When you get a new knife, after checking it out, do you tweak it?

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Folderguy

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Jun 26, 2010
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When you get a new knife, after checking it out, do you tweak it?

By tweaking, I'm referring to perhaps taking it apart, checking out the smoothness of the blade, and if it isn't just how you like it, you polish the washers, or maybe the inside of the blade hole, or the bearing surface on the pivot, the tightness of the pivot, and perhaps reprofile and sharpen the edge. Maybe even polish the spine of the blade, reprofile it so it's rounded. Reassemble, and if it's a folder, check it for flickablilty...

Disclaimer: I've been known to do all that and more!! :D

So, whaddya do?
 
if something needs changing, sure. swap the clip, tighten things up, touch up the edge, put a drop of oil on the pivot. sometimes polish the blade if it's bead blasted to prevent rust.
 
I do that to all mine. If it's a somewhat more expensive knife I wait before I do anything to it, giving it a good test drive first. Sometimes I change out the plastic washers to bronze, file / sand a little here or there, remove blade coating, make sure the lock is to the good and put loctite on the screws.
 
I check it out for a couple of minutes then get back on the computer to look for a new knife. LOL
 
I wave it.
 
If I couldn't tweak I would be lost. If the knife has screws, then out they come. I will do a few things when I get a new knife. One is to polish the inside of the handles around the pivot, then the blade tang, staying within the confines of where the washer's fit, then the washers, and finally, the pivot. For the past 10 years I have used Miltec lube on all my pivots. If the blade is off center when closed I will fix that. Another tweak I always do, and this applies to my liner/frame lock knives and that is too make the locking bar stiffer by putting more bend into it. I also like to refit with a foldover, deep-carry pocket clip, whether it be store bought, STR bought, or even one I have modified myself.

There is nothing better than putting your own personal stamp on a knife!
 
I limit my tinkering to changing the blade angles and sharpening the edge to my satisfaction. I see no reason to disassemble a knife merely because I can. I don't fix it if it ain't broke.
 
Almost every knife I have ever recieved, I have had to adjust the pivot (tighten that is)

Then I systematically tighten every torx and screws because I have had a bad experience with one NIB production knife.
 
I've never seen a factory edge that I like, so the first thing to do is always reprofile and sharpen. Once in a while I'd put a mirror finish on the edge as well.
 
Aside from stropping it, there isn't much I need to do with knives I buy. If there's something wrong with the knife, I wouldn't have purchased it.

I pretty-much trust that the knife-maker's knowledge is better than mine.
 
I pretty much always strop with green compound. I have taken to putting a very narrow micro-bevel on my scandi grind knives but that's an experiment right now and not yet SOP.
 
CWL said:
Aside from stropping it, there isn't much I need to do with knives I buy. If there's something wrong with the knife, I wouldn't have purchased it.

I pretty-much trust that the knife-maker's knowledge is better than mine.
Click to expand...

If you're buying Benchmades and Emersons and knives like that, I'd wholeheartedly agree. It's some of those other knives that beg to be tweaked, IMHO.
 
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Charlie Mike said:
I wave it.
Click to expand...

That's the CM we know :D ... We're still waiting your waved Texas Toothpick Charlie ;)

What I do:
I check smoothness (and if it needs oiling)
I check blade play
I do basic paper cut and resulting if its needs resharpening or just stropping.
If knife has pocket clip (and its place can swap) I check how it carries and change it so it carries best in my pocket.
then I'll use it or put in rotation.
 
I sometimes add pocket clips and/or thumbstuds to a new knife. I often turn a drop point blade into a clip point. Sometimes I send the Titanium handle out for anodizing. I often swap blades to get the combination of handle and blade that I want. On certain models I add a push pin quick release lanyard. On lobsters I remove excess blades so that I am only hiking the stuff that I am using around. On SAK money clips, I change the sandpaper file to a cut file. I sometimes drill out handles to lighten them. Thinning handle slabs accomplishes the same objective. Sometimes I order custom blades and install them in factory handles. Sometimes I remove recurves to facilitate sharpening. Sometimes I disassemble riveted knives and put them backtogether with screws. Sometimes I modify normal blades so that they can be used as exchangers. I design and spec knives to be custom made. My collector friends call me the mangler.
 
I always remove the pocketclips from folders and I hate bad jimping on my small fixed blades so I tweaked it on a few with a file or dremel:

5~10.jpg
 
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