That mirrors my experiences. I used course then fine on an emery board for the G10. It’s amazing how much that little bit of work can accomplish.
I disassembled mine for a full clean and lube when I got it. Action was already good but that often helps a new knife. I ordered my 818 last November so it’s been almost a year. The action has only gotten better with time. Edge retention has been great. It’s easily on par with more expensive Chinese D2 from companies like Artisan. The geometry helps.
The PF838 has much thicker blade stock and it puts the flat grind at a more obtuse angle. That had me worried out of the box because so much of my regular cutting is cardboard. I’ve been pleasantly surprised though. It comes to a nice edge and the steel holds it. It manages to cut through cardboard with less resistance than I expected. It’s an interesting knife and I get what other people have said about it looking like the 818’s big brother. Still, I prefer the 818 for regular use.
As I noted in the budget knife thread, action on my PF818 isn’t as good as on my Ganzo FH21. I know you suggested taking it apart for a full clean and lube, but I have yet to do that. I’m worried I will not be able to put it back together correctly. On the other hand, if I’m buying a brand new knife, I don’t feel that I should even need to do this in the first place. I expect it to work perfectly straight from the factory. Alas, we are talking about budget knives here, so maybe my expectations aren’t realistic.
Is the Ganzo thinner? I usually prefer knives less than 0.5” but it’s all about pocket feel, some thicker knives ride in pocket unnoticed but other dont.
I never really liked the ganzo and other chinese knives. Sanrenmu was always great for low prices and good quality. I think A knife is only as good as the weakest point, which in most chineze knives is soft screws and bad argonomics.
You could check out twosun knives on ebay. Many designs to choose from with 14c28n steel and nice quality.
Nobody has to do this and most of the time, budget knives are okay right from the box. I like to see the internals, get to know the knife, and get a little insight on the manufacturing conditions of various brands. I also like being the QC gatekeeper of what I carry when possible. Even knives from respectable budget brands can leave the factory with a little dirt, grime, or a fleck of something in there. They can often function well despite that and many people will be impressed by knives in such a condition without ever knowing about it.
I also like starting with known product in there. There can be various grease, oil, preservatives, or whatever and you never know exactly what they are. That’s not something I love in an intimate EDC item that rides in your pocket all day every day. I like having non-toxic mineral oil on my surfaces and a good non-toxic specialty oil on the moving parts.
Somewhere between the cleaning and quality lubrication, I often do notice an increase in action quality. It may be slight but it’s often the case. How well that compares to breaking in is hard to say, since that’s also a factor. What I can say for sure is that the action on my 818 was good right out of the box and has since transitioned to great.
I guess I got unlucky. You really need to flip my PF818 with a lot of force in order for the blade to fully deploy and lock in place. My Ganzo requires a lot less effort to do the same.
My two 818 the action is great. I did have to put blue thread lock on the main pivot screw after a couple of drops. It is a large knife but it’s relatively slim and the deep pocket clip makes it comfortable to carry in most pockets.
It sounds like something is wrong with the knife. I don’t know your level of experience so I’ll just explain all the steps. First, check pivot tension. It takes a T8 Torx bit. (If you don’t have one, you can pick up an inexpensive bit set at your local hardware store or on Amazon.) It’s possible that the pivot screw is just too tight. Loosen it a little and see if that helps. You can usually play with the tension to find a place between having good action and little to blade play.
If this doesn’t work, take the knife apart. The 818 is thankfully simple compared to some other knives out there. It will be a good learning experience if you haven’t done it before. Go around and unscrew the screws. They are all either T6 or T8 sized Torx bits. Take off the G10 scales. Underneath are steel liners, with one of them having the lock bar. Wipe everything down with either an alcohol swab or a cloth or paper towel that is wet with isopropyl rubbing alcohol.
There will be a set of caged bearings on each side of the blade. It looks like a washer with balls set into it. They just rest in the little space on each side of the blade. I don’t have mine with me but if they are the kind that don’t look the same on each side, just remember which side faces the blade and put them back that way before you put the knife back together. Rub those with your alcohol swab/cloth/etc. Notice that they glide as you do. The ball bearings should all turn smoothly in their little cage. Clean the blade the same way.
Now, do you see anything that doesn’t look right, like a chip, ding, or other obvious irregularity? Was there anything stuck in there, like a little flake of plastic or a metal shaving? Was there a bit of rust in the pivot section of the blade? Some of those things are fixable and some aren’t. You can report back any strange findings or share a picture here.
Once everything is okay, go through and wipe down all the metal surfaces including the blade with a little mineral oil (except the screws or screw holes, which should not be oiled). Be sure to get some on the caged bearings. (If you don’t have mineral oil, they sell it at most drug stores in the laxative section.) Then put it back together in the same way you took it apart. You can adjust or readjust screw tension if the blade isn’t properly centered. Then do like in the first check step and adjust the pivot screw to find a place that is balanced between good action and no blade play.
I played around with pivot tension. I can loosen the screw enough to make the blade deploy easier, but at that point the blade has too much play. I’m unable to find a place that results in both good action as well as no blade play. I will try to get some mineral oil and take it apart for cleaning.
Thank you for the detailed instructions. Very helpful.
I’ve found budget knives are a low-risk way of learning how a knife is constructed and taking it apart prepared me for long term maintenance skills. As knives are used, they get dirty, even the expensive ones (unless they end up being safe queens).
The only time I sort of damaged a knife was dealing with red Loctite. The screws stripped as I didn’t know it would be used on the pivot (Gerber knife). But it was cheap and didn’t break my heart.
It’s a gentle learning curve and you can pick up some good knowledge along the way, such as: how to center a blade between the scales, how to tune the knife to be buttery smooth without horizontal blade play; and if you’re brave, how to adjust detent with the lock bar.
As long as you take your time and carefully place each part down in a way you can keep track of where it came from, you’ll do just fine!
OK, opened it up, cleaned and lubed. While having it open, I haven’t noticed any major issues, although I’ve never taken a knife apart, so I have no point of reference. It was a bit dirty though, so it definitely benefited from some cleaning. I’d say the action did smooth out; however, it is still not as slick as my Ganzo.
I noticed the area on the blade right along the edge of the main hole is a bit rough on one side, as seen in the last photo below. Not sure if this is something that could be sanded down, and if so, would it improve smoothness?
Anyway, I appreciate everyone’s advice. It was a good learning experience.
Nice photos! If you mean the burr along the pivot hole, then likely no benefit in sanding it as this area is not contacting any other surface. Any burrs parallel to the pivot is spaced by the ball bearings. However if there are burrs pointing into the pivot and showing signs of rubbing against the pivot, then it should be removed.
