Why does Cold Steel use phospher bronze, and nylon washers?

S

scottyj

Joined
Jan 29, 2009
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I did a google search, and a forum search, and came up dry. Does anyone know why CS uses both types of washers? Why not a thick phosphor or a thick nylon? I'm referring to the Large Voyager I'm currently carrying. Thanks.
 
If I had to guess I’d say it’s for initial smoothness. Also with the teflon being compressible it allows for less strict tolerance. If for nothing else then for simplicity I'd prefer a single washer.
 
rycen said:
If I had to guess I’d say it’s for initial smoothness. Also with the teflon being compressible it allows for less strict tolerance. If for nothing else then for simplicity I'd prefer a single washer.
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Me too. The large Voyager is a big knife. Nice thick Phosphor washers like on an Adamas would be perfect. My question is how long will those nylon washers last under EDC conditions. They are rice paper thin. Friction, dust, and or dirt/debris will be getting in there, and wearing them down. I'm guessing over time they will wear down, and create side to side play. Sure you could snug down the pivot screw, but now you're tightening down for the missing tolerance of the nylon washer. If and when that happens I'll just get some washers from that knife part supply place, and rebuild it with some nice thick ones.
 
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I broke down, and called Cold Steel. Dude in customer service said the nylon washers are there to "prevent wear on the phosphor washer". What? I said really? He said yes, and "also to prevent a black line from forming on the blade from the phosphor washer as it wears". Uh....ok. Then I said how long do these nylon washers last? They are extremely thin. He said "with regular cleaning the life of the knife". I said ok great, and thanks for the help, and hung up. We'll see. I edc this blade as it is my favorite, and look forward to a long lifetime of use. Like I said earlier if problems arise I'll just rebuild the washers with thick phosphor ones, and be done with it.
 
I always replace those washers. Get a bunch of good bronze washer for cheap at usaknifemaker.
The last this was asked CS rep here in BF mentioned it’s because most people don’t keep their knife lubed.
Many companies out there are ding straight phosphor bronze with no problem, not sure why it’s different for cold steel.
They should just use solid piece of bronze washers.
 
I've never had any problems with a Cold Steel folder's washers wearing out . Even with some hard use (and abuse like throwing) .

Cold Steel is mostly about very sturdy working and SD type knives at a bargain price and not so much super smooth action / fidgeting flippery , IMO .;)

Although , my AD-10 is amazingly smooth . :cool:
 
Necro bumping this because I wanted to share my opinion...regardless of how mistaken I might be lol.
As a matter of fact I might be doing it wrong but to me removing the Teflon doesn't mess up much with tolerances. It only makes the knife less smooth at first but if I then mirror polish the liners and the pivot area on the blade the knife works the same again if not better than stock.

In my opinion it's there to save the cost of polishing everything at the factory. Personally I don't mind the cost saving, and I enjoy doing this ritual with all of my new Cs knives. I've just done it to my new Rajah III and it's smooth as butter, with no play nor any tolerance problem by the looks of it.

Anybody else thinking the same?
 
vnvman said:
Necro bumping this because I wanted to share my opinion...regardless of how mistaken I might be lol.
As a matter of fact I might be doing it wrong but to me removing the Teflon doesn't mess up much with tolerances. It only makes the knife less smooth at first but if I then mirror polish the liners and the pivot area on the blade the knife works the same again if not better than stock.

In my opinion it's there to save the cost of polishing everything at the factory. Personally I don't mind the cost saving, and I enjoy doing this ritual with all of my new Cs knives. I've just done it to my new Rajah III and it's smooth as butter, with no play nor any tolerance problem by the looks of it.

Anybody else thinking the same?
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cold steel back when they ran this forum said it was to reduce warranty claims, due to folks not occasionally oiling the washer. over time the washer would polish itself with enough oiling and kept clean....so I doubt that's the reason. what the old cold steel rep said makes sense to me. it's to save money but on the backend, not the front end......

the link to that comment is in this thread also if ya want to see his exact explanation.....
 
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