ZT 0551 Sticky Lock Bar?

M

mlsar

Joined
Nov 26, 2010
Messages
21
Hello all, I'm new to Bladeforums, what a great site.

I just received my 0551 from Kershawguy, great service once again. The knife is absolutely beautiful, and feels great to hold.

My only concern is that lock up seems to be pretty late at around 80%, and the lock bar sticks about half the time. I asked him about it and of course I will send it back to ZT if need be, but I wanted to see if anyone else has had this problem, and if there is anything I can do to fix it without sending it in.
 
Welcome to Bladeforums.
The issue you are describing is not isolated to one specific maker. Sometimes Titanium will appear to get "sticky" for some unknown reason. There are lots of tricks to overcome this, here are some threads you can read through:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=779856&highlight=sticky+lockbar
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=779493&highlight=sticky+lockbar
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=757822&highlight=sticky+lockbar
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=734132&highlight=sticky+lockbar
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=721516&highlight=sticky+lockbar

As far as the lock on your knife, if you can glance through the mega thread, you will see that this is just the way the knife is designed. Search the forums and threads to get detailed answers to your questions. You can often find things that many people will overlook at the time you might ask.
 
Take a #2 pencil and rub it on the blade tang 4-5 times, you only want a very small amount so don't color it in. Open and close a few times, if still sticky mark the tang some more until it becomes smooth.
 
Thanks RevDevil, I appreciate the links. I'll keep playing with it and see how she breaks in. I guess I was just comparing it to my 0301, which has a polished contact point, and I've never had the sticky problem with it. The 0551 is more like my SMF which is not polished, and also sticks from time to time.

Too bad my wife hates the sound of knives opening and closing or I'd give it a few hundreds rounds while I'm watching tv.
 
If the lockup is truly 80% I'd be more disappointed than concerned since the life of that lock is 30% less than even 50%
 
Here is the pickup I'm getting...

IMG_20101224_094418.jpg
 
Hi mlsar -

I read in the original mega-thread about the percentage of lock-up that people were seeing on the first batch.

In that thread, Rick himself posted that he thought people made too much out of the percent of lock-up.

[edit] found the post for you from Rick [/edit]
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8943669&postcount=718

In my opinion, that lock bar is so thick, and the contact point is so robust, that your knife will enjoy a nice, long service life with no worries.

Of course that is my opinion and if you wanted to send it back to Kershaw, they will check your knife out thoroughly for you.

My 0551 did have a sticky lock-bar, a trait I have found to be quite normal on ti frame-locks. After a day or so of opening and closing the knife, mine is now smooth and unlocks easily.

I had this same experience with my Volt, and my Acies.

Have you had your 0551 out and cut anything with it yet?

I had opportunity to stab mine into a drywall wall and cut across the wall with it, and I was impressed with the confidence that the knife gives the user. I am not sure if it is just the "fatty" feel in the hand or what, but I was very confident that the knife would hold up fine.

I especially like the feel where your index finger rides in the area of the lock-bar to tang; it is so nice and wide and smooth there that it just makes the knife feel more substantial.

Good luck with your 0551 - go cut something tough with it!

best regards -

mqqn
 
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I wouldn't be concerned about the life expectancy of the lock at all.

I had a 0551 that had the sticky lock problem too. Sometimes it would get so stuck I had to use a coin to leverage it unstuck. I wore out both my thumbs thinking that I could just break it in. It finally went back to KAI and is now perfect.
 
mlsar said:
Hello all, I'm new to Bladeforums, what a great site.

I just received my 0551 from Kershawguy, great service once again. The knife is absolutely beautiful, and feels great to hold.

My only concern is that lock up seems to be pretty late at around 80%, and the lock bar sticks about half the time. I asked him about it and of course I will send it back to ZT if need be, but I wanted to see if anyone else has had this problem, and if there is anything I can do to fix it without sending it in.
Click to expand...

Funny, I just sent Dave an email on this very issue. I have been EDC'ing the knife for about a month and the stickiness I noticed. Recently, the lock has not been sticking but rather not fully sliding in behind the blade. Accordingly, I'm now getting some blade play - unless I squeeze the frame to force the lock into contact with the blade. I believe that the cause here may be the distance the frame lock is designed to travel before hitting the blade.

I'm thinking mine may need to go back as well...
 
s.c. said:
I wouldn't be concerned about the life expectancy of the lock at all.

I had a 0551 that had the sticky lock problem too. Sometimes it would get so stuck I had to use a coin to leverage it unstuck. I wore out both my thumbs thinking that I could just break it in. It finally went back to KAI and is now perfect.
Click to expand...

Can you tell what they did to correct the problem? I've been playing with it and my thumb is about worn out too...
 
I'm not sure what they did, but it opens smoother and faster than before as well. Contact them and they will email you a UPS shipping label as there was a recall on this model. Turnaround time was about two weeks for me.
 
mqqn said:
Hi mlsar -

I read in the original mega-thread about the percentage of lock-up that people were seeing on the first batch.

