Mechanical perfection - a tiny, flawless gem (green version)
This is a seriously well-made knife. Locking and unlocking are crisp and positive. The one-sided pivot is devoid of side play. The exposed tang / lockbar / detent ball / overtravel stop neatly illustrate the workings of a frame lock knife. Makes for a great little fidget device, with one-hand opening. The knife is held together by the clip screw threaded into the R/H end of the pivot screw. The screws were frozen together with high strength thread locker but yielded to a soldering iron held on the clip screw for a few minutes. The parts: flanged T8 pivot screw, phosphor bronze washer, blade, eight ceramic balls in a phosphor bronze race, steel thrust washer (recessed into handle), handle, clip, T6 clip screw. The pivot "screw" is the pivot pin, with an M3.5 female thread in its R/H end. The 4.15 mm diameter pivot and 2.85 mm thick tang contribute to the blade's lateral stability. The pivot pin and blade hole are machined to extreme tolerances. The screws are hard steel and survived separation unscathed. (A Wera high toughness T6 bit actually sheared off in the process!) The threads do need blue Loctite to hold pivot adjustment. Broken in, cleaned and reassembled with White Lightning Crystal bicycle grease, has a very smooth action. I didn't expect much practical use out of this knife. The durable M390 blade actually makes it a classy utility knife (edge 28% longer than a standard utility blade). Handy for detailed pinch-grip work, opening packages etc. This is functional art - exquisite design, high end materials, elaborate construction, unique looks. Would make a knock-out gift for any knife nerd. A nice accessory is the weighty screw lid metal container, with greased square-cut threads and red O-ring. Extras are the buckskin wrap, red-beaded buckskin lace tie and an 80 cm fine black pendant chain (not listed in the description). Actual dimensions: Closed length 59 mm, open length 101 mm, blade length 42 mm, edge length 38.5 mm, blade height (at heel) 13 mm, spine thickness 2.85 mm, behind-the-edge thickness 0.60 mm, handle thickness (minus clip) 7 mm, (including clip) 11 mm. Weight: 18.6 g. The green anodizing is slightly more misty and desaturated than in the illustration. HH managed to have this with me by lunchtime next day, despite order only completing just before 4 pm. Nice work, HH!
