish things otherwise unaccomplishable. Here are some of mine, some less common, some very well-known:

- Bad centering fix: Loosen all of the body and pivot screws, and then incrementally tighten each one the same teensy amount in a manner that your last pass tightens them all down securely. More often than not, this has fixed minor centering issues for me, and sometimes even blade play.

- Better pivot action: (1) With phosphor bronze washers, give them a quick polish! I have a old beat up strop that I use for it, and it works wonders for smoothing out pivot action. (2) Put lubricant (nano-oil is tops!) on the detent ball. The detent is a constant source of friction in the pivot and I’ve yet to come across a knife whose action was not greatly improved by that. Compressed air is also great for cleaning out dust/dirt in pivots without using water or disassembling the knife.

- Prevent corrosion: Marine Tuff Glide or any number of other surface-bonding anti-corrosion agents will keep your knife sparkly silver even if you take a carbon steel blade and cut up lemons with it. It’s worth noting that you do have to re-apply such treatments as abrasion will slowly remove the surface it bonded to, and any edge maintenance will also remove the protection from the edge.

- Disassembling a knife that has been threadlocked: Most threadlocking adhesives are quickly defeated by heat! I’ve been known to use a blowtorch or nearly-boiling water to accomplish this. I might discolor a standoff slightly, but it won’t look nearly as bad as teeth marks left from using pliers to hold them in place.
 
I've dropped a small bit of CCF into the end of rattly injection molded sheaths. As long as you are careful about storage, there is no real added corrosion risk.

bamboo BBQ skewers work well for scraping tough gunk out of the inside of folders. As does dental floss in some spots.

Fresh oil is easier to clean out than old, so I've really soaked gummed up SAKs with 3-in-1, got them loose, then cleaned all the oil out, and re-lubed with something more suited to the task. But keep in mind, that corroded material expands when full of oil (anyone who deals with bikes may have run into this, lubing a cable causing it to seize) so in that case I try to "dry" clean as much as I can. important when dealing with aluminum that has been exposed to salt water.

The thermal expansion of boiling can also loosen a stuck blade (but may also loosen scales)
 
For thread lock, I will often touch the inside of the screw/bolt head with a soldering iron. Just a few secs is often enough to transfer a sufficient amount of heat while leaving the surrounding areas untouched.
 
While not a "trick" per se, Sentry Solutions Tuff Cloth and Tuff Glide are damn good products for a knife knut to have around.
 
I use Johnson Wax in the tin to protect carbon steel - especially long term since it doesn't dry out.

I honestly have never had a centering issue.
 
Velitrius said:
While not a "trick" per se, Sentry Solutions Tuff Cloth and Tuff Glide are damn good products for a knife knut to have around.
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I can only agree with this strongly. If there were such a thing as a professional knife owner, I would seek endorsements from Ct. Claire lubricants (Nano-Oil), Sentry Solutions (Tuff Glide / Cloth / Marine Tuff Glide), and Work Sharp (Ken Onion Edition, especially if you get the blade grinder attachment. I sharpened two of my knives from hacking-at-tape dull to hairs-fly-away sharp in less than five minutes. Total. 30 degree inclusive convex edge with a mirror finish.)
 
Nice thread idea. I look forward to benefiting from others expertise. As a relative n00b, I don't have much advice to offer but will pass along a couple of items that others have shared with me already on these forums. 1. Buy high quality torx screw bits and 2. Using a "t" screwdriver handle can help in applying substantial force in a controlled way. Both of these help prevent the stripped screw syndrome.
 
BilboBaggins said:
Nice thread idea. I look forward to benefiting from others expertise. As a relative n00b, I don't have much advice to offer but will pass along a couple of items that others have shared with me already on these forums. 1. Buy high quality torx screw bits and 2. Using a "t" screwdriver handle can help in applying substantial force in a controlled way. Both of these help prevent the stripped screw syndrome.
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FOR REAL.

Wiha bits are my personal favorite. I bought a set for my friend who I converted to knives and for my dad who works as an engineer in a local flight simulator company. Both were underwhelmed at first and then came back later gushing about how great they were. My dad got the antistatic one which was under 20 bucks when I last looked in December. Tool steel bits, never had one strip.
 
Comeuppance said:
FOR REAL.

