How often do you disassemble?

[Coastal]

I disassemble for scale swaps, or if the action feels rough on a knife I really like. I've found it's better to disassemble for certain dye jobs. I consider putting a knife back together to be a chore, so I tend not to disassemble unless I have to.

I only have one knife with bearings. The fewer parts, the better!

[The Mastiff]

How often do you disassemble?

I don't unless something very unusual happens. I have Spydercos from the early 90's that have never been and are doing fine. Should last another 30 years in fact and still not need it.

[Skar]

Good to hear I'm not the only who doesn't take apart their knives.
Only took one apart because m4 steel that went through the wash... cleaned up rust spots.

[zenith2]

Almost never.

[Sharp Guy]

rarely

[nerdlock]

I'm specifically wondering about knives with ball bearing pivots, how often do you disassemble yours for a good cleaning and fresh oil? I got a Smock a couple weeks ago and it's my first knife with bearings, there's lots of info out there on how to maintain them, just not how often.

Had 4 smocks already, never even disassembled any of them, even the BHQ M4 - despite being located near the humid equator. Generally though, like the others here, I very rarely disassemble my Spydies unless i need to clean the action of the pivots, change scales, or remove the blade for cleaning. For pivot maintenance, I just drop lube on the pivot area gap between the blade and the liner.

[SpyderGrill]

My Smock action wasnt exactly how I thought it should be when I got it. Kind of stiff, especially being on bearings. I was going to take it apart and clean, but the pivot screw wont budge. I never tried to heat it up or anything, so I just used it for a few days, then added a drop of oil. It smoothed out on its own.

The OCD in me wants to open every knife and clean out that factory black "dirt". Some knives come clean, and others are "dirty"

[Cowboyfromhell]

Never

[dreadpirate]

Just about never.

If there’s stuff in the pivot that needs to be cleaned out, I’ll clean it but otherwise I feel no need to take it apart.

Same.

[blueblur]

Only when I’m doing a blade swap, which I’ve only don’t a couple of times.

I disassembled a Delica once to alter the spot the close bias starts.

I recently disassembled a heavily used G10 Manix for a friend. He broke the tip so after I brought it back I cleaned everything up for him. It was needed.

There needs to be a reason for me to do it. Almost all of the time if I need to clean a pivot, I’ll wash with dish soap and hot water and thoroughly dry with compressed air and that does it.

[cjk]

not particularly often.
Scale swaps, occasional blade swaps, occasional schmutz that needs cleaning or to address some sort of "problem".
It's usually to accomplish one thing or another. I don't do it for fun, but I enjoy fixing whatever issue there might be (which honestly, I caused more often than not).

[Wandering_About]

I don't have any bearing pivot knives, so take my word for what it is, but I very rarely take apart folders. My most frequent reason for a full disassembly is when I get a new model and am curious what the internals look like. Otherwise, there has to be something notable that needs attention for me to take apart a knife.

Been known many times to internally clean a knife by spraying it with lots of brake cleaner then using an air compressor to blow anything else out. I won't tell you this is the best way to do it, but I've been doing it for years and I turned out fine