I was given a black ZT 801 for Christmas. The knife opens and closes pretty roughly. Sometimes you can even hear it it's so rough. The blade is pretty hard to deploy, and sometimes I hear what sounds like a sharp contact from the detent ball. I initially thought these issues would go away after use but I have opened and closed this knife more times than I can count. I tried adjusting the pivot but am unable to do so because the pivot screw will not release the screw opposite to it (both pivot screws keep rotating). Hope you guys can help me out, I really want to like this knife.
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ZT 801 issues
- Thread starter coyrs
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Charr
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This in perticular is a little concerning, because when I had my 0801, I didn't have this with the pivot. You may need to have 2 torx tools to try and adjust the pivot. It's not that uncommon for knives, but I don't remember mine needing it (I may be wrong).
Was the knife from a reliable dealer?
If it's definitely a ZT, then Honestly, you should send it in to ZT and see if they can fix it up for you. I have had good experience with their CS.
Ajack60
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yeah, you need two torx wrenches. If you don't want to take it apart to examine the bearings, send it in and it will be taken care of. The two I have are smooth. I have one that has a strong detent and when the knife is closed it makes a distinctive clink noise. You may want to put a drop of oil on each side of the blade to see if the knife gets smoother. Sounds like the detent on yours is strong. It will wear and deploying should get easier as it gets broke in.
Charr
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Go ahead and contact ZT. They wil take care of you. From what you've said you seem to like the knife and want to keep it (baring this issue), so sending it to ZT will be better for you, as GP knives can only replace it or refund it for you.
Considering it did have 2 scratches on the handle, I'm thinking I should just return it to gpk.
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Send it to the retailer for an exchange. Let them deal with KAI on the original one.
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The pivot spinning isnt all that uncommon. To keep it from rotating while you adjust you can squeeze the blade into the handle while you turn the screw or open the knife and press the edge into a wood cutting board while you try and adjust. If it still spins at that point there is probably loctite on the pivot screw and it will require heat (solderin iron on the pivot screw for about 20-30 seconds depending on wattage) to loosen it. The scratches unfortunately dont surprise me. I have had numerous ZT knives come from the factory with minor fine scratches. To be fair to them though scratches on knives arent always the fault of the company that made them. Many times knives are purchased and returned and as long as the dealer doesnt spot any issues they go back out for sale. Sometimes even if a knife was returned for finish issues. I know of at least 5 instances where I sent a knife back to various dealers for finish issues and they simply put it back up for sale when I returned it. I am also not a fan of many dealers who take video or pictures of every knife they sell. I have seen people wearing rings and knocking knives together when doing these videos and selling those knives as BNIB. I dont mind dealers inspecting knives but seriously whats the point if they arent treating them with respect? GPK is a good company though and I dont think they would be guilty of any mistreatment. I have been to that shop and they are very clean, tidy and they handle products with care. Customer service with them is great too. As for the rough feeling of your knife its probably got a few particles in the way of the detent as it glides over the blade. But even when completely clean those knives need extra time to smooth out. This is usually caused by the stonewashing process. It puts very fine small scratches on the surface of the blade and even when clean will produce a "sshhich!" sound as the blade opens. I have found the smoothest detents to be on DLC coated and polished blades. Polished because there is no drag due to the polished surface and DLC is very hard and has is very slick compared to raw steel. If the detent track was cleaned you probably would notice a huge difference but would probably still experience a noise when opening.