So my beloved Benchmade 908 was my EDC for a long time, but after a while the pivot would work itself loose. No matter how tight I set it, it works itself out to the point where if I shake the knife while it's closed I can feel the blade shaking back and forth inside the handles. Anyone have any remedies? I was thinking about loctite. Any other ideas?
I don't recommend Loctite...send it in to Benchmade. They will usually repair your knife for free. I applied Loctite to some pocket clip screws, less than a week later, I snagged and bent the clip! I couldn't get the T6 screws to back out without completely stripping them. Sent it in, 5 days later it was back in my pocket with 2 extra parkerized clips! Although the pivot screw probably won't strip if you need to remove it.
I loktite or permatex all of my folding knife pivots as well. You don't need to white knuckle tighten them. As tight as you can get it with your thumb and two fingers is sufficient. If you're using your whole hand to torque knife screws, then you're using too much force, especially on T6 screws. Snug but not overly tight!
I generally try to use purple loctite on knives. You can get away with blue on larger screws and using very light amounts.
Very little goes a long way when it comes to thread locker compound. I put a teeny weeny amount, I mean not even enough to go all the way around the circumference of the threads. I usually just touch the threads to the nozzle of the loktite tube and it's plenty sufficient. If you have loktite oozing out after you tighten, then you used way too much!
I use a very small amount of blue loktite on every knife I take apart and anodize. Like Bravo said, a little around the threads is all it takes and do not over tighten. Get the blade centered and make sure you have no blade play. Then leave it alone for 24 hours.
I would recommend loctite also but like said above be REAL careful with the amount you use... I have found that a toothpick dipped and used to apply is extremely effective.
It's been about a week now. Pivot is right where I left it after using some thread locker. Thanks for the info guys.
If you ever need to break Loctite down (in order to remove a fastener) you can do so using heat. But that doesn't mean put a blow torch to the outside of your scale. Instead heat your tool and then apply the tool to the pivot. The tool might be an allen wrench, hex head key, or even a screwdriver blade. Heat the end of the tool and then insert the very hot tip of the tool into or on the fastener. Small screws are small heat sinks and will take the heat quickly. So it may not take as much as you think to crack the Loctite bond. I've also seen it done with a small tipped soldering gun touched to the fastener. You could also try tightening before loosening. It sounds counter intuitive. But think about it this way, you are just trying to break the bond of the Loctite. We frequently did this working on our jeeps when we had a tough nut we were trying to unfasten.
