Screw Loose

 My wife’s current favorite pocketknife, a purple SixLeaf, lost the screw holding the clip to the body.  Fortunately, the knife slipped further into her pocket, and somehow, the clip was retained.  The screw, however, vanished.

Of course, I wanted to repair it.  SixLeafs aren’t that expensive and but there are no local distributors I can contact for a replacement screw. 

Fortunately, I had a SixLeaf of my own and was able to confirm it was the same screw.  But what kind of screw?

She wanted the purple one and I opted for green

My friend Derrick speaks fluent machinist.  He was able to identify it as 2.5mm X .45 screw.  In the bonus round, he even produced the proper replacement screw.

We had the knife and the clip and when we got the screw, well, everything worked.

That greatly simplified my job.  I didn’t want to force an incorrect thread into the knife's titanium frame, so having the correct one was excellent. 

Lot of brands available, any one would work

I got out my semi-permanent (blue) threadlock and #9 Torx drivers and went to work.  I used a single drop and let the threadlocker wet the threads and drained off the excess into a paper towel.  This left me with a tiny ribbon of blue winding around the thread root.  I screwed everything back together, finger-tight.

Done!

My wife got her favorite knife back, so it’s a great outcome in my book.

Thanks, Derrick!

What's In Your Stocking?

Stocking stuffers?  We don’t need no stinkin’ stocking stuffers…

That's not true, is it?  During the Christmas Holidays, there is always a need for little gifts.  This is especially true if you're a knife fancier.  We all need oils, waxes, polishes, sharpening doodads, and whatnots, but we sometimes hesitate to buy for ourselves.

Let me give you two ideas any knife fancier will want.

There are various products like these two, I just happen to have these on hand.

Every pocket knife I’ve owned has screws, nuts, and bolts that all what to back out and get lost.  Every clip has at least one screw that wants to be somewhere else.

The solution: Threadlock.  People have used nail polish, airplane glue, paint, and other solutions to keep screws from backing out.  McBride writes during the Great War, WWI, he and other shooters rusted their screws in place with iodine.  There are better solutions for a pocket knife.

I'd get the blue semi-permanent.  It will keep the gremlins from backing out screws.

The trend today is to use torx screws.  Those are the screws that need a star-shaped driver.  They are the hot fasteners today, and most of your knives will be assembled with these specialty screws.  If you want to replace a clip, disassemble, and clean your knife, you’ll need the correct torx driver.  Husky makes a nice set of four double-ended drives housed in a nice plastic body.  The end cap rotates so you can put finger pressure on it and still turn the driver.  The drives range from the tiny T4 to the smallish T15.

Two easy stocking stuffers for your favorite knife owner, even if you buy these for yourself.