Fast wear on titanium framelock

[Ramonade]

Hi everyone,

I recently acquired a Chokwe that was supposed to be "like new".
It hadn't been well maintained, and had some minor rust spots because of that. Except from this and 2 scratches on the blade, everything seemed "like new", even the edge that was still the one the factory had put on, and the part of the lockbar that touches the blade tang seemed as good as new.

However, it has developped bigger and bigger lockstick after less than a week of use. I sometimes can't even unlock the blade.
It seems that the face of the lock is deforming more and more at each openings.

I was told that the wear is rather long, and that a bit of lockstick is to be expected. This seems totally different from what I'm experiencing. Anyone has inputs on the matter ?

Thanks in advance, I'll try to take pictures tomorrow morning.

Robin.

[Mrchunkle]

I’ve had a problem where if the pivot is too loose, it can twist slightly inside the frame and it messes up the lock face geometry and it super sticks. I don’t know the chokwe’s construction enough to know if it even can do that

[Ramonade]

Sorry, got the pretty harsh flu that almost everyone is catching here in France during this 2022 spring. I've been stuck in bed for a few days.

Here's some shots. The stick is becoming so hard that, when I use the knife, I open it very slowly with two hands while holding the lockbar, and accompany it's release when the blade is already opened.
Maybe it's a deformation needed for this part of the lockbar to conform to the blade tang ?





And a try at magnification :

[Mrchunkle]

Ooof. That doesn't look good. I don't know of a way to fix that besides some rocket surgery.

[Doc Dan]

That doesn't look right. I'd call customer service and send them some photos as well. (Now, if Americans would only get WhatsApp so we can talk and share pics at the same time and see each other if desired).

[Ramonade]

I’ve had a problem where if the pivot is too loose, it can twist slightly inside the frame and it messes up the lock face geometry and it super sticks. I don’t know the chokwe’s construction enough to know if it even can do that

Considering the construction, this situation could happen, I've tried a lot of "tightness" already, and all end up in the approximate same level of lockstick.

That doesn't look right. I'd call customer service and send them some photos as well. (Now, if Americans would only get WhatsApp so we can talk and share pics at the same time and see each other if desired).

Yeah, that does not look nice at all . I had to disassemble the knife again to take those pictures and in doing so, I've cleaned everything once again with isopropyl alcohol. I tried the graphite trick on the blade tang already, but I thought "why not try it on the lockbar too?" It seems to have removed/smoothed a bit of the black texture that we can see on the lockface. Since then, no lockstick...

I mostly wonder if the blade tang can keep chewin at the lockbar like this or if this will stabilize as other titanium RIL do. This one is an extreme case though, considering every other TiRIL have "normal" amount of lockstick during the first phase in wich the lockbar gets a tiny bit of deformation to conform to the blade tang.

As far as the widest point of the shiny grey we can see on the pictures, this is the spot at wich the blade tang stop, and the rest of the lockbar protrudes from the blade :

[billdoier72]

That's peening IMHO.

It looks as if someone was batoning the blade or throwing the knife to deliver that kind of impact on the lock.

[Ramonade]

It wasn't like that when I received it, there was this shiny glinting, but it was really smaller.
And of course, I didn't hammer it, only screwed it once or twice !

I did put an edge on it, and cut cardboard three or four times. I'll admit I flicked it open with my thumb the first few times, and stopped as soon as I noticed the high amount of lockstick.

Now that you say it, an impact on the spine of the knife in open position could produce this kind of damage... Since the knife was sold "as new" but definitely wasn't, I've sent a message to the seller.
I've asked him to be honest, I definitely don't care about my money.

[Bloke]

Living in France it’s probably not practical sending the knife to Spyderco.

If I may I’d like to suggest something that I did with my Advocate that has a steel insert at the lock bar but it was a bit rough opening and closing anyhow.

I simply put a small rounded chamfer breaking the sharp edges on both lock bar and blade tang where they meet and engage each other with a fine stone and polished (the chamfer) with a fine (white) Spyderco ceramic. This stopped the shearing effect as they slip past one another prior to locking. It made a significant difference and smoothed out the open and closing of the knife. Hope this makes sense.

[Doc Dan]

Living in France it’s probably not practical sending the knife to Spyderco.

If I may I’d like to suggest something that I did with my Advocate that has a steel insert at the lock bar but it was a bit rough opening and closing anyhow.

I simply put a small rounded chamfer breaking the sharp edges on both lock bar and blade tang where they meet and engage each other with a fine stone and polished (the chamfer) with a fine (white) Spyderco ceramic. This stopped the shearing effect as they slip past one another prior to locking. It made a significant difference and smoothed out the open and closing of the knife. Hope this makes sense.

[Bloke]

Can’t see anything Doc, it just says “Image” after you quoting me.

[Ramonade]

Living in France it’s probably not practical sending the knife to Spyderco.

If I may I’d like to suggest something that I did with my Advocate that has a steel insert at the lock bar but it was a bit rough opening and closing anyhow.

I simply put a small rounded chamfer breaking the sharp edges on both lock bar and blade tang where they meet and engage each other with a fine stone and polished (the chamfer) with a fine (white) Spyderco ceramic. This stopped the shearing effect as they slip past one another prior to locking. It made a significant difference and smoothed out the open and closing of the knife. Hope this makes sense.

I've done sort of a smoothing operation by applying graphite on the row lockbar part that touches the tang. I remember reading in a SpydieChef thread that the black and discolored part at the end of the lockbar is that way because it is the titanium left as is after being cut by the machine, the rest of the titanium is treated for a better appearance.

This seems to have really helped, but I'm simply afraid of the lock interface damaging itself some more !

[JRinFL]

Living in France it’s probably not practical sending the knife to Spyderco.

If I may I’d like to suggest something that I did with my Advocate that has a steel insert at the lock bar but it was a bit rough opening and closing anyhow.

I simply put a small rounded chamfer breaking the sharp edges on both lock bar and blade tang where they meet and engage each other with a fine stone and polished (the chamfer) with a fine (white) Spyderco ceramic. This stopped the shearing effect as they slip past one another prior to locking. It made a significant difference and smoothed out the open and closing of the knife. Hope this makes sense.

Epic Bloking of the Bloke!

[carrot]

My older Sebenza looked like that after not long. After some break in period it never really wore much more than that.

[Ramonade]

My older Sebenza looked like that after not long. After some break in period it never really wore much more than that.

Thanks for the testimony. I just want the knife to stay usable, if the lockstick becomes bearable, that's no issue !

[di81ni]

I think it will be ok. I have two Chokwes. One at some point had the worst lock stick ever. Now it’s perfect. Just keep using it, and maybe apply the graphite a few times like you’ve already done.
In my experience, they also flatten the detent ball pretty quickly. Doesn’t affect the closed retention much, but makes for less smooth opening. I’ve replaced one of mine with a ceramic detent ball, opens smooth as glass now.

[Ramonade]

I think it will be ok. I have two Chokwes. One at some point had the worst lock stick ever. Now it’s perfect. Just keep using it, and maybe apply the graphite a few times like you’ve already done.
In my experience, they also flatten the detent ball pretty quickly. Doesn’t affect the closed retention much, but makes for less smooth opening. I’ve replaced one of mine with a ceramic detent ball, opens smooth as glass now.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll restrain myself from any surgery on the knife just yet. I'll see if this will settle on the long term. I always thought the graphite trick was to be applied on the blade tang, but applying it to the lockbar was really more effective.

I saw that the ball already has been flattened a bit yeah. Never swapped a detent ball in a knife but this shouldn't be too hard if I ever feel the need to (finding the exact dimension might ^^)