Original 4" Ti-Lite parts

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Aug 15, 2020
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I have an original Ti-lite in titanium/VG-1 the lock spring is worn so there is crazy play in the acction. Any chance someone has an old parts knife? I'm looking to replace the lock spring and the pivot washers. I know this is a real long shot, but worth a try, I've owned it for 15 years, carried it when all three of my kids were born.... you know the drill. Its unusable now and I haven't gotten any response from Cold Steel customer service in two weeks.
Thanks in advance.
 
I don't have any liner lock replacements, nor do I know of any sources other than one from a new knife or a pre-owned knife off of ebay. But I don't know if the current stainless liner lock would be a direct replacement for the older titanium one. And of course a pre-owned knife is also likely to have a worn lock. But I have a few tricks for extending the life of both the lock and the knife (but not without some level of difficulty).

Method #1- Over the years my Ti-Lite 4 developed a late lock up, and the idea I came up with to "fix" it was to try and find a thin sleeve of steel tubing to place over the stop pin. The idea being that a stop pin of slightly larger diameter would stop the blade sooner, pushing the blade ever so slightly forward, and this would cause the lock to engage the tang sooner.

After a bit of searching and trying various pieces of tubing, I found the perfect item (picture below), the stem of a stainless steel snap set. After filing the tip of the stem down a bit to achieve an even tube (the tip has a narrower opening), and then cutting the stem off the base, I filed it down (inserting the back end of a same diameter drill bit to hold it) and custom fit it to the exact length of the section of the stop pin that is exposed when the knife is assembled. To my happy surprise, the inner diameter of the snap stem was a perfect fit for the stop pin with no slack between the two, like they were made for each other.

I assembled the knife, and it worked. The lock-up was significantly earlier, even earlier than when the knife was brand new. One issue however is that this "fix" causes the blade to be canted slightly forward. But as you can see in the pic of my knife below, it's hard to notice, and it doesn't affect the usefulness of the knife.

Another issue is that since the stop pin is now a larger diameter it may be necessary to remove a small amount of steel from the blade kick where it contacts the stop pin when the knife is closed. This is so the detent ball will drop properly into the detent divot like it should to keep the knife closed. Filing the kick down may require a diamond file as the blade may be too hard for a standard file.

One other caveat I will add is that I don't know if the stop pin in your knife is the same exact diameter as the one in mine (different version, different year). So I can't guarantee that the snap stem would be a perfect fit for your knife, but the principle should work (a very thin sleeve of steel over the stop pin), it's just a matter of finding the right sleeve.

If my Ti-Lite 4 looks "odd", it's because it's been significantly modified/slimmed down to better suit me (guards removed, handle butt reshaped).


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Method #2 (Picture below)- This is a method I use for stretching a liner lock to achieve an earlier lock-up.

What I do is use a pointed punch with a rounded tip to punch a few rows of shallow divots across the base of the lock. Punching a divot pushes the metal outward, which in this case pushes the lock upwards creating an earlier lock-up. I've used this method several times with successful results. It typically takes three rows of divots to stretch the lock to the desired degree of lock-up.

Here's how I do it- Draw a line straight across the base of the lock with a sharpie, tape the lock flat to a hard steel surface (I use the anvil portion of my bench vise), then punch a straight row of divots across the line, not hitting the punch hard, one can always make a divot deeper if necessary. Punch the divots as close together as possible trying to avoid each previous divot. Also put the separate rows of divots as close together as possible.

You want to use a rounded punch and not a pointy punch because the goal is to push the metal outward, not pierce the metal, and a pointy punch won't push as well as a rounded one.

The lock doesn't need to be stretched very far to produce an earlier lock-up. Likely less than a millimeter.

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Now the subject of washers. Cold Steel knives made in Taiwan use metric measurements. I also believe they use washers made just for their knives. Finding washers of the exact same size may be difficult to impossible, so you might have to modify a set. Bronze phosphor washers are the easiest to modify because being stiff metal you can use files and sandpaper. The pivot of my T4 is 5mm, and the closest you might find are washers with a 3/16" ID, so you might have to enlarge the holes (definitely if they are 3/16"). The thickness of my washers appears to be .015", which is a common thickness for BP washers. As for the outer diameter, you don't need the exact same size as the originals, you just have to make sure the washer on the lock side doesn't interfere with the lock. I buy bronze phosphor washers from usaknifemaker.com. and knifekits.com. I'm thinking for this, usaknifemaker is your best bet.

Well, that's about all I can think of. I wish I had easier solutions for you. But this is the best I've got. Sometimes keeping an old knife going takes a bit of work. If modifying the knife like I've described seems too intimidating or difficult, a new Ti-Lite 4 with zytel handles costs around $50, if the knife is of sentimental value and you want to try the easiest way to keep it going, you might buy a new knife and try swapping the lock (you would also get a variety of other spare parts, including new washers). But of course that's a gamble. Good luck. If you have any questions, feel free to ask :) .
 
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Thank you for the advice!
I am honestly worried about trying to stretch titanium.. I am considering wagering the $50 to get a parts knife and potentially get all the stuff I need, definitely need to weigh my options here. I measured the gap with the blade all the way to the stop pin.... ~.028" or .68 mm.... so not a ton, I slightly bent the liner lock to increase the lock percentage and it took up .003" or so of the gap.
I'll keep y'all posted on what goes down.
Thanks again.
 
