TLDR; I made my buddies Gerber knife less Gerbery, if you catch my drift. All my posts are long 
Long version:
So I was showing my knife mods off to a buddy of mine, and he told me to have some fun with his EDC and do whatever I wanted to it to make it better.
It's a Gerber Paraframe II
I don't think that many people on this forum own knives like the Paraframe II. I know that Gerber makes some good knives, especially fixed blades. This knife that my friend handed me would not fit a knife nerds definition of a good knife. But I could see how for an average guy stopping at a store to pick up a knife, it works... I messed around with it and it's not bad after a few modifications. Fits well in the pocket, ergo's are decent for light duty cutting, stays out of the way. If you think of it as a locking slip joint, it's pretty decent for the money (after the mods). Steel is either 7Cr17MoV or mystery steel depending on where you look.
There were a few issues with it:
- horizontal blade play
- free spinning pivot (Gerber did not want or expect anyone to take the time to take one of these apart...)
- ridiculously long pocket clip lip
- poor action
- lock hitting the opposite side frame (at 100% lockup)
- chip in the blade
- sharper than a butter knife, but not sharp enough...
Here's what I did to it:
1. Used a dremel to cut a sharpening notch and a notch into the smooth side of the pivot to be able to take the knife apart.
2. Cleaned the insides with soap and water.
3. Used a file to clean out some burrs in the lock bar.
4. Used a belt sander to chamfer the inside of the lock bar where the thumb pushes it over. My friend mentioned that it wasn't comfortable to release the lock bar.
5. Bent the lockbar over a bit to reduce the spring tension because the tension was way over the top.
6. Sharpened the knife to 16 dps convex on the worksharp, then 20 micro on the Sharpmaker ceramic rods.
- I have (2) sharpness tests that I use for general knives.
- cutting copy paper
>> I really like this test to be able to see where the knife catches on the paper. That tells me that there is still a chip or inconsistency in that area.
- running the knife down the back of my head to see how well the edge catches on my hair.
- for some reason, I was able to get push cutting but sliding on my hair, or not that great paper slicing but it bites down hard. For this knife, I decided I wanted more bite than polish.
7. polished the pivot head to clean it up a little bit.
8. removed the "thumb studs". The knife is twice as wide with the studs, and my buddy mentioned that the studs were sharp and would catch on things in his pocket.
- really interesting design choice: the thumb stud actually prevents you from clipping the knife in your pocket all the way. So out they went.
9. used a dremel and belt sander to shorten the lip of the pocket clip.
10. there was loctite on every single screw. I'll give Gerber a point for using decent quality screws though, I forced them out and probably took that knife apart 8 or 10 times during my tinkering. No stripped screws.
11. The loctite residue was actually preventing me from tightening the pivot all the way into the female part of the assembly. I had to force it in and out until it would seat all the way.
12. used mineral oil in a syringe to get everything lubed up.
13. plumbers tape on the pivot screw in lieu of loctite.
Here's the results:
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
Final result:
After the modifications, I like the knife and would carry it. I've actually been thinking about getting a knife with an easier maintenance steel to have an excuse to practice sharpening more. My knives (of which there are few) are all 20CV or S30V. I like how my cheap kitchen knives sharpen up after a few strokes on a generic shaprening stone that happens to be in my kitchen for some reason.
If this was sold as a locking slipjoint style knife, it's not bad. Walk and Talk are good, pull is about a 6. Not too heavy, and carries nicely without the thumb studs.
It was good practice for me, and I think my friend will be happy with the results.
Thanks for reading if you've actually read all of this. I hope it was helpful in some way.
Long version:
So I was showing my knife mods off to a buddy of mine, and he told me to have some fun with his EDC and do whatever I wanted to it to make it better.
It's a Gerber Paraframe II
I don't think that many people on this forum own knives like the Paraframe II. I know that Gerber makes some good knives, especially fixed blades. This knife that my friend handed me would not fit a knife nerds definition of a good knife. But I could see how for an average guy stopping at a store to pick up a knife, it works... I messed around with it and it's not bad after a few modifications. Fits well in the pocket, ergo's are decent for light duty cutting, stays out of the way. If you think of it as a locking slip joint, it's pretty decent for the money (after the mods). Steel is either 7Cr17MoV or mystery steel depending on where you look.
There were a few issues with it:
- horizontal blade play
- free spinning pivot (Gerber did not want or expect anyone to take the time to take one of these apart...)
- ridiculously long pocket clip lip
- poor action
- lock hitting the opposite side frame (at 100% lockup)
- chip in the blade
- sharper than a butter knife, but not sharp enough...
Here's what I did to it:
1. Used a dremel to cut a sharpening notch and a notch into the smooth side of the pivot to be able to take the knife apart.
2. Cleaned the insides with soap and water.
3. Used a file to clean out some burrs in the lock bar.
4. Used a belt sander to chamfer the inside of the lock bar where the thumb pushes it over. My friend mentioned that it wasn't comfortable to release the lock bar.
5. Bent the lockbar over a bit to reduce the spring tension because the tension was way over the top.
6. Sharpened the knife to 16 dps convex on the worksharp, then 20 micro on the Sharpmaker ceramic rods.
- I have (2) sharpness tests that I use for general knives.
- cutting copy paper
>> I really like this test to be able to see where the knife catches on the paper. That tells me that there is still a chip or inconsistency in that area.
- running the knife down the back of my head to see how well the edge catches on my hair.
- for some reason, I was able to get push cutting but sliding on my hair, or not that great paper slicing but it bites down hard. For this knife, I decided I wanted more bite than polish.
7. polished the pivot head to clean it up a little bit.
8. removed the "thumb studs". The knife is twice as wide with the studs, and my buddy mentioned that the studs were sharp and would catch on things in his pocket.
- really interesting design choice: the thumb stud actually prevents you from clipping the knife in your pocket all the way. So out they went.
9. used a dremel and belt sander to shorten the lip of the pocket clip.
10. there was loctite on every single screw. I'll give Gerber a point for using decent quality screws though, I forced them out and probably took that knife apart 8 or 10 times during my tinkering. No stripped screws.
11. The loctite residue was actually preventing me from tightening the pivot all the way into the female part of the assembly. I had to force it in and out until it would seat all the way.
12. used mineral oil in a syringe to get everything lubed up.
13. plumbers tape on the pivot screw in lieu of loctite.
Here's the results:
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
Final result:
After the modifications, I like the knife and would carry it. I've actually been thinking about getting a knife with an easier maintenance steel to have an excuse to practice sharpening more. My knives (of which there are few) are all 20CV or S30V. I like how my cheap kitchen knives sharpen up after a few strokes on a generic shaprening stone that happens to be in my kitchen for some reason.
If this was sold as a locking slipjoint style knife, it's not bad. Walk and Talk are good, pull is about a 6. Not too heavy, and carries nicely without the thumb studs.
It was good practice for me, and I think my friend will be happy with the results.
Thanks for reading if you've actually read all of this. I hope it was helpful in some way.
