damaged ranger camping & angler

[ally]

I'm new to sak collecting and have been fortunate to purchase the bulk of somebody's old collection at very keen prices, the latest batch came with a ranger camping, which I think I have dated correctly as 1991-1992

this is the only knife so far that I have had trouble opening and closing the tools (except for the awl's which get me every time - awaiting the extra strong thumb nail)

in particular the cap lifter and can opener blades are really bad, the can opener especially, the old girl had a bath and oil (must dig out my ultrasonic) which helped a little and I removed a surprising amount of debris considering the condition of the tools which look unused

I did find that the scissor spring would fold under itself when the scissors were retracted, removed the spring (grooved type) and the snap of the cap lifter is a little improved, sadly not the can opener

this suggests that  the spring fouling has pushed the other tools over, however the large blade is stiff too and this sits on the opposite side, the small blade is ok, woodsaw ok, metal file no snap, all back tools ok

does this point to bent pins?

now, dug through the pile and found my angler to use the pliers to save said thumb nail and really like it's form factor but not the fish scaler, has anybody modded one with a metal saw? ok, there's the deluxe tinker but I think a 4 layer is the sweet spot although I currently carry a ranger camping but find it a tad too large for the watch pocket though the belt loop sorts that out

I will be sending of to burton mccall for a service (very scruffy 84mm golfer there at the moment - should have taken pics before it went away) but wanted your thoughts

[MacGyver]

(except for the awl's which get me every time - awaiting the extra strong thumb nail)

Hi Ally, sorry if I'm a little bit off topic here, I cant help much with the fixing and modding, but I'm sure the experienced guys over here will

I just wanted to comment on the awl opening trouble you've mentioned because I've seen a lot of guys mention that here as well. Since I've never experienced any dificulty in opening the awl, I'd like to share how I open it. I usually have the front of the knife facing me, grab it with my left hand, put my right index finger supported on the key ring holder, and put my right thumb nail on the awl's groove (top on the thumb facing down on the tools) and just quickly flick my thump up, in one continuous move pulling the awl up with the nail (indirectly I'm also putting a very slight pressure on the awl down words into the liner). It usually opens up very easily 
Hope its of any help, to you ou anyone else.

[ally]

thanks, I'll give it a go

I went through my collection adding straight pins to the scales last night and found a couple more stiff saks so have dug out my ultrasonic to see if more effective than a tub wash, trouble is it's driving the dogs mental!!!

[ally]

still not happy with the snap on these two knives, had a good heated clean followed by (wooden) toothpick clean, drying and oiling, some areas of improvement but not fantastic

any tips?

[neillcurrie]

Sometimes a knife has certain tools/blades that snap properly, but tools in one layer don't.
In this case, applying firm lateral pressure in each direction to the stickier tools can help free them up.

[ally]

cheers

had success with one of the two stickies, I paid more attention to oiling the entire backspring not just at the joints, they got a dosing and left overnight on a tepid heat source

one successful the other not so much, I will sit and work it thoroughly this evening and see if it loosens

once I have sorted my storage and knife ID I will go through them all again and pay a bit more attention to the maintenance