Smoothing the rolling lock

Latebound

Latebound

Joined
Jun 20, 2001
Messages
33
Tell me I'm not the only person to ever do something like this.

I was inspired to try improving the feel of the rolling lock on my Pocket Hobbit last weekend. . .

Part 1:
I started by taking the knife apart completely. I then used a Dremel tool with felt wheel and polishing compound to smooth the base of the blade, the curved part that slides against the locking mechanism as the knife is opened and closed. Result: noticeable improvement, much smoother opening and closing, less gritty feeling.

Part 2:
I disassembled the knife again. I used the Dremel tool again, this time concentrating on the part of the blade and liner making contact with the little plastic washers. The liner was easy to polish; the ATS-34 blade was not so easy. I carefully cleaned the polish residue from the parts and soaked the washers with a silicon lubricant. Result: another noticeable improvement, smoooooth. Even more "flickable" than before.

Anything else you guys have tried?

BTW: I love my Dremel tool. Worth getting just for the ability to polish feed ramps on my firearms; now I've found another use for that polishing wheel.

-Latebound
 
My Sifu & Pocket Hobbit were both very smooth openers right from the beginning & didn't need any tinkering. My Carnivour, however, was not nearly as smooth. I refrained from breaking out the Dremel but I did succeed in easily smoothing out the action.

First, I tried simply loosening the pivot screw but it made no noticeable improvement. Next I loosened the first of the spacer screws behind the stop pin, and the action became considerably smoother. I retightened the screw, hand tight, and the action did not stiffen up. I suspect that it had initially been overtightened in manufacturing.

At that point, although the blade could be easily thumb-flicked open, the action still felt somewhat gritty when "riding" the thumb stud to the open position. My standard lubricant, Tuf-Glide, didn't seem to help much so I tried working some Sentry BP2000 powder into the action & that did the trick.

BTW, welcome to BF!

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Cheers,
Brian

He who finishes with the most toys wins.

NOTE: My old PhotoPoint site is no more. Follow the "toys" link to my new site.
 
I've had great success imrpoving the action on many of my REKAT's but I also avoid the Dremel on the action. I do tons of work with my Dremel but the action of the Rolling Lock is such that I don't want to risk taking much off. Instead I use a 1200 - 1500 grit paper and do it by hand.

I also polish the part of the liner where the lock arm slides as well as polish the lock arm itself. This has greatly imrpoved the lock release mechanism's feel.

My Carbon Fiber Carnivour didn't need anything as it was smooth as butter out of the box.

I think one of the most appealing factors about the REKAT's is how fun and easy they are to perform DIY projects on.

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Hi 'ya Latebound, welcome to the forums! I have used the 12-pack method to smooth up a few Rekat's. I'd sit around opening the folder a few hundred times while watching TV or surfing the net and sipping suds. Gotta be kinda cautious though
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I've also got a Dremel tool and use it alot. It can turn a $10 "hog cane" into a first-class self-defense weapon in less than an hour. Good for milliing thumb ramps into G-10 scales also. One of the best presents I've ever bought myself. If you don't have the flex-cable gizmos get one, they are great.
Regards,
Clyde
 
Just got a used Cub and now I'm curious about this. Mine's gritty too. I don't have a Dremel tool, but I'd like to take mine apart just to clean it out and lube it thoroughly. How hard is it to take apart and--more importantly--reassemble? And where in the world do you guys get sandpaper at such high grits?

[This message has been edited by Shmackey (edited 06-22-2001).]
 
REKAT folders are pretty simple to "take apart" and to re-assemble (just PAY ATTENTION to what you are doing), but keep in mind that "tinkering" WILL void the warrenty.

As far as "high grit" (1000-2500) sandpaper goes, I buy mine from a local "paint-supply" store.

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Dann Fassnacht
Aberdeen, WA
<A HREF="mailto:glockman99@hotmail.com
glockman99@yahoo.com">glockman99@hotmail.com
glockman99@yahoo.com</A>
ICQ# 53675663
 
Shmacky, I just want to mention that when you disassemble the side of the handle with th slidebar to be careful of the spring. It is normally glued in, but sometimes they are not or the glue has come loose. I know from experience that the spring will shoot out never to be found again! I recommend disassembling that side of the handle with a towel over the knife so the spring can't fly off.

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A Pat on the Back is only a few inches from a Kick in the Butt.
 
Latebound -- welcome to the forums! Excellent first post!

I'm so non-mechanical it is embarrassing. I have serious doubts about my ability to put things back together after I've dis-assembled them. This is based on a lot of bad experience.

But, I have a Pioneer 1, that is still grittier than I'd like. My first efforts at lubing it were unsuccessful, until I began concentrating on the area where the lock bar rubs against the liner. But, the level of effort needed to open or close it, and the gritty feeling, are still bothersome. I have a Dremel tool, that gets little use.

When you say you are buffing, I assumed you weren't removing any metal with your efforts. But, one other poster seemed to assume that metal was being removed. So, was it?

What shape of felt wheel did you use? ARe there several? Do you recommend a particular buffing compound? Even if I can't get it back together, I'd at least like to do a good job of buffing things while it is apart.

I'd appreciate the help. Hopefully, won't have to get back on here begging for help reassembling it.
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Asi es la vida

Bugs
 
Thanks for all the great replies.

