ZT 0630 stiff detent -- ZT should be ashamed

[jwh720]

Harsh title! The 0630 I had was a little rough to open with the disk at first but a grip adjustment and break in took care of that. If a little break in and or adjusted grip doesnt do the trick for you I am sure ZT will take care of you in respect to repair.

 

[SpySmasher]

This is precisely the point I was making in my post. HOW you deploy the blade can make a HUGE difference.

Indeed. On certain flipper designs it's best to flip them "down" like a light switch on others to press "in" like a button.

 

[sharp_edge]

Check your hand when you are opening the knife. My ZT550, 620CF, and 630CF all were difficult to open at first, but once I looked at HOW I was opening it. I was putting slight pressure on the lockbar, and I mean SLIGHT pressure, and I was coming at the thumbstud/disk at the wrong angle. Once I figured that out muscle memory took over--that combined with just breaking the knives in (and yes, all three) they would all easily fall shut with the lockbar disengaged (and it didn't take anywhere close to 1,000 openings to break-in).

With that said, it is entirely possible you got a lemon, it happens. However, if you did indeed get a lemon I wouldn't judge the entirety of ZT based off of one experience with a lemon--all companies have them from time to time. I would just ZT based off of how they deal with the issue (customer service).

OP - the answer to your problem with ZT 0630 is in this quoted post, which I am fairly certain. After owning 8 ZTs I recently bought a brand new 0630. In the beginning I could not open the knive single hand using the thumb disk. Then I realized it was the slightest pressure on the lockbar that was causing the issue.

 

[JuJu-]

You should be ashamed of your click bait title.

I can understand a new purchase having a slight problem that you haven't figured out yet being disappointing. Just take a breath, a moment and come back to it. Try any one of these great suggestions first and eliminate the variables. If you need to have the vendor cherry pick a light detent one for you after trying go ahead.

The Emerson collabs are great knives once you figure them out.

Cheers,

Justin

 

[Tucson_Tom]

Thanks for all (or most anyway) of the replies. I have indeed checked if I am putting any pressure on the lockbar, and while it is awkward to hold the knife without pressing there, it can be done and yields no difference. Pulling out a host of my other knives, they are easy to hold without pressing where a lockbar is (or would be) because you don't have to push so darn hard to make the thing open. Playing with my Spyderco Gayle Bradley (a liner lock) I have no problem holding the knife and avoiding pressing where a lockbar would be. My Spyderco Sage 2 is my only other frame lock knife and it can be held any way I like and has always been wonderful from the day I bought it. So I am unwilling to call it user error. I have tried all kinds of different directions and shenanigans pushing at different angles. It is just too tight.

This knife is not a flipper, for those who are not familiar with it. There is one way to open it one handed, I can hook my thumbnail under the "wave" and along with a wrist flick that does the job -- something I read about in my searches last night. But this yields nicks and gouges in my thumbnail which are annoying later on.

I am not willing to buy that this is "reasonable" for a production knife, or that my knife was simply "not tuned to my liking". This has been one of my most expensive and most disappointing knife purchases, hence my ire. If this was an el cheapo Kershaw Emerson, I would either return it, throw it out, or fix it and figure that is what you get when you only pay $30 -- but when you pay nearly 10 times that, you would expect to not have to be taking the knife apart and fixing things. At least that is my view of the world. I had high expectations given all the talk I heard about the fine fit and finish on ZT knives. And truth be known, the rest of knife is spectacular.

But I posted this mostly to keep this issue on the table. I was searching and reading last night and discovered that I am not alone in dealing with this -- but most of the posts were from a couple of years ago. People who do searches deserve to know that ZT has not yet addressed this issue in a satisfactory way.

I may well like this knife a lot once I get this resolved.

 

[RamZar]

Send it back to the dealer for a better sample.

Others have also mentioned not putting pressure on the lock bar when opening it. Try opening it with your left hand where no pressure can be applied and see.

A small drop of lube on the detent ball may help in the break-in period if need be.

 

[ibute21]

I'm more bothered by the fact you likened the 630 to the 8. Following that logic, the Tiger is the same as the 8.

 

[Tucson_Tom]

A small drop of lube on the detent ball may help in the break-in period if need be.

That sounds like sensible advice. An old post I found suggested using "flitz" or some such abrasive compound, but I am reluctant to do that for at least two reasons. One is that it will equally wear the ball and the hole. What I really think needs to happen is the edges of the hole become somewhat rounded and leave the ball alone, hence the temptation to take the knife apart and do just the slightest touch with a fine needle file. But if I do any home-brew tuning, I may void (and rightly so) my option to return this to ZT to have them fiddle with. So maybe the best thing to do is to contact ZT, explain the issue and find out how to return the knife. If mine is a one in a thousand exception that somehow slipped through their QC, then from all I hear about their service, they should be happy and cheerful to make things right. If they are shipping lots of knives like this, they need to have them bouncing back to make them aware of the issue.

 

[Lee D]

If you're not putting any pressure on the lock bar, clean, re-lube and see if that does the trick.

 

[Tucson_Tom]

I'm more bothered by the fact you likened the 630 to the 8. Following that logic, the Tiger is the same as the 8.

I would say that I am just totally screwed up in comparing the 0630 to the Emerson CQC-8. I thought I heard that somewhere, but if I did it was total nonsense. However, I have been pondering the fact that all the true Emerson knives are liner lock knives. With all this talk about having to hold the knife in a special way to avoid putting pressure on the lockbar, that is the absolute last thing you would want on a combat knife that might actually be used in a high stress situation.

 

[Thin-Slice]

Playing with my Spyderco Gayle Bradley (a liner lock) I have no problem holding the knife and avoiding pressing where a lockbar would be.