In that thread, Rick himself posted that he thought people made too much out of the percent of lock-up.

[edit] found the post for you from Rick [/edit]
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8943669&postcount=718

In my opinion, that lock bar is so thick, and the contact point is so robust, that your knife will enjoy a nice, long service life with no worries.

Of course that is my opinion and if you wanted to send it back to Kershaw, they will check your knife out thoroughly for you.

My 0551 did have a sticky lock-bar, a trait I have found to be quite normal on ti frame-locks. After a day or so of opening and closing the knife, mine is now smooth and unlocks easily.

I had this same experience with my Volt, and my Acies.

Have you had your 0551 out and cut anything with it yet?

I had opportunity to stab mine into a drywall wall and cut across the wall with it, and I was impressed with the confidence that the knife gives the user. I am not sure if it is just the "fatty" feel in the hand or what, but I was very confident that the knife would hold up fine.

I especially like the feel where your index finger rides in the area of the lock-bar to tang; it is so nice and wide and smooth there that it just makes the knife feel more substantial.

Good luck with your 0551 - go cut something tough with it!

best regards -

mqqn
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info and the link! I like what he says about it, and the late lockup doesn't bother me, just the sticking. I just figured they were related.
 
s.c. said:
I'm not sure what they did, but it opens smoother and faster than before as well. Contact them and they will email you a UPS shipping label as there was a recall on this model. Turnaround time was about two weeks for me.
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, what good would that do? There are solutions that he can try himself that will correct the issue, over 60+ threads worth discussing sticky Ti lockbars. I emailed Cheryl and she replied that the only thing that was done on my knife was that the liner was replaced. She had no information on replacing lockbars or anything like that. I'm fairly certain that if it was that bad, it would not have made it out the door. In my experience with many Ti frame lock knives, a sticky lockbar does not merit a trip for warranty service, YMMV.
 
Mine does it too but I attribute it to the fact that it is brand new. As a result I've been working the hell out of it by opening and closing it when I get the time. I have noticed a substantial improvement.

I will try Rev's pencil trick later on today as well. Thanks Rev. . . :thumbup:

I think he's right. Maybe not always, but many times we are too quick to go the factory route when a basic simple solution might do the trick.
 
RevDevil said:
Just out of curiosity, what good would that do? There are solutions that he can try himself that will correct the issue, over 60+ threads worth discussing sticky Ti lockbars. I emailed Cheryl and she replied that the only thing that was done on my knife was that the liner was replaced. She had no information on replacing lockbars or anything like that. I'm fairly certain that if it was that bad, it would not have made it out the door. In my experience with many Ti frame lock knives, a sticky lockbar does not merit a trip for warranty service, YMMV.
Click to expand...

What good would it do? I'm confused. I stated earlier that mine would get stuck open. It went back for warranty service and now it works fine.

It was also very stiff to open and now it is much better.

Again, I don't know what they did, but it functions flawlessly now.

Perhaps what I was experiencing is different from what others are describing as "sticky." It would literally get stuck open and I needed to use a quarter to pry the lock off the tang.

I didn't state, however, I tried several different things before I broke down and sent it back. I tried the pencil trick as well as the sharpie trick. I took it apart and put it back together multiple times, tweaking it differently each time. I opened and closed it obsessively for two days such that by thumbs were killing me.

There already was a warranty issue with the rusty liners anyway, so I do not feel I sent it back in haste.
 
@ s.c. - I was refering to the OP sending his knife back for the sticky lock alone. ;)

@ BP Green - You can also try sharpie. I find pencil works the best, a little goes a long way.
 
RevDevil said:
@ s.c. - I was refering to the OP sending his knife back for the sticky lock alone. ;)

@ BP Green - You can also try sharpie. I find pencil works the best, a little goes a long way.
Click to expand...

OK, right off the bat I'm going to throw this disclaimer out there just to avoid the inevitable. The post I am about to make has nothing to do with "making'a point" contradicting, or "sticking it" to anyone else. It is merely intended to share my results with the rest of you. Now that that's done:

A little while ago, I looked down at my desk and noticed a plastic Papermate standard No. 2 pencil; one of the ones you have to twist to extend the graphite out of the tip. Anyway, I scribbled it across the blade tang surface where it comes in contact with the frame lock, then did the same to the surface of the lock.

Holy crap did it ever work!! It's like a completely different knife! I swear to you guys, I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't experience it for myself. I've never seen anything so simple have such a dramatic effect before.

All I can say is if you haven't already, try it for yourself. It's like friggin' magic. It took all of ten seconds or so and "voila"! Smooth as glass.

I only hope it's permanent? I'm going to do it to all my framelocks.

Again, thanks Rev! :thumbup:
 
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The pencil trick worked for me on my SMF, but only temporarily. I tried it on the 0551 and it worked, but again only temporarily. The Sharpie worked better on both, and lasted longer, but once it wears off of the tang surface, I'm back to the sticking lock. Hopefully it will just wear in and fix itself, I really hate to send it back.
 
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