Stiff Knife Deployment

[Potassium Hydroxide]

Recently, my Charge AL's knife deployment has been extremely stiff and not at all smooth.  Strangely, all the outside opening tools open fluidly.  I haven't been messing with pivot screws or anything.  Has this happened to anyone else?  By the way, I've oiled all the point of rotation and it's still not as smooth as it was previously.

[82brutus]

I don't have a Charge, and so there are very likely soon to be much more intelligent answers provided in response to this topic...

Any chance you're seeing any kind of rub marks down around the pivot? 

Any recent encounters with dirt or other substance while using the blade (apple juice, etc.)? 

What type of oil do you use?  Some oils tend to get sticky as they 'age'.

[Dunc]

Have you recently used the pliers really hard ? Just thinking that the handle pivot screws could have been slightly deformed by extreme pressure on the handles .

[Potassium Hydroxide]

I can see an extremely small amount of gunk that the oil probably pushed out, though I'm not sure how it got there because I haven't used the tool near dirt.  In fact, I haven't used the knife at all recently.

The oil I use is Teflon based.

I have used the pliers recently, but not in any sort of hard stress.  I have noticed that the side with the knife now has a greater detente in opening.

[Mike 208]

The same thing is happening with my fairly new Wave.  Everything opens smoothly, except the PE knife blade.  I've oiled it, but no change.  I'm hoping it just needs some "breaking in."

[Dunc]

Sometimes on waves when you open an outside tool it can drag the pivot screw round with it And you can actually see it rotate , it won't unscew because of the loctite . This is especially true where there is slight blade play due to the pivots not being tight enough , the liner lock bar pushes the blade slightly to one side causing it to bind . Usually after breaking the tool in everything smooths out .

[Chain Gang]

It could be your oil.I used Teflon gun oil on my various MTs and knifes and after a time it seemed to thicken and it looked nasty.I soaked them in hot soapy water for an hour or so and cleaned with a toothbrush and Q tip.I rinse in hot water and blow them dry with a hair dryer and spray liberal amounts of WD40.The next day I use a small amount of mineral oil on every pivot point.Everything is smooth as butter now.

[Potassium Hydroxide]

Maybe I should test and let some oil sit out and see how it develops.  I would think it's strange that it would only effect one blade and not the other.

[Chain Gang]

Not all my blades were hard to open either.The gun oil works great on my guns,just not that good on my blades.Many on the forum like and use the mineral oil with good results.A bucks worth of mineral oil will last for many years.

[Potassium Hydroxide]

I'll definitely consider mineral oil next time, then.

[Threeme2189]

Sometimes on waves when you open an outside tool it can drag the pivot screw round with it And you can actually see it rotate , it won't unscew because of the loctite .

I have seen this happen too.

[Dunc]

Sometimes on waves when you open an outside tool it can drag the pivot screw round with it And you can actually see it rotate , it won't unscew because of the loctite .

I have seen this happen too.

Did you also find that when this occurs there's some blade play too before the liner lock engages ?

[turnsouth]

I have seen Teflon oil becoming thicker with use too. Seems to happen in high pressure areas (like knife pivots) where the molecules adhere to each other and increase viscosity.

I like Rem Oil, it's mostly mineral oil, but it also contains aliphatic compounds (likely naphtha, I'm guessing) that do a great job of dissolving any sludge.
Good stuff 

[Threeme2189]

Sometimes on waves when you open an outside tool it can drag the pivot screw round with it And you can actually see it rotate , it won't unscew because of the loctite .

I have seen this happen too.

Did you also find that when this occurs there's some blade play too before the liner lock engages ?

I didn't notice, I just saw the pivot turn (and tighten/loosen) when the tool was opened or closed.

[Marlinaholic]

My Charge TTI started doing this recently, I have carried it some so I figured something gritty got under the scales between the bronze washer ect.  Took it apart and cleaned it out, then re loc tited the screw and now it's fine.  Greased it with RIG +P stainless lube as that seems to really work good on stainless multitools, but so does Ballistol which I think is some sort of mineral oil, it's totally non toxic.  If I couldn't take my Charge apart I would soak the pivot overnight with something that dissolves gunk/soaks in like Break Free or maybe Kroil.   Might be enough to get 'er working smooth again.