How To LIner Lock Centering

Joined
Aug 17, 2001
Messages
345
Hi all,
Just wondering how y'all have 'solved' a liner lock blade centering issue? ... oversized washers on the opposite side to the liner lock bar? ... or some other way.
Not a "big deal" but am interested in what others have come up with :)
Thanks,
J
 
Usually just loosened the pivot, held the blade centered and tightened it back down. If that doesn't fix it I'm usually either going to decide to live with it or send it in for warranty work/return it.
 
I haven't tried this technique but I've read it a couple of places, but loosen the the screws on the scales but don't remove. Then adjust the pivot screw to the point of centered when closed and no play while open. Then re-tighten the screws on the scales. Supposed to hold everything in the right place at that point. Makes sense in my head, but yet to try it in real life.
 
I did source larger washers from usaknifemaker for a knife that was still unsatisfactory after a return trip to the manufacturer. It‘s still not perfect, but it’s good enough.

Frankly, Spyderco should’ve just warranted the knife and sent me a new one.
 
Loosen handle screws and pivot, hold blade toward side you want it to to go toward while you tighten handle screws and finally pivot screw.

You can put a folded piece of paper between blade and handle slab to keep it pushed over while you tighten. There are videos on YouTube to help.
 
Same as a frame lock
Open blade 90 degrees and tighten pivot really tight
Close and loosen frame screws
Push blade over in the direction you want- I usually wedge a piece of folded paper in) and tighten frame screws.
Adjust pivot
Repeat if needed
 
This solution is a little more radical, but it’s worked for me on three different liner lock knives. Look at the tip of the blade. Now imagine how you could curve the knife like a banana to center the tip. Take the knife apart, and CAREFULLY bend one or both liners in the required direction (maybe start with the nonlock side first). Bend a little at a time (1/4 millimeter maybe) and reassemble often to check centering. You don’t want to go too far, and you don’t want to kink the liner. Like I said, I’ve done this with three knives to correct centering by very small amounts. It’s also possible in principle to do this on a liner lock, but slabs are way stronger than liners. If the correction is small, it’s undetectable. A large correction would probably result in a noticeable gap between liner and scale.
 
To each his own but on the one liner lock I own loosened all the screws then tighten pivot but not too tight then start tightening all a the rest. Once you get that done to your satisfaction remove pivot screw, apply a little dab of blue locktite and retighten. Let sit for 24 hours.
 
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Just to cover all bases- be sure you have a centering problem and not just a tip that has an off grind and the illusion of the blade being off center.
 
Thanks guys ... some interesting info ... and although not too "anal" about having the perfect centre, i'll try a couple of the suggestions to see what happens.

Thank you all :)

J
 
It never bothered me unless the blade touched the liners
But similar to what was mentioned above I rolled a little paper and flattened
Then loosened the pivot then stuffed the paper on the side where blade is closest to the liner to push it away
Lastly retightened the pivot then pulled the paper out
 
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