Let's talk Northwoods

Jathes said:
I've flushed and worked mine and the snap improved. I think the pull seems weak because I was pinching it open so far from the pivot.
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LastRodeo said:
I’m not so certain it’s a week spring. I think there is a lot of friction on the pivot. Flush it good with oil, get the gunk out. Then work it to smooth out the tang. I think they leave the tang unfinished, like the back of the blade, and it takes a bit to smooth it out.
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What is your process for flushing out the knives? What oil do you us Every? Thanks.
 
Pull, walk & talk, and fit & finish are the same as any Fremont Jack I have owned since 2014. Pull is about a 5. Snap is good both ways.

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Jathes said:
My Northwoods knives:
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Pull and snap on the Fremont Jack is lacking, but I think it may just be an admiring knife for me anyway.
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Kiro said:
Got mine today and agree the spring is weak. Still has a nice snap sound when opening. Grind is a bit uneven, but not bad. Fit and finish otherwise is great.
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I agree with these comments. The opening pull was a little soft. The closing was slow. I flushed it with mineral oil and it didn't improve much at first. I continued to work it and it smoothed out, the opening pull is where I like it, and a closing snap showed itself. I guess I should have started with a WD40 flush first like I usually do; I will do that today. (I don' quite have the courage to do a soap and water flush on a new collectible yet.) I still have to get some pictures to post.
 
Last edited:
I got mine yesterday as well. The the pull was sluggish to the half stop and closing was slow. But after opening and closing it a few times (I’d say 10 times or so), the action improved dramatically.

Just like another member reported earlier, the edge wasn’t very straight. The tip of my Fremont Jack sweeps up slightly.

Overall, I am happy with my knife. I plan on keeping and using it so the edge doesn’t bother me at all.
 
After flushing mine out and working the action a bit, it is snapping closed now. It definitely has a stronger snap to open than to closed, but that is precisely how I would want it, if I were ordering a custom knife.

Edit to add... beside flushing out the normal grime I have come to expect needing to do with a GEC, a small bit of solid debris came out.
 
All beautiful knives, Al! You got some real stunners there.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
I have been using Quick Release Oil and Birchwood/Casey Gunscrubber for years on all my knives and they all respond well to a good initial cleaning when new.
 
singin50 said:
All beautiful knives, Al! You got some real stunners there.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
I have been using Quick Release Oil and Birchwood/Casey Gunscrubber for years on all my knives and they all respond well to a good initial cleaning when new.
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I did finish up with a few drops of Quick Release, aftr the majority of the gunk was flushed.
 
singin50 said:
All beautiful knives, Al! You got some real stunners there.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
I have been using Quick Release Oil and Birchwood/Casey Gunscrubber for years on all my knives and they all respond well to a good initial cleaning when new.
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Me too, Perry but I've recently switched it up a little. I still use Gunscrubber but I've traded off the Quick Release for Seal1 CLP.

Nothing wrong with the Quick Release. In fact, it's a very good lubricant. Seal1 lubricates just as well and does some other stuff that I really like too. It's even fun to use if that makes any sense.
 
singin50 said:
Hey Rick, tell me more! I'm very interested in the rest of this story.
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Perry, this is probably going too far off topic for this sub forum. I posted a message on your profile. Shoot me an email and I'll elaborate on the rest of the story.
 
MCar said:
If anyone from KSF is reading this, I hope you'll consider a Fremont Jack that's a barehead. It much more apropos with the "rustic" theme and....it would send collectors and users BOTH over the moon.

Come on....bareheads are best! :D
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I'm a girl, so forgive my unintelligence when it comes to slipjoint-lingo...is a "barehead" a pocket knife with no top bolster?
 
hovan2yourknives said:
So I got my Fremont Jack in the mail today and, as soon as I got back to the house, I got ready to sharpen it up to put it to use. Right before I started, I checked to see how flat the edge was on a flat steel plate and noticed that the tip had been over-sharpened but since it had a lot of “meat” by the sharpening choil I wasn’t overly concerned.

For most of my traditionals, I use a benchstone. I’ll pick from a variety of stones depending on type of steel, edge geometry, etc. For this blade I decided to start with my Venev Bonded Diamond 8 X 3 stones. They don’t have too many miles on them and are still as flat as they where when I got them (no light shining through at all if you know what I mean). I kept most of the pressure towards the tip since that was the area tha wasn’t contacting the stone and even had the blade angled so the tip was ahead of the rest of the edge during the sharpening strokes. It took about 30 minutes to finally get it sharp at the tip and in the process I ended up with almost nothing left at the sharpening choil and a blade that is much thicker behind the edge than it should be. Also during inspection of the edge with a loupe, I noticed some discoloration at the tip...it was obviously overheated on the belt at the factory. Not the end of the world but from what I’ve seen lately, this seems to be an issue with a lot of “straight-edged” blades from GEC, this one being the worst that I’ve seen in my recent purchases.

Anyone else have a new one with an over sharpened and/or overheated tip...?

I’ll still enjoy it and I’m thankful that I was able to get my hands on one...just wish that they’d address the sharpening team over there. I’ve never seen one with an edge that’s worth a damn...sometimes they’re ok but they should be able to get the much sharper on a consistent basis.

All the best!
Hovan
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Hey Hovan-I too have been curious about the "overheated" tip. I have a crosscut mammoth whittler(Northwoods) and the smaller blade of the two has a "cooked" blade tip. I was glad it wasn't the bigger blade that had this blemish, but not sure if someone's just being a little careless-I think they need to be more careful about this, if it's happening with multiples...
 
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