What could cause a SAK to lose its snap?

jzmtl · **on:** September 20, 2009, 06:01:34 PM

This is weird... I used a sak (vic driver) to cut some apple, rinsed and put away, but main blade pivot started to grind. Rinse under warm tap only made it worse, the main blade start to have so much friction it barely snaps open, and doesn't snap closed at all. It's only after I scrubbed it down with soap it returned to original condition.

What could have caused that?

I'm positive it's not caused by sand or such. It was lubed with mineral oil before, could apple acid reacted with that?

max6166 · **Reply #1 on:** September 20, 2009, 08:26:17 PM

That's a weird one.

I think that apple juice reacts with aluminum, so it could perhaps corrode the liner over time. I wouldn't have thought it would do any real damage that quickly though.

My best guess is that the juice soaked into a few miniscule granules of grit or dirt, and hardened them into some sort of sticky "super-grit".

I know you said there was no sand, but could it have been something else? Maybe some lint which the juice caused to harden? Could it just have been crystallized sugar?

When cleaning and disassembling SAKs, I have been shocked at how little dirt it takes to seize up the pivot. As you know, just a few grains of sand can do it.

The hot water may simply not have worked the granules loose, while the more thorough scrubbing did.

Just some wild guesses...

jzmtl · **Reply #2 on:** September 20, 2009, 08:46:45 PM

On SOSAK another guy said it happened to him too and it may be the dried sugar in apple juice. What's weird thou, is it got WORSE when I rinsed it under warm tap water, went from little snap to no snap. The juice was on the knife for an hour tops and it was rinsed after (this was before the warm water).

max6166 · **Reply #3 on:** September 20, 2009, 08:55:00 PM

That's why I think it couldn't have been the juice alone. The only explanation I could think of was that the hot water actually moved a granule of some sort deeper into the pivot, while the later scrubbing dislodged it.

But who knows what it was really was at this point. Yet another case for the Swiss Army's X-Files, I guess...

Sidhartha · **Reply #4 on:** September 20, 2009, 09:32:19 PM

it just happened to my new soldier, but i was cutting some meat, i washed it but didnt work, at the end of the day the snap was again there, no idea what happened

Freudian Frog · **Reply #5 on:** September 20, 2009, 11:09:43 PM

I happens to me all the time with various substances... a quick scrub always fixes it.

MultiMat · **Reply #6 on:** September 21, 2009, 03:50:40 AM

Sounds like those dastardly snap fairies feeding on sweet innocent Swiss snappiness

Damn them too hell

Anthony · **Reply #7 on:** September 21, 2009, 05:37:48 AM

Is it possible the hot water expanded the steel slightly which made it not snap shut?

jzmtl · **Reply #8 on:** September 21, 2009, 05:53:22 AM

I thought about that too, but I immediately switched to cold water to check and there's no difference.

LatinoHeat · **Reply #9 on:** September 21, 2009, 04:34:25 PM

This might be a case of Vic's quality coming back to haunt us. We always talk on here, and other knife sites, about blade wobble. Noone, it seems, like any blade play on their knives. Of course over time, most knives develop some wobble, but it is still a pet peeve for most. I personally have yet to see a Vic with blade play. Some of you might, as I am sure they are out there, but I haven't seen one. Vic's quality is consistently great. However, I wonder if this tight fit hinders the removal of guk from the pivot points. I have an older Stockman. It has some blade play. As this has never really bothered me, I used it all the time. I took it our camping one time, and it fell into the sand. No big deal. I took it to the lake and just sloshed it around in the water to clean it out, and it did. It was gritty and snapless until the sloshing, but a little water removed the guk from the joints because they were loose enough to allow it to fall out. Vic knives are soo well made and tight that sometimes when crap gets in the joints, it takes a long time to remove. It happened to my Wenger SI. I got dirt in it (I used it to open a soil bag) and it got really gritty. I washed it off, but to no avail. I had to soak it in warm water and soap for a good long while before it loosened up. I guess you can say Vic's quality is great to a fault. LOL.

Spork, Lord of Lime Jello! · **Reply #10 on:** September 21, 2009, 04:48:14 PM

There is an area which I don't think I've ever seen mentioned when it comes to sluggish actions. The gaps between the spring and liners. Dried fruit juice and pocket gunk will slow down the action, and the "grittyness" felt may be the sides of the spring against the liners.

It may be a good habit to cycle the blade a few times when rinsing or washing a SAK.

Paul · **Reply #11 on:** September 21, 2009, 06:26:53 PM

Ive had Aluminium corrosion making SAKs bind - may get some pics up to show how bad it is - if I can find it in the shed - quite bad really

max6166 · **Reply #12 on:** September 21, 2009, 06:45:42 PM

Quote from: Spork on September 21, 2009, 04:48:14 PM

There is an area which I don't think I've ever seen mentioned when it comes to sluggish actions. The gaps between the spring and liners. Dried fruit juice and pocket gunk will slow down the action, and the "grittyness" felt may be the sides of the spring against the liners.

It may be a good habit to cycle the blade a few times when rinsing or washing a SAK.

Below is a pic of some liners that were giving me difficulty. The snap was completely gone. The tools would just slowly grind open and closed.

I tried every trick in the book to clean the SAK and get the snap back, but got almost nowhere. Eventually, I had to disassemble it and discovered it was just the liners that were causing all the problems.

Dunc · **Reply #13 on:** September 21, 2009, 11:15:06 PM

Whenever i've got a second hand SAK the first thing I do is wash it with washing up liquid and water . Most start to feel gritty and have trouble opening/closing after I've rinsed them

Once dried and a little oil the action is as good as new

Maybe its the grease/Lube being washed away and its friction between the stainless steel and aluminium scales

Dunc