ZT Detent Break in Confirmed/Success

B

Balls Deep

Joined
Jan 2, 2014
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342
Given that it's now discontinued I got my ZT 0630 on sale for $145 from a reputable dealer. Upon receiving the knife it was better than I had previously anticipated and was extremely pleased. This has been my dream knife as soon as ZT started collaborating with Emerson.

BUT OH THAT DETENT. The detent was strong. So strong that the first day of attempting to open it and breaking it in I gave myself a huge blood blister on my thumb. After a week it finally broke in. I wanted to encapsulate all of the steps that I took from previous blade forums Posts that likely worked for me, given that taking the knife apart and hammering the detent pin is a bit of a drastic measure to take, and something I wanted to avoid at all costs.

1. Flicked it open as much as thumb could handle.
2. Left the blade open for hours at a time at 45, 90, and 135 degree angles <-- this seemed to make the biggest difference.
3. Rinse and repeat

After several days of doing this the knife is now broken in and 100% dream knife. For those struggling with ZT detent issues this worked for me.
 
Why would leaving the knife opened help break in a detent? And why different positions?
 
Sounds weird but I actually picked that up on a previous blade forums post. I don’t know if it’s the pressure in the groove or what but it changed significantly over the course of the week by doing that vs flicking. My blood blister was there and painful for 3 days so rather than flick I left it open at the various positions. When my thumb calloused over and I could flick again I noticed the action much smoother. Now I can flick it open first try 100% of the time.

My 0560 I used to have had the same crazy strong detent and I could only open it with the flipper, not the thumb studs at all.
 
The detent rides on the blade, so the only thing that probably happens is... the area the detent moves on is worn down aka worn in.

Different things that affect break in or relate are the lockbar tension, the detent height and detent ramp/race and the detent hole. The Pivot too, to a degree.

A good disassembly, cleaning and a very light touch of lube can also be helpful.

Opening and closing it several times is usually all you need to wear things in with steel detents and bearings. Ceramic detent and bearings get worn in much faster as they are much harder than the metal they ride on.

My buddies zt0630 had the detent ball fall out after so many times of opening. He thought it was worn in and I told him to check for the detent ball and it was gone. He seems to like it like that tho lol.
 
Balls Deep said:
Sounds weird but I actually picked that up on a previous blade forums post. I don’t know if it’s the pressure in the groove or what but it changed significantly over the course of the week by doing that vs flicking. My blood blister was there and painful for 3 days so rather than flick I left it open at the various positions. When my thumb calloused over and I could flick again I noticed the action much smoother. Now I can flick it open first try 100% of the time.

My 0560 I used to have had the same crazy strong detent and I could only open it with the flipper, not the thumb studs at all.
Click to expand...

Leaving the blade partially open is a method said to make slip joint knives easier to open. Supposedly it stresses the spring and makes it flex easier. I’ve never heard of this method working on modem knives with detent balls.
 
I had detent problem with my 0452 and all the tricks didn't work. Supposedly the strong detent their new policy across the board. Seems a little odd because I buy inexpensive Chinese made knives to give away as gifts
and even they know what a good detent is. For $220.00 I would think that they could dial in the proper detent for humans. I ended up exchanging my knife and had the same problem so I sent it back to to ZT and they managed to lighten it somewhat. It was still stiff when I got it back but that was remedied by normal break in. I also feel that the lockbar is overly stiff. My initial opinion was that the knife did not meet all the hype because my older 0562 CF was a dream to open and close with a very short break in period.
I am not sure why they decided to stiffen the opening & closing on the knife but if that's the case I will stop buying ZT, their are too many great knife companies in the same price range that are great right out of the box.
 
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91bravo said:
The thumbstuds you speak of are basically blade stops. It feels awkward for me to open a ZT by the blade stops. The flipper is much easier! :)
Click to expand...
Be they thumb studs or blade stops; for whatever reason my brother is able to open the knife with them. I had no such luck.
 
91bravo said:
The thumbstuds you speak of are basically blade stops. It feels awkward for me to open a ZT by the blade stops. The flipper is much easier! :)
Click to expand...

The only ZT I ever had any issue with being hard to open was the 550 and of course they didn't have a flipper tab. But it just took learning to use a light pressure with my thumb side and index on the other and my 550s fire out harder then any other of my ZTs even the flippers.

As far as the ZTs with flipper tabs they are smooth from day one using the tabs and none are great using the thumb studs (blade stops).
 
ZT 0630 does require somewhat different skills of opening: it is not a flipper and it uses a thumb disk. You should absolutely not put any of your fingers on the lockbar or otherwise the blade will not open. For extremely strong detent, try to put a drop of tuf glide into the detent hole or on the detent ball.

The strongest detent that I have experienced on ZT is 0909, but over a week's time it loosens up. Still flips like a rocket. To reduce the damage to your finger, make sure to press the flip tab firmly and not slide your finger over the flip tab while flipping.
 
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