Advice on delica/endura maintenance

[Zachreed1]

Requesting advice on cleaning and maintaining my delica and endura models. I suppose this could apply to all back locks but I don’t know how easily other models are to disassemble. I’m surely not going to take down my delica and endura so I was hoping someone would have some insight on cleaning them out. I love disassembling and maintenance knives and it’s a real bummer to not be able to do that on my two favorite knives. My delica is well broken in and can be flicked open quite easily. If I cut up some produce and need to washout the pivot the action can stiffen up and take hours sometimes days to regain flickability. I typically add a little running alcohol to dry and dry out the pivot then add a little lube. I’m thinking the oil I’m using could be too thick. What methods and supplies do you use to clean and maintain your back locks?

[bearfacedkiller]

I just open and close it under running water, then blow it out with compressed air followed by a drop of mineral oil.

It isn’t a motorcycle, don’t overthink the maintenance.

[Zachreed1]

I just open and close it under running water, then blow it out with compressed air followed by a drop of mineral oil.

It isn’t a motorcycle, don’t overthink the maintenance.

I want to overthink the maintenance. Thanks though, keep it real

[The Meat man]

Why can't you disassemble them? Are they the pinned stainless versions?

For rough backlocks, I like to put a drop of Nano Oil on the smooth, rounded area of contact between the lockbar and the blade. One drop, a few open and closes, and usually it smooths out dramatically. Nano Oil is great stuff and one tube will last for practically forever.

[Cambertree]

Like Darby said - a rinse under the tap, compressed air, then oil works for me. I mostly use mineral oil as I'm more interested in non toxicity than any marginal advantage I might gain from other formulations. If it's a carbon steel or tool steel blade I'll put a drop or two of Tuf-glide in the pivot and action area every now and then.

Very occasionally I'll do a full disassemble, clean and polish 'spa' type treatment.

[bearfacedkiller]

I just open and close it under running water, then blow it out with compressed air followed by a drop of mineral oil.

It isn’t a motorcycle, don’t overthink the maintenance.

I want to overthink the maintenance. Thanks though, keep it real

No problem brother. I like to tinker too just not usually on my knives. You asked for advice so I shared my angle on it. It is your knife and if you want to take it apart all the time go right ahead. I’ll never tell someone what to do with their knife. You should get all sorts of different opinions on this one. :)

[Zachreed1]

I just open and close it under running water, then blow it out with compressed air followed by a drop of mineral oil.

It isn’t a motorcycle, don’t overthink the maintenance.

I want to overthink the maintenance. Thanks though, keep it real

No problem brother. I like to tinker too just not usually on my knives. You asked for advice so I shared my angle on it. It is your knife and if you want to take it apart all the time go right ahead. I’ll never tell someone what to do with their knife. You should get all sorts of different opinions on this one. :)

Honestly the action is fine after a quick rinse and drying but it takes about 24 hours of staying dry to get it to spydie flick again.

[Zachreed1]

Why can't you disassemble them? Are they the pinned stainless versions?

For rough backlocks, I like to put a drop of Nano Oil on the smooth, rounded area of contact between the lockbar and the blade. One drop, a few open and closes, and usually it smooths out dramatically. Nano Oil is great stuff and one tube will last for practically forever.

They aren’t pinned but they were not designed with disassembly in mind. They are a real pain to get back together. I’m sure I’ll have to one of these days

[TkoK83Spy]

I just open and close it under running water, then blow it out with compressed air followed by a drop of mineral oil.

It isn’t a motorcycle, don’t overthink the maintenance.

I want to overthink the maintenance. Thanks though, keep it real

No problem brother. I like to tinker too just not usually on my knives. You asked for advice so I shared my angle on it. It is your knife and if you want to take it apart all the time go right ahead. I’ll never tell someone what to do with their knife. You should get all sorts of different opinions on this one. :)

Honestly the action is fine after a quick rinse and drying but it takes about 24 hours of staying dry to get it to spydie flick again.

Why does the flicking of the knife seem to be so important? It really has nothing to do with the maintenance of the knife. On a back lock, I'd be more concerned about blade play and lock up for safety reasons in use, rather than playing with it like a toy...

[Pancake]

I am supporting the idea of washing, drying and bit of lube.
You can disassemble Endura/Delica, but the lockbar and lockbar spring could be PITA to assemble, there are some tricks to it, you can just Google it.

