Another (dirty) F95

Well... life sure seems a little empty without Cammie... there's just something about that knife. The smoothness is pretty unparalleled in all things grasped between my greasy digits. But life's too short to keep lusting  over what's left the hands.

So....

Nope, this didn't look mint even on photos... Reading between the lines of the "full disclosure description" of the ad says it's been used or at least heavily carried. Still, it didn't prepare me on what's expected when it finally came....

First flip-- Damn! I swear images from the movie Jumanji came leaping out of my mind... I wonder if the next moment was gonna see a stampede from a million wildebeest gushing out of the pivot. Shut! Back in pocket and that's when I knew a take down is inevitable. No flicking way I'm gonna live with such sloppy actions. Yes yes, Shiros are expensive and most people I know will be wincing but hey... Me Am Wrencher. Bikes aren't rocket science and definitely not knife pivots and bearings. Taken down enough of my cheap user knives to know that as well... ok maybe just need exercising a little more care with not mauling the screws yadda yadda...

Holy Mother of Gunk!

Yes, that's right my friends! That's twigs or whatever organic vegetation that defied decomposition....

Some real old rancid grease... not sure if its factory stock packing but going by the marks and nicks left, albeit tiny, on the knife--this definitely has been opened up before and likely was a regreased job.. Ok looks like I'm never gonna sell this knife with all the things disclosed here. I'll just re-pack it as a user. That's life! We win some we lose some...

Ok that's just the bearing gunk. Pretty mild in compasion to say the bb of my bikes but in a small little knife-- that transaltes to a lot of rough action. With the retainer it's more than double of what's seen... The tooth of the retainers actually had to be flossed with a dental pick. Sure wish I had one of those sonic cleaners around.  Anyway...

The miniscule size balls, at least they were magnetic.. Didn't know for sure initially so I use my magnetic bits just in case... 17 per side.

Saw a vid on Youtube on another SRBS takedown... looking at what I had here and basically the blade is rotating on balls that's in turn rotating on a "fixed position and lateral movement capped by the race channel on either side of the ti handles.. Yup its a polished race- I wouldn't expect anything less from a Shiro blade. However looking at the individual steel balls, I would think it makes a difference. All SRBS I have handled so far felt a little different from each other. Grease and lube aside, it would be logical to say the roundness and uniformity in ball diameter would make an overall difference.

No idea what kind of super duper goo others use but move past marketing hype... practically a good bearing grease should work but like mixing up my own salad dressing, it usually involves more than 1 ingredient for all my lubing mixture.

Mix of Shimano Durace bearing grease and a dab of Eezox to reduce the viscosity. Shall see if I like the gliding action, else will change to something else in a few days time.

Oh to keep those screw pristine? Still milling a couple of "DIY -screwdrivers" for the long run but for now... yea good old tape over a 7-8mm flat bit does the trick...


Alright time for some action...

and compared to my old Cammie?