Seriously stuck screws - Blue PM2 - HELP

[recondoc]

So I received a pretty nice ParaMilitary 2 in trade today.
When I first looked at it, the scales seemed weird, like they had some purple marks on them. When I went to rub it off, I found that the black rubbed off and the beautiful purple/blue stayed. The guy seems to have Sharpied them to make black scales. I wanted to remove the scales and give them a quick acetone bath to clean them up and that's when I found problem number 2. The screws are unbelievably tight and not coming loose. I only have one set of Torx right now but will get a second in the morning. I don't want to damage my scales but would, eventually like to replace the screws and clip with colored titanium to bling it out a bit.
I tried putting a soldering iron tip on the screws for a while in case someone has used loctite but it didn't seem to make a difference. I don't want to go after it with my torch for fear of discoloring the awesome scales. Hot soap and water got the scales mostly cleaned up but I'd still like to get them off and really clean them right.

Blurple.jpg

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Doc

[mattman]

Soldering iron should have defeated any loctite...

I am more concerned that the "coloring" of the scales wasn't divulged to you prior to the trade... What is the blade steel? I would be suspect of a fake blade switch, if they claim s30v...

[mattman]

Also, Welcome to the forum!

[Doc Dan]

I will bet you have an S110V version someone sharpied to make black. They may have taken the knife apart and used red loctite instead of blue. If that is true your heat needs to be hotter than 550F to get it to let go. Otherwise, send it to Spyderco and ask them to fix it

[Matt Deaner]

I have had good luck with a butane torch soldering iron, but I would think that a standard electric one would still get them hot enough. You do need to get them really hot. A couple of my PM2s appear to have had red locktite from the factory.

If you do end up screwing up the handle screws, drop me a pm and I will send you replacements. I have about 20 of them.

[Skaaphaas]

Why would someone ever blacken those beautiful indigo scales?!

[aquaman67]

Ballistol is a cleaner than you can find locally (usually a gun shop) or on Amazon. It will clean the G10 better than just about anything else.

As for the screws.

Try freezing the knife and see if they will come loose.

[recondoc]

Thanks AQ,
I'll give it a try.

[ZrowsN1s]

I may be misinformed but I heard spyderco was using red loctite from factory on PM2's. Mine are sure on tight. I hope you came across some dummy who didn't like the color and sharpied it black, but then still didn't like the color so he traded it. What kind of steel is listed on the blade? s110v?

[recondoc]

Yep, it's S110V. Some folks do weird things. I'll get it sorted out.

[Doc Dan]

It was a shame someone did that to those beautiful scales. The Midnight Blue/Blurple/Indigo Blue scales are some of the best looking in the knife industry.

[recondoc]

Have to agree with you. On the "Eye Candy" level, this is the knife I look at and want to carry the most.

[elena86]

Soldering iron should have defeated any loctite...

I am more concerned that the "coloring" of the scales wasn't divulged to you prior to the trade... What is the blade steel? I would be suspect of a fake blade switch, if they claim s30v...

Scuze my ignorance but what is soldering iron ? I want to dissansemble my Domino(NIB) but I can't go over that loctite or whatever they use on those screws.Are there any mundane methods to "soften" that loctite ? I tried with warm water but it doesn't work for me.Thanx

[freebird610]

Wood burner applied to the head of the screw worked for me.

[Bill1170]

Soldering iron should have defeated any loctite...

I am more concerned that the "coloring" of the scales wasn't divulged to you prior to the trade... What is the blade steel? I would be suspect of a fake blade switch, if they claim s30v...

Scuze my ignorance but what is soldering iron ? I want to dissansemble my Domino(NIB) but I can't go over that loctite or whatever they use on those screws.Are there any mundane methods to "soften" that loctite ? I tried with warm water but it doesn't work for me.Thanx

A soldering iron is an electric tool shaped like a screwdriver with a pyramidal point and the cord coming out the back of the handle. Plug it in and it gets hot. It is used to solder small electrical connections.

[mattman]

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=Soldering+iron

Device that melts tin alloys for make electronic connections, primarily on circuit boards.

[elena86]

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=Soldering+iron

Device that melts tin alloys for make electronic connections, primarily on circuit boards.

Thanx.Now I know.So, how do i use it on my screws ?

[The Deacon]

If it's factory loctite, then the Sharpie was probably applied without taking the knife apart, so no real need to disassemble.

I know acetone melts quite a few plastics, so I'm not sure how it might interact with the resin portion of G-10.

[mattman]

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=Soldering+iron

Device that melts tin alloys for make electronic connections, primarily on circuit boards.

Thanx.Now I know.So, how do i use it on my screws ?

Use the tip to selectively apply heat to the head of the screws, and the temp will soften the loctite. The fine point on the iron will allow you to avoid/minimize damaging the surrounding scale material.

[RadioactiveSpyder]

Or just use a hair dryer... Why folks insist on putting the tip of their soldering irons near their precious Spydies is beyond me. And yes, we already went though how well the hair dryer method works and surpasses the temp needed to soften the Loctite and loosen the screws.