The Bears' Den--Shirogorov Showcase

My shiro makes a subtle vibration that resonates the Ti frame when it's tightened perfectly. I was in the habit of tightening it when needed, but I was worried about losing some hardware if I forgot to, so I ended up putting a tiny bit of blue lock tite on the pivot. It has been flipping perfectly with no backing out now for quite a while. I have never taken mine apart for fear of losing my balls.

There definitely is a sweet spot. Trial and error is the best way to set it. I found mine quite easy to dial in.

Edit.. so I actually went and flipped my shiro after posting this and my lock tite has given up. I put it to work over the weekend at my parents house planting trees, I gave it a good wash afterwards and hadn't picked it up until now. I picked up some grit and it's kind of rough. I might have to take it down. Sometimes it takes forever to flush the pivot.
 
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Well I ended up taking it apart in a break neck split decision. I couldn't find any reason for the gritty action. Looked pretty clean in there surprisingly. I cleaned what I could without disturbing the balls too much. Threw it back together and it's better, but not perfect. I might make another attempt when I have more time and a better setup. 20190521_214508-2241x3984.jpg
 
Thoughts? @mikomonday

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JustinFournier said:
Yes that TNK was a risk, the dealer in question wouldn’t let me open the knife to determine the issue myself so I returned it. The price I paid was for a good condition one and wasn’t worth the risk, the price you paid was. When you buy a knife that cheap, expect problems. But that knife is several years old and has to come from a secondary market.

The vast majority of my Shiros came from the Shiro website direct or R1. The 3 Zeros I got all came from R1. Want to see an invoice?

How many have you had? I’d estimate I’ve spent 10k+, wouldn’t be shocked to hear 15k on Shiro in the past 12 months. Probably close to 40 through my hands, no full customs but I’ve had.... 8-9 maybe over the 2k mark. They aren’t all bad, but some of them are.

Are you honestly saying if you had a second bad one you would dump the brand? How many do you have and still be in when I have never had 2 really good/perfect ones in a row. I’ve even sent a CD back to the shop and know others that have.

I also favour the designs I can tune myself, as I can generally tune them better than anything that comes out of the shop at CD level or down. I haven’t had a full custom to compare.

Ask @mpjustin about the mechanics on the F95R he bought from me. It was from R1 and was a huge POS I had to fix nearly every aspect of, including hardware. I tuned it till it was better than any Shiro I’ve ever had, and as good as the CD Sergey personally tuned for me.

Admittedly I have high expectations, and I feel at this price point they are warranted. Just like I expect more from my BMW than I do my wife’s Chrysler.

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marcus52AR said:
Well I ended up taking it apart in a break neck split decision. I couldn't find any reason for the gritty action. Looked pretty clean in there surprisingly. I cleaned what I could without disturbing the balls too much. Threw it back together and it's better, but not perfect. I might make another attempt when I have more time and a better setup. View attachment 1132702
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Try loosening the pivot slightly
 
Maybe I'm just blessed with dumb luck, but the 2 Shiro's I've had (now just the Turtle) are simply perfect out of the box. I cannot personally imagine any perceived improvement to be gained by tuning them. The pivot on my T does not have any locktite on it, so when things feel a little loose I simply use my thumbnail and tighten it back down ('just to the point of being a little painful on my thumbnail' tight). Action is snappy, 100% reliable opening, and almost drop shut. Centering couldn't be any more dead nuts on.

So, I mean this question seriously, what on earth are you guys tuning them for?
 
TRfromMT said:
Maybe I'm just blessed with dumb luck, but the 2 Shiro's I've had (now just the Turtle) are simply perfect out of the box. I cannot personally imagine any perceived improvement to be gained by tuning them. The pivot on my T does not have any locktite on it, so when things feel a little loose I simply use my thumbnail and tighten it back down ('just to the point of being a little painful on my thumbnail' tight). Action is snappy, 100% reliable opening, and almost drop shut. Centering couldn't be any more dead nuts on.

So, I mean this question seriously, what on earth are you guys tuning them for?
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I see it more as maintenance than tuning
 
Mine came dead centered even if I turn the pivot a full turn to loosen it, like I said before, even if its snug, it flips great but doesnt fall that freely, it can have a snappy action if too tight, or a smooth one in the right spot, gonna try some purple loctite
 
Clarification to my question... I understand cleaning (for grittiness, I've had mine apart once for cleaning) and fixing off centered blades.

I mean to ask what sort of perfect tuning are you aiming for? What specific action, for those of you who feel that these knives need to be tuned to perfection?

