Tuesday, March 5, 2013

About Folding Knife Locks

Shown here in these videos and as stated in the description if you click show more once you go to youtube I try to cover some of the questions I've had both in the past and recently regarding this subject. If you have questioned what it means when someone on a forum writes something about 'peening the lock' to adjust the lock or other such things about lock adjustments this may help clarify some of it. 

As you know in an ideal world there are proper ways to do things and there are other ways to 'skin a cat' as the old saying goes. Cutlers both past and present day are aware of many ways to meet an end and this is but one way to adjust a liner lock. It is also possible for a skilled cutler to adjust the stop pin diameter to achieve the same results rather than peen the lock. In some cases where a knife never seen before is opened up after being disassembled you sometimes find that the lock has already been adjusted by peening. I've opened up knives bought new both by myself and customers that have had this adjustment done at the factory. So in the event that this is the case it may not be possible to continue with another attempt to correct it again the same way. In cases such as these adjusting the stop pin size can work but it also means adjusting the blade and how it sits at rest when in the closed position. If you increase the diameter of the stop pin which it rests on it may lift the blade so high that the detent ball no longer catches. To adjust for this one goes though much the same process as one does to make a slip joint back spring flush in both the opened and closed positions making baby step adjustments until the detent once again catches and/or the point of the blade is once again tucked safely between the liners instead of sticking out to catch something like fingers or pant pockets. 

See the video for more. Now that I have a half way decent small camera for video I plan to try to do more of these for folks and some days I may have more time to devote to this than others so bear with me. I've been meaning to do this for a long time. See the video for more. 

STR








About lock cuts and how to do them.