Liner Locks do not fall into this issue of pressure on lock bar since the liner is covered by a handle scale and thereby you cannot put pressure on the liner. JUST FYI. Unless you are intentionally putting pressure somehow that's a different issue.

However, I have been pondering the fact that all the true Emerson knives are liner lock knives.

I am not an expert on Emerson but I could swear I had seen some customs with frame locks but don't quote me.

 

[RamZar]

That sounds like sensible advice. An old post I found suggested using "flitz" or some such abrasive compound, but I am reluctant to do that for at least two reasons. One is that it will equally wear the ball and the hole. What I really think needs to happen is the edges of the hole become somewhat rounded and leave the ball alone, hence the temptation to take the knife apart and do just the slightest touch with a fine needle file. But if I do any home-brew tuning, I may void (and rightly so) my option to return this to ZT to have them fiddle with. So maybe the best thing to do is to contact ZT, explain the issue and find out how to return the knife. If mine is a one in a thousand exception that somehow slipped through their QC, then from all I hear about their service, they should be happy and cheerful to make things right. If they are shipping lots of knives like this, they need to have them bouncing back to make them aware of the issue.

If you purchased it from a dealer your best bet is to send it back to the dealer and ask for a replacement with no such issues. However, with discontinued items some dealers do not accept returns. In such a case or if you bought it used you should send it to ZT where you'll be taken care of no matter the issue. Rarely does ZT charge for repairs or replacement (they do charge for replacement blades if you break yours).

 

[WhiteShampoo]

That sounds like sensible advice. An old post I found suggested using "flitz" or some such abrasive compound, but I am reluctant to do that for at least two reasons. One is that it will equally wear the ball and the hole. What I really think needs to happen is the edges of the hole become somewhat rounded and leave the ball alone, hence the temptation to take the knife apart and do just the slightest touch with a fine needle file. But if I do any home-brew tuning, I may void (and rightly so) my option to return this to ZT to have them fiddle with. So maybe the best thing to do is to contact ZT, explain the issue and find out how to return the knife. If mine is a one in a thousand exception that somehow slipped through their QC, then from all I hear about their service, they should be happy and cheerful to make things right. If they are shipping lots of knives like this, they need to have them bouncing back to make them aware of the issue.

I personally would not at all physically modify the knife in any way, shape, or form if there is even a chance you might send it back for replacement.

The reason I brought up paying attention to how you are using your thumb when opening the knife is because I went through a rough period at the start of getting my 620 because I was not at all used to the disk (hell I wasn't used to ZTs in general, I had only used Benchmades to that point) and ended up roughing the end of my thumb up something fierce (because I was very determined). I put the knife down for a few days then came back to it and it all just clicked for me at that point, blade flew open with a simple movement of my thumb, and it was just perfect all around.

However, from what you have said it sounds like you have indeed already gone down the path of analyzing how you are opening the knife, so I would suggest just reaching out to ZT and see what they have to say. Good luck to you, I loved the 0630CF and the 0620CF, they were probably my favorite ZTs I ever owned (and I have considered getting another 0630CF), so I hope it all gets resolved and you get a knife you love.

Edit: As RamZar said, if you got it from a dealer I would pursue that avenue first before reaching out to ZT.

 

[ibute21]

I would say that I am just totally screwed up in comparing the 0630 to the Emerson CQC-8. I thought I heard that somewhere, but if I did it was total nonsense. However, I have been pondering the fact that all the true Emerson knives are liner lock knives. With all this talk about having to hold the knife in a special way to avoid putting pressure on the lockbar, that is the absolute last thing you would want on a combat knife that might actually be used in a high stress situation.

It's all good, no worries. There are a couple of production Emersons that have frame locks, the HD 7, CQC-12 and Iron Dragon are the ones off the top of my head.

 

[W. Anderson]

I Dremeled that wave clean off my 0630...works perfectly, and looks a lot better.

Pics?

 

[Basp2005]

Pretty simple, send it back to ZT. They weill replace it, that's what customer service is for. Sometimes a company puts out a less than ideal product. Happens to them all once in a while.

 

[Tucson_Tom]

I think what I will do is take it over to my local knife shop and show it to Eric. He will give me an honest opinion and I don't think will hesitate to tell me if I am crazy or not. And I'll be getting together with a couple of other knife knuts in a week or two and I can hand it to them (if it hasn't broken in by then) and see what they say.
If they agree that it isn't as it should be, off to ZT it will go.

I've been accused of yellow journalism with my thread title. I don't know if it is possible to go back and change it, but maybe I'll just stand by my guns even if a bit inflammatory.

 

[Mo2]

I've been accused of yellow journalism with my thread title. I don't know if it is possible to go back and change it, but maybe I'll just stand by my guns even if a bit inflammatory.

 

[Comeuppance]

I think what I will do is take it over to my local knife shop and show it to Eric. He will give me an honest opinion and I don't think will hesitate to tell me if I am crazy or not. And I'll be getting together with a couple of other knife knuts in a week or two and I can hand it to them (if it hasn't broken in by then) and see what they say.
If they agree that it isn't as it should be, off to ZT it will go.

I've been accused of yellow journalism with my thread title. I don't know if it is possible to go back and change it, but maybe I'll just stand by my guns even if a bit inflammatory.

This sounds like a lot of unnecessary steps and waiting. Just send it back or send it in, man.

Here's the thing: The end result is always going to be you sending the knife somewhere, so just skip to that part.

 

[willc]

Before you send it to Kai I would put a tiny drop of lubricant on the detent and just cycle it a few hundred times.

My 0550 had this exact problem and once it broke in it has a nice action to it.