Wiha bits are my personal favorite. I bought a set for my friend who I converted to knives and for my dad who works as an engineer in a local flight simulator company. Both were underwhelmed at first and then came back later gushing about how great they were. My dad got the antistatic one which was under 20 bucks when I last looked in December. Tool steel bits, never had one strip.
Click to expand...

Based on another member's recommendation, I went with the Wiha bits to disassemble my spyderco southard. Now I need to replace all my normal screwdriver bits with them. They rock.
 
The more technical the pivots get (bearings, guides, specialty bronze washers, etc), the more they need special attention if carried. To clean out lint/grit from I use wd40, worked a little bit, followed by compressed air until pretty much dry. Repeated as many times as needed. Usually works well without disassembly. Not really a high tech tip, but works for me for basic maintenance.
 
I only sharpen freehand, and if I want to avoid any scratches on the blade I put a strip of masking tape down the spine and fold it over on both sides. It works particularly well when I need to acquire a low angle for thinning out an edge- lay blade/tape flat on hone, lift spine to desired height, stroke hone, repeat.
 
I use a cork to get rid of burrs. I use a pipe cleaner to clean out folders. I use a 1 gallon freezer bag to dis-assemble knives in so parts don't fly away. I use a bench vise to hold onto my Lansky system. I used Never-Dull to clean parts.
 
Honestly? My trick is to worry less. Don't lube or oil anything unless it's to prevent rust, don't disassemble unless you wanna mod it or need a fix that's not covered by the warranty, just generally fuss less and cut more.

Oh, and if you rub your thumb on the side of your nose those skin oils are good for getting tape residue off the blade.
 
When I need to hammer/pound, I put a glob of "Silly Putty" on both sides of the knife/gun part. The combination of bounce and give in the putty is ideal.

Leaves no residue, cheap and works especially well (on the underside) when pins need to exit their hole easily (through the putty).
 
gadgetgeek said:
bflying, I use wd-40 in a similar method, far more often as a cleaner rather than a lube.
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Exactly. I meant it as a cleaning method, not for lubricant. Guess I didn't elaborate. WD-40 has a very short life as a lubricant.
 
More than a few times I've held my torx bit in the flame of a lighter so I could break lock tite.

Also no need to by a spanner tool for a strider or a hinderer .Made a few put of coins and a dremel. My current strider tool is a butter knife I took a dremel to and now I have a strider tool.

When it comes to lube a little goes a long way,repeat little a long way. For years I used way too much .

Windex is the best g10 cleaner ever ! Have some spyderco in gray g10 and the gray was nearly black. Some windex and a toothbrush made it good as new.

When making adjustments to say your pivot if you see your driver turn you've turned it too far. When your knife is 99% dialed in but action isn't up to spec, use the smallest turn to adjust ,the sweet spot will he missed everytime if you 1/8 or quarter turn it.

I use what most everyone else has posted except I prefer breakfree clp to tuff glide for a rust inhibitor.

The OP hit the centering trick spot on. Sometimes it doesn't work though. If it doesn't say your blade is off center to the non locking side of a liner lock. Grab your knife and act like your trying to break a stick and try and bend your knife. It will move the blade over ever so slightly. If its off center the other way just apply force to the other side.

Rubbing alcohol is the best blade cleaner in the world. It's to blades what windex is to g10
 
Also bar keepers friend is the only thing I've found that will complete clean ceramic and or diamond benchstones. Other cleaners do clean them some what but bar keepers friend works best.

Flitz metal polish is also worth every penny if you need to remove some rust or just want your blades looking good. I use flitz on a leather belt on the grinder for my final polish ot stropping
 
Hell, never mind. For some reason, I can't post any more than one small paragraph. I hope they get this fixed.

I have a small jar of mineral oil that I drop my old traditional knives into for a day or two, even those that look pretty clean. Take the knife out, let it drain, then the joints under hot tap water. It's amazing how much crud is loosened that you couldn't even see.

Leather pads for my bench vise and my Vise-Grips. I can gently squeeze the joints of traditional patterns and remove most blade play.

Several sets of feeler gauges, various uses.
- You can adjust them to any thickness you need, wedge them between the liners on traditionals, and use a leather-padded hammer to tap out tap out most blemishes (gaps, etc.)
- for solid metal handled knives, use the feeler gauges to fill the space between the liners, and use a small punch to dimple the scales. I've made old ratty knives look pretty nice that way.


~Chris
 
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