Teacher have you also received another shipping notification from Gearbest? They resent my LAND 9103 with Swiss e-packet. So, maybe they found a way to resend yours, too? Surely, they won't be using Swiss e-packet to ship something to the U.S., though. :-D
I have been communicating with GB & they know the package was returned. They are seeking a solution.
I did not contact them as soon as you did so hopefully in a day or two it will get resent.
They (GB) have been very helpful & pleasant so far. Stuff happens…. but it is beyond me why it was returned in the first place.
Hopefully mine will have a happy ending like yours.
Washers are just… well, washers. bearings (idealy ceramic) are little balls in a copper cage which both roll for less resistance and have significantly less area of contact which reduces the friction a lot.
I’ve bought a lot of knives off of AliExpress, quite a few have not flipped well until I’ve cleaned them. I take them apart an clean the bearings with brake cleaner then assemble with a little sewing machine oil or Finish Line fluorinated grease, and boy do they flip a lot smoother and faster! HFT purple threadlocker works great on the screws and pivot too!
The best flipper out of the box I received was a two sun knife from Ali, but it was a little more expensive at $45.
RC if you can get the grease out of the pivot and replace with oil it will work much better. I wasn’t able to open the torx screws in the handle do to strong loctite that wrecked my bits, so if you go that route you may need to heat them first, but I was able to get the grease out with some cleaning with regular printer paper on either side of blade, and tissues.
Also not sure if you are trying to push the flipper towards pivot or using light switch motion, not saying both wont work but second one is better for this model, and if your fingers are on frame lock it can slow the opening as well.
This is my first Ganzo. It won’t be my last. I’m very impressed with the quality. The Firebird FH21 is a very smooth flipper. It is as quick or quicker than my spring assisted Kershaw Blur. It is razor sharp and beautifully finished. It is quite a bargain for $24.99.