But, after I strip one screw on my Police 4, I would have more worries about screws themselves, Seki models use quite small screws and them seems to be quite soft....

My advice is to not disassemble them, unless you have to, like you want to sand some rust of the liners. For general maintenance, do not disassemble.

[Zachreed1]

I want to overthink the maintenance. Thanks though, keep it real

No problem brother. I like to tinker too just not usually on my knives. You asked for advice so I shared my angle on it. It is your knife and if you want to take it apart all the time go right ahead. I’ll never tell someone what to do with their knife. You should get all sorts of different opinions on this one. :)

Honestly the action is fine after a quick rinse and drying but it takes about 24 hours of staying dry to get it to spydie flick again.

Why does the flicking of the knife seem to be so important? It really has nothing to do with the maintenance of the knife. On a back lock, I'd be more concerned about blade play and lock up for safety reasons in use, rather than playing with it like a toy...

It is not all that important but it does have some value to me. I would consider my delica to be in peak performance when there is no blade play, excellent lock up, smooth action(which I determine by being able to flick it open) and being shaving sharp. When it’s time to do maintenance I like to check all the boxes. The knife flicking open tells me it is free of debris and adequately lubed. And also it’s fun.

[hmr170]

I've never found the need to disassemble a knife in the last 40 years. Put me down as another guy that just rinses them under the faucet, blows on them like a harmonica and then adds a couple drops of oil. Works for slipjoints also.

[Larry_Mott]

Third or fourth the leave it in one piece squad..
My pinned Delica clipit from the early 90's survived 12 years of daily duty when i worked as a truck driver. Even tried the old "accidentally drop the knife in a mud puddle" Only maintenance during those years was dish soap and as hot water as you could handle (to speed up the drying afterwards) then a dose of sewing machine oil and back in pocket. :)

[GarageBoy]

It doesn't feel "flickable" because it hasn't fully dried yet - hit it with some compressed air or flick it as dry as you can and let time and oil do its work - taking it apart repeatedly is a nice way to wear the screws out -

[tonijedi]

I've never found the need to disassemble a knife in the last 40 years. Put me down as another guy that just rinses them under the faucet, blows on them like a harmonica and then adds a couple drops of oil. Works for slipjoints also.

Another guy here :)

[Halfneck]

I've got a discontinued SE ZDP-189 Delica out in the car that was from the 1st run years ago. It was carried for years as my work beater. It opened lots of cardboard boxes, cut bandage tape, even sawed through some wet-to-dry cast material to help shape it. I never disassembled it. Basically I would just hose it down with cleaner (CLP, Ballistol, Mineral oil, etc) then wipe it down. If there was gunk in the channel I'd blast it out with the compressed air I use on my computer keyboard.

Still going strong.

[blueblur]

When any of my backlocks, and most of my knives for that matter, need a deep cleaning I put a couple of drops of dish soap on the tang of the blade and work the pivot under hot running water. Once it's rinsed, dry with compressed air and then lube with your favorite oil. Doing this has deemed any disassembly unnecessary unless you just want to take it apart.

[FK]

I like to use liquid Dawn with an old toothbrush and wooden toothpick to remove any dried out gunk.
Hot water and Dawn mix, cold water rinse and hair dryer.
A few drops of Nano-Oil and ready to go smooth as new.

Regards,
FK

[Sharp Guy]

No problem brother. I like to tinker too just not usually on my knives. You asked for advice so I shared my angle on it. It is your knife and if you want to take it apart all the time go right ahead. I’ll never tell someone what to do with their knife. You should get all sorts of different opinions on this one. :)

Honestly the action is fine after a quick rinse and drying but it takes about 24 hours of staying dry to get it to spydie flick again.

Why does the flicking of the knife seem to be so important? It really has nothing to do with the maintenance of the knife. On a back lock, I'd be more concerned about blade play and lock up for safety reasons in use, rather than playing with it like a toy...

It is not all that important but it does have some value to me. I would consider my delica to be in peak performance when there is no blade play, excellent lock up, smooth action(which I determine by being able to flick it open) and being shaving sharp. When it’s time to do maintenance I like to check all the boxes. The knife flicking open tells me it is free of debris and adequately lubed. And also it’s fun.

Just my opinion but flicking open a back lock seems like a great way to create lock rock prematurely.