This is a companion piece to setting the clip tension. However, I was waiting on this little device below, before I disassembled my knife. This knife was a trade to me and arrived in like new condition. Well for a Strider, and to be fair like many other knives as well, like new condition can mean almost anything. The condition of the blade, scales, and all other parts was excellent. But like a fine motor car there is nonetheless a break in period. In the case of the Strider it was lock bar stick and a fractional play in the blade from side to side. The lock bar stick would most likely work itself out with time. Not so on the blade play and I wanted to have a look inside anyway. For those who do this kind of work there is nothing new for you. For those who are here to learn and see some of these things I took a lot of pictures. First off I always take a picture of both sides of the knife in case I can't remember reassembly. No I'm not kidding and it has saved me more than once. I generally will wrap the blade edge to protect it and to protect myself from a stupid mistake. This green rubber sleeve is sold by Baryonyx Knife Co and is more often used as a minimalist machete sheath. It comes in 36" lengths and I just cut what I need to cover a blade. After disassembly here is a picture of the contact point of the lock bar. I just hit it with a Sharpie for the picture. First I hit it with the wire brush wheel on my drill press. I tried to maintain the mill lines, as seen above, by contacting the wire wheel in the same orientation. I also took care to have the wire brush rotate into the blade from the same direction as the lock bar came in to engage. In other words, don't change the orientation of the original mill work the knife was assembled to. Next step was a polishing wheel. I used it primarily to clean up my work before the next step. I went to a 3000 grit Arkansas stone. Remember I was taking microscopically incremental steps so as not to over do it and ruin the lock up. See what the stone was revealing? I was probably not holding it square or else that was the way it was milled. The edges were beginning to soften up. Not what I wanted and I quit. I finished the face off by hand polishing on my Flexxx strops, black then green. While I had the knife apart I cleaned the washers and polished them on the strops as well. Right side before and left side washer after. Here is the lock bar face prior to clean up with steel wool (000). After clean up. Here is the scale side washer just before reassembly. I also am experimenting with a lubrication I use on my pistols, Ballistol. It drys after application and leaves an excellent film. I want to see how it does with pocket lint. I'm using this instead of a grease. Here is the beginning of reassembly. Note I have started the 3 scale screws from the wrong side. I realized my mistake when the screws would not bite in their friction sleeves. Back to the picture I took at the beginning and it revealed my mistake. The knife reassembled. The contact point. My final step, is to set the pivot screw tension. This is really trial and error. I tighten and then open/close a couple of times. Too tight/too loose, and try it again until you get it right. Secondarily you have to also center the blade if you can find a tension which leaves the blade centered as well. Lastly, which is really anal, I set the pivot screw in a perfectly horizontal position on the scale. Why? Because after adjusting the tension to just right I want see how much, if any at all, the pivot screw wants to turn. Ideally it should not rotate at all. We shall see. It is often said the Chris Reeve knives are the simplest of all to work on. I might have agreed prior to taking down the Strider. This knife turned out to be even simpler. Secondly, my efforts were rewarded in spades. This knife has no lock stick whatsoever. It is velvet smooth. The blade is centered and most important of all there is NO PLAY at all in the blade. All I can say is wow. I am very satisfied. Thanks for looking.
@91bravo The unorthodox grip is what I'm finding strangely appealing. My hands are big with thick fingers. The shape of the butt seems to fill my palm nicely. But the the large butt probably makes the choils at the pivot point seem smaller than what they really are. If I laid it next to my small 21 it probably is bigger at my index finger. If I laid it next to my large 21 or 25 it is probably close to the same size. I will do that at home tonight after work. I carried my small 21 for about two years. It seemed big when I first started carrying it. But increasingly I find myself wanting a little more blade in my pocket, especially on the weekends when I'm handymanning around the house. So it was either going to be the 25, the new ZT 0562 I just picked up, or the Strider. I may try all 3 before I decide. These are such good decisions to be thinking about.
Yes, those are good decisions indeed! My dilemma each morning is which knife to grab for work that day!
I'm the same way with flashlights. Great write-up on knife tuning. And good idea with taking pictures.
@91bravo -- I took this picture when I went home for lunch today. The 25 is 14/16", the SnG is 12/16", the small Sebenza is 11/16". I set them up with a common denominator for ease of comparison. So the 25 has 1/8" more width. That is a lot for something scaled to less than an inch. But the narrowed choil at the index finger is still wider than my Sebenza. Here is that fat grip I was telling you about.
That's basically how you have to grip a Strider, and it just didn't feel right to me. If I grab the knife in a more traditional way, with my index finger in the choil on the handle, instead of the choil on the blade, it still just doesn't feel right to me. The back of the handle feels disproportionate to me. I don't doubt that they are good blades, just not my cup of tea I guess!
