Help with a stuck LB7 lockback?

E

Evilmav2

Joined
Feb 22, 2005
Messages
16
Hey guys, this is my first post here but I've been regularly reading this fine forum for quite a while now, and I was just wondering if I could ask some of y'all for a bit of advice. Just today I recieved an previously unused, but long-stored Schrade Uncle Henry LB7 in the mail (via Ebay), and after I opened the darned thing up for the first time, I have been unable to close the knife. When I first opened the knife the lockback engaged in a very solid fit, but now when I depress the rocking bar on the spine of the knife, the mechanism pushes in, making the blade feel lose, but even when I exert a fair amount of pressure I cannot get the blade to disengage and fold back into the handle of the knife.

The knife, while seeming very new and clean, did have a moderate amount of oil/dust residue on the blade and inside of the knife when I received it, so after the blade got stuck I cleaned the base of the blade and the lockback mechanism first with an air hose, then with cleanstreak, and then applied a graphite lubricant to the inside of the knife, but that has not done the trick. Is is defective (is there such a thing as a defective LB7 after goodness knows how many years Schrade Imperial made them)? Gummed up by old residue? I have no idea. Because of this, I've been butting my head against the wall and feeling like an idiot for the last 2 hours, and I just don't feel competent enough to attempt to take the brass-framed, nickel-bolstered knife apart, and I don't want to scratch it up and make it unreturnable by whacking the spine with a whole lot of force, or putting it in a vice and using pliers and elbow grease to force the lock...

Now I'm nowhere near as knowledgeble as the vast majority of the folks who post on this forum, but I do collect knives (my EDC's are a CS Voyager X2 and a much used old Buck 110), and as much as I hate having to make my first post here a newby style 'Help!' post, I will swallow my pride and say, "Please Help Me!". I've never experienced a problem like this with any knife that I've owned, so I would really appreciate any and all advice that any kind posters have to offer about this matter.

Thanks for your consideration, Matt.
 
Welcome to Bladeforums! If I understand you correctly the lockbar moves when you press it but not far enough to disengage the blade. I've had that happen when the joint gets all full of some kind of grit or gum or both. My solution was to clamp a vise onto the lockbar and with the extra leverage that gave me I was able to depress it far enough to move the blade. Once I got the blade free I found it easier to clean out the joint while moving the blade back and forth.

Be sure to pad the vise so it doesn't mar your knife. I use leather pads but cardboard works too (doesn't last long, but it works). If you don't have a vise you could try taping cardboard over the jaws of a pair of pliers.
 
Thanks Cougar! I'm going to try that right now. Do you have any suggestions for cleaning products/methods (while working the blade back and forth) that you might use in cleaning the join when (hopefully) I get the blade disengaged? If I can get the blade free I'll probably try cleanstreak again, and I might even try to use my dremel to really get after any gunk that's in there, but I would welcome any more suggestions you might have to make about the cleaning.

Thanks again, Matt.
 
This probably sounds scary but I've had good luck with hot water and dishwashing soap. Swish it around vigorously in the sink, alternating with holding it under the faucet. It won't be wet long enough to rust it -- when it's moving freely dry it with a paper towel and oil it. :cool:
 
I've had several lock up this way over the years, you might want to run very hot water into the knife with Joy liquid or equal dish detergent, it will cut all old oil and gunk out of knife and should loosen it up. Use a hair dryer to dry it well after your done, then light weight oil should work.
Sounds like there might have been a burr on either lock bar notch or blade lock notch, you may still have to work the dickens out of it by locking and releasing to wear the burr down. Cougars method always worked for me too, then the other method would usually clean it out very well.

Robbie Roberson ;)
EDIT, Cougar is on top of this one....................... :D I'm slow tonight.... :rolleyes:
 
If the lockbar still has some travel left depress it further. When my shrade 70T was brand new it was an absolute bear to get unlocked, hurt my fingers to do so actually.
 
Haha! Cougar's vice method worked like a charm to open the blade and I've proceeded to wash the heck out of the thing. I've gotten a lot of the grime out, and although I needed to use the vice again after I cleaned it the first time and it locked up, it does feel like it's getting loser. After I wash it another time or two I'll oil it and hopefully I'll get it to the point where the vice is unnecessary and I can massage it loser by opening and shutting for an hour or two...

Thanks to you both Cougar and Robbie, I really, really appreciate y'alls help on this.

Matt.

Update: It's a beast to open, but I can finally do it without the vice now (And I can personally attest to the fact that Yoda was absolutely right about in his description of what the crossbar of a new, tight Schrade will do to your thumb). Thanks again to all of y'all!
 
Good to hear, just keep unlocking it after it's dry over and over, (you may have to place a piece of leather on lock bar to keep from wearing your thumb out) it should eventually smooth up unless there is a burr. I have had to use a diamond file on blade lock notch before just to get it to release smoothly. You just have to be careful and only remove a tiny bit off the top/front edge of notch. Then rinse metal dust out............ :D

Robbie Roberson ;)
 
wetdog1911 said:
WOW! Good going guys! My suggestion was going to be to send it to Cliff Stamp. LOL

Rob
Click to expand...

Well, the 10 year old box on my new-oldstock LB7 may well say I get an unconditional 1 yr guarantee on the knife, but somehow I can't imagine that crushing its frame in a vice or repeatedly hammering the blade's edge into concrete would be the best possible way of testing that guarantee (aside from the fact that mice and janitors are probably the only creatures that still roam the dusty, sad, and abandoned halls of the Ellenville, NY Schrade complex)...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top