Respectfully,
 
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I only own one shiro, but tuning your knives is something I do with almost everyone, dial until its snug and turn 1/8 increments loose, until it hits the sweet spot, the knife deploys smooth not thumpy, and it falls almost freely with the blade centered and no blade play, that is the sweet spot, I can get my other knives quite easily, thats as best as I can describe it
 
I’ve had my Turtle for three weeks tomorrow. I haven’t carried any of my other knives since I got it.
A few days ago it was like it all of a sudden it finally broke itself in. The blade is perfectly centered, no blade play in any direction and the pivot has not moved at all. I took a picture of it when I got it to keep a reminder of where the pivot was on the show side. It has always flipped open just how I like it, but now it drops shut with no help and if you don’t watch your finger placement when unlocking the knife if will give you a nice little bite when the blade falls.
I haven’t made any adjustments to the pivot or anything else on the knife.
 
DRLyman said:
I’ve had my Turtle for three weeks tomorrow. I haven’t carried any of my other knives since I got it.
A few days ago it was like it all of a sudden it finally broke itself in. The blade is perfectly centered, no blade play in any direction and the pivot has not moved at all. I took a picture of it when I got it to keep a reminder of where the pivot was on the show side. It has always flipped open just how I like it, but now it drops shut with no help and if you don’t watch your finger placement when unlocking the knife if will give you a nice little bite when the blade falls.
I haven’t made any adjustments to the pivot or anything else on the knife.
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So you're saying your pivot has a snug factory finish, and it flips and drops smoothly? maybe the shiro's dont need dialing it after all, thanks, Ill try that
 
TRfromMT said:
Maybe I'm just blessed with dumb luck, but the 2 Shiro's I've had (now just the Turtle) are simply perfect out of the box. I cannot personally imagine any perceived improvement to be gained by tuning them. The pivot on my T does not have any locktite on it, so when things feel a little loose I simply use my thumbnail and tighten it back down ('just to the point of being a little painful on my thumbnail' tight). Action is snappy, 100% reliable opening, and almost drop shut. Centering couldn't be any more dead nuts on.

So, I mean this question seriously, what on earth are you guys tuning them for?
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Mechanically speaking my own F95T came to me with what from what I have gathered on here, as "perfect" action, i.e, perfectly centered, flipped open like flicking on a light switch and drops shut with gravity with zero blade play in any direction. However there was one glaring flaw on that knife which was a very goofy finish at the tip (rolled a bit) which I had to send to Josh (R.E.K) to correct and reprofile after I just messed up the whole thing with my amateur hands! At first I thought that it was done by the previous owner but low and behold I have seen enough F95T (M390 variety) on here and there to have detected the same weird looking tip so maybe there was a batch of them released like that?! No matter now!

I think you can comfortably guess that our Justin is indeed in top 1% anal when it comes to scrutinizing and detecting things that most may either not discern or just ignore but that is not him. I don't mean this as a derogatory remark but rather as a compliment when I say that he's even got a "reputation" with our own Nathan & Jo :D I also know that you are also very detail conscious by training as an engineer and that when your findings tell you that your F95T is perfect, then its pretty darn close to PERFECT. Luckily for me, because Justin had entrusted me to have first dibs on his many Shiros to keep or otherwise to market to other Shiro-bros, I've (first hand) noticed variations in their actions and came to the conclusion that comparing one serial pattern to another would be a vexing exercise. Some are just tuned better and turn out better than others but I have yet to come across one that detracts me from spending more money on the make if/when I am able to.

As always YMMY ;)
 
TRfromMT said:
Maybe I'm just blessed with dumb luck, but the 2 Shiro's I've had (now just the Turtle) are simply perfect out of the box. I cannot personally imagine any perceived improvement to be gained by tuning them. The pivot on my T does not have any locktite on it, so when things feel a little loose I simply use my thumbnail and tighten it back down ('just to the point of being a little painful on my thumbnail' tight). Action is snappy, 100% reliable opening, and almost drop shut. Centering couldn't be any more dead nuts on.

So, I mean this question seriously, what on earth are you guys tuning them for?
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They don’t all come that perfect my friend.
 
CPP said:
I noticed the same thing on my Zero a day or two after receiving it. I noticed there was a very minor amount of side-to-side blade play and tightened the pivot slightly and the blade returned to being centered. I was surprised the back spacer could even accommodate
any deviation
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The pivot came loose? Was there any loctite on it?!
 
I feel lucky, mine came perfect, was not as thrilled since it has only SRBS but it flicks great and fall shut freely, reading about your experiences with Shiros, it should break in, so its gonna be a great knife
 
JustinFournier said:
The pivot came loose? Was there any loctite on it?!
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Yes, it did. I noticed the blade was off centered right after reading your previous posts. I'm positive it came centered as it's easy to notice with the backspacer. I doubt there was Loctite on it since it did come loose, but I haven't taken it apart yet
 
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