Well...,.. impulse got the best of me... I stretched it. Then I had to bend the lock bar back out since the lockup was only ~10% or so. It's down to probably.010" play now. Here's a neat little trick for anyone who's wondering, all of the four pins along the back of the knife are identical so I took the worn stop pin out and put it towards the butt and put the butt stop pin towards the action which took out another . 002" or so of play. It's still not solid enough for me to carry, I may try the sleeve trick next. I also may give the donor zyytel unit a try.... Ti against VG1, To is always going to lose, the stainless may hold up better as a lock bar than the Ti did......
 
I don't have a set of calipers, but my stop pin seems to be pretty darn close to 4mm OD, measuring with my Digi-Key ruler. Does that jive with your stainless lined model? I didn't think to measure the pivot when I had the whole damn thing broken down..... regretting that now. Also do you have specs on the liner screws?
 
Reading your latest posts it occurred to me that you probably have nothing to lose by attempting to stretch the lock, if the knife has no chance of working anyways. Just remember shallow divots.

As far as the stop pin and other threaded handle posts, mine are all 3.5mm in diameter. The bottom post is longer than the others and has a larger diameter screw than the others. The post at the very bottom has a screw of 2.5mm diameter, 4mm in threaded length, but SAE 3-56 is also a good thread fit. The rest of the handle screws are 2mm diameter and 3mm threaded length, but it's been my experience that the threaded posts Cold Steel uses will accept screws much longer than stock, including in my Tite-Lite 4.

Problem is, if your posts are 4mm OD, then that means the hardware in your knife is different than mine. So my knife specs might not help you.
 
Mine might be 3.5mm, I was eyeballing it... I don't know where my caliper is...lol. I terestingly, all of my throughposts, including the stop pin are identical as far as I could tell, especially since I removed and replaced them at random, with the exception of the stop pin, with obvious wear. It went to the last position. Interesting.....
 
Oh, I already stretched it hours ago..lol....
I did two rows using a center punch that I filed the point down on. I'm within .005" or so from solid lockup..... After I took it apart I remembered that I had fashioned a spacer on the one side that I had lost so before I stretch the lock bar any further I'm going to try to find a bronze phosphor washer and see if re-centering the blade helps the lock up.
 
I found my calipers and the pivot pin is 7/32"(.215" exactly)or 5.56 mm( i just noticed the irony of the diameter there......) not sure if your 5mm number was rounding or measured exact. I have found 7/32" bronze phosphor washers on a knife kits site. figured I'd get your feedback before going further.
 
My two are also metric but both purchased new within the last five years so a lot newer.

Only bringing it up because I had trouble with washers. I purchased the washers so long ago I can't say the size, but they just barely slide on. Putting them together, they worked fine for a few openings, but then it felt gummed up, and it'd stay that way til I stopped using it for awhile. Initially I thought it was just a matter of needing to be broken in, but it never went away, so I thought maybe the heat from friction wasn't good with it being tight like that. Anyway, eventually I took it apart again, slightly widened the hole of the washers, and it was fine after that. So if when you buy yours slide on the pivot tight, I'd suggest taking them off and widening a bit before you put it all back together.
 
Roger that. I'll test fit them and bore the centers as needed. I assume already I'll have to modify the thickness to center the blade anyways. It'll be Dremel and sandpaper for me.
 
I never round numbers when it comes to knife specs :) .

My pivot is exactly 5mm (.197") in diameter.

The titanium Ti-Lite 4 with VG-1 blade was a "Special Project" knife for CS. I'm not sure exactly to what extent they were made in Japan. Maybe just the blade was made in Japan (VG-1 being a Japanese steel), and the rest was made elsewhere, but that's just me speculating. My T4 was made in Taiwan, basic model. It would surprise me that Japan would use "standard" spec parts, since they use the metric system, but since you say your pivot is 7/32", clearly someone did.

If you can get washers of the exact size I say go for it. The thickness of the washers in my T4 are .015", but it's entirely possible the ones in your knife might be different just like the pivot. Nice thing about BP washers is that they are inexpensive, so one could buy a variety, and being metal they can be customized rather easily.
 
Soooo....... I did a thing... the few 1/1000s of an inch of lock up play pissed me off, so I went rogue. I cut the bullet off a .22 rimfire then cut the primer end off....so i had a sleeve that was too big in ID. so I snipped the wall and made a tiny brass snail shell out of it til it fit the stop pin snugly. I put the overlapped side away from the action and voila!! no more lock up play. its brass so it won't last forever, and it feels a little tight at lockup but hey, for $.05 and a pipe cutter for ten minutes....... I can't bitch. 50% lock-up with the thumb stud, a little more when i use the pocket opening technique..... more to come... I might even take some photos........
 
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I'm glad things are working out. That lock-up looks good.

It's not absolutely necessary that the sleeve be a perfect fit for the stop-pin. As long as it's close in fit it will still produce the desired effect of pushing the blade a fraction forward. When the knife is fully open, or closed, the blade will press the sleeve firmly against the stop pin.

The most important characteristic of the sleeve is the thickness (or thinness), too thick and it will push the blade too far forward and the lock won't engage the tang at all. But it looks like you don't have that issue.

Something I forgot to mention that you may have discovered is that adding the sleeve to the stop pin might require a little material to be removed from the end of the back spacer where it contacts the stop pin to provide clearance.
 
Wouldn't it be nice if they could design a Ti Lite with the Triad Lock. The Frenzy is roughly the same sized handle and blade so I don't see why not?
 
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