Working Man hard to disengage lock?

bralexander

bralexander

Joined
Jun 8, 2014
Messages
976
Well, I just received my new Working Man and it seems great, except for trying to disengage lock. I really have to push the lock all the way down and with a bunch of pressure. More pressure than any other lockback I have ever tried! I don't have a ton of experience with Cold Steel and I don't think I have used a knife with the Tri-ad lock before.

Is this something that will "break in" and become easier? Or should I be returning to vendor?
Thanks,
Bruce
 
My cold steel knives were like that out of the box. Give it time to break in. The triad lock engages very solid and deep, plus the very strong spring makes it a great lock. However, new theres a lot of stiffness. Just work the lockbar.
 
115Italian said:
My cold steel knives were like that out of the box. Give it time to break in. The triad lock engages very solid and deep, plus the very strong spring makes it a great lock. However, new theres a lot of stiffness. Just work the lockbar.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a plan!
Thanks,
Bruce
 
bralexander said:
Sounds like a plan!
Click to expand...

I recently got a Lawman which had a quite strong lock,compared to my Rajah III. What i did: i left the knife open in a 90 degree angle,for a couple of nights.. I also sanded down the lockbar a bit,where it engages with the blade.That made the action a lot smoother than before.

Hope that helps
 
Last edited:
GAGL said:
I recently got a Lawman which had a quite strong lock,compared to my Rajah III. What i did: i left the knife open in a 90 degree angle,for a couple of nights.. I also sanded down the lockbar a bit,where it engages with the blade.That made the action a lot smoother than before.

Hope that helps
Click to expand...

If you do any sanding, make sure you use very fine grit sandpaper (min. 2000) or you might cause the lockbar to bottom and create vertical blade-play.
 
hermit dave said:
If you do any sanding, make sure you use very fine grit sandpaper (min. 2000) or you might cause the lockbar to bottom and create vertical blade-play.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have cycled it a few dozen times and it is definitely getting easier to disengage. I don't think mine will need any sanding. I probably will store it at night for a while opened to 90 degrees, like GAGL suggested, as I have had that help with a traditional that had a too strong backspring, now that I know it could help with the WorkingMan also.
Bruce
 
The Tri-Ad design is very easy to adjust IF you want to disassemble your knife and void the warranty. There are several videos on the structure of the lock mechanism. CS puts a lot of tension on the bar spring for liability reasons. I adjust the tension bar (flatten it a bit) to my liking and have even tried almost no tension on the leaf spring and it still holds. I start by marking the contact points of the leaf spring and lock bar as a reference. It takes just a little adjustment on the leaf spring to give noticeable results.
 
Instead of sanding, try polishing the contact surfaces first, especially the leaf spring as it has a sharp edge. I break the edge and radius it a bit.
 
Just a heads up, the working man is a prolite with a higher price tag. And a slightly different angle of the saber grind.


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My Mackinac Hunter was too stiff to disengage manually. After a little light oil, working it a bit and leaving it half open for about a week it became ok.
 
ursamajor said:
Just a heads up, the working man is a prolite with a higher price tag. And a slightly different angle of the saber grind.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

and different colored handle. worth that extra money for colored plastic.;)
 
Just picked up a Frenzy with a triad lock that is too very hard to unlock. Will take ya'll 's advice, thanks.
 
M Working Man is the same way, you have to totally bottom out the lock release to get it to close.
 
It will get softer over time. The springs are much stronger, and the lock bar has to be depressed farther on a triad lock vs a normal lock back
 
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