ZT 0350 M390 De-assist? Recurve? Experiences?

[JuJu-]

Did they fix the problem with the blade not being centered to the point that it rubs against the opposing liner?

There wasn't a problem with the blade rubbing the liner. If you had one it was one of a very small handful that might have had this problem. I had serial #500 I picked up when they first came out and just sold it earlier this year. It had no such problems nor did the few I handled with earlier serial numbers. Sorry you had a lemon, it happens with the best of them.

2.) In the early 0350s without detents, the torsion assist bar pushed against the blade which is what made the blade never centered.

If it didn't have a detent why would you de-assist it? I have heard of this but I personally would never de-assist a knife without a detent. I like my digits!

 

[harkamus]

There wasn't a problem with the blade rubbing the liner. If you had one it was one of a very small handful that might have had this problem. I had serial #500 I picked up when they first came out and just sold it earlier this year. It had no such problems nor did the few I handled with earlier serial numbers. Sorry you had a lemon, it happens with the best of them.

If it didn't have a detent why would you de-assist it? I have heard of this but I personally would never de-assist a knife without a detent. I like my digits!

I sent the knife back a few times back when I had it and was told it was fine, that it was just how the knives were made that made them not centered. Hearing it was a lemon now is odd. I wish they would have told me this. And I didn't de-assist it. I just wanted to try how it was without the bar. I ended up putting the bar back since it just flopped out. At the time, there were a few people that de-assisted the 0350. I remember thinking how un-safe it felt this way.

But thanks for the head's up again. I may yet pick up another 0350 for a second go at it.

 

[Orangeneck]

- Is a recurve ... more difficult to sharpen and strop?

As fzla226 stated, the Spydie sharpmaker works well for keeping a sharp edge on the entire recurve blade. If you want a polished edge with less work try the DMT Aligner with the Mag-guide and diasharp (duo sided) "stones". These DMT stones are ~1 inch wide, but I tilt them slightly over the recurve section so that only the edge of the stone is contacting the blade. This technique also works great on ZDP-189. I use a homemade 3/4 inch leather strop mounted on a similar piece of scrap wood and loaded with 0.5 microm green CrO2; no problems with stropping.