My Pocket Hobbit is my absolute favorite knife right now (haven't gotten a SIFU yet. . . YET) and I don't mean to imply any insult to the quality of REKAT or that it was ever really unpleasant to open or anything. Don't you just love that sound when the lock clicks into place!

I should clarify that I did NOT remove metal with the dremel tool and I was very carefull to avoid the critical parts of the rolling lock. I did not even touch the part of the blade that is engaged by the lock. Besides, I'm talking about using a 1/2" felt wheel and some white rouge polishing compound, not a ceramic grinding wheel or anything.
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In fact, a possible downside of this method is that it won't get rid of any surface deformities, it will just smooth them out enough to make them less noticeable. The difference should be like sliding your finger nail against a chalk board vs. sliding your finger nail against a glass window.

I have 3 different shapes of felt wheels(I'm sure there are many more). . . bullet shaped, small wheel, and large wheel. I used the small wheel and liberal amounts of polishing compound, while being carefull to hold it perpendicular to the blade while polishing. I didn't want to change any or the curves, just smooth the existing ones.

I don't think the exact kind of polishing compound makes much difference, as long as the packaging says it is meant for polishing ferris metal. A little 4oz tube should only cost a few bucks and should last you forever. There are lots of different kinds of polishing compounds; I don't think the stuff made to polish plastic would be very helpful on a nice solid chunk of ATS-34.
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Reassembly shouldn't be too hard. It helps to disassemble the knife from the side opposite the lock. It shouldn't be necessary to mess with any of the screws on the lock side. . . at least it wasn't with the Pocket Hobbit.

I do have one of those flexi-cable thingys. I agree, It's much easier to do delicate work with something the size of a pen. I like the idea of the 12-pack method, but isn't your thumb a little sore after all that work? or does the alcohol dull the pain? Besides that, my wife and kids would look at me funny.

-Latebound
 
Don't worry about offending anyone here. I think we all know that REKAT has sketchy QC, they are not quite as refined as other complanies and some of them are damn ugly.

But when it comes to making a very sturdy knife that holds a great edge and won't test that edge closing on your fingers, they win the crown in the sub $150 battle, IMO.

To me they also have that under dog appeal, not quite sure how to put my finger on it. Bottom line is when I find one and have the green I try to buy it, unless Glockman99 beats me to it. (which he usually does)

Well, I think I was the one that cautioned people about not removing too much metal. I did that as a standard disclaimer.

My experience with Dremel's has shown that the buffing wheels often do not work as well as a larger buffer (obvious), so the desire I hear from many, and fall victim to myself, is to get one of the impregnated rubber wheels, sandpaper disks or something more aggressive.

I think if I just warn people to use caution maybe they won't get out of hand and screw up a good knife.

Stick to the felt wheel and compound and you can hardly go wrong. I personally stay away from my dremel as a buffer and use 1000+ sandpaper as I have more control over it. I save the Dremel for more demanding work and applications where I'd use 40 - 200 grit paper etc...

Have fun!

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[This message has been edited by cpirtle (edited 06-26-2001).]
 
How would you know if you removed too much metal? Now you've got me worried. I only used 600-grit paper and lube, though.
 
Don't worry, if it's still tight everywhere and the lock still engages well you're okay.

I don't think anyones fingers are strong enough to remove too much metal from REKAT's ATS-34 with 600 grit. It's easy to remove too much with a Dremel though.

We had a discussion a while back about the slide position on the Rolling lock. Basically what we found was that as the Rolling lock wears the slide lock moves forward more and more when in the open position. If your slide started out about 70% forward and it moved to %80 forward you didn't do any damage probably. If your lock started at 70% forward and now goes all the way with a little blade play you probably took too much off.

Hope that makes at least a little sense.

BTW, if your lock goes all the way forward and lockup is still tight you probably still have a ton of life left in your lock. I've got 2 that go almost 100% forward and they are tight as ever.

Have fun
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cpirtle,

I still have a couple of Cold Steel folders left...Do you have any REKATs that you want to trade-off?.
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Dann Fassnacht
Aberdeen, WA
<A HREF="mailto:glockman99@hotmail.com
glockman99@yahoo.com">glockman99@hotmail.com
glockman99@yahoo.com</A>
ICQ# 53675663
 
I see you beat me to the Carni Cub, foiled again Batman! (I'm mean Glockman
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)

No way, the REKAT's I've got I'm keeping, and adding on as needed/possible.

I'm even keeping the POS I made for spare parts. Sans one "Grub screw" I'm sending to Australia.
 
cpirtle,

No problem Buddy, as I'm now down to only one Cold Steel folder, anyway, and I think I'll give that one to my wife (Medium plain-edge clip-point Voyager).
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...But with the addition of the NIT Carnivour Cub (that I JUST traded for
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), I now have 8 REKAT folders!!
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.

BTW, from what I understand, this 'Cub is pretty SMOOTH, so I won't have to "smooth the rolling lock" on THIS one. (Just to get this thread "back on track"...LOL!!).

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Dann Fassnacht
Aberdeen, WA
<A HREF="mailto:glockman99@hotmail.com
glockman99@yahoo.com">glockman99@hotmail.com
glockman99@yahoo.com</A>
ICQ# 53